Charles I of Württemberg

Charles (Template:Langx; 6 March 1823Template:Spaced ndash6 October 1891) was the third King of Württemberg from 25 June 1864 until his death in 1891.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Born into the House of Württemberg, Charles was the only son of King William I and Queen Pauline Therese of Württemberg, and ascended to the throne upon his father's death in 1864. More liberal-leaning than his father, he restored freedom of the press and association in 1864, followed by an electoral reform in 1868 that expanded suffrage. In foreign policy, he initially aligned with Austria during the Austro-Prussian War but later sided with Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War, joining the new German Empire under Prussian dominance in 1870.

Charles I married Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia in 1846. The couple had no children, likely due to Charles' homosexuality, and in 1870, the couple adopted Olga's niece, Grand Duchess Vera Konstantinovna. In the later years of his reign, the king, increasingly tired of office, withdraw into private life. Charles was involved in several scandals due to his sexual orientation, including a close relationship with American Charles Woodcock. As he died childless, he was succeeded by his nephew, King William II.

Early life

Queen Pauline Therese with her son, Crown Prince Charles. Portrait by Joseph Karl Stieler, Template:Circa 1825.

Charles was born on 6 March 1823 in Stuttgart, the capital of the Kingdom of Württemberg, as the only son of King William I and his third wife Queen Pauline Therese (1800–1873).<ref name="NDB269">Template:NDB</ref> As the reigning king's eldest son he was Crown Prince of Württemberg from birth.

His father's first wife had been Princess Caroline Augusta, daughter of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and Princess Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt. After their 1814 divorce, without issue, he had married his first cousin, Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna of Russia, daughter of Emperor Paul I of Russia and Princess Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg. Catherine died in 1819 after having two daughters, Princess Marie Friederike Charlotte of Württemberg (wife of Alfred, Count von Neipperg) and Princess Sophie of Württemberg (wife of King William III of the Netherlands). From his parents marriage, he had two sisters, Princess Catherine (who married Prince Frederick of Württemberg) and Princess Augusta (wife of Prince Hermann of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach).

Portrait of Crown Prince Charles, by Franz Seraph Stirnbrand, 1835

His paternal grandparents were King Frederick I of Württemberg and Augusta of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (a daughter of Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick and Princess Augusta of Great Britain, elder sister to King George III). His grandmother's younger sister, Princess Caroline married King George IV. His maternal grandparents were Duke Louis of Württemberg and Princess Henrietta of Nassau-Weilburg.

The young Crown Prince received his first education from private tutors at home.<ref name="NDB269"/> He then studied military science at the military academy in Ludwigsburg in 1838–1839, followed by academic studies at the universities of Berlin and Tübingen.<ref name="NDB269"/><ref name=ADB57>Template:Cite ADB</ref>

Reign

Portrait of Charles I, by Richard Lauchert, c. 1867

Charles acceded to the throne of Württemberg upon his father's death on 25 June 1864 and was crowned on 12 July 1864. More liberal-leaning than his father, he replaced Chief Minister Joseph von Linden with Karl von Varnbüler, and restored freedom of the press and association on 24 December 1864 followed by universal suffrage introduced for the People's Deputies of the Second Chamber on 26 March 1868.

In relation to foreign policy, after siding with Austria in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, he moved closer to the Kingdom of Prussia. Following the Battle of Sadowa, he enacted a secret military treaty with Prussia (which became public in 1867) and recognized the dissolution of the German Confederation in 1866. Nevertheless, an anti-Prussian attitude was officially represented by the Court, the government and the people.

Because of the alliance, Württemberg took Prussia's side in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 to 1871. At the end of October 1870 the king withdrew to Friedrichshafen and in October 1870, signed one of the November treaties, joining the North German Confederation which began on 1 January 1871 and renamed itself the German Empire.<ref>Template:AmCyc</ref> He was represented at the Palace of Versailles at the Proclamation of the German Empire by his cousin, Prince August of Württemberg.

The King showed a tendency to withdraw into private life in other ways, going around the country and, later, spending time in Nice. In doing so, he was accused of having neglected the obligations incumbent on him as a constitutional body, including by having up to 800 unsigned documents accumulate in one case. On the one hand, it was a nuisance for the administration, but on the other hand it was also convenient for the government who was largely able to rule without interference from the King.

