Baroness Wilhelmine Caroline Christiane Henriette of Dörnberg, (German: ''Wilhelmine Caroline Christiane Henriette, Reichsfreiin von Dörnberg;'' 6 March 1803 – 14 May 1835) was a member of the House of Dörnberg and a Baroness of

Dörnberg Dörnberg is a municipality in the district of Rhein-Lahn, in Rhineland-Palatinate, in western Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea ...

by birth. Through her marriage to

Maximilian Karl, 6th Prince of Thurn and Taxis Maximilian Karl, 6th Prince of Thurn and Taxis, full German name: ''Maximilian Karl Fürst von Thurn und Taxis'' (3 November 1802 – 10 November 1871) was the sixth Prince of Thurn and Taxis, head of the Thurn-und-Taxis-Post, and Head of t ...

, Wilhelmine was also a member of the

House of Thurn and Taxis The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis (, ) is a family of German nobility that is part of the ''Briefadel''. It was a key player in the mail, postal services in Europe during the 16th century, until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, and ...

. Wilhelmine was known to her family and friends as "Mimi."

Early life

Wilhelmine was the daughter of the former Prussian Vice President and Director of the royal chamber of

Brandenburg-Ansbach The Principality or Margraviate of (Brandenburg) Ansbach ( or ) was a principality in the Holy Roman Empire centered on the Franconian city of Ansbach. The ruling Hohenzollern princes of the land were known as margraves, as their ancestors were ...

, Baron Ernst Heinrich Konrad Friedrich von Dörnberg (1769-1828) and his wife Baroness Wilhelmine Sophie Henriette Maximiliane von

Glauburg Glauburg is a municipality in the Wetteraukreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is located approximately 33 kilometers northeast of Frankfurt am Main. Glauburg is a municipality of Glauberg and Stockheim. The city hall of Glauburg is in Stockheim. The muni ...

(1775-1835). She had two elder siblings, a brother, Count Ernst Friedrich von Dörnberg (1801-1878) and one sister, Countess Sophie von Pückler-Limpurg (1795-1854).

Marriage and issue

Wilhelmine married

, fourth child of

Karl Alexander, 5th Prince of Thurn and Taxis Karl Alexander, 5th Prince of Thurn and Taxis, full German language, German name: ''Karl Alexander Fürst von Thurn und Taxis'' (22 February 1770 – 15 July 1827) was the fifth Thurn und Taxis, Prince of Thurn and Taxis, head of the Thurn-und-Ta ...

and his wife

Duchess Therese of Mecklenburg-Strelitