Princess Marie of Württemberg (30 October 1816 – 4 January 1887) was the eldest daughter of William I of Württemberg and Catherine Pavlovna of Russia.
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Early life and family
Princess Marie Friederike Charlotte was the first child and eldest daughter of William I of Württemberg and Catherine Pavlovna of Russia. The princess was born on 30 October 1816 in Stuttgart, which was the same day her parents ascended the throne of Württemberg. Marie had a younger sister named Sophie, two half-brothers from her mother's first marriage, Alexander and Peter of Oldenburg, and three other half siblings, born by Marie's father's third wife, Pauline Therese: Catherine, Charles, and Augusta. According to Friedrich Wilhelm Hackländer, princess Marie was "lovely, delicated figure,... supremely graceful" and wealthy thanks to her mother's inheritance.
Marriage
On 19 March 1840, Princess Marie married Count Alfred von Neipperg for love. After marriage, Marie was allowed to retain her title and rank as a member of the royal family and possessed a large estate. The couple lived in a childless, long-distance marriage: Marie resided in Stuttgart at the Princesses' Palace, later known as the Wilhelm Palace, co-owned by her sister Sophie, and only visited the Neipperg family estate in Schwaigern with her entourage during the summer months.
Later life and death
In 1853, Count Alfred fell from a great height while hunting chamois near Bregenz and suffered a brain injury which necessitated his admission to the state mental asylum in Winnenden, where he died in 1865. This event made Marie, according to Baroness Eveline von Massenbach, go from a woman with "her otherwise gifted and amiable personality to become bitter and unpleasant due to pronounced brusqueness."
In the latter half of her life, Marie donated huge sums for charitable causes, particularly to the Marienpflege orphange in Ellwangen, where the princess served as patron from the age of 14.
Marie died on 4 January 1887 in Stuttgart, at the age of 70, and was buried in the royal mausoleum on Mount Württemberg in Stuttgart.