Five facts about Empress Karoline Auguste

She was born on 8 February 1792 in Mannheim and died on 9 February 1873 in Vienna.

She was first married to Wilhelm of Würtemberg. He married her to avoid marrying a bride recommended by Napoleon. He said to Karoline: We are victims of politics.

Her second husband was Emperor Franz I. She became his fourth wife. Karoline looked healthy, so her husband declared that he would not have a dead wife in a few years.

She and her husband had no children. But she supported the Emperor’s children and grandchildren. She was happy that her half-sister Sophie married her stepson, Franz Karl. Their son Franz Joseph called Karoline grandmother-aunt. It was perfectly correct.

Karlín, an area in Prague, was named after Karoline Augusta. In the Czech capital, there is also Žofín named after Karoline’s sister Archduchess Sophie. We must not forget the Rudolfinum. The name of this building commemorates Sophie’s grandson and Karoline’s great-grandson, Crown Prince Rudolf.

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