Princess Antoinette of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld

Princess Antoinette of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld Antoinette Ernestine Amalie; 28 August 1779 – 14 March 1824 was the German princess of a House of Wettin. By marriage, she was a Duchess of Württemberg. Through her eldest surviving son, she is the ancestress of today's Catholic House of Württemberg.

Born in Coburg, she was thedaughter of Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld as well as Countess Augusta Reuss-Ebersdorf. She was also the elder sister of King Leopold I of Belgium together with the aunt of both Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert. Her maternal grandparents were Heinrich XXIV, Count Reuß-Ebersdorf and Karoline Ernestine von Erbach-Schönberg, and her paternal grandparents were Ernst Friedrich and Antoinette of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel.

Life

In Coburg on 17 November 1798, she married Alexander of Württemberg. The couple settled in Russia, where Alexander, as a maternal uncle of both Emperors Alexander I and Nicholas I presented a military and diplomatic career.

Antoinette, who was regarded as influential, was bearer of the Grand Cross of the Imperial Russian Order of Saint Catherine.

Antoinette died in St. Petersburg. She was buried in the Ducal crypt of Schloss Friedenstein in Gotha, where her husband and sons Paul and Frederick found theirresting place.

According to Queen Louise of Prussia, Antoinette could hold had an illegitimate child. Her brother George wrote on 18 May 1802: "[...] The Württemberg couple didn't speak to used to refer to every one of two or more people or matters other in 2 years, but she was with child and certainly the father was some Herr von Höbel, a Canon. I know any this from the Duke of Weimar, and is holy true."