William II (german: Wilhelm II; 28 July 1777 – 20 November 1847) was the penultimate

Elector of Hesse This is a list of rulers of Hesse (german: Hessen) during the history of Hesse on west-central Germany. These rulers belonged to a dynasty collectively known as the House of Hesse and the House of Brabant,''Burke's Royal Families of the World ...

.After 1806, the title of ''Elector'' was meaningless, since no more Holy Roman Emperors could be elected, because the Empire had been dissolved. Nevertheless, the rulers of Hesse-Kassel still used the title.

Early life

William was the eldest surviving son of

William I, Elector of Hesse William I, Elector of Hesse (german: link=no, Wilhelm I., Kurfürst von Hessen; 3 June 1743 – 27 February 1821) was the eldest surviving son of Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) and Princess Mary of Great Britain, the d ...

and

Wilhelmina Caroline of Denmark and Norway german: Wilhelmina Karolina , house = Oldenburg , father =Frederick V of Denmark , mother =Louise of Great Britain , birth_date = , birth_place =Christiansborg Palace, Copenhagen, Denmark , death_date = , death_plac ...

. With the Hessian troops, he was involved in the

War of the Sixth Coalition In the War of the Sixth Coalition (March 1813 – May 1814), sometimes known in Germany as the Wars of Liberation, a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, and a number of German States defeated F ...

against

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

in 1813. He succeeded as Elector of Hesse (a title that was moribund after the dissolution of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars. From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...

in 1806) on his father's death in 1821.

Personal life

On 13 February 1797 in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

, William married

Princess Augusta of Prussia Augusta of Prussia (Christine Friederike Auguste; 1 May 1780 – 19 February 1841) was a German salonist, painter, and Electress consort of Hesse by marriage to William II, Elector of Hesse. She was the third daughter and fifth child of Freder ...

, fourth daughter of

King King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

Frederick William II of Prussia Frederick William II (german: Friedrich Wilhelm II.; 25 September 1744 – 16 November 1797) was King of Prussia from 1786 until his death in 1797. He was in personal union the Prince-elector of Brandenburg and (via the Orange-Nassau inherita ...

. They had six children: * Wilhelm (1798–1800), who died in infancy. * Karoline (1799–1854) * Luise (1801–1803), who died in infancy. * Friedrich (1802–1875), later

. * Marie Fredericka (1804–1888), who married

Bernhard II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen Bernhard II (17 December 1800, in Meiningen – 3 December 1882, in Meiningen) was a Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. Family He was the only son of Georg I Frederick Karl, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen and Luise Eleonore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. Bernhard was ...

* Ferdinand (1806–1806), who died in infancy.

Second marriage

William also had eight children by his second wife,

Emilie Ortlöpp Countess Emilie of Reichenbach-Lessonitz née Ortlöpp (13 May 1791 in Berlin – 12 February 1843 in Frankfurt) was the mistress and later second wife of Elector William II of Hesse. Life Emilie was the second daughter of the goldsmith J ...

(1791–1843), daughter of Johann Christian Ortlöpp and wife Agnese Luise Sophie Wiessenberg, created (1821) Countess of Reichenbach-Lessonitz. The children bore the title Count/Countess of Reichenbach-Lessonitz: * Luise Wilhelmine Emilie (1813–1883), who married Karl Count von Bose. * Julius Wilhelm Albrecht (1815–1822). * Gustav Karl (1818–1861), who married Clementine Richter. * Amalie Wilhelmine Emilie (1816–1858), who married Wilhelm Count von Lückner, then Karl Baron von Watzdorf. * Emilie (1820–1891), who married Felix Count Zichy-Ferraris. * Friederike (1821–1898), who married Wilhelm Baron von Dungern. * Wilhelm (1824–1866), who married Helene Amelie Baroness Goeler von Ravensburg (ancestors of Ameli, Duchess of Oldenburg, Count Luitpold of Castell-Castell, and

Richard, 6th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg Richard, 6th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (Richard Casimir Karl August Robert Konstantin; 29 October 1934 – 13 March 2017) was the head of the House of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg and husband of Princess Benedikte of Denmark. Biography ...

). * Helene (1825–1898), who married Oswald Baron von Fabrice (4x great grandparents of Princess Nikolaos of Greece and Denmark).

Third marriage

Several months after Augusta's death on 19 February 1841, William

morganatically 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 spou ...

married his mistress and their children were legitimated. Emilie Ortlöpp died less than two years after the marriage in 1843. Again, months after his second wife's death, William married (morganatically) Caroline, Baroness of Berlepsch (1820–1877), daughter of Ludwig Hermann, Baron of Berlepsch and Melusine Jul. Chr. von Kruse. William created the title of Countess of Bergen for Caroline in 1846. This marriage was childless. After his death, she married on 28 October 1851 Karl Adolf Graf von Hohenthal (1811–1875), by whom she had two sons: Karl Adolf (b. 1853) and Karl Ludwig (b. 1857). William died on 20 November 1847 and was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, Frederick William, the last Elector of Hesse.

Descendants

Princess Tatiana of Greece and Denmark Princess Tatiana of Greece and Denmark (''née'' Tatiana Ellinka Blatnik, 27 August 1980) is a Venezuelan publicist, event planner, and writer. She is a member of the former Greek royal family and the Danish royal family as the wife of Princ ...

, the wife of

Prince Nikolaos of Greece and Denmark Prince Nikolaos of Greece and Denmark (Greek: Νικόλαος; born 1 October 1969) is the third child of Constantine II and Anne-Marie of Denmark, who were the last King and Queen of Greece, reigning from 1964 to 1973. Early life Nikolaos w ...

, is a descendant of William II, through her mother's side.

Honours

Ancestry

Footnotes

Sources

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:William 02 of Hesse, Elector 1777 births 1847 deaths House of Hesse-Kassel Protestant monarchs Hereditary Princes of Hesse-Kassel People from the Electorate of Hesse People from Hanau Prince-electors of Hesse German commanders of the Napoleonic Wars Generals of Infantry (Prussia) Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary