Amalie Christiane of Baden

Katharina Amalie Christiane Luise von Baden (born July 13, 1776 in Karlsruhe , † October 26, 1823 in Bruchsal ) was a princess of Baden.

biography

family

Amalie was the eldest daughter of the Hereditary Prince Karl Ludwig von Baden and the Hereditary Princess Amalie of Hessen-Darmstadt and the twin sister of Karoline , later Queen of Bavaria, eldest sister of Louise, later known as Tsarina Elisabeth Alexejewna of Russia and Friederike , later Queen of Sweden. Her only brother, Karl Louis, succeeded his grandfather as the second Grand Duke of Baden. Since she remained unmarried throughout her life, Amalie Christiane lived alternately with her sisters Karoline and Elisabeth, in Bavaria or Russia, or at the court in Baden.

Marriage plans

Attempted marriage with Prussia

Although Amalie Christiane remained single until the end of her life, there were several attempts to marry her appropriately. Her maternal aunt, Queen Friederike of Prussia , was the first to strive , then her son, Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm III. to marry one of her nieces. Friederike's goal was to further deepen the friendship between the two countries. However, Friedrich Wilhelm III. little interest in his Baden cousins. He could neither warm up to Karoline, who was considered pretty, nor to the unattractive Amalie Christiane. Against his mother's wishes, Friedrich Wilhelm finally married Luise von Mecklenburg-Strelitz . During the wedding negotiations with Prussia, two other marriage candidates approached the court in Karlsruhe. These were Hereditary Prince Friedrich von Anhalt-Dessau and Wilhelm , Prince of Great Britain and Duke of Clarence and St. Andrews . However, both were put off while the negotiations with Prussia continued. Due to the long Prussian negotiations, both eventually lost interest. Between 1791 and 1793 three marriage negotiations were unsuccessful.

In the following years, Amalie Christiane initially had no further marriage opportunities. So she traveled a lot and visited her two sisters at the Bavarian and Russian courts. She stayed there for a few years.

Attempted marriage with Austria

In 1811, Amalie Christiane, now 35, visited the imperial court of Austria in Vienna . Emperor Franz I soon thought of marrying his brother Archduke Karl to the Baden princess. Karl and Amalie Christiane had known each other since they were young, but Karl did not find the princess very attractive. Meanwhile, the court of Baden feared that this marriage could lead to political conflicts with their ally and patron Emperor Napoléon I Bonaparte . So it was asked for its approval. Napoleon showed little interest, however, and did not take a clear position on the intended wedding. Archduke Karl took advantage of this opportunity, since he didn't think much of his brother's efforts anyway, and prevented further wedding negotiations.

In 1816 Amalie Christiane stayed in Baden again. At the instigation of Emperor Franz I of Austria, Eduard August, Duke of Kent and Strathearn , fourth son of the British King George III, came. , to Karlsruhe . The Austrian monarch wanted to marry the Baden princess to the British duke. Eduard came to Karlsruhe, but showed no interest in getting engaged to Amalie Christiane. So, to the surprise of Amalie and the whole Baden court, who had firmly expected an engagement, he left without having achieved anything.

Later years

Two years later there was a last attempt to marry Amalie Christiane, now 42 years old, appropriately. At that time the Baden family was on the verge of extinction, as their brother Karl Ludwig Friedrich was seriously ill with dropsy and had not yet had a living son. The next heir to the throne would be his uncle, Prince Ludwig von Baden. Together with his mother, he asked Prince Ludwig to marry his sister Amalie Christiane in order to ensure the continued existence of the house. Ludwig, however, was having an affair with an actress and was not ready to commit. Prince Ludwig, who later became the Grand Duke, remained unmarried and after his death in 1830 the Zähringer line of the Baden family died out. The duchy then fell to Leopold von Baden-Hochberg, who only came to the Baden throne with Prussian help. This sideline to Baden-Hochberg arose from a morganatic second marriage of Amalie's grandfather Karl Friedrich .

Amalie Christiane did not live to see this anymore. She died of dropsy in her mother's arms in 1823. She was buried in the royal crypt in Pforzheim .

ancestors

Friedrich Hereditary Prince of Baden (1703–1732)

Karl Friedrich Grand Duke of Baden (1728–1811)

Anna of Nassau-Dietz-Oranien (1710–1777)

Karl Ludwig von Baden (1755–1801)

Ludwig VIII Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (1691–1768)

Karoline Luise of Hessen-Darmstadt (1723–1783)

Charlotte von Hanau-Lichtenberg (1700–1726)

Amalie Christiane of Baden

Ludwig VIII Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (1691–1768)

Louis IX Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (1719–1790)

Charlotte von Hanau-Lichtenberg (1700–1726)

Amalie of Hessen-Darmstadt (1754–1832)

Christian III of Pfalz-Zweibrücken (1674–1735)

Caroline of Pfalz-Zweibrücken (1721–1774)

Caroline of Nassau-Saarbrücken (1704–1774)

Note: Due to inter-family marriages, Landgrave Ludwig VIII of Hessen-Darmstadt and his wife Charlotte are two-time great-grandparents of Amalie Christiane.

literature

• Anna Schiener: Margravine Amalie von Baden (1754-1832) , Regensburg: Pustet, 2007 ISBN 978-3-7917-2046-3 , pp. 79-85

• Amalie Christiane of Baden . In: New Nekrolog der Deutschen , 1st year 1823, 2nd volume. Ilmenau 1824. p. 880 f.