Maria of Baden (1782-1808)

Maria was born on September 7, 1782 in Karlsruhe and was the fifth child and fifth daughter of Crown Prince Karl Ludwig of Baden and his wife Amalia Hesse-Darmstadt ^[3] . Her parents were cousins: the mother of Karl Ludwig, Carolina Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt , was the sister of Ludwig IX , the father of Amalia Hesse-Darmstadt. Maria’s grandmother by mother was Henrietta Carolina Pfalz-Birkenfeldskaya , and her grandfather by her father was the Grand Duke Karl Friedrich of Baden ^[1] . Maria was brought up with her sisters in a warm family environment and received a good education: the girl studied European languages ​​(in particular, French), geography, history, the basics of philosophy, German and world literature.

On November 1, 1802, in Karlsruhe, Princess Maria of Baden married the Duke of Friedrich Wilhelm Braunschweig-Wolfenbuttelsky , the fourth son of the Duke Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand Braunschweig-Wolfenbuttelsky and Princess Augusta of Hanover . Mary at the time of the wedding was nineteen, Frederick - thirty-one. Three children were born in the marriage ^[1] :

• Karl Friedrich August Wilhelm (October 30, 1804 - August 19, 1873) - Duke of Braunschweig ; single, had no children.
• Wilhelm August Ludwig Maximilian Friedrich (April 25, 1806 - October 18, 1884) - Duke of Braunschweig ; single, had no children.
• Stillborn Daughter (April 16, 1808)

In 1806, Maria's father-in-law fled from Napoleon’s troops to Altona , where he died from his wounds on November 10, received at the Battle of Auerstedt a month earlier. Mary, who was in Prenzlau at the time, visited Karl Wilhelm Friedrich with his mother-in-law on his deathbed, but when the French army moved towards Hamburg, the British ambassador advised them both to flee; Mary and Augustus were forced to abandon the dying duke. Women received an invitation to come to Sweden from King Gustav IV Adolf , Maria's son-in-law. Augusta chose to stay with her niece Louise Augusta of Denmark in Augustenborg ; Maria accepted the offer and, together with the children, joined the king and queen of Sweden in Malmö , where the royal family stayed without the royal court, since the country was at the time of the war ^[4] . The spouse of Mary received permission from the emperor to stay in Altona.

The brother of Mary, the Crown Prince of Baden , was married to Stephanie Beauharnais and was a supporter of Napoleon; during his sister’s flight to Sweden, he met with the emperor in Berlin. Napoleon refused to meet with Maria's spouse, but announced that he would be glad to see her herself; Karl wrote to his sister and asked him to come to Berlin to meet with the emperor, where she could act on behalf of her husband as ambassador of Braunschweig. Maria accepted the invitation and went alone to Berlin, but was stopped in Stralsund on the orders of her husband ^[5] , who believed that Napoleon was going to marry Maria to his brother Jerome ^[6] . Friedrich Wilhelm, as contemporaries believed, sincerely loved his wife and visited her incognito in Sweden twice, despite the fact that Sweden was considered Napoleon's enemy territory ^[7] . Mary returned to her sister in Malmö.

Living in Malmö away from the courtyard in Stockholm left a certain imprint on the royal family. Maria frankly missed and felt limited, being isolated from society; she found her son-in-law to be so strict and temperamental that she could hardly get along with him ^[8] . In May 1807, the pregnant queen Frederick left Malmö to give birth in the presence of the court. Maria was planning to leave with her sister, but Friedrich Wilhelm demanded the return of his wife to Germany ^[9] . In the same year, the Duchy of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel , owned by Friedrich Wilhelm, was included in the kingdom of Westphalia , which Jerome Bonaparte began to rule.

Soon after returning to her husband, Maria became pregnant. Childbirth was difficult and the child (girl) was born dead. Four days later, on April 20, 1808, Mary died of a fever in Bruchsal ^[1] .

• Hedvig Elisabet Charlotta . Hedvig Elisabeth Charlottas Dagbok: 1800-1806 / ed. Cecilia af Lewenhaupt Klercker. - PA Norstedt & Söner, 1936. - T. 7. - P. 471-484.
• Hedvig Elisabet Charlotta Holstein-Gottorf . Hedvig Elisabeth Charlottas Dagbok: 1807-1811 / ed. Cecilia af Lewenhaupt Klercker. - PA Norstedt & Söner, 1939. - T. 8. - P. 25-39.
• McNaughton, C. Arnold. The Book of Kings: A Royal Genealogy . - London: Garnstone Press, 1973. - T. 1. - P. 40. - 1508 p. - ISBN 0900391197 , 9780900391194.
• Weir, Alison. Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy . - Random House, 2011 .-- P. 278. - 400 p. - ISBN 1446449114 , 9781446449110.

• Marie Elisabeth Wilhelmine Prinzessin von Baden Thepeerage.com. Date of treatment October 24, 2015.
• Marie Elisabeth Wilhelmine von Baden (German) Stadt Braunschweig. Date of treatment October 24, 2015.