Charlotte zu Schaumburg-Lippe
Charlotte, Princess of Schaumburg-Lippe (full name: Charlotte Marie Ida Luise Hermine Mathilde ) (born October 10, 1864 in Ratibořice Castle , Bohemia ; † July 16, 1946 in Bebenhausen Castle , Württemberg ) was a member of the House of Schaumburg-Lippe and from 1891 to 1918 the last Queen of Württemberg .
Life
origin
Princess Charlotte was the eldest daughter of Prince Wilhelm zu Schaumburg-Lippe (1834-1906), the youngest son of Prince Georg-Wilhelm zu Schaumburg-Lippe , and Princess Bathildis of Anhalt-Dessau (1837-1902).
Together with four brothers and three sisters, Charlotte grew up in the princely rule of Nachod in Eastern Bohemia. In addition to interests such as music and the fine arts, she apparently also had sporting interests such as swimming, playing tennis, cycling and - still unusual for a woman of the time - skiing. Her passion for hunting was also considered unusual.
The marital union of the house of Schaumburg-Lippe and Württemberg
On April 8, 1886, Princess Charlotte married in Bückeburg , the residence of her uncle Adolf , the Württemberg heir to the throne, Prince Wilhelm, who ascended the throne as King Wilhelm II of Württemberg in 1891 . She was his second wife and, like her predecessor Marie zu Waldeck and Pyrmont , was considered a politically insignificant role in Württemberg . If the marriage took place for reasons of state reason - there was no male descendant - this calculation did not work out, because the marriage remained childless.
As a Württemberg princess, she first lived in Ludwigsburg and Stuttgart , and as queen in the Wilhelmspalais in Stuttgart. During the months of June to October, the royal couple relocated to Friedrichshafen . Finally, in November / December, Wilhelm and Charlotte regularly spent two weeks hunting in the Bebenhausen hunting lodge near Tübingen . After the revolution of 1918, Bebenhausen was to become the permanent residence and widow's seat of the former queen and future Duchess Charlotte.
Charlotte's years as Queen of Württemberg
While King Wilhelm II enjoyed great popularity among his contemporaries, Charlotte's relationship with the Württemberg people seems to have been rather reserved. This becomes evident in the contemporary publications, which are characterized by exuberance towards the king and a clear reluctance towards the queen. Childlessness may have been one reason for this, but it is not a sufficient explanation for contemporary reserve. Another reason seems to be that Charlotte was not ready to fulfill her courtly representative duties to the expected extent. For example, she preferred to celebrate her birthdays in the seclusion of Friedrichshafen rather than in obvious solidarity with the population. In military parades she usually let the king take it off alone and after a few years as queen she no longer accompanied her husband to the emperor's birthdays.
Charlotte was not only the queen, who had a very idiosyncratic approach to representation, she was also the monarch, who was open to developments in modern times. This becomes clear in their socio-political engagement. Following the conventions, it took over 32 protectorates of social and charitable institutions from its predecessors alone. Among many others, the deaconess system, the Swabian women's association, the central management for charity, the Württembergische Sparkasse and the Red Cross belonged to it. With the patronage that she personally assumed as Queen, a special interest in the "independence of the women's world", as a contemporary observer called it, is noticeable. Of course, Charlotte was not personally involved in the women's movement, but she signaled agreement with its goals by taking on protectorates for institutions that had the improvement of women's issues in mind. With her authority as Queen, Charlotte primarily supported educational institutions in which girls were to be trained to become self-employed. Her commitment to women's politics was particularly evident in her sponsorship of the Württemberg Association of Female Painters and for the first Württemberg humanistic girls' high school, the Stuttgart Charlotten High School (today Hölderlin High School). The Charlottenhöhle in Hürben (today part of Giengen an der Brenz ) was named after her in 1893 when she visited Charlotte. In Bad Wildbad , Charlottenstrasse commemorates the last Queen of Württemberg. The Charlottenklinik für Augenheilkunde Stuttgart (founded in 1891), which celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2016, and the former Charlottenhöhe lung sanatorium in Schömberg (opened in 1909) commemorate the commitment of the last Queen of Württemberg.
The support for the female painters' association already points to another area of Charlotte's interest, the area of art and culture. Together with her husband, she took an active part in cultural life, with a special focus on opera and theater.
After the end of the monarchy in Württemberg
When he abdicated, Wilhelm II had agreed with the Württemberg state for himself and his wife a lifelong right to live in Bebenhausen Castle and an annual pension. In addition to the state appanage , Charlotte received a grant from the ducal court chamber for keeping the court. After the death of her husband in 1921, Duchess Charlotte of Württemberg lived in Bebenhausen for another twenty-five years. In 1944 she suffered a stroke that forced her to spend the last two years of her life in a wheelchair.
The former queen died on July 16, 1946 at the age of 81 in Bebenhausen . With her, not only died the last Queen of Württemberg, she was also the longest surviving former German queen, after her the Saxon Carola von Wasa-Holstein-Gottorp in 1907, the Bavarian Marie Therese of Austria-Este in 1919 and the Prussian Auguste Viktoria von Schleswig- Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg had preceded their deaths in 1921. She was buried next to her husband on July 23, 1946, almost unnoticed by the public, in the old cemetery in Ludwigsburg.
literature
- Hansmartin Decker-Hauff: Women in the House of Württemberg DRW-Verlag, Leinfelden-Echterdingen 1997, ISBN 3-87181-390-7 , p. 276.
- Sönke Lorenz, Dieter Mertens, Volker Press (ed.): The house of Württemberg. A biographical lexicon. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-17-013605-4 , p. 335.
- Martin Otto: Charlotte, Queen of Württemberg. In: Maria Magdalena Rückert (Ed.): Württembergische biographies including Hohenzollern personalities. Volume III. On behalf of the Commission for Historical Regional Studies in Baden-Württemberg. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart 2017, ISBN 978-3-17-033572-1 , pp. 260-263.
- Sabine Thomsen : The queens of Württemberg. Charlotte Mathilde, Katharina, Pauline, Olga, Charlotte - their life and work. Tuebingen 2006.
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Charlotte zu Schaumburg-Lippe |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Charlotte of Württemberg |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Princess of Schaumburg-Lippe, queen of Württemberg by marriage |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 10, 1864 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Ratibořice Castle |
| DATE OF DEATH | July 16, 1946 |
| Place of death | Bebenhausen |