Duchess Charlotte Friederike of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

Duchess Charlotte Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (4 December 1784 – 13 July 1840), was the first wife of Christian VIII from 1806 until 1810, before he became King of Norway and later King of Denmark. She was a daughter of Frederick Francis I, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg.

Life Early life

Duchess Charlotte Frederica was born on 4 December 1784 in Ludwigslust in Mecklenburg as the seventh and penultimate surviving child of the later Grand Duke Frederick Francis I of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg.

Duchess Charlotte Frederikke grew up with her siblings at her parents' court in Mecklenburg. She was a lively child, who was never bothered by strict educators, did what suited her regardless of formalities, found friends among the servants, and dressed in variegated clothing, contrary to the customs of the times.

Marriage During a long voyage to Germany in 1804, her cousin, the Danish Prince Christian Frederick of Denmark (later King Christian VIII), stayed for a longer time at his uncle's court in Schwerin, where he fell in love with his cousin, Duchess Charlotte Frederica, who was two years older than him. They married two years later, on 21 June 1806 in Ludwigslust in Mecklenburg.

Portrait of Charlotte Frederica by Carl Frederik von Breda, 1806. The young couple initially settled at Plön Castle in the Duchy of Holstein. It was here, that Charlotte Frederica gave birth to their first-born son, Prince Christian Frederick, who was born and died on 8 April 1807. From 1808 the couple lived in Copenhagen, where they took residence at Levetzau's Palace, an 18th-century town house which forms part of the Amalienborg Palace complex in the district Frederiksstaden in central Copenhagen.

Ancestry