Early life
Caroline was born 9 January 1820 in Bad Hersfeld. She was the daughter of Baron Hermann Ludwig von Berlepsch and Melusine von :de:Kruse (Adelsgeschlecht), Kruse.Personal life
On 28 August 1843, she was married to William II, Elector of Hesse, William II, who was 43 years her senior, in Wilhelmsbad (now part of Hanau). She was his third wife, following the death of his first wife, Princess Augusta of Prussia (the fourth daughter of King of Prussia, King Frederick William II of Prussia) in 1841, and his second wife, Countess Emilie Ortlöpp, Emilie of Reichenbach-Lessonitz in 1843. This was a morganatic marriage, because she was considered lesser nobility and therefore not befitting for a sovereign Elector. The couple's main residence was Frankfurt, since the elector had in 1830 and virtually abdicated the government to his son, Frederick William I, Elector of Hesse, Frederick William I, from his first, non-morganatic, marriage. In 1844, the Elector elevated Caroline to the "Baroness of Frankfurt-Bergen-Enkheim, Bergen" and in 1846, she received the Austrian title of "Countess of Bergen".Second marriage
After William's death in 1847, she married again, to Count Charles Adolph of :de:Hohenthal (Adelsgeschlecht), Hohenthal (1811–1875) on 28 October 1851 in Frankfurt. Together with Count Charles, who was born in Zweimen, Dölkau, she had two sons: * Karl Adolph Philipp Wilhelm von Hohenthal (1853–1909) * Charles Louis of Hohenthal (b. 1857). Count Charles died on 9 October 1875 in Knauthain. She died 21 February 1877 in Knauthain (now part of Leipzig).Michel Huberty: ''L' Allemagne dynastique : Les 15 familles qui ont fait l'empire'', vol. 1: ''Hesse - Reuss - Saxe'', Le Perreux-sur-Marne, 1976,References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berlepsch, Caroline of Austrian countesses House of Hesse 1820 births 1877 deaths German baronesses 19th-century German people Morganatic spouses of German royalty