Frederica of Baden (German: Frederica Dorothea Wilhelmina; 12 March 1781 – 25 September 1826) was Queen of Sweden from 1797 to 1809 as the consort of King Gustav IV Adolf.
Frederica was the fourth of eight children (including six daughters) to Charles Louis, Hereditary Prince of Baden, the only surviving legitimate son of Charles Frederick, Margrave (and later Grand Duke) of Baden, and Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt.
In 1797, at the age of sixteen, she married King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden, and they had five children, but the marriage was otherwise unsuccessful. Despite being admired for her beauty, she made a poor impression due to her reserved nature. Frederica was shocked by and disliked the promiscuous Swedish court.
By 1809, the political atmosphere at the Swedish court had become unstable, and King Gustaf was captured in Stockholm during the Coup of 1809, the day after leaving his wife and children at the Haga Palace, and imprisoned then deposed in favor of his uncle, now King Charles XIII. Frederica later joined her husband, and their relationship improved. Her son Gustav, however, was removed from the succession and the former royal family was forced to go into exile.
In exile, the formal royal couple's relationship took a turn for the worse; they divorced in 1812, despite Frederica's resistance, and after several attempts at reconciliation.
Her final years were spent in poor health, and she died of heart disease in 1826, at the age of 45. She had been in exile for over fifteen years.
Life
Early life
Friederike Wilhelmina Dorothea of Baden was born at Karlsruhe Palace in the Margraviate of Baden on 12 March 1781 as the daughter of Karl Ludwig of Baden and Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt. Already as a child, she was described as a beauty, but she was also reported to have a weak constitution, having had rheumatism from the age of 2.
Because her maternal aunt Natalia Alexeievna had been the first wife of Tsarevich Paul of Russia, empress Catherine the Great considered early on to choose one of them as a bride for her eldest grandson, Grand Duke Alexander of Russia.
In October 1797, Frederica of Baden married King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden. The marriage had been arranged by Gustav IV Adolf himself, after he had refused to marry first Duchess Louise Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, since his desired marriage to Ebba Modée had been refused him, and second the Russian Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna, because her proposed marriage contract would have allowed Alexandra to keep her Orthodox faith. Frederica was seen as a suitable choice: Russia could not officially disapprove a new bride after the Russian Grand Duchess had been refused if the bride was the sister-in-law of Grand Duke Alexander, which indirectly preserved an alliance between Sweden and Russia,
thumb|left|Frederica's and Gustav Adolf's coronation medal.
Queen Frederica was crowned with her spouse in Norrköping 3 April 1800. The royal couple did not participate much in representation and preferred an intimate family life in the small Haga Palace, where they isolated themselves from court life with a small entourage. Frederica amused the king by her skillful clavichord playing, was reportedly joyful in the company of her small circle of friends, especially in the absence of the monarch, and devoted herself to the upbringing of her children. She kept in close correspondence with her family, and in 1801 welcomed her parents, who visited Sweden after having been in Russia to see her sister. During this visit she was reportedly reproached by her mother for her stiff and distant behavior in public and not being able to make herself popular. The visit ended in tragedy when her father died when his carriage skidded off the icy road and overturned.
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|1= 1. Frederica of Baden
|2= 2. Charles Louis, Hereditary Prince of Baden
|3= 3. Landgravine Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt
|4= 4. Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Baden
|5= 5. Landgravine Karoline Luise of Hesse-Darmstadt
|6= 6. Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt
|7= 7. Countess Palatine Caroline of Zweibrücken
|8= 8. Friedrich, Hereditary Prince of Baden-Durlach
|9= 9. Princess Amalia of Nassau-Dietz
|10= 10. Louis VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt
|11= 11. Charlotte of Hanau-Lichtenberg
|12= 12. Louis VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (=10)
|13= 13. Charlotte of Hanau-Lichtenberg (=11)
|14= 14. Christian III, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken
|15= 15. Caroline of Nassau-Saarbrücken
Notes
References
- (search for all versions on WorldCat)