german: Christine von Hessen-Rheinfels-Rotenburg , image = Christine Henriette of Hesse-Rotenburg.jpg , caption = Portrait by Maria Giovanna Clementi , title = Princess of Carignano , birth_date = , birth_place = Schloss Rotenburg,

Rotenburg Rotenburg may refer to: *Rotenburg (district), Lower Saxony, Germany *Rotenburg an der Wümme, capital of the district *Rotenburg an der Fulda, near Kassel in Hesse *Rothenburg ob der Tauber, in the Franconia region of Bavaria *Hersfeld-Rotenburg, ...

, death_date = , death_place = Palazzo Carignano,

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

, Italy , spouse = Louis Victor of Savoy, Prince of Carignano , issue-link = #Issue , place of burial = Basilica of Superga, Turin, Italy , date of burial = 1786 , house = Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg , father =

Ernest Leopold, Landgrave of Hesse-Rotenburg Ernst Leopold of Hesse-Rotenburg (15 June 1684 – 29 November 1749) was Landgrave of Hessen-Rheinfels-Rotenburg between 1725 and 1749. Born in Langenschwalbach, he was a son of landgrave William, Landgrave of Hesse-Rotenburg and Countess Ma ...

, mother = Countess Eleonore of Löwenstein-Rochefort , issue = Princess Christine of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg (Christine Henriette; 21 November 1717 – 1 September 1778) was a

prince 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. ...

ss of the German dynasty of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg. She was the Princess of Carignano by marriage and mother of the ''

princesse de Lamballe Princesse (French 'princess') may refer to: *"Princesse", single hit for Julie Zenatti *Princesse (Nekfeu song) *La Princesse La Princesse is a 15-metre (50-foot) mechanical spider designed and operated by French performance art company La Mac ...

'' and of Victor Amadeus II, Prince of Carignan.

Biography

''Christine'' Henriette was born in

the youngest of the ten children of the

Landgrave Landgrave (german: Landgraf, nl, landgraaf, sv, lantgreve, french: landgrave; la, comes magnus, ', ', ', ', ') was a noble title used in the Holy Roman Empire, and later on in its former territories. The German titles of ', ' (" margrave") ...

Ernst Leopold I of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg and his wife, Princess Eleonore of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rochefort. Her older sister Polyxena was married in 1730 to the future Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia and had issue. Another sister,

Caroline Caroline may refer to: People *Caroline (given name), a feminine given name * J. C. Caroline (born 1933), American college and National Football League player * Jordan Caroline (born 1996), American (men's) basketball player Places Antarctica * ...

was the wife of the French

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon (Louis Henri Joseph; 18 August 1692 – 27 January 1740), was a French nobleman and politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 1723 to 1726. As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, he was a '' p ...

until her death in 1741. After Polyxena's marriage, Christine became engaged to Louis Victor, Prince of Carignan, the eldest surviving child of

Victor Amadeus, Prince of Carignan Victor Amadeus of Savoy, 3rd Prince of Carignano (1 March 1690 – 4 April 1741) was an Italian nobleman who was Prince of Carignano from 1709 to 1741. He was the son of Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy, Prince of Carignano and his wife, the Maria A ...

and his wife Maria Vittoria Francesca of Savoy. The Carignans were a

cadet branch In history and heraldry, a cadet branch consists of the male-line descendants of a monarch's or patriarch's younger sons ( cadets). In the ruling dynasties and noble families of much of Europe and Asia, the family's major assets— realm, t ...

of the

House of Savoy The House of Savoy ( it, Casa Savoia) was a royal dynasty that was established in 1003 in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, the family grew in power from ruling a small Alpine county north-west of Italy to absolute rule of ...

, would inherit from them the kingship of Sardinia, and would be declared kings of Italy from 1861. Christine married Louis Victor on 4 May 1740 at the age of 22. The next year her husband succeeded to the title ''Prince de Carignan'', the ''

seigneury ''Seigneur'' is an originally feudal title in France before the Revolution, in New France and British North America until 1854, and in the Channel Islands to this day. A seigneur refers to the person or collective who owned a ''seigneurie'' ...

