Marie Leopoldine of Anhalt-Dessau (18 November 1746,

Dessau Dessau is a town and former municipality in Germany at the confluence of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the '' Bundesland'' (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it has been part of the newly created municipality of Dessau-Roßlau ...

– 15 April 1769,

Detmold Detmold () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with a population of . It was the capital of the small Principality of Lippe from 1468 until 1918 and then of the Free State of Lippe until 1947. Today it is the administrative center of ...

) was a princess of

Anhalt-Dessau Anhalt-Dessau was a principality of the Holy Roman Empire and later a duchy of the German Confederation. Ruled by the House of Ascania, it was created in 1396 following the partition of the Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst, and finally merged into t ...

by birth and by marriage Countess of

Lippe-Detmold Lippe (later Lippe-Detmold and then again Lippe) was a historical state in Germany, ruled by the House of Lippe. It was located between the Weser river and the southeast part of the Teutoburg Forest. It was founded in the 1640s under a separ ...

Life

Leopoldine Marie was a daughter of Prince Leopold II of Anhalt-Dessau (1700–1751) from his marriage to Gisela Agnes (1722–1751), daughter of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen. She had a particularly close relationship with her sisters Agnes and Casimire, with whom she mostly lived together, even after her marriage, and with whom she conducted an extensive correspondence when they were not together. At age 18, on 28 September 1765 in Dessau, she married Count Simon August (1727–1782) of Lippe-Detmold, who was twice as old as she was. In her letters to her sisters, she complained about being homesick, so her sisters decided to follow her to Detmold. She personally oversaw the modernizing of the

princely residence Detmold Castle A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

and the Court at Lemgo. She died on 15 April 1769, only four years after her marriage. Later that year, Simon August married her sister Casimire.

Issue

From her marriage with Simon August, Marie Leopoldine had one son: * Leopold I (1767–1802), Prince of Lippe-Detmold, married in 1796 princess Pauline Christine of Anhalt-Bernburg (1769–1820)

References and sources

* Eva Labouvie: ''Schwestern und Freundinnen: zur Kulturgeschichte weiblicher Kommunikation'', Böhlau Verlag, Cologne / Weimar, 2009, p. 321 ff 1746 births 1769 deaths Countesses of Lippe-Detmold Princesses of Anhalt-Dessau 18th-century German people Daughters of monarchs {{Germany-countess-stub