Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp
| Charles Frederick | |
|---|---|
| Duke of Holstein-Gottorp | |
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| Reign | 19 July 1702 – 18 June 1739 |
| Born | 30 April 1700 |
| Died | 18 June 1739 (aged 39) |
| Spouse | Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia |
| Issue | Peter III of Russia |
| House | Holstein-Gottorp |
| Father | Frederick IV, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp |
| Mother | Hedvig Sophia of Sweden |
Duke Charles Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp (German: Karl Friedrich, Herzog zu Holstein-Gottorp) (30 April 1700 – 18 June 1739) was the son of Frederick IV of Holstein-Gottorp and his consort, Hedvig Sophia, daughter of King Charles XI of Sweden. He became reigning duke in infancy, upon his father's death in 1702, and all his life was a legitimate claimant to the throne of Sweden, as pro forma heir to Charles XII, who was his maternal uncle.
He is the father of Peter III of Russia, and as such he was a patrilineal ancestor of all Russian emperors after Catherine II.
Charles Frederick was born in Sweden, where his parents had been offered safety during the outbreak of the Great Northern war by his maternal uncle, Charles XII of Sweden. He succeeded to the duchy at the age of two after the death of his father. Duke Charles Frederick was under the regency of his mother, with whom he resided in Stockholm. Actual daily rule of the duchy was left to administrators. Danish troops had ravaged the duke's lands during the Great Northern War and conquered its northern portions, including the ancestral seat of the dynasty of Holstein-Gottorp, Gottorp castle. His mother is said to have raised him tenderly but firmly. However, after the death of his mother in 1708, he was placed in the care of his mother's paternal grandmother, Queen Dowager Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp, who reportedly spoiled him to be passive and degenerated. His mother, and later Hedwig Eleonora, both supported and worked for his right to be considered heir of Sweden after his childless uncle.
Charles Frederick met his uncle Charles XII for the first time in 1716. He was declared of legal majority in 1717, and was then given some military responsibility. Charles Frederick was in a tense relationship to his aunt Ulrika Eleonora, whose followers pointed him out to be too rude and arrogant and in lack of any sense of responsibility to be a suitable heir to the throne.
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