PRINCESS CHARLOTTE
- Stefani Spangenberg
- Oct 22, 2022
- 4 min read
On February 8, 1792, Maximilian Joseph von Pfalz-Birkenfeld's fourth child was born in Mannheim. At the time, no one could have imagined that the proud father would have a stellar career in just a few years and become the first king to ascend the Bavarian throne.
The little daughter was named Charlotte Auguste Karoline. Her childhood was already interspersed with many fateful events. Very early, when Charlotte was just four years old, her mother died. Shortly thereafter, her family had to flee their homeland, as the unrest that had broken out there became too dangerous. In exile, Charlotte's father met Caroline von Baden, twenty years his junior, with whom he fell in love and married her shortly thereafter.
FIRST BAVARIAN KING
In the picture-perfect Baden princess, Charlotte and her three siblings found a kind and good-hearted stepmother who loved her stepchildren as her own.
Many years later, when Charlotte reached marriageable age at fourteen, her father was made the first Bavarian king. It was a move that also brought Charlotte and her siblings into the public eye. Bavaria owed its elevation to a kingdom to Napoleon Bonaparte, who at the time was reshaping Europe according to his wishes. Napoleon not only tried to achieve his goals through military conflicts, but strategic marriages were also on his agenda. Charlotte's older sister Auguste was the first to be drawn into this marriage policy. Napoleon wanted Auguste to marry his stepson Eugene de Beauharnais. If Auguste had not agreed to this marriage, the consequences for her family would have been serious.
MARRIAGE POLITICS AND WEDDING
When the wedding festivities began at the Munich Residenz, the stepmother was so afraid that young Charlotte would also fall victim to Napoleon's marriage plans that she had her youngest stepdaughter hidden away. Throughout the wedding, Charlotte was not seen. The young princess's absence did not go unnoticed. With the excuse - Charlotte had suddenly fallen seriously ill - they excused her absence. But despite all the stepmother's attempts to save her, Charlotte was also to suffer greatly from Napoleon's marriage policy, albeit in a different way than expected. Not only the European princesses and their parents met an arranged marriage at Napoleon's request with horror, but also the princes of the time tried everything to escape. Crown Prince Wilhelm of Württemberg, for example, made up his mind to marry off as quickly as possible to "any" princess he could choose. Thus Charlotte came into his sights and he soon asked for her hand in marriage.
MARRIAGE IN MUNICH
On June 8, 1808, the solemn marriage of the two took place in Munich. It was a very chilly event. The groom behaved strangely. Even during the ceremony he was very distant towards his bride. When the newlyweds left the Munich capital for Württemberg, Wilhelm vehemently refused to ride in the same carriage as his wife. It quickly became clear that this marriage was made solely to protect him from Napoleon's marriage policy. To the great chagrin of the bride. Her stepmother reported, "Your husband is of an icy coldness. I understand that he cannot be in love. But why did he marry her if he will not even approach her? He didn't even shake her hand, let alone embrace her." The couple rarely saw each other. They inhabited the same castle, but Wilhelm had Charlotte's living quarters set up as far away from his as possible. The marriage was never consummated.
DIVORCE AND RETURN TO MUNICH
Napoleon's fall in 1814 brought a major change. Due to his loss of power, there was no longer any reason for Wilhelm to hold on to the protective marriage with Charlotte. He divorced her. Two years later, the marriage was even annulled by Pope Pius VII. The divorced Charlotte returned to Bavaria and moved into an apartment in her father's residence in Munich. At a time when marriage actually meant exclusively "until death do us part," she was released from her marriage vows and had to return home. Or was she perhaps even relieved and happy to have escaped this unpleasant situation?
CHARLOTTE'S WEDDING WITH THE EMPEROR
The next husband was not long in coming. Charlotte's brother, later King Louis I, had already chosen a new husband for his little sister. It was to be Grand Duke Ferdinand III of Tuscany, a brother of the Austrian Emperor Francis I. The Austrian state chancellor Prince von Metternich also had his eye on the Bavarian princess. However, not for himself, but for the emperor himself. This courtship differed significantly from the first one, because this time Charlotte was allowed to have a say and even helped decide which of the two high lords should receive her hand in marriage. The emperor himself or his brother.
Charlotte finally decided in favor of Emperor Franz I of Austria.
On October 29, 1816, the bride, who was married once again, walked down the aisle in the Munich Court Chapel, but without the groom. He was represented by Charlotte's older brother Ludwig. It was not until the wedding ceremony in Vienna that the twenty-four-year-old bride and the forty-eight-year-old groom were united at the altar. The Bavarian princess was henceforth Empress of Austria.
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