As a result of Württemberg being a Federal State of the German Empire since 1871, there were considerable restrictions on its sovereignty. Württemberg lost its previous international position, but gained greater security both internally and externally. Postal and telegraph services, financial sovereignty, cultural maintenance and railway administration remained in Württemberg hands, and the Kingdom of Württemberg also had its own military administration.

Personal life

Crown Princess Olga, by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, 1856.

On 18 January 1846, aged 22, he became engaged in Palermo to the 23-year-old Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia, the daughter of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia and Charlotte of Prussia (a daughter of King Frederick William III of Prussia and sister to William I, German Emperor).<ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> Olga was Charles' second cousin, as Olga's grandmother, Empress Maria Feodorovna, was the younger sister of Charles' grandfather, King Frederick. They married on 13 July 1846 at Peterhof Palace in Petergof, Saint Petersburg. On 23 September, they held their official entry into Württemberg's capital Stuttgart to great cheers from the population.

Kronprinzenpalais, 1845

Villa Berg

After their wedding, the young couple settled in Württemberg. From 1854 until Charles' accession in 1864, they lived at the Crown Prince Palace (Template:Langx) in Stuttgart, built between 1846 and 1850 at state expense at Königstraße, on the corner of the Schloßplatz (which was demolished in Template:Circa). For their summer residence, the crown prince couple stayed at Villa Berg, a newly built villa on the outskirts of city. It was designed by the German architect Christian Friedrich von Leins according to the couple's own ideas and is considered one of the first Renaissance Revival style buildings in Germany.

The couple had no children, perhaps because of Charles' homosexuality,<ref name=thomsen>Sabine Thomsen. Die württembergischen Königinnen. Charlotte Mathilde, Katharina, Pauline, Olga, Charlotte – ihr Leben und Wirken [The Queens of Wuerttemberg: Charlotte Matilde, Katharina, Pauline, Olga, Charlotte – Their Lives and Legacies]. Silberburg-Verlag, 2006.</ref> and, in 1870, Olga and Charles I adopted Olga's niece Vera Konstantinovna, the daughter of her brother Grand Duke Konstantin.

After a stay at Bebenhausen Palace where he spent his autumns at Bebenhausen (and had tasked architect Template:Ill with renovating the palace's rooms),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> he returned to Stuttgart on 3 October 1891, three days before his death on 6 October 1891.<ref name="1891Obit">Template:Cite news</ref> He was succeeded as King of Württemberg by his nephew, William II.<ref name="1921King">Template:Cite news</ref> His wife died a year later, on 30 October 1892, and was buried together with him in the Old Castle in Stuttgart.<ref name="1891Funeral">Template:Cite news</ref>

Homosexuality

Charles Woodcock reads in Nice to Queen Olga of Württemberg in the arm chair and two ladies-in-waiting

Charles I became the object of scandal several times for his closeness with various men. A first "intimate" long-standing "heart friendship" was with his adjutant general, Baron Wilhelm von Spitzemberg. Another friend was Richard Jackson of Cincinnati, the secretary of the U.S. Consulate. Charles' most notorious relationship was with the American Charles Woodcock, a 30-year-old he met in 1883. The King made Woodcock his chamberlain and even elevated him as to Freiherr von Woodcock-Savage in 1888.<ref>Jette Sachs-Colignon. Königin Olga von Württemberg, Stieglitz, 2002. </ref><ref>[Mann für Mann, Bernd-Ulrich Hergemöller, Pages 409, 410]</ref> Charles I and Charles Woodcock became inseparable, going so far as to appear together in public dressed identically. It was less the king's homosexuality than the fact that Woodcock used his position to exercise significant influence over the king's personnel decisions that became a scandal. This did not go unnoticed by the press, and together with the political establishment, headed by Prime Minister Hermann von Mittnacht, the King was put under intense pressure to give up Woodcock. In 1889, however, Charles found a new friend in Wilhelm Georges, the technical director of the royal theater. The relationship with Georges lasted until the King's death two years later.<ref name=thomsen />

Arms

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  Royal Monogram of King Charles I of Württemberg
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  Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Württemberg, 1817
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  Royal Monogram of King Charles I of Württemberg, Variant

References

Bibliography

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Primary sources

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In fiction

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External links

• Karl von Wurttemberg, King Charles of Wurttemberg, 1866 at Marshall University