Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach

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Charles Frederick
Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
Reign14 June 1828 — 8 July 1853
PredecessorCharles Augustus
SuccessorCharles Alexander
Born(1783-02-02)2 February 1783
Weimar
Died8 July 1853(1853-07-08) (aged 70)
Schloss Belvedere, Weimar
Burial
Spouse
Issue
HouseSaxe-Weimar-Eisenach
FatherCharles Augustus, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
MotherPrincess Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt
ReligionLutheranism

Charles Frederick (German: Karl Friedrich; 2 February 1783 – 8 July 1853) was the reigning Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.

Biography[edit]

Born in Weimar, he was the eldest son of Charles Augustus, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and Luise Auguste of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Charles Frederick succeeded his father as Grand Duke when the latter died in 1828. His capital, Weimar, continued to be a cultural center of Central Europe, even after the death of Goethe in 1832. Johann Nepomuk Hummel made his career in Weimar as Kapellmeister until his death in 1837. Franz Liszt settled in Weimar in 1848 as Kapellmeister and gathered about him a circle that kept the Weimar court a major musical centre. Due to the intervention of Liszt, the composer Richard Wagner found refuge in Weimar after he was forced to flee Saxony for his role in the revolutionary disturbances there in 1848-49. Wagner's opera Lohengrin was first performed in Weimar in August 1850.

Charles Frederick died at Schloss Belvedere, Weimar, in 1853 and was buried in the Weimarer Fürstengruft.

Family and children[edit]

Obverse of a Charles Frederick thaler, 1841.

In St. Petersburg on 3 August 1804, Charles Frederick married the Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia, daughter of Emperor Paul I.[1][2] They had four children:

Ancestry[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ The Edinburgh almanack, or Universal Scots and imperial register. Printed by Oliver & Boyd. 1833.
  2. ^ A hand-book for travellers on the continent. J. Murray. 1838.
Regnal titles
Preceded by Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
1828–1853
Succeeded by