Duchess Sophia Charlotte of Oldenburg (; 2 February 1879 – 29 March 1964) was a member of the House of Holstein-Gottorp. She was the only surviving child of Frederick Augustus II, Grand Duke of Oldenburg by his first wife Princess Elisabeth Anna of Prussia.
Sophia Charlotte ("Lotte") is best known for her unhappy and well-publicized marriage to Prince Eitel Friedrich, second son of Wilhelm II, German Emperor. The marriage later led to divorce; Sophia Charlotte would remarry a few years later to Harald van Hedemann, a former police officer.
Family and early life
Sophia Charlotte (or "Lotte") was born on 2 February 1879 in the dynastic residence Oldenburg Castle in Oldenburg, Germany. She was the eldest child of Frederick Augustus, the then Hereditary Grand Duke of the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg and his wife Elisabeth Anna of Prussia. Sophia Charlotte had a younger sister named Margaret, but she died young. She was named after Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, the wife of the first Prussian king Frederick I. Sophia Charlotte was her father's constant companion as they went yachting on trips together; due to these trips, she always had a great love of water like her father. She spent much of her girlhood abroad, and often visited her maternal aunt Louise Margaret, Duchess of Connaught and Strathearn in London. She also often stayed with her widowed maternal grandmother Princess Frederick Charles of Prussia in Italy.
Sophia Charlotte's mother died in 1895, and her father remarried the next year to Duchess Elisabeth Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. This second union gave Sophia Charlotte four half-siblings, which would come to include Nikolaus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Oldenburg and Duchess Altburg, later Hereditary Princess of Waldeck and Pyrmont. They all resided together at the newly built Elisabeth-Anna-Palais (named after her mother). This second marriage made Sophia Charlotte's home life unhappy, and she was glad to escape once a suitable marriage was offered. Her father succeeded as Grand Duke of Oldenburg in 1900.
Early press accusations
There had always been a fear that Sophia Charlotte had inherited her mother's delicate health, so sojourns to various spa towns was a common component of her childhood. In 1904, a German journalist was sentenced to a month in prison for alluding to the relations between Sophia Charlotte and an adjutant of her father's. He had written an article about her return from a long stay on the Riviera "for her health". He alluded to her "illness" as the same that afflicted two princesses of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, about whose morals there had been much gossip. As these long stays were a common aspect of her childhood, rumours like these were without basis.
Initial meetings with Prince Eitel
In June 1905, Sophia Charlotte first met Prince Eitel Friedrich of Prussia at the wedding of his brother Crown Prince Wilhelm to Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. They were both sons of Wilhelm II, German Emperor and Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein. In Kiel later that month, Sophia Charlotte became better acquainted with him. Eitel's mother in particular desired the match, as she wanted her son to marry one of the Oldenburgs (a family considered quiet, inoffensive, and suitable for a prince). The Oldenburgs were also an ancient family with strong ties to both the Empress and Emperor (as Sophia Charlotte's mother had been a Prussian princess). Her family also had other strong ties to the Hohenzollerns, as Sophia Charlotte's mother had been a great intimate of the Duchess of Saxe-Meiningen, the Emperor's sister. The Duchess was also Sophia Charlotte's godmother, and Sophia Charlotte was herself a favourite of the Emperor. Her closeness to the Prussian court was so pronounced in fact that it had even sparked some early rumours that she would marry Prince Wilhelm instead. Wilhelm had been allowed to choose however, and had settled on Duchess Cecilie.
