Duke Alexander of Württemberg (1771–1833)

Alexander of Württemberg
portrait by George Dawe, 1823
Born	1771
Died	1833 (aged 61–62)
Allegiance	Armies of Württemberg, Austria and Russia
Service/branch	Army
Years of service	1791-1832

Antoinette of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1779–1824).

Duke Alexander of Württemberg (Mempelgard/Montbéliard, France, 5 May 1771 – Gotha, Thuringia, Germany, 4 July 1833)^[1] was a Duke of Württemberg. The son of Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg and of Sophia Dorothea of Brandenburg-Schwedt. His sister Sophie Dorothea married Tsar Paul I of Russia.^[1]

Family

In 1798 he married Antoinette of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (died 1824). They had five children:

• Antoinette of Württemberg (1799–1860), who in 1832 married Ernest I of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

• Paul of Württemberg (1800–1801)

• Alexander of Württemberg (1804-1881), duke of Württemberg

• Ernest of Württemberg (1807–1868), duke of Württemberg, who in 1860 married Nathalie Eschborn, later ennobled as "von Grünhof" (1829–1905) :
  • Alexandra Nathalie Ernestine von Grünhof (Wiesbaden, 10 August 1861-Hohenlübbichow, 13 April 1933), who in 1883 married Robert von Keudell

• Friedrich Wilhelm Ferdinand of Württemberg (Saint Petersburg 29 April 1810-Saint Petersburg, 25 April 1815)

Descendants

Alexander of Württemberg was the founder of the fifth branch (called the ducal branch) of the House of Württemberg, descended from the seventh son of Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg. On the extinction of the eldest branch in 1921, the ducal branch became the new dynastic-branch of the House. (The House of Württemberg's two morganatic branches - the dukes of Teck (extinct in the male line in 1981), and the morganatic branch of the dukes of Urach - were technically 'older' then the Ducal branch, but ineligible to succeed).

Alexander of Württemberg is the direct ancestor of the present claimant to the dukedom of Württemberg, Carl.

Military service

Austria

Alexander began service in the Württemberg army as a colonel on 21 April 1791, and transferred to the Austrian army serving during the campaign against France in 1796-1799, and participating in the battles of Rastadt, Wurtzburg, Offenbach, Stockach and Zurich.^[1] In 1796 Prince Alexander became a Major General and a Fieldmarshal Lieutenant in the Austrian army in 1798.

Russia

In that year he met Alexander Suvorov, and took up his recommendation to join the Imperial Russian Army as a General Lieutenant and chief of the Riga Cuirassier Regiment which in August 1800 was reorganised as the Riga Dragoon Regiment while Alexander was promoted General of Cavalry. In 1811 he was appointed Military Governor of Belorussia.^[1]

During the 1812 Campaign Württemberg served in the Headquarters of the 1st Western Army and fought at Vitebsk, Smolensk, Borodino, Tarutino (awarded Order of St. George, 3rd class), Maloyaroslavets, Vyazma and Krasnoi.^[1] In 1813 he commanded the Siege of Danzig for which he was awarded a golden sword and the Order of St.George (2nd class). After the war he returned to Belorussia and his Riga Regiment.

In 1822 he became the Head of Communications Department and commenced several river channel projects (Windawski Canal, etc.)in western Russia.^[1][2] In 1826 Württemberg was appointed chief of Ekaterinoslav Cuirassier Regiment, and a member of the State Council, but returned to the Riga Dragoons in 1827. From 1832 he took a discharge from service and left Russia on 24 November, never to return.^[1]

Awards and decorations

• Order of St. George, 2nd and 3rd classes
• Gold Sword for Bravery, inscribed "For capture of Danzig"^[1]
• Order of St. Andrew, 1st class with diamonds
• Order of St. Anne, 1st class
• Order of St. Alexander Nevsky
• Order of St. Vladimir, 1st class
• Order of St. John of Jerusalem
• Order of the Black Eagle (Prussia)
• Order of the Red Eagle, 2nd class (Prussia)
• Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown (Württemberg)
• Order of Military Merit (Württemberg)
• Order of Maximilian Joseph (Bavaria)
• Grand Cross of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta

See also

• Karl Alexander, Duke of Württemberg (his paternal grandfather)
• Frederick William of Brandenburg-Schwedt (his maternal grandfather)

Ancestry

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} p.448, Mikaberidze
2. ^ "Александр герцог Виртембергский". http://www.biografija.ru/show_bio.aspx?id=1800. Retrieved July 2, 2011.  (Russian)

Notes

• Mikaberidze, Alexander, The Russian officer Corps in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars 1792-1815, Savas Beatie, New York, 2005

External links

Persondata
Name	Alexander Of Wurttemberg, Duke
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	5 May 1771
Place of birth
Date of death	4 July 1833
Place of death