Charlotte Sophie of Aldenburg (4 August 17155 February 1800), was the ruling Countess of

Varel Varel () is a town in the district of Friesland, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated near the Jade River and the Jade Bight, approximately south of Wilhelmshaven and north of Oldenburg. With a population of 23,984 (2020) it is the bigg ...

and Kniphausen,Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Fürstliche Häuser IV. "Portland". C.A. Starke Verlag, 1956, pp. 484-485. (German). adjacent lordships on the German/

Frisia Frisia () is a Cross-border region, cross-border Cultural area, cultural region in Northwestern Europe. Stretching along the Wadden Sea, it encompasses the north of the Netherlands and parts of northwestern Germany. Wider definitions of "Frisia" ...

n border along the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

, from 1738 to 1748.

Life

Background

Charlotte Amalie was the daughter and only child of Anton II, Count of Aldenburg (1681-1738) and by his second wife, Princess Wilhelmine Marie of

Hesse-Homburg Hesse-Homburg was a state of the Holy Roman Empire and a sovereign member of the German Confederation, which consisted of the lordship of Homburg at the foot of the Taunus, which was then known as ''Die Höhe'' ("the Heights"). The reigning princ ...

(1678-1770). She was the last of the Aldenburgs who were, in turn, an illegitimate line of the

House of Oldenburg The House of Oldenburg is a Germans, German dynasty whose members rule or have ruled in Danish Realm, Denmark, Kingdom of Iceland, Iceland, Kingdom of Greece, Greece, Norway, Russian Empire, Russia, Sweden, United Kingdom, the United Kingdom, King ...

, descended from Anton Gunther (1583-1667), the last of the independent

Counts of Oldenburg image:BlasonChristian Ier (1143-1167), comte d'Oldenbourg.svg, 120px, Shield of the Counts of Oldenburg image:Blason Gérard VI (1430-1500), comte d'Oldenbourg et de Delmenhorst.svg, 120px, Shield of the Counts of Oldenburg-Delmenhorst This is a ...

. His main domains, Oldenburg and

Delmenhorst Delmenhorst (; Northern Low Saxon: ''Demost'') is an urban district (''List of German urban districts, Kreisfreie Stadt'') in Lower Saxony, Germany. It has a population of 74,500 and is located west of downtown Bremen (city), Bremen with which ...

, were inherited on his death by

Frederick II of Denmark Frederick II (1 July 1534 – 4 April 1588) was King of Denmark-Norway, Denmark and Norway and Duke of Duchy of Schleswig, Schleswig and Duchy of Holstein, Holstein from 1559 until his death in 1588. A member of the House of Oldenburg, Fre ...

, head of the senior, legitimate branch of the

. Leaving no children by his consort, an Oldenburg princess of the Danish Sonderburg line, Anton Gunther was free to confer his unentailed lordships of Varel and Kniphausen on Anton I of Aldenburg (1633-1681), the son of his long-time liaison with Baroness Elisabeth Margareta Ungnad zu Sonnegg (c.1605-1683), for whom he also procured the rank of

Imperial count Imperial Count (, ) was a title in the Holy Roman Empire. During the medieval era, it was used exclusively to designate the holder of an imperial county, that is, a fief held directly ( immediately) from the emperor, rather than from a prince wh ...

in 1653. Although Anton's daughters by his first wife, Countess Auguste Johanna zu

Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein was a county and later principality between Hesse-Darmstadt and Westphalia. History The county with imperial immediacy was formed by the 1657 partition of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Wittgenstein and raised from a county t ...

(1638-1669) married into the Scandinavian nobility, his second marriage was to Princess Charlotte Amélie de la Trémoïlle (1652-1732), a

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...

'' princesse étrangère'' whose descent from the Dutch leader,

William the Silent William the Silent or William the Taciturn (; 24 April 153310 July 1584), more commonly known in the Netherlands as William of Orange (), was the leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish Habsburg Netherlands, Habsburgs that set off the ...

, would eventually bring the Aldenburgs within the orbit of their powerful neighbors to the south, the

House of Orange-Nassau The House of Orange-Nassau (, ), also known as the House of Orange because of the prestige of the princely title of Orange, also referred to as the Fourth House of Orange in comparison with the other noble houses that held the Principality of Or ...

Marriage

Count Anton II (1681-1738), the last male of his line, left his domains to his only child, Charlotte Sophie. The family being under the influence of the Dutch

Prince of Orange Prince of Orange (or Princess of Orange if the holder is female) is a title associated with the sovereign Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France and subsequently held by the stadtholders of, and then the heirs apparent of ...

, who had become

William III of England William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 1650 – 8 March 1702), also known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of County of Holland, Holland, County of Zeeland, Zeeland, Lordship of Utrecht, Utrec ...

in 1688, it was thought desirable to marry the heiress to a liege man whose family, the House of Bentinck, had been part of the entourage which accompanied the conqueror from the Netherlands to London in 1688. However, as the bride was a ruling countess, it was thought necessary that the selected groom, William Bentinck, younger son of the first

Earl of Portland Earl of Portland is a title that has been created twice in the Peerage of England, firstly in 1633 and secondly in 1689. What proved to be a long co-held title, Duke of Portland, was created in 1716 and became extinct in 1990 upon the death of t ...

, needed to have commensurate rank, whereas legally a peer's son was a commoner. So on 29 December 1732 the

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...

obligingly elevated Bentinck to the rank of

, and he married Countess Charlotte Sophie von Aldenburg zu Varel und Knyphausen on 1 March 1733.

Reign

Charlotte Sophie inherited the throne from her father in 1738. She had two sons within her marriage: Count Christian Friedrich Anton (1734-1768) and (the British naval officer and mechanical inventor) Count

John Bentinck Captain John Albert Bentinck, (29 December 1737 – 23 September 1775) was a Royal Navy officer, inventor and politician who represented Rye in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1761 to 1768. Family background He was a member of the ...

(1737-1775). However, she lived from 1737 to 1748 in a relationship with Count Albrecht Wolfgang of

Schaumburg-Lippe Schaumburg-Lippe, also called Lippe-Schaumburg, was created as a county in 1647, became a principality in 1807 and a free state in 1918, and was until 1946 a small state in Germany, located in the present-day state of Lower Saxony, with its capi ...

(1699-1748), which caused a great scandal in contemporary Germany, and prevented her from having contact with her sons, although she would also have a son, Baron Karl Wilhelm Wolfgang von Donop (1740-1813), with her lover in 1740.https://geneee.org/karl/von+donop?lang=en

Later life

In 1748, she was deposed as ruler of Varel and Delmenhorst, legal control of which territories was transferred to her former husband as guardian of their sons. She made many visits to the courts of Europe seeking support to retake her lands, but was treated as an outcast. In 1767, she took up residence in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, where she lived in retirement with her natural son.

Legacy

She is portrayed in the film '' Charlotte Sophie Bentinck''.

References

External links

*''Biography of Charlotte Sophie, Countess Bentinck (1715-1800)'', The

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

, Manuscripts and Special Collections
online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Charlotte Sophie of Aldenburg 18th-century women rulers 1715 births 1800 deaths 18th-century German people Monarchs who abdicated People from Varel