Princess Charlotte Wilhelmine of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (14 June 1685 in

Coburg Coburg () is a town located on the Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only in 1920. Until the revolution of 1918, it ...

- 5 April 1767 in Hanau) was a German princess by birth and Countess of Hanau-Münzenberg by marriage.

Life

She was the daughter of the

John Ernest IV, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld Johann Ernest IV, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (22 August 1658 in Gotha – 17 February 1729 in Saalfeld) was a reigning duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Life He was the tenth but seventh surviving son of Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha and Elisabeth ...

, and his wife, the Duchess Sophie Hedwig of Saxe-Merseburg (1666-1686). She married

Philip Reinhard, Count of Hanau-Münzenberg Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...

(1664-1712). She was his second wife and survived him by more than half a century. The dowry that she brought into her marriage was . This marriage, however, remained childless.

Widowhood

After her husband's death, she received Babenhausen Castle as her widow seat. With the death of

Johann Reinhard III, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg Johann Reinhard III of Hanau-Lichtenberg (31 July 1665 in Bischofsheim am hohen Steg (now called Rheinbischofsheim) – 28 March 1736 in ''Schloss Philippsruhe'', Hanau) was the last of the counts of Hanau-Lichtenberg. He reigned from 1680 to 17 ...

, the

House of Hanau Hanau is a town in Germany and Lichtenberg is a village in Alsace, now France. This list of rulers of Hanau or Hanau-Lichtenberg covers the lords and later counts that ruled the area from the 14th through the 18th centuries (see also Lichtenberg ...

died out in the male line. The County fell to Hesse and was divided between

Hesse-Kassel The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (german: Landgrafschaft Hessen-Kassel), spelled Hesse-Cassel during its entire existence, was a state in the Holy Roman Empire that was directly subject to the Emperor. The state was created in 1567 when the Lan ...

and

Hesse-Darmstadt The Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt (german: Landgrafschaft Hessen-Darmstadt) was a State of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled by a younger branch of the House of Hesse. It was formed in 1567 following the division of the Landgraviate of Hesse betwee ...

. She received the stately home ''Salzhaus'' in the old city of Hanau, where she lived the rest of her life.Suchier, Grabmonumente, p. 55.

Death

She died on 5 April 1767 at the Salzhaus. She was the last surviving member of the House of Hanau. She was buried on 11 April 1767 in the family crypt in the Lutheran Church (now called the Old St. John's Church) in Hanau. her tomb was largely destroyed when the town was bombed during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

References

* Reinhard Dietrich: ''Die Landesverfassung in dem Hanauischen'', in the series ''Hanauer Geschichtsblätter'', vol. 34, Hanau, 1996, * Uta Löwenstein: ''“Daß sie sich uf ihren Withumbsitz begeben und sich sonsten anderer Herrschaften Sachen und Handlungen nicht unternehmen ...“. Hofhaltungen fürstlicher Frauen und Witwen in der frühen Neuzeit'', in: ''Frühneuzeitliche Hofkultur in Hessen und Thüringen'', in the series ''Jenaer Studien'', vol. 1, ed. by Jörg Jochen Berns and Detlev Ignasiak, Palm & Enke, Erlangen, 1993, , p. 115 – 141 * Pauline Ruppel: ''Die Problematik der Ausübung von Vormundschaften in Herrscherhäusern durch die Mütter, erörtert und analysiert am Beispiel der Gräfin Catarina Belgia von Hanau-Münzenberg'', unpublished thesis, Marburg, 1997, p. 39. * Reinhard Suchier: ''Genealogie des Hanauer Grafenhauses'', in: ''Festschrift des Hanauer Geschichtsvereins zu seiner fünfzigjährigen Jubelfeier am 27. August 1894'', Hanau, 1894 * Reinhard Suchier: ''Die Grabmonumente und Särge der in Hanau bestatteten Personen aus den Häusern Hanau und Hessen'', in: ''Programm des Königlichen Gymnasiums zu Hanau'', Hanau, 1879, p. 1-56 *Richard Wille: ''Die letzten Grafen von Hanau-Lichtenberg'', in the series ''Mitteilungen des Hanauer Bezirksvereins für hessische Geschichte und Landeskunde'', vol. 12, Hanau, 1886, p. 56-68 * Ernst J. Zimmermann: ''Hanau Stadt und Land'', 3rded., Hanau, 1919, reprinted 1978 {{DEFAULTSORT:Charlotte Wilhelmine of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld People from Coburg House of Wettin Princesses of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld 1685 births 1767 deaths 18th-century German people German countesses House of Hanau Daughters of monarchs