Frederick VII of Denmark
Niese was born in Burg on the island of Fehmarn, then under the direct rule of King Frederick VII of Denmark. Her father was the local pastor who later became director of a seminary in Eckernförde. Her mother was Benedicte Marie Niese (born Matthiesen). Charlotte Niese passed her exams as a teacher in Eckernförde, and she became a tutor in what was, since 1866, the Prussian Province of Schleswig-Holstein, in the Rhine Province, and as a boarding school teacher in Montreux.