Carl von Baden: a bridegroom with ambition.
The wedding of Stéphanie de Beauharnais was the consequence of French emperor Napoleon's dynastic policy of alliances. He adopted the young relative of his wife Joséphine and raised her to imperial majesty. Accordingly, Stéphanie became a suitable bride for the crown prince Carl von Baden. His reigning grandfather, the Margrave of Baden, offered Napoleon an enlargement of his territory and elevation to the rank of grand duke. Such a bride could not possibly be declined!
She returned to Mannheim as a widow.
Stéphanie and her husband, Hereditary Grand Duke Carl (1786–1818), lived in Mannheim after their wedding in 1806. After the end of the Electoral Palatinate, the giant palace became the secondary residence for the House of Baden. In 1811, Carl began his rule, and the couple lived in Karlsruhe Palace. However, after the early death of Carl in 1818, Stéphanie received Mannheim as a dower house. With her royal household, she moved to the western part of the palace and lived there as a highly regarded personality for another 42 years.
She had her living rooms decorated in the Empire style.
In Mannheim, Stéphanie made a name for herself as a host of highly regarded private salons with readings, painting and drawing studies as well as good discussions. The former prince-electors' residence experienced a second bloom. Stéphanie had her living rooms furnished in the Empire style, the style of the French empire: modern furniture now decorated the rooms. Court painter Carl Cuntz designed classic friezes and pilasters with motifs reminiscent of antiquity.
Marie Amalie, one of their three daughters, who reached the age of adulthood.
Of her five children, the three daughters survived to adulthood. Her two sons died in infancy. Her personal grief was worsened by feeling that she had not fulfilled her most important task as a grand duchess: securing the direct succession of the House of Baden. Stéphanie was certainly under a lot of pressure to bear healthy sons, because only a son could secure the succession.
