Princess Antoinette of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld

Antoinette Ernestine Amalie
Princess Antoinette, oil on canvas, 1794
Born	28 August 1779 Coburg, Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
Died	14 March 1824 (aged 44) Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Spouse	Duke Alexander of Württemberg
Issue	Marie, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Paul of Württemberg Alexander, Duke of Württemberg Ernest of Württemberg Frederick of Württemberg
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

Princess Antoinette of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (Antoinette Ernestine Amalie; 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, she was the second daughter of Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Countess Augusta Reuss-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-Ebersdorf and Karoline Ernestine von Erbach-Schönberg, and her paternal grandparents were Ernst Friedrich and Antoinette of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel.

Life

Princess Antoinette of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld as Duchess of Württemberg.

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, who was regarded as influential,^[1] 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

• Duchess Marie of Württemberg (1799–1860), who in 1832 married Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
• Duke Paul of Württemberg (1800–1801).
• Duke Alexander of Württemberg (1804–1881), Duke of Württemberg.
• Duke Ernest of Württemberg (1807–1868), who in 1860 married Nathalie Eschhorn von Grünhof (1829–1905). Their only daughter, Alexandra Nathalie Ernestine von Grünhof, married Robert von Keudell and had issue.
• Duke Frederick Wilhelm Ferdinand of Württemberg (29 April 1810 – 25 April 1815).

Notes

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.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Princess Antoinette of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld

16. John Ernest IV, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld               8. Francis Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld                       17. Charlotte Johanna of Waldeck-Wildungen               4. Ernest Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld                             18. Louis Frederick I, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt               9. Princess Anna Sophie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt                       19. Anna Sophie of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg               2. Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld                                   20. Ferdinand Albert I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg               10. Ferdinand Albert II, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg                       21. Christine of Hesse-Eschwege               5. Duchess Sophia Antonia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel                             22. Louis Rudolph, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg               11. Antonietta Amalie of Brunswick-Blankenburg                       23. Princess Christine Louise of Oettingen-Oettingen               1. Antoinette of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld                                         24. Heinrich X, Count of Reuss-Lobenstein               12. Heinrich XXIX, Count of Reuss-Ebersdorf                       25. Countess Erdmuthe Benigna of Solms-Laubach               6. Heinrich XXIV, Count of Reuss-Ebersdorf                             26. Wolfgang Dietrich, Count of Castell-Castell               13. Sophie Theodora of Castell-Remlingen                       27. Countess Dorothea Renata of Zinzendorf               3. Princess Augusta Reuss of Ebersdorf                                   28. Georg Albrecht II, Count of Erbach-Fürstenau               14. Georg August, Count of Erbach-Schönberg                       29. Countess Anna Dorothea Christine of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg               7. Karoline Ernestine of Erbach-Schönberg                             30. Ludwig Christian, Count of Stolberg-Gedern               15. Ferdinande Henriette, Countess of Stolbert-Gedern                       31. Duchess Christine of Mecklenburg-Güstrow

Bibliography

• von Wiebeking, Carl Friedrich. Biographie des Herzogs Alexander zu Württemberg. Munich, 1835.
• Sauer, Paul. "Alexander (I.)." In Das Haus Württemberg. Ein biographisches Lexikon, ed. Sönke Lorenz, Dieter Mertens, and Volker Press. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1997. ISBN 3-17-013605-4

External links

Media related to Princess Antoinette of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld at Wikimedia Commons