Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp

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Duke Charles Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp (German: Karl Friedrich, Herzog zu Holstein-Gottorp), (1700-1739) was the son of Frederick IV of Holstein-Gottorp and his wife, Hedvig Sophia of Sweden. He became duke in infancy, when his father died in 1702.

Duke Charles Frederick was under the regency of his mother, who however resided in Stockholm, and the boy with her. The duchy was left to administrators.

The Danish troops had ravaged his lands during the Great Northern War, and conquered its northern portions, including the family's patrimonial seat, Gottorp castle.

Upon the death of his maternal uncle Charles XII of Sweden in 1718, he was presented as claimant to the throne. His aunt Ulrika Eleonora the Younger (1689-1741) however managed to wrest the throne to herself. He withdrew himself from Sweden and ultimately settled in Russia. Afterwards, Charles Frederik had the so-called Holsteiner Party in Sweden to drive his claims. They were preparing and waited for the childless Ulrika Eleonora's death. Charles Frederick however died before his aunt and left his claims to his infant son.

In 1720 Sweden and Denmark-Norway reached the Treaty of Frederiksborg, where Sweden promised not to support Holstein-Gottorp any longer. Duke Charles Frederick was opposed to the treaty, made by a Swedish government which he regarded as rebels against his own Swedish succession rights; but also because it made virtually impossible to regain the lost northern part of his own duchy (its lands in Schleswig). (This was to be a motivation for his son Peter in 1762, upon his Russian accession, to start preparations to conquer the lost lands from Denmark by Russian troops.)

He was married to Anna Petrovna, Grand Duchess of Russia, elder daughter of Tsar Peter I and his peasant wife Marta Skavronskaya. Their son Charles Peter Ulrich, who succeeded as Duke of Holstein-Gottorp in 1739, eventually became Tsar in 1762 as Peter III.

Charles Frederick, commander of Palace Guard Troops in St.Petersburg, attempted to secure his wife's succession in Russia in 1727 when her mother Catherine I of Russia died, but this failed.

Before either of those thrones were to realize to his family's possession, he died in 1739.

Preceded by Frederick IV	Duke of Schleswig 1702-1713	Succeeded by Frederick V
	Duke of Holstein-Gottorp 1702-1739	Succeeded by Charles Peter Ulrich