Princess Charlotte of Württemberg
| Princess Charlotte | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna of Russia | |||||
Elena Pavlovna in 1840, painted by Vladimir Ivanovich Hau | |||||
| Born | 9 January 1807 Stuttgart, Kingdom of Württemberg, Confederation of the Rhine | ||||
| Died | 2 February 1873 (aged 66) Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire | ||||
| Burial | Peter and Paul Cathedral, Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire | ||||
| Spouse | |||||
| Issue | Grand Duchess Maria Elizabeth, Duchess of Nassau Catherine, Duchess Georg of Mecklenburg-Strelitz Grand Duchess Alexandra Grand Duchess Anna | ||||
| |||||
| House | Württemberg | ||||
| Father | Prince Paul of Württemberg | ||||
| Mother | Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Hildburghausen | ||||
Princess Charlotte of Württemberg (9 January 1807 – 2 February [O.S. 21 January] 1873), later known as Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, was the wife of Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich of Russia, the youngest son of Paul I of Russia and Duchess Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg.
Early life
She was born in Stuttgart, as Princess Charlotte of Württemberg, the eldest daughter of Prince Paul of Württemberg and of Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Hildburghausen. As a child, Charlotte lived in Paris with her father and her younger sister Pauline. Their home was quite modest by royal standards. In Paris, Charlotte came under the tutelage of several intellectuals.
Marriage and issue
In 1822, she became engaged to Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich of Russia, her first cousin once removed (Mikhail's mother was her father's aunt). It was said that Charlotte was an exceptional girl, highly intelligent and mature for her age of 15.[1] The Grand Duke was obviously impressed by her beauty and her poise, and during a reception held in her honor, she charmed all the guests with her conversations.[1] On 17 December 1823, she was received into the Russian Orthodox Church and was given the name Elena Pavlovna.[2] On 20 February 1824, the couple married in Saint Petersburg and settled in the Mikhailovsky Palace. When the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna died in 1828, the palace of Pavlovsk passed on to Mikhail and he and Elena visited it often. Their marriage was not a happy one: Mikhail's only passion was for the army, and he neglected Elena. Nevertheless, he and Elena had five daughters, only three of whom lived to adulthood:
- Grand Duchess Maria Mikhailovna of Russia (9 March 1825, Moscow – 19 November 1846, Vienna); died unmarried.
- Grand Duchess Elizabeth Mikhailovna of Russia (26 May 1826, Moscow – 28 January 1845, Wiesbaden); married Adolf, Duke of Nassau and died in childbirth.
- Grand Duchess Catherine Mikhailovna of Russia (28 August 1827 – 12 May 1894), married Duke Georg August of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
- Grand Duchess Alexandra Mikhailovna of Russia (28 January 1831, Moscow – 27 March 1832, Moscow), died in childhood
- Grand Duchess Anna Mikhailovna of Russia (27 October 1834, Moscow – 22 March 1836, Saint Petersburg), died in childhood
Influence at court and in society
The Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna became a close friend of her brother-in-law, Emperor Alexander I of Russia (r. 1801–1825) and of his wife the Empress Elizabeth Alexeievna (died 1826). She was also quick to befriend the shy Maria Alexandrovna, who married the then Tsarevich Alexander in 1841. After Elena Pavlovna's husband died in 1849, she became a patron of several charitable organizations and of the arts. She founded the Saint Petersburg Conservatoire and co-founded (1854) a group of nursing sisters (Society of the Sisters of Mercy) which would eventually become the forerunner of the Red Cross in Russia. During her time in Russia she became known as the "family intellectual",[3] and was considered the most exceptional woman in the imperial family since Catherine the Great (r. 1762–1796).[4] She founded the Russian Musical Society (1859) and the Russian Conservatoire (1862), and was liberal on the issue of serfdom. She helped to push her nephew Alexander II to abolish serfdom[5] while he stayed with her.[6]
As a patroness of the composer Anton Rubinstein (1829-1894), she commissioned some of his early operas: Fomka the Fool (Russian: Фомка-дурачок, 1853), The Siberian Hunters (Russian: Сибирские охотники, 1852), and Vengeance (Russian: Месть, 1852/1853).[7]
Elena Pavlovna died in Saint Petersburg at the age of 66.
Ancestry
| Ancestors of Princess Charlotte of Württemberg |
|---|
Bibliography
- Lincoln, W. Bruce. The Romanovs: Autocrats of All the Russias. 1983
- Sebag Montefiore, Simon. The Romanovs: 1613-1918. 2016. Knopf Publishing Group.
- Taylor, Philip S., Anton Rubinstein: A Life in Music, Indianapolis, 2007
- Zeepvat, Charlotte. Romanov Autumn. 2001
References
- ^ a b Zeepvat, p. 19.
- ^ Zeepvat, p. 20.
- ^
Radzinsky, Edvard Stanislavovich (14 November 2006) [2005]. "How to Bring Up a Caesar". Alexander II: The Last Great Tsar. Translated by Bouis, Antonina W. New York: Simon and Schuster. pp. 73–74. ISBN 9780743284264. Retrieved 21 February 2026.
Elena Pavlovna (as she became known after her conversion to Orthodoxy) was brilliantly talented. She learned Russian during the journey to St. Petersburg, and then managed to read in Russian all three volumes of Karamzin's History of the Russian State. [...] She was the only one permitted to argue (very delicately, of course) with the tsar [Nicholas I], and he would hear her out, albeit mockingly. He dubbed her 'the family scholar.'
- ^
Compare:
O'Rourke, Shane (12 September 2023). Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, Princess Isabel and the Ending of Servile Labour in Russia and Brazil. Anthem Impact. London: Anthem Press. p. https://books.google.com/books?id=pKLQEAAAQBAJ&pg=PT28. ISBN 9781839983184. Retrieved 21 February 2026.
[...] the ambiguities in the demands placed on royal women opened up spaces for them if they desired and possessed the intelligence and strength of character to do so. Elena had Catherine the Great as an example and the comparison was frequently made when she first arrived in Russia. One eyewitness of her first weeks in Russia enthused, 'Looking at her, I imagined that Catherine II, most likely, behaved in such a way when she was brought to the court of Elizaveta Petrovna.'
- ^
Soroka, Marina; Ruud, Charles A. (9 March 2016) [2015]. "The Era of Reforms". Becoming a Romanov. Grand Duchess Elena of Russia and her World (1807–1873) (reprint ed.). London: Routledge. p. 261. ISBN 9781317175872. Retrieved 21 February 2026.
[On 26 July 1861] [a] British diplomat [Lord Augustus Loftus] reported to his chief [Lord Russell]]: 'I am told that she [Elena Pavlovna] exercises great influence over the Emperor Alexander and that it had been her who has kept him up to the execution of the Liberation of the serfs.'
- ^ Sebag Montefiore, Simon (28 January 2016). The Romanovs: 1613-1918. Hachette UK (published 2016). p. 546. ISBN 9781474600279. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
- ^ Taylor (2007), 39.