Princess Antoinette of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld explained

Spouse:Duke Alexander of Württemberg
Issue:
Full Name:Antoinette Ernestine Amalie
House:House of Wettin (by birth)
House of Württemberg (by marriage)
Father:Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
Mother:Countess Augusta of Reuss-Ebersdorf
Birth Date:28 August 1779
Birth Place:Coburg, Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
Death Place:Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire

Princess Antoinette Ernestine Amalie of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (28 August 1779 – 14 March 1824) was a German princess of the House of Wettin. By marriage, she was a Duchess of Württemberg. Through her eldest surviving son, she is the ancestress of today's (Catholic) House of Württemberg.

Born in Coburg, Antoinette was the second daughter of Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and Countess Augusta Reuss of Ebersdorf. She was also the elder sister of King Leopold I of Belgium and the aunt of both Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert. Her maternal grandparents were Heinrich XXIV, Count Reuss of Ebersdorf, and Countess Karoline Ernestine of Erbach-Schönberg, and her paternal grandparents were Ernest Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and Duchess Sophie Antoinette of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.

Life

In Coburg on 17 November 1798, she married Alexander of Württemberg. The couple settled in Russia, where Alexander, as a maternal uncle of both Emperors Alexander I and Nicholas I made a military and diplomatic career.

Antoinette was regarded as influential,[1] and was bearer of the Grand Cross of the Imperial Russian Order of Saint Catherine.[2]

Antoinette died in St. Petersburg. She was buried in the Ducal crypt of Schloss Friedenstein in Gotha, where her husband and sons Paul and Frederick found their final resting place.

According to Queen Louise of Prussia, Antoinette could have had an illegitimate child. Her brother George wrote on 18 May 1802: "[...] The Württemberg couple didn't speak to each other in 2 years, but she was with child and certainly the father was some Herr von Höbel, a Canon. I know all this from the Duke of Weimar, and is holy true."[3]

Issue

Bibliography

Notes and References

  1. Charles Grey: Die Jugendjahre des Prinzen Albert von Sachsen-Coburg-Gotha, Perthes, 1868, p. 4.
  2. Königlich-Württembergisches Hof- und Staats-Handbuch, Guttenberg, 1824, p. 10. online
  3. Königin Luise von Preußen: Briefe und Aufzeichnungen 1786-1810. Kunstverlag, 2010, p. 188.