Exile and Divorce
The family settled in Baden, but her husband was restless and did not want to stay. She herself refused further sexual intercourse as she "did not wish to give birth in exile." She also wished to live a life more in the style of a queen, while he preferred a more simple family life. They were separated in 1810, and divorce proceedings begun in 1811. They were divorced in 1812. Secretly, she supported him financially after the separation. After the divorce, she entrusted her children to the formal guardianship of the Russian czar.
She kept a correspondence with her former mother-in-law, Sophia Magdalena in Sweden, and with queen Hedvig Elizabeth Charlotte, to whom she entrusted her economic interests in Sweden. According to her ladies-in-waiting, she turned down proposals from her brother-in-law Frederick William of Braunschweig-Oels and Frederick William III of Prussia. She was rumored to have had a secret marriage with her son's tutor, the French-Swiss JNG de Polier-Vernland. She travelled a lot, using the name Countess Itterburg. She died in Lausanne of a heart disease. She was buried in Schloss and Stiftskirche in Pforzheim, Germany.
The communities of Fredrika (1799), Dorotea (1799) and Vilhelmina (1804) located in Swedish Lapland were named in her honor.
Read more about this topic: Frederica Of Baden
Famous quotes containing the words exile and/or divorce:
“Public employment contributes neither to advantage nor happiness. It is but honorable exile from one’s family and affairs.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“Counsel men to discipline their children, but not to divorce their wives.”
—Chinese proverb.