Sophie Friederike of Bavaria

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Archduchess Sophie. Lithograph by Joseph Kriehuber , 1836
Archduchess Sophie Friederike and her son Franz Joseph, around 1830
Portrait of Sophie Friederike, painted by Joseph Stieler for the beauty gallery of King Ludwig I of Bavaria in Nymphenburg Palace

Princess Sophie Friederike of Bavaria , full name Sophie Friederike Dorothea Wilhelmine of Bavaria (born January 27, 1805 in Munich , †  May 28, 1872 in Vienna ), was Archduchess of Austria by marriage to Franz Karl of Austria .

She was the mother of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and Maximilian of Mexico .

Crown Prince Rudolf and Archduke heir to the throne Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este were grandchildren of Sophie, the last emperor, Karl I , was her great-grandson.

biography

Childhood and youth

Sophie was the daughter of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and his second wife Karoline Friederike Wilhelmine von Baden , as well as a sister of Queen Elisabeth Ludovika of Prussia and twin sister of Queen Maria of Saxony .

The parents personally looked after the numerous children - contrary to the customs of the time. They wanted to educate these modern-thinking people, which despite all freedom of movement contained certain rules, such as: B. absolute punctuality, which came first. Sophie was considered a very pretty girl and was later accepted by King Ludwig I , her half-brother, into his famous gallery of beauties , which can still be viewed in Nymphenburg Palace today. For her father, the intention of Emperor Franz I of Austria to marry off his second-born son Franz Karl to Sophie was extremely important and so hardly any research was done about the future person and his siblings. The young woman's first meeting with her future husband was not to her liking; but political reasons had priority - the future candidate was second in line to the Habsburg throne and the actual heir to the throne would hardly ever ascend the throne due to his severe epilepsy. An ample trousseau has been put together. The wedding took place on November 4, 1824 in Vienna.

Next life

Archduchess Sophie's music salon in the Blauer Hof in Laxenburg
Archduchess Sophie, lithograph by Josef Kriehuber , 1850

Only after six years of marriage and several miscarriages, after several spa stays in Ischl , the couple's first child, Franz Joseph , was born, two and three years later the sons Maximilian and Karl Ludwig and twelve years later Ludwig Viktor . She also had a daughter: Archduchess Maria Anna (1835–1840), who was only four years old: like her uncle, Emperor Ferdinand I , she suffered from epileptic seizures and died from them.

In the crisis of the Austrian monarchy in the revolutionary year of 1848 , Ferdinand I's abdication and a new beginning were the only opportunities. Sophie decided not to become empress herself by encouraging her husband Franz Karl, next in line to the throne, to step back in favor of their son Franz Joseph. Franz Joseph was able to become emperor on December 2, 1848 at the age of 18 without having previously been heir to the throne .

In the first years of his reign, Sophie (patroness of the ultramontanes ) was a great support to the too young and inexperienced emperor and was one of his most important advisors, especially when it came to a neo-absolutist policy to curb the ambitions of the Magyar upper class . Her daughter-in-law and niece, Empress Elisabeth , tried to compensate for this by being especially kind to the Hungarians.

According to Georg Markus , the view, which was widespread especially by Egon Caesar Conte Corti and later in the Sissi films, that Sophie was a “bad mother-in-law” for Elisabeth can not be upheld. Sophie therefore advocated that Elisabeth take care of her children herself and did not utter a bad word about the young empress in her correspondence with other family members.

Sophie was the godmother of her first granddaughter in 1855, who was also named after her: Sophie Friederike , daughter of Franz Joseph I and Elisabeth. The child died at the age of two.

After her favorite son Maximilian , Emperor of Mexico, was shot in Mexico in 1867, Sophie lost all courage to face life and only survived him by five years. After visiting the Burgtheater , she contracted severe pneumonia, from which she died.

Archduchess Sophie was buried in the Capuchin Crypt in Vienna. The Duke of Reichstadt rested next to her (his body was transferred to Paris on Hitler's orders in 1940 ). Her husband Franz Karl rests next to her. A son, who was stillborn on October 24, 1840, rests between Sophie Friederike and her husband Franz Karl.

Her favorite son Maximilian rests in the same part of the crypt, but not next to her.

Archduchess Sophie with her family

progeny

Letters

literature

Web links

Commons : Sophie Friederike, Princess of Bavaria  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ Georg Markus: No bad mother-in-law . In: Kurier , Vienna, October 20, 2013, p. 22. Kurier series It was very different , part 8, excerpt from Georg Markus' book of the same name, Amalthea, Vienna 2013
  2. ^ Fritz Reuter Literature Archive Berlin
personal data
SURNAME Sophie Friederike of Bavaria
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sophie of Austria
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Daughter of King Maximilian I of Bavaria
DATE OF BIRTH January 27, 1805
PLACE OF BIRTH Munich
DATE OF DEATH May 28, 1872
Place of death Vienna