'' of Carignan having belonged to the Savoys since 1418. The fact that it was part of

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, only twenty kilometers south of Turin, meant that it could be a "princedom" for the cadet line in name only, being endowed neither with independence nor revenues of substance. Christine's second child, born at the Palazzo Carignano, was named Victor Amadeus and was the great-grandfather of the future

Victor Emmanuel II of Italy en, Victor Emmanuel Maria Albert Eugene Ferdinand Thomas , house = Savoy , father = Charles Albert of Sardinia , mother = Maria Theresa of Austria , religion = Roman Catholicism , image_size = 252px , succession1 ...

. Her fifth daughter was her most famous; Louise, princesse de Lamballe, the tragic best friend of

Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne (; ; née Maria Antonia Josepha Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last queen of France before the French Revolution. She was born an archduchess of Austria, and was the penultimate child a ...

. Christine died at the Palazzo Carignano in Turin on the night of 31 August – 1 September 1778, and was followed less than three months later by her husband. Buried firstly at

Turin Cathedral la, Ecclesia Sancti Johannis Baptista , native_name = Duomo di Torino , native_name_lang = Italian , image = DuomoTorino.jpg , caption = The Cathedral in 2019 , imagelink = , pushpin map = Italy Turin , pushpin mapsize = , map caption = ...

, she was moved in 1835 to Turin's Basilica of Superga. At her death the ''Gazette de France'' published a small epitaph for her in honour of her daughter Madame de Lamballe:

''Tuesday, the 31st of last month, princesse Christine Henriette de Hesse Rheinfels, wife of Louis Victor Amédée de Savoie, Prince de Carignan, died in this city urin after a lingering and painful illness. She was born the 24th November, 1717''.

IssueC.E.D.R.E. ''Les Manuscrits du C.E.D.R.E.: Le Royaume d'Italie, volume I.'' Paris, 1992, pp. 154-156, 176-179. (French). ISSN 0993-3964.

#Princess Charlotte of Savoy (Turin, 17 August 1742 – 20 February 1794) died unmarried; was a nun; # Victor Amadeo, Prince of Carignano (Turin, 31 October 1743 - September 1780) married Princess Joséphine de Lorraine and had issue; #

Princess Leopoldina of Savoy Princess Leopoldina of Savoy (Leopoldina Maria; 21 December 1744 – 17 April 1807) was a Princess of Savoy and later the Princess of Melfi, as wife of Giovanni ''Andrea'' VI Doria-Pamphilj-Landi, (13) Prince of Melfi. She was the older siste ...

(Turin, 21 December 1744 – Rome, 17 April 1807) married Don Andrea IV

Doria-Pamphili-Landi The House of Doria Pamphilj Landi (also called simply Doria Pamphilj) was a princely Roman family of Genoese extraction. Legend has it that the origins of the Doria family date from the early 11th century, but the authentic pedigree is traced to ...

, 8th Prince of Melfi, and had issue; #Princess Polyxena of Savoy (Turin, 31 October 1746 – 20 December 1762) died unmarried; #Princess Gabrielle of Savoy (Turin, 17 May 1748 - Vienna, 10 April 1828) married Ferdinand Philipp Josef, Prince of Lobkowicz, and had issue ( House of Lobkowicz); # Princess ''Maria Luisa'' Teresa of Savoy (Turin, 8 September 1749 – Paris, 3 September 1792) married Louis Alexandre de Bourbon, ''prince de Lamballe; murdered during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...

; #Prince Tommaso of Savoy (Turin, 6 March 1751 – 23 July 1753) # Prince Eugenio of Savoy, Count of Villafranca (Turin, 21 October 1753 – 30 June 1785) married (without dynastic approval) Élisabeth Anne Magon, and had issue; #Princess Caterina of Savoy (Turin, 4 April 1762 – 4 September 1823) married Don Filippo

Colonna The House of Colonna, also known as ''Sciarrillo'' or ''Sciarra'', is an Italian noble family, forming part of the papal nobility. It was powerful in medieval and Renaissance Rome, supplying one pope (Martin V) and many other church and pol ...

, 9th Prince of Paliano, and had issue

Ancestry

References and notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Christine Henriette Of Hesse-Rotenburg, Landgravine 1717 births 1778 deaths People from Rotenburg an der Fulda House of Hesse-Kassel Princesses of Savoy Princesses of Carignan Italian nobility Burials at Turin Cathedral Burials at the Basilica of Superga Landgravines of Hesse-Rotenburg 18th-century German people