Predecessor Louis II Role Grand Duke of Baden Name Frederick Grand | Mother Sophie of Sweden Successor Frederick II House House of Zahringen | |
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Reign 22 January 1858 – 28 September 1907 Born 9 September 1826
Karlsruhe ( 1826-09-09 ) Issue
Detail Frederick II
Victoria, Queen of Sweden
Prince Louis Father Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden Died September 28, 1907, Mainau, Konstanz, Germany Spouse Princess Louise of Prussia (m. 1856) Children Frederick II, Grand Duke of Baden, Victoria of Baden Parents Princess Sophie of Sweden, Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden Similar People Princess Louise of Prussia, Leopold - Grand Duke of B, Victoria of Baden, William I, Frederica of Baden | ||
Frederick I (Frederick Wilhelm Ludwig) (9 September 1826 – 28 September 1907) was the sovereign Grand Duke of Baden reigning from 1856 to 1907.
Contents
Life
Frederick was born in Karlsruhe, on 9 September 1826. He was the third son of Grand Duke Leopold (1790–1852) and of his wife, Grand Duchess Sophie (1801–1865), who was born Princess of Sweden, daughter of King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden.
He became the heir presumptive to the Grand Duchy upon the death of his father in 1852 and the accession of his brother as Grand Duke Louis II. Due to his brother's mental ill-health, he was Regent ad interim of Baden in 1852–1855, and took the title of Grand Duke in 1856. His brother, Louis II, died in 1858. He was considered a relatively liberal supporter of a constitutional monarchy. During his reign the option of civil marriages was introduced in Baden as well as direct elections to the Lower House of the Parliament of Baden in 1904.
In 1856, he married Princess Louise, daughter of Prince Wilhelm of Prussia and his wife, Augusta of Saxe-Weimar. The couple had three children.
The Grand Duke had a pivotal role in the history of the Zionist Movement. In 1896 the Grand Duke met Theodor Herzl (the founder of political Zionism) via their mutual acquaintance the reverend William Hechler, and helped Herzl in obtaining an audience with his nephew, the German Emperor. After some persuasion on the part of the Grand Duke, the Emperor had finally accepted the appeal for an audience and it took place in Palestine in the 2 November 1898, while the Kaiser was in his trip to Palestine to inaugurate the Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem.
Frederick I was present at the proclamation of the German Empire at Versailles in 1871, as he was the only son-in-law of the Emperor and one of the reigning sovereigns of Germany. He died at his summer residence at the island of Mainau in southern Germany on 28 September 1907. Today, Mainau is owned by the Lennart Bernadotte-Stiftung (the Lennart Bernadotte Foundation), created by Frederick's great-grandson Count Lennart Bernadotte, (1909–2004).