Marie of Württemberg

Duchess Marie of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (around 1850), pastel, Callenberg Castle , Coburg

Marie von Württemberg (full name Princess Antoinette Friederike Auguste Marie Anna von Württemberg , born September 17, 1799 in Coburg , † September 24, 1860 in Gotha ) was a Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha by marriage .

Life

Marie was the only daughter of Duke Alexander Friedrich Karl von Württemberg and his wife, Princess Antoinette (1779–1824), the second daughter of Duke Franz von Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld . Her aunt was Tsarina Maria Feodorovna .

Marie first grew up in Fantaisie Palace near Bayreuth . Since her father was general of the Russian army from 1799 , later governor of Belarus and Russian transport minister, she lived from 1802 to 1832 on an estate near Mitau in what is now Latvia and in a family palace in St. Petersburg .

On December 23, 1832, Marie married her uncle, Duke Ernst I of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, who was 15 years her senior . The celebration took place in the audience hall of Ehrenburg Palace. The wedding was arranged by the grandmother Duchess Auguste , who died in 1831 , and persistently brought about after several years of negotiations. After the marriage, Marie was not only a cousin, but also a stepmother to her husband's sons from her first marriage to Duchess Luise , Princes Ernst and Albert .

The urbane Marie was particularly interested in literature, music, theater and art. The newly built Coburg Court Theater was opened on her 41st birthday. Franz Liszt visited her often from 1842 onwards. She personally took care of the servants. In 1836 she took over the protectorate for the Gotha Marien Institute, a private educational institution for girls. On May 3, 1842, she donated 2000 thalers in Coburg to establish a “custodial institution for small children in the local city based on the model of the same institute in the royal seat of Gotha”. The Marienschulstiftung became active in the same year and still operates a kindergarten as an independent foundation in Coburg and, for some years now, a crèche. She has been housed in the Park 1 property in Coburg, which belongs to her, since 1869.

After her husband Ernst died in 1844 I chose Marie as a dower house the Duchy of Gotha Castle Reinhardsbrunn , Schloss Friedrichsthal and Friedenstein Castle , where she died on September 24, 1860 at 7:45 AM. She has her final resting place in the ducal mausoleum on the Coburg cemetery on Glockenberg .

literature

• Gertraude Bachmann: Duchess Marie of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, born Duchess of Württemberg 1799 - 1860 . Volume 14 of the publication series of the historical society Coburg eV, Coburg 1999
• Harald Sandner: The House of Saxony-Coburg and Gotha 1826 to 2001. A documentation for the 175th anniversary of the parent company in words and pictures . Druck- und Verlagsanstalt Neue Presse, Coburg 2001, ISBN 3-00-008525-4 , pp. 65–67.