Christina Magdalena of the Palatinate-Zweibrücken

Christina Magdalena of the Palatinate-Zweibrücken
Princess Christina Magdalene by an unknown contemporary artist
Spouse(s) Frederick VI, Margrave of Baden-Durlach
Noble family House of Wittelsbach
Father John Casimir, Count Palatine of Kleeburg
Mother Catherine of Sweden
Born 1616
Died 1662
Burial Castle Church, Pforzheim

Christina Magdalena of the Palatinate-Zweibrücken (1616–1662) of the House of Wittelsbach, margravine of Baden-Durlach, was a Swedish princess. She was the daughter of John Casimir, Count Palatine of Kleeburg and princess Catherine of Sweden (a granddaugther of Gustav I of Sweden, making Christina a vital link between the house of Vasa and the later houses of Holstein-Gottorp and Bernadotte). This made Christina Magdalena a sister of Charles X of Sweden, all of whose siblings were princes and princesses of Sweden.

Contents

Biography

Christina Magdalena was described as a "somewhat pretty and pleasing woman" and was reportedly a friend of the queen dowager Maria Eleonora of Brandenburg. After the death of her mother, Christina Magdalena was asked by the Swedish parliament to contribute to the education of Maria Eleonora's daughter, the later Queen Christina. She did this until her marriage in 1642.

Negotiations for her marriage began in 1637 and included "a young and rich Marquess of Huntly" (1641). In 1641, Frederick VI, Margrave of Baden-Durlach visited Sweden. After having befriended her brother, he was accepted as her suitor.

In 1642 she married Frederick. The wedding was postponed for several days after a fire broke out at the ball before their designated wedding date on 26 November 1642. Her spouse applied for a position in the Swedish army, but the Swedish military did not wish to employ foreign princes, and therefore, the couple moved to Germany.

Issue

All Swedish kings from Adolf Frederick to Charles XIII were descended from Christina Magdalena. She was also the origin of other European royal lines, such as that of Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria. The eight children of Frederick and Christina, including two ancestors of the Swedish royal line, were:

∞ 1. 1665 Albert II, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1620–1667)
∞ 2. 1681 Frederick I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1646–1691)
∞ 1670 Princess Auguste Marie of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp (1649–1728) (→ Ancestors of Swedish kings of the House of Holstein-Gottorp, via their daughter Albertina Frederika of Baden-Durlach, who was the mother of King Adolf Fredrick of Sweden; ancestors of the House of Bernadotte, via Gustaf VI Adolf's mother, Victoria of Baden, who was a grandaughter of Adolf Frederick's great-granddaughter Sophia of Sweden
∞ 1677 Princess Anna Sophie of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (1659–1742)
∞ 1673 Margrave Johann Friedrich von Brandenburg-Ansbach (1654–1686) (→ Ancestors of the Swedish kings of the House of Bernadotte, by Charles XV of Sweden's and Oscar II's mother, Josephine of Leuchtenberg, as was their daughter's daughter was her granddaughter)

Ancestry

References

Preceded by
Countess Elisabeth Eusebia of Fürstenberg
Margavine consort of Baden-Durlach
1659–1662
Succeeded by
Augusta Marie of Holstein-Gottorp