Maria Feodorovna (Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg)
Maria Feodorovna (Russian: Мария Фёдоровна; née Duchess Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg; 25 October 1759 – 5 November 1828 [OS 24 October]) became Empress of Russia as the second wife of Emperor Paul I. She founded the Office of the Institutions of Empress Maria.
This article is about Maria Feodorovna, the second wife of Tsar Paul I. For Maria Feodorovna, the wife of Tsar Alexander III, see Maria Feodorovna (Dagmar of Denmark).Maria Feodorovna
17 November 1796 – 23 March 1801
5 April 1797
Duchess Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg
25 October 1759
Stettin, Kingdom of Prussia
(today Szczecin, Poland)
5 November 1828 (aged 69)
Winter Palace, Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
- Alexander I of Russia
- Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich
- Alexandra, Archduchess Joseph of Austria and Palatina of Hungary
- Elena Pavlovna, Hereditary Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
- Maria Pavlovna, Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
- Catherine Pavlovna, Queen of Württemberg
- Grand Duchess Olga Pavlovna
- Anna Pavlovna, Queen of the Netherlands
- Nicholas I of Russia
- Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich
Württemberg
Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov (by marriage)
Russian Orthodox
prev. Lutheranism
Daughter of Duke Frederick Eugene of Württemberg and Princess Friederike of Brandenburg-Schwedt, Sophie Dorothea belonged to a junior branch of the House of Württemberg and grew up in Montbéliard, receiving an excellent education for her time. After Grand Duke Paul (the future Paul I of Russia) became a widower in 1776, King Frederick II of Prussia (Sophie Dorothea's maternal great-uncle) and Empress Catherine II of Russia chose Sophie Dorothea as the ideal candidate to become Paul's second wife. In spite of her fiancé's difficult character, she developed a long, peaceful relationship with Paul and converted to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1776, adopting the name Maria Feodorovna. During the long reign (1762–1796) of her mother-in-law, she sided with her husband and lost the initial affection the reigning Empress had for her. The couple were completely excluded from any political influence, as mother and son mistrusted each other. They were forced to live in isolation at Gatchina Palace, where they had many children together.
After her husband ascended the Russian throne in 1796, Maria Feodorovna had a considerable and beneficial influence during his four-year reign. On the night of Paul I's assassination (23 March [O.S. 11 March] 1801), she thought to imitate her mother-in-law's example and claim the throne, but her son, the future Emperor Alexander I, dissuaded her. She instead instituted the precedence whereby the Empress dowager out-ranked the reigning monarch's wife, a system unique to the Russian court. Clever, purposeful and energetic, Maria Feodorovna founded and managed all the Empire's charitable establishments, re-modelled the palaces of Gatchina and Pavlovsk, and encouraged foreign links directed against Napoleon I of France. She often gave political counsel to her children, who held her in great respect. The imperial family deeply mourned her death, and her successors regarded her as a role model.
Archives[edit]
Maria Feodorovna's letters to her brother, Frederick I of Württemberg, are preserved in the State Archive of Stuttgart (Hauptstaatsarchiv Stuttgart) in Stuttgart, Germany,[20][21][22][23] as well as her correspondence with other family members.[24] Maria Feodorovna's correspondence with her parents, Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg, and Friederike of Brandenburg-Schwedt, written between 1776 and 1797, is also preserved in the State Archive of Stuttgart.[25] In addition, Maria Feodorovna's letters to Friedrich Freiherrn von Maucler and his wife Luise Sophie Eleonore LeFort are also preserved in the State Archive of Stuttgart.[26]