page_title: Princess Charlotte of Prussia
section_title: Duchess of Saxe-Meiningen; death
hierarchical_section_title: Princess Charlotte of Prussia / Adulthood / Duchess of Saxe-Meiningen; death
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: de:Charlotte von Preußen (1860–1919) English: Charlotte, Duchess of Saxe-Meiningen
context_page_description: Princess Charlotte of Prussia was Duchess Consort of Saxe-Meiningen as the wife of Bernhard III, the duchy's last ruler. Born at the Neues Palais in Potsdam, she was the second child and eldest daughter of Prince Frederick of Prussia, a member of the House of Hohenzollern who became Crown Prince of Prussia in 1861 and German Emperor in 1888. Through her mother Victoria, Princess Royal, Charlotte was the eldest granddaughter of the British monarch Queen Victoria and her consort Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
  Princess Charlotte was a difficult child and indifferent student, with a nervous disposition. Her relationship with her demanding mother was strained. As she grew older, Charlotte developed a penchant for spreading gossip and causing trouble. Eager to escape from parental control, at age seventeen, she married Prince Bernhard of Saxe-Meiningen in 1878. Her husband's weak-willed personality had little effect on her. Known for spreading gossip and her eccentric personality, Princess Charlotte enjoyed Berlin society while frequently leaving her only child, Princess Feodora, in the care of family members. Charlotte and Feodora, in turn, also had a difficult relationship.
context_section_description: In June 1911, Charlotte attended her cousin George V's coronation in England, but the country's summer heat left her bed-ridden with a swollen face and pain in her limbs. On 25 June 1914, her husband inherited his father's duchy and became Bernhard III, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. World War I broke out on 28 July; Bernhard left for the front while Charlotte remained behind to oversee the duchy, serving mainly as a figurehead. During the war, Charlotte increasingly experienced various pains including chronic aches, swollen legs, and kidney problems. The degree of the pain became so severe that she took opium as her only comfortable treatment.
  The end of the war in 1918 led to the political demise of the German Empire, as well as all of its many duchies; consequently, Bernhard was forced to abdicate his rule over Saxe-Meiningen. The following year, Charlotte travelled to Baden-Baden to seek medical treatment for her heart, ultimately dying there of a heart attack on 1 October 1919 at the age of 59. Bernhard died nine years later and was buried with her at Schloss Altenstein in Thuringia.
caption: Charlotte, Duchess of Saxe-Meiningen, 1917.
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