Frederick I | |||||
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Grand Duke of Baden | |||||
Reign | 22 January 1858 – 28 September 1907 | ||||
Predecessor | Louis II | ||||
Successor | Frederick II | ||||
Born |
Karlsruhe |
9 September 1826||||
Died | 28 September 1907 Mainau |
(aged 81)||||
Spouse | Princess Louise of Prussia | ||||
Issue Detail |
Frederick II Victoria, Queen of Sweden Prince Louis |
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House | House of Zähringen | ||||
Father | Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden | ||||
Mother | Sophie of Sweden | ||||
Religion | Lutheranism |
Full name | |
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Frederick William Louis |
Frederick I (Frederick Wilhelm Ludwig) (9 September 1826 – 28 September 1907) was the sovereign Grand Duke of Baden reigning from 1856 to 1907.
Frederick was born in Karlsruhe on 9 September 1826. He was the third son of Grand Duke Leopold (1790–1852) and of his wife, Grand Duchess Sophie (1801–1865), who was born Princess of Sweden, daughter of King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden.
He became the heir presumptive to the Grand Duchy upon the death of his father in 1852 and the accession of his brother as Grand Duke Louis II. Due to his brother's mental ill-health, he was regent ad interim of Baden in 1852–1855, and took the title of Grand Duke in 1856. His brother, Louis II, died in 1858. He was considered a relatively liberal supporter of a constitutional monarchy. During his reign the option of civil marriages was introduced in Baden as well as direct elections to the Lower House of the Parliament of Baden in 1904.
In 1856, he married Princess Louise, daughter of Prince Wilhelm of Prussia and his wife, Augusta of Saxe-Weimar. The couple had three children.
The Grand Duke had a pivotal role in the history of the Zionist Movement. In 1896 the Grand Duke met Theodor Herzl (the founder of political Zionism) via their mutual acquaintance the reverend William Hechler, and helped Herzl in obtaining an audience with his nephew, the German Emperor. After some persuasion on the part of the Grand Duke, the Emperor accepted the appeal for an audience. It took place in Palestine on 2 November 1898, during the Kaiser's visit to inaugurate the Church of the Redeemer, Jerusalem.