Maria Feodorovna (Sophie Dorothea of W%C3%BCrttemberg)

Maria Feodorovna was the second wife of Tsar Paul I of Russia and mother of Tsar Alexander I, Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, Grand Duchess Maria of SaxeWeimarEisenach, Queen Catherine of Wurttemberg and Queen Anna Pavlovna of the Netherlands.The custom in which the Dowager Empress of Russia had precedence over the wife of a reigning Tsar was started from her through her son. Thus, she kept the highest female position in court after her husbands death.

Sophie Marie Dorothea Auguste Louise was born in Stettin, Kingdom of Prussia , as the Duchess of Wrttemberg. She was a daughter of Friedrich II Eugen, Duke of Wrttemberg and his wife, Friederike Dorothea of BrandenburgSchwedt. Named after her mother, Sophie Dorothea, as she was known in her family, was the eldest daughter of eight children five boys and three girls. In 1769, when she was ten years old, her family took up residence in the ancestral castle at Montbliard, then an exclave of the Duchy of Wrttemberg, today part of FrancheComt. Her younger brother, Alexander of Wrttemberg, was born there. Montbliard was the seat of the junior branch of the House of Wrttemberg, to which she belonged it was also a cultural center and many intellectual and political figures frequented her parents palace. The familys summer residence was situated at tupes.

Source: Wikipedia