Charles, Prince of Nassau-Usingen (31 December 1712 – 21 June 1775), was Prince of

Nassau-Usingen Nassau-Usingen was a county of the Holy Roman Empire in the Upper Rhenish Circle that became a principality in 1688. The origin of the county lies in the medieval county of Weilnau that was acquired by the counts of Nassau-Weilburg in 1602. ...

from 1718 to 1775.

Family

Charles was born in

Usingen Usingen is a small town in the Hochtaunuskreis in Hessen, Germany. Until 1972, this residential and school town was the seat of the former district of Usingen. Coat of arms The earliest seal whose appearance is known – there had been earlier ...

, the son of William Henry of Nassau-Usingen and Countess

Charlotte Amalia of Nassau-Dillenburg Charlotte Amalia of Nassau-Dillenburg (1680 in Dillenburg – 1738) was a German regent; regent of Nassau-Usingen from 1718-1732. She was a daughter of Prince Henry of Nassau-Dillenburg and Dorothea Elisabeth, a daughter of George III of Brieg ...

. After Charles' father died in 1718, Charlotte Amalia acted as regent for both Charles and his younger brother William Henry II. In 1728, Charles inherited the counties of Nassau-Ottweiler, Nassau-Idstein and Nassau-Saarbrücken from his second cousin Frederick Louis. These counties were then added to his county of Nassau-Usingen. In 1734, he was declared an adult by Emperor Charles VI. In 1735, he and William Henry II divided their inheritance. Charles received Usingen, Idstein, Wiesbaden and Lahr; William Henry II received Nassau-Saarbrücken and some smaller territories. He then moved his residence from

in the

Taunus The Taunus is a mountain range in Hesse, Germany, located north of Frankfurt. The tallest peak in the range is '' Großer Feldberg'' at 878 m; other notable peaks are '' Kleiner Feldberg'' (825 m) and '' Altkönig'' (798 m). The Taunus range spa ...

Schloss Biebrich Biebrich Palace (german: link=no, Schloss Biebrich) is a Baroque residence (''Schloss'') in the borough of Biebrich in the city of Wiesbaden, Hesse, Germany. Built in 1702 by Prince Georg August Samuel of Nassau-Idstein, it served as the ducal ...

in Biebrich and continued the progressive policies of his mother. Charles died in 1775 in Biebrich and was succeeded by his son Charles William.

Marriage and issue

On 26 December 1734 Charles married Duchess Christine Wilhelmine of

Saxe-Eisenach Saxe-Eisenach (german: Sachsen-Eisenach) was an Ernestine duchy ruled by the Saxon House of Wettin. The state intermittently existed at three different times in the Thuringian region of the Holy Roman Empire. The chief town and capital of all t ...

(born: 1711), a daughter of Duke John William III. The marriage produced four children: * Charles William (1735–1803), Prince of Nassau-Usingen * Christine (1736–1741) * Frederick Augustus (1738–1816), Prince of Nassau-Usingen (1803–1816) and Duke of Nassau (1806–1816) * John Adolph (1740–1793), Prussian general In the second,

morganatic marriage Morganatic marriage, sometimes called a left-handed marriage, is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which in the context of royalty or other inherited title prevents the principal's position or privileges being passed to the spous ...

, Charles married Magdalene Gross from Wiesbaden (born: 1712). From this marriage he also had four children: * Philippa Catherine von Biebrich (born: Idstein 17 May 1744; died: 17 July 1798), married at Biebrich June 1773 to Baron Karl Friedrich von Kruse (1738–1806) * Karl Philipp von Biebrich, Count von Weilnau (born: 25 March 1746; died: 15 August 1789 Wiesbaden). The Nassau Family Pact was executed in 1783, but he was not invited to be a signatory because of the morganatic marriage of his parents. * Sophie Christine (born: 20 June 1750; died: 16 November 1750) * Wilhelm Heinrich (born: 15 February 1755; died: 6 April 1755)

Ancestry

References

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Charles of Nassau-Usingen Counts of Nassau Princes of Nassau House of Nassau 1712 births 1775 deaths 18th-century German people Recipients of the Order of the White Eagle (Poland)