Charles (German: Karl Friedrich Alexander; 6 March 1823 – 6 October 1891) was King of Württemberg from 25 June 1864 until his death in 1891.

In relation to foreign policy, after siding with Austria in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, he moved closer to the Kingdom of Prussia.

Following the Battle of Sadowa, he enacted a secret military treaty with Prussia (which became public in 1867) and recognized the dissolution of the German Confederation in 1866.

The King showed a tendency to withdraw into private life in other ways, going around the country and, later, spending time in Nice.

In doing so, he was accused of having neglected the obligations incumbent on him as a constitutional body, including by having up to 800 unsigned documents accumulate in one case.

On 18 January 1846, he became engaged in Palermo to the 23-year-old Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia, the daughter of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia and Charlotte of Prussia (a daughter of King Frederick William III of Prussia and sister to William I, German Emperor).

[2] Olga's grandmother, Empress Maria Feodorovna, was the younger sister of Charles' grandfather, King Frederick.

The young couple moved to Stuttgart, and from 1854 until Charles' accession in 1864, lived at the Crown Prince Palace (German: Kronprinzenpalais) built between 1846 and 1850 at state expense on Königstraße, corner of Schloßplatz (which was demolished in c. 1962).

For their summer residence, the crown prince couple stayed at Villa Berg, which had been designed by Christian Friedrich von Leins according to their own ideas and is considered one of the first Renaissance Revival style buildings in Germany.

This did not go unnoticed by the press, and together with the political establishment, headed by Prime Minister Hermann von Mittnacht, the King was put under intense pressure to give up Woodcock.