Olga Nikolayevna of Russia
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[edit] Early life
Olga (11 September 1822 - 30 October 1892), Queen of Württemberg from 1864-1892, was born Grand Duchess Olga Nikolayevna of Russia in St. Petersburg on September 11, 1822. She was the third child of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia and his Empress-consort Alexandra Feodorovna, born Princess Charlotte of Prussia.
Attractive, cultured, and intelligent, Olga grew up as part of a close family of many sisters and brothers. Her parents wished that she make a dynastic marriage, especially since her siblings Alexander, Maria, and Alexandra had married relatively insignificant royal partners. There had already been several marriages between Russian royals and members of the royal family of Württemberg, including the second marriage of Olga's future father-in-law, William I of Württemberg.
[edit] Marriage
Olga met Crown Prince (later King) Karl of Württemberg in Palermo, Italy, in 1846 and gave her consent to their marriage after only a few meetings. The wedding took place at the Peterhof Palace on July 18, 1846.
The couple had no children, perhaps because of Karl's homosexuality. Karl became the object of scandal several times for his closeness with various men. The most notorious of these was the American Charles Woodcock, a former chamberlain whom Karl elevated to Baron Savage in 1888. The resulting outcry forced Karl to renounce his favorite. In 1870, Olga and Karl adopted Olga's niece Vera Konstantinova, the daughter of her brother Grand Duke Konstantin.
Karl acceded to his father's throne in 1864, making Olga Queen of Württemberg.
[edit] Work and influence
With no children of her own, Olga dedicated her life to social causes. She was especially interested in the education of girls, and also supported wounded veterans and the handicapped. A hospital was named for her, as was an order of Protestant nursing nuns. These charitable enterprises made her very popular among her subjects, much more so than her husband.
In later life, she wrote a memoir which described her childhood in the Russian court, her grief at the loss of her sister Alexandra, and her early adult life, ending with her wedding to Karl. It is dedicated to her nieces Olga and Vera Konstantinova.
Olga died on October 30, 1892 in Friedrichshafen, Germany, and was buried in the crypt of the Old Castle in Stuttgart.
Olga was very interested in natural science and collected minerals systematically. Her collection was bequested to the Staatliche Museum für Naturkunde in Stuttgart. The museum still proudly displays some of these mineral specimens of royal origin. Her name is attached to a geological formation in the Northern Territory of Australia. In 1871, to mark their 25th wedding anniversary, King Karl and Queen Olga made the German-born Australian explorer Ferdinand Mueller a Freiherr, becoming Baron Ferdinand von Mueller. He repaid the compliment as follows. A series of massive rock formations was discovered by the explorer Ernest Giles in central Australia in 1872. Mueller was Giles' benefactor. Giles had wanted to name the tallest peak Mt Mueller, but Mueller prevailed on Giles to name it "Mt Olga", in honour of the queen. The entire geological formation then became known as "The Olgas", before the indigenous name Kata Tjuta was officially proclaimed in the 1980s.
[Queen Olga of Württemberg. Traum der Jugend goldener Stern. Reutlingen, Günther Neske, 1955]
[Sachs-Colignon, Jette. Königin Olga von Württemberg. Stieglitz, 2002]
