Mariya Feodorovna (; 25 October 1759 – ), born Duchess Sophie Dorothee of Württemberg (Sophie Marie Dorothee Auguste Luise), became Empress of Russia as the second wife of Emperor Paul I. She founded the Office of the Institutions of Empress Maria.
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 Dorothee 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 Mariya 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, Mariya Feodorovna had a considerable and beneficial influence during his four-year reign. On the night of Paul I's assassination (), 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 Russian 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.
Childhood
Sophie Marie Dorothee Auguste Luise was born on 25 October 1759 in Stettin, Kingdom of Prussia (now Poland). She was the eldest daughter of the eight children born from Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg, and Princess Friederike of Brandenburg-Schwedt, niece of King Frederick II of Prussia. In 1769, her family took up residence in the ancestral castle at Montbéliard, then an exclave of the Duchy of Württemberg, today part of Franche-Comté.Massie, Suzanne, Pavlovsk, p. 8. The family's summer residence was situated at Étupes.
Montbéliard not only was the seat of the junior branch of the House of Württemberg, but a cultural center frequented by many intellectual and political figures. Sophie Dorothea's education was better than average, to the point that she cultivated her skills with great enthusiasm. By the age of 16, she was well-versed in mathematics and architecture, as well as fluent in German, French, Italian, and Latin. She was brought up according to French etiquette as custom of that era, but with German bourgeois simplicity. She was known to be thoughtful, organized, strong-willed, constant, and tender.Waliszewski, Kazimierz, Paul the First, p. 17.
In 1773, Sophie Dorothea was among the group of German princesses considered as possible wives of the heir to the Russian throne, the future Tsar Paul I. However, Sophie was not yet 14 years old at the time and thus Wilhelmina Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt, a princess of a more appropriate age, was chosen instead. At the age of 16, Sophie Dorothea became tall, buxom and rosy-cheeked with a sunny disposition, although extremely shortsighted and inclined to be stout. She was engaged to Prince Louis of Hesse, the brother of the Tsarevich's first wife.
Grand Duchess
Engagement After the Tsarevich became a widower in 1776, Frederick II of Prussia proposed his grandniece as the ideal candidate to be Paul's second wife. Russian Empress, Catherine II, was delighted with the idea: The Princess of Württemberg shared with her not only a similar education, but also the same original name and place of birth. When her mother lamented the unfortunate destiny of some Russian sovereigns, a pleased Sophie Dorothea replied that her only concern was to make her way in her new country quickly and successfully. Her former fiancé received a monetary compensation when the engagement was broken.
Sophie and Paul met for the first time at a state dinner given in honour of his arrival in Berlin. Having learned that her fiancé's tastes were serious, she spoke about geometry during their first interview. The next day, she wrote a glowing letter to a friend in which she declared that "I am more than content. The Grand Duke could not be more kind. I pride myself on the fact that my dear bridegroom loves me a great deal, and this makes me very, very fortunate." Paul was as happy with the young princess as she was with him and wrote to his mother that: "I found my intended to be such as I could have dreamed of. She is shapely, intelligent, quick-witted, and not at all shy."Lincoln, W. Bruce, The Romanovs: Autocrats of All the Russias, p. 367.
First years By early fall, Sophie fell in love with her future husband. "I cannot go to bed, my dear and adored Prince, without telling you once again that I love and adore you madly," she wrote to Paul. Soon after arriving at St Petersburg, she converted to the Russian Orthodox Church, took the name "Maria Feodorovna,"See Feodorovna as a Romanov patronymic and was granted the title Grand Duchess of Russia, with the style Imperial Highness. The wedding took place on 26 September 1776. Despite Paul's difficult and often tyrannical character, Maria Feodorovna never changed her feelings. Her even temper and patience were instrumental in knowing how to deal with a difficult husband and moderate the extreme elements in his character. She wrote to a friend: "My dear husband is a perfect angel and I love him to distraction."Massie, Suzanne, Pavlovsk, p. 12.
As Grand Duchess, Maria Feodorovna possessed such parsimony that she was prepared to spend the whole day in full dress without fatigue and implacably imposed the same burden on her entourage. She didn't hesitate to take over the clothes of her husband's first wife and dispute with her ladies-in-waiting the defunct Natalia's slippers. At the beginning, Catherine II was enchanted with her daughter-in-law, about whom she wrote to a friend: "I confess to you that I am infatuated with this charming Princess, but literally infatuated. She is precisely what one would have wished: the figure of a nymph, a lily and rose complexion, the loveliest skin in the world, tall and well built; she is grateful; sweetness, kindnesses and innocence are reflected in her face."Troyat, Henri, Catherine the Great, p. 268
However, the relationship between the two women quickly turned sour: Maria Feodorovna sided with her neglected husband in the family's acrimony and despite her good intentions to ease the difficult situation, meddling only aggravated their differences. In December 1777, she gave birth to the first of her ten children, future Tsar Alexander I. Just three months later, Catherine II took the newborn to raise him without interference from the parents. When a second son was born in April 1779, she did the same thing. This caused bitter animosity with Maria, who was only allowed weekly visits with Paul. For the next four years, the couple didn't have any more children. Deprived of her sons, Maria occupied herself by decorating Pavlovsk Palace, Catherine's gift to celebrate the birth of her first grandson.
European tour Tired of being excluded in political affairs, Paul and Maria asked Catherine for permission to travel abroad to Western Europe. In September 1781, under the pseudonyms of "the Count and Countess Severny", the Tsarevich and his wife set off on a journey that lasted fourteen months and took them to Poland, Austria, Italy, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany. Paris made a special impression on the couple, who visited King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette. While Louis got along well with Paul, Marie Antoinette felt intimidated and nervous when she met Maria, a known intellectual who exhibited confidence. The conversation would turn lively later and the queen gave the grand duchess a toilette set with the Württemberg arms printed on it.Ragsdale, Hugh, Tsar Paul and the Question of Madness, p. 19. In Austria, Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II compared Maria with her husband and found her superior.
During their visit to Italy, the couple proved to be much in love since Paul could not stop giving kisses in public to his wife, surprising their travelling companions. On their way back to Saint Petersburg, Maria went to Württemberg to visit her parents. At the end of 1782, the couple returned to Russia and devoted their attention to Pavlovsk Palace, where Maria gave birth to Alexandra Pavlovna, the first of six daughters she would bear during the next twelve years. To celebrate Alexandra's birth, Catherine II gave them the Palace of Gatchina, which would occupy their attention until they were called to the throne. She let the parents raise their daughters and younger sons. From then on the Russian Imperial house would be a large family.
Last years During the long years of Catherine's reign, Maria and Paul were forced to live in isolation in Gatchina with a tight income. Unlike the Romanovs, Maria was frugal, a rare virtue in a princess of that time only developed because of her large family that for a long time was only a minor royal branch. She continued to beautify Pavlovsk, dedicated herself to charitable work among its inhabitants, planned theatrical events for her husband, who delighted in that amusement, and participated in musical evenings for family and friends in which she adeptly played the harpsichord. She was devoted to expanding her modest literary salon, which was frequented by poet Vasily Zhukovsky, fabulist Ivan Krylov, and historian Nikolai Karamzin. Maria prided herself in being more clever than her mother-in-law and never lost the opportunity of contrasting her impeccable virtue with the failings of the reigning Empress. She was equally watchful to attack Catherine's favourites, Grigori Alexandrovich Potemkin and Alexander Dmitriev-Mamonov.
Maria Feodorovna kept voluminous diaries that recorded her life in detail, but her son Nicholas I burned all these volumes after her death according to her last wishes. Even most of the letters she wrote have not survived since she usually requested that they be burnt. The relationship between Paul and Catherine Nelidova, one of Maria's ladies-in-waiting, was the cause of the first crack in their marriage during those years. The intense liaison was particularly painful for Maria, as the other woman had been her friend. Although Paul said that his relations with Nelidova were only platonic, Maria's own relationship with Nelidova became very bitter for several years. However, she eventually joined forces with her former friend in an attempt to moderate her husband's increasingly neurotic temperament.
Empress of Russia