Christian Frederick Charles Alexander | |
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Charles Alexander, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach
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Spouse(s) |
Princess Frederica Caroline of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld Elizabeth Craven |
Noble family | Hohenzollern |
Father | Charles William Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach |
Mother | Princess Friederike Luise of Prussia |
Born |
Ansbach |
24 February 1736
Died | 5 January 1806 Benham Park in Speen |
(aged 69)
Christian Frederick Charles Alexander (German: Christian Friedrich Karl Alexander; 24 February 1736 in Ansbach – 5 January 1806 in Benham Park in Speen) was the last Margrave of the two Franconian principalities, Brandenburg-Ansbach and Brandenburg-Bayreuth, which he sold to the King of Prussia, a fellow member of the House of Hohenzollern.
His parents were Charles William Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, and Friederike Luise of Prussia, daughter of King Frederick William I of Prussia, sister of Frederick II of Prussia, a granddaughter of the British King George I and niece of the reigning British King George II (who would die aged 77 and leave his grandson, Charles second cousin, as King George III, when Charles was 24).
After the sudden death of his elder brother Charles Frederick August on 9 May 1737, "Alexander", as he later called himself, became Crown Prince of the principality. From 1748 to 1759, he studied at Utrecht. As the young "Count of Sayn" (the county of Sayn-Altenkirchen in the Westerwald having been absorbed into the Principality of Ansbach in 1741) he travelled to Turin and Savoy.
On 22 November 1754, in Coburg, Charles Alexander married Princess Frederica Caroline of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1735–1791), daughter of Franz Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and Anne Sophia, Princess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt.