Christopher of Baden-Durlach (9 October 1684, Karlsburg Castle

Karlsburg Castle

Karlsburg Castle in the Durlach district of Karlsruhe characterizes the history of the Baden since 1563. Only the of the historical building still stands....

, Durlach

Durlach

Durlach is a borough of the German city of Karlsruhe with a population of roughly 30,000.-History:Durlach was bestowed by emperor Frederick II on the margrave Hermann V of Zähringen as an allodial possession, but afterwards came into the hands of Rudolph of Habsburg.It was chosen by the margrave...

 – 2 May 1723, Karlsruhe

Karlsruhe

The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...

) was Prince and (titular) Margrave of Baden-Durlach.

Christopher was the son of Margrave

Margrave

A margrave or margravine was a medieval hereditary nobleman with military responsibilities in a border province of a kingdom. Border provinces usually had more exposure to military incursions from the outside, compared to interior provinces, and thus a margrave usually had larger and more active...

 Margrave Frederick Magnus of Baden-Durlach and Augusta Maria of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorf (born February 6, 1649, † April 25, 1728), daughter of the Duke Frederick III of Holstein-Gottorp

Frederick III, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp

Frederick III of Holstein-Gottorp was a Duke of Holstein-Gottorp.He was the elder son of Duke Johann Adolf of Holstein-Gottorp and Augusta of Denmark. His mother was a daughter of King Frederick II of Denmark....

.
He was the brother of the reigning from 1709 Margrave Charles III William, who reigned from 1709 till 1738.

Marriage and descendants

On 4 December 1711, Christopher of Baden-Durlach married with Marie Christine Felizitas of Leiningen-Heidesheim (born December 30, 1692; died June 3, 1734), the daughter of Count John Charles of Leiningen-Dagsburg and Countess Johanna Magdalene of Hanau-Lichtenberg. The couple had the following children:

• Karl August (born November 14, 1712; † September 30, 1786), later ruler of Baden-Durlach (guardianship government for Charles Frederick); married Juliane Schmid (later Baroness of Ehrenberg)
• Charles William Eugene (born November 3, 1713; died May 9, 1783), had a military career; from 1743 he was a member of the guardianship authorities (guardianship government for Charles Frederick) of Baden-Durlach with his brother.
• Christopher (born: June 5, 1717, died: December 18, 1789), married on 28 November 1779 Katharina Höllischer Baroness of Freydorf (born June 26, 1745; died 23 July 1811)

After Christopher's early death, his widow married Duke John William III of Saxe-Eisenach

John William III, Duke of Saxe-Eisenach

Johann Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Eisenach , was a duke of Saxe-Eisenach.He was the third son of Johann Georg I, Duke of Saxe-Eisenach and Johannetta of Sayn-Wittgenstein...

 in 1727. She was his fourth wife.

Since two of his sons married morganatically

Morganatic marriage

In the context of European royalty, a morganatic marriage is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which prevents the passage of the husband's titles and privileges to the wife and any children born of the marriage...

 and one remained single, this branch of the family could not contribute to the preservation of the House of Baden-Durlach, when the conflicts began over the legitimacy of the descendants of Grand Duke Charles Frederick from the morganatic marriage to Luise Karoline of Hochberg.