Cecilia of Sweden

This article deals with the Swedish princess from the House of Oldenburg; for the princess of the same name from the Wasa family, see Cäcilie Wasa .

Cecilia of Sweden, portrayed by Theodor Hamacher (posthumous, dated 1847)

Cecilia of Sweden, later Grand Duchess of Oldenburg

Cäcilie von Schweden (born June 22, 1807 in Stockholm , † January 27, 1844 in Oldenburg ) was Princess of Sweden and Grand Duchess of Oldenburg . She was a daughter of Gustav IV Adolf von Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf , King of Sweden, and Princess Friederike Dorothea von Baden .

Life

Her father was dethroned as King of Sweden in 1809 and expelled from the country in 1810. In 1812 her parents divorced. The mother raised Cäcilie and her three siblings Sophie, Amalie and Gustav with their mother, the Margravine Amalie von Baden in Bruchsal . When she was 22 years old, her mother died in agony of dropsy. Since then she has been caring for her blind grandmother.

In October 1830, Grand Duke Paul Friedrich August von Oldenburg, who was passing through to Stuttgart, was a guest in Bruchsal. The son of Peter Friedrich Ludwig , Duke of Oldenburg, was widowed twice and 24 years older than Cäcilie. After a 60-minute conversation, he asked for her hand. She agreed and then moved to Vienna , where her brother was major general at the court of Emperor Franz I of Austria . There she prepared for her wedding, which took place on May 5, 1831 in the presence of the emperor. In June 1831 she finally moved to Oldenburg.

She was the composer of the melody of the Oldenburg hymn " Heil dir, o Oldenburg " and in 1833 contributed financially to the first theater building in Oldenburg, a forerunner of the Oldenburg State Theater . She was the bearer of the Russian Order of Catherine and the Royal Bavarian Order of Theresa . Cäcilie is the namesake of a street, a square, the Cäcilienbrücke leading over the coastal canal , the Cäcilien School in Oldenburg, founded in 1867 , and the village of Cäciliengroden ( Friesland district ) near Wilhelmshaven .

Cecilia was not a popular duchess. It was difficult for her to find contact with the Oldenburg population. Their warm-heartedness was only felt by a small circle. Nevertheless, she was apparently popular with her stepchildren, the people and also with the Oldenburg artists. On January 28, 1844, five days after the birth of her third child, Cäcilie von Oldenburg died of puerperal fever at the age of 36 .

progeny

• Alexander Friedrich Gustav (born June 16, 1834 - † June 6, 1835)
• Nikolaus Friedrich August (February 15, 1836 - April 30, 1837)
• Anton Günther Friedrich Elimar (born January 23, 1844 - † October 17, 1895)

ancestors

Adolf Friedrich King of Sweden (1710–1771)

Gustav III King of Sweden (1746–1792)

Luise Ulrike of Prussia (1720–1782)

Gustav IV Adolf King of Sweden (1778–1837)

Frederick V King of Denmark (1723–1766)

Sophie Magdalene of Denmark (1746–1813)

Louise of Great Britain (1724–1751)

Cecilia of Sweden

Karl Friedrich Grand Duke of Baden (1728–1811)

Karl Ludwig von Baden (1755–1801)

Karoline Luise of Hessen-Darmstadt (1723–1783)

Friederike von Baden (1781–1826)

Louis IX of Hessen-Darmstadt (1719–1790)

Amalie of Hessen-Darmstadt (1754–1832)

Caroline of Pfalz-Zweibrücken (1721–1774)

literature

• Gisela Niemöller: The angels in the castle. An approach to Cäcilie, Amalie and Friederike von Oldenburg . Isensee, Oldenburg 1997, ISBN 3-89598-463-9

Individual evidence

1. ^ Andreas Lombard: House and Land. The Duchy and Grand Duchy of Oldenburg from 1773 to 1918. Published in: History of the Oldenburger Land - Duchy, Grand Duchy of the Free State . Edited by Jörg Michael Henneberg and Horst-Günther Lucke. Aschendorff publishing house. Muenster. 2014. ISBN 978-3-402-12942-5 . Page 97.