Prince Paul of Württemberg

Prince Paul
Born (1785-01-19)19 January 1785
St Petersburg, Russian Empire
Died 16 April 1852(1852-04-16) (aged 67)
Paris, France
Burial Ludwigsburg Palace Church
Spouse Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Hildburghausen
Magdalena Fausta Angela de Creus y Ximenes
Issue Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna of Russia
Prince Frederick
Prince Paul Friedrich
Pauline, Duchess of Nassau
Prince August
Full name
Paul Heinrich Karl Friedrich August
House House of Württemberg
Father Frederick I of Württemberg
Mother Augusta of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel

Prince Paul of Württemberg (Paul Heinrich Karl Friedrich August; 19 January 1785 – 16 April 1852) was the fourth child and second son of King Frederick I and his wife, Duchess Augusta of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.

Early life

Paul was born in St. Petersburg during a period when his father, not yet the ruler of Württemberg, was made governor of Old Finland by Catherine the Great in Russia. The couple had traveled to Russia to visit Frederick's sister Sophie, who was married to the heir to the Russian throne, the Tsesarevich Paul. Prince Paul's parents separated shortly after his birth. The marriage was unhappy, and there were allegations of abusive treatment of his mother. His mother was granted asylum by Catherine the Great and never returned to Württemberg. She died in exile in Koluvere, Estonia, in 1788. In 1797, Frederick married Charlotte, Princess Royal, eldest daughter of King George III of the United Kingdom, who supervised the education of Paul and his two surviving siblings, Wilhelm and Catharina. Charlotte regarded Paul as "a very comical boy and, in my partial eyes, his manners are like Adolphus [Charlotte's younger brother]."[1]

As Paul grew up, her opinion changed. During the visit of the Allied sovereigns to London in 1814, Paul, along with many other princes, was taken to visit the Ascot races by the Prince Regent. He behaved badly and got the Prince of Orange blind drunk. "For thirteen years he has done nothing but offend his father with the improprieties of his conduct", his stepmother wrote.[1]

Marriage and children

On 28 September 1805 in Ludwigsburg, Paul married Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Hildburghausen, second daughter of Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen. They had five children:

Later life

In 1815 Paul moved from his home in Stuttgart to Paris, leaving his wife and two sons, but taking his daughters with him. There he led a relatively modest life, but was frequently in the company of intellectuals such as Georges Cuvier. Paul's family did not approve of this and ordered him to return to Württemberg, but he refused.[2] While in Paris, he fathered two illegitimate daughters by mistresses.

Shortly after the death of his wife in 1847, Paul went to England with his long-term mistress Magdalena Fausta Angela de Creus (or Creux) y Ximenes or Madeleine Creux, the widow of Sir Sandford Whittingham KCB, and they were married in the Parish Church of St Nicholas, Brighton, Sussex, on 26 April 1848.[3] She died in Paris, 27 December 1852. Their daughter Pauline Madeleine Ximenes, who had been born in Paris 3 March 1825, was created Countess von Helfenstein in 1841. She married Count Gustave de Monttessuy in Paris on 24 August 1843 and died in Paris on 24 February 1905.[4]

Paul died in Paris aged 67.

Illegitimate daughter and issue

Shortly before his marriage, Paul had a mistress named Friederike Margrethe Porth (22 August 1776, Halberstadt - 9 June 1860, Frankfurt am Main). Friederike was the daughter of Johann Carl Porth (1748, Barchwitz, Silesia - 18 June 1794, Weimar) and his wife Caroline (c. 1752 - died after 1797, Weimar).

Paul and Friederike had a daughter named Karolina or Karoline von Rottenburg[5] (28 November 1805, Frankfurt am Main, - 13 February 1872, Frankfurt am Main,). On 16 February 1836 in Augsburg, Karoline married Karl, Baron von Pfeffel (22 November 1811, Dresden - 25 January 1890, Munich).

Karoline and Karl had at least one son Hubert, Baron von Pfeffel, born in Munich on 8 December 1843, who married Helene von Rivière, born on 14 January 1862.

Hubert and Helene had one daughter, Marie Luise, Baroness von Pfeffel, who was born in Paris on 15 August 1882, and married Stanley F. Williams of Bromley, Kent.

Marie and Stanley's daughter Irene Williams married Osman Ali Wilfred Kemal, alias Wilfred Johnson, born in 1909 at Bournemouth, Dorset. Osman was the son of Ali Kemal Bey (1867 - 6 November 1922, İzmit), sometime Interior Minister of Turkey, by his first wife Winifred Brun.

Irene and Wilfred's son, Stanley Patrick Johnson (born 18 August 1940 in Penzance, Cornwall), married firstly Charlotte Fawcett, daughter of Sir James Fawcett (1913–1991). They had four children before they were divorced. Wilfred later married Jennifer Kidd and had two further children. Charlotte later married American academic Nicholas Wahl. The four children born to Stanley and Charlotte are:

Ancestry

References

  1. 1 2 Fraser, Flora (2007). Princesses — The Six Daughters of George III. London: John Murray. p. 196. ISBN 0-7195-6109-4.
  2. ↑ Zeepvat, Charlotte (2006). Romanov Autumn. Stroud: Sutton. pp. 21–22. ISBN 0-7509-4418-8.
  3. ↑ Family Tree Magazine, volume 21, no. 4 (February 2005) page 14, and no. 8 (July 2005) page 22.
  4. ↑ Michel Huberty, Alain Giraud and F. & B. Magdelaine, L'Allemagne Dynastique, volume 2 (1979) pages 504-7, Note 17a.
  5. ↑ Lea Thies: Londons OB entdeckt berühmte Verwandtschaft. Augsburger Allgemeine, 27 August 2008, website in German language
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