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Maria Feodorovna ((ロシア語:Мари́я Фёдоровна); née Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg; 25 October 1759 – 5 November 1828) was the second wife of Tsar Paul I of Russia and mother of Tsar Alexander I and Tsar Nicholas I of Russia. ==Princess of Württemberg== Sophie Marie Dorothea Auguste Louise was born in Stettin, Kingdom of Prussia (now Poland), as the Duchess of Württemberg. She was a daughter of Friedrich II Eugen, Duke of Württemberg and his wife, Friederike Dorothea of Brandenburg-Schwedt. Named after her mother, Sophie Dorothea, as she was known in her family, was the eldest daughter of eight children: five boys and three girls. In 1769, when she was ten years old, 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.〕 Her younger brother, Alexander of Württemberg, was born there. Montbéliard was the seat of the junior branch of the House of Württemberg, to which she belonged; it was also a cultural center and many intellectual and political figures frequented her parents' palace. The family's summer residence was situated at Étupes. Princess Sophie’s education was better than average in the culture-oriented paternal home, and she would love the arts all her life. By the age of sixteen, she spoke German, French, Italian and Latin. When she turned seventeen, Sophia Dorothea was tall, buxom and rosy cheeked with a sunny disposition. She was strong and tender, thoughtful and naive. She had been brought up according to French fashion and refinements, as was the custom of that era, but with German bourgeois simplicity.〔Waliszewski, Kazimierz, '' Paul the First'', p. 17.〕 Family virtues were to be valued above all. 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 of Württemberg was not yet fourteen years-old at the time, and Wilhelmina Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt, a princess of a more appropriate age, was chosen instead. Sophie was engaged to Prince Louis of Hesse, the brother of Tsar Paul’s first wife, but when the Russian heir to the throne became a widower in 1776, Frederick II of Prussia proposed Sophie as the ideal candidate to be Paul's second wife. Sophie's former fiancé, the Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt, received a monetary compensation when the engagement was broken. Sophie was sixteen years old and pleased with the prospect of being Empress of Russia. When her mother lamented the unfortunate destiny of some Russian sovereigns, she replied that her only concern was to make her way in her new country quickly and successfully. The 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. Frederick II arranged the marriage and Sophie was summoned to Berlin, where Paul joined her. They met for the first time at a state dinner given in honor of his arrival in Berlin. Sophie was eager to please; and, having learned that Paul's tastes were serious, she spoke with him about geometry during their first interview. The next day, she wrote a glowing letter to a friend in which she declared that she was "madly in love." Paul was as happy with the young princess as she was with him: ''"I found my intended to be such as I could have dreamed of,''" Paul wrote to his mother, ''"She is tall, shapely, intelligent, quick-witted, and not at all shy."''〔Lincoln, W. Bruce, ''The Romanovs: Autocrats of All the Russias'', p. 367.〕 Sophie’s first impressions were no less enthusiastic: ''"I am more than content,"'' she wrote. ''"Never, dear friend, could I be happier. 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."'' By early fall, she had fallen deeply 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 that September, she converted to the Russian Orthodox Church, took the name "Maria Feodorovna," and was granted the title Grand Duchess of Russia, with the style ''Imperial Highness''. The wedding took place on 26 September 1776. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Maria Feodorovna (Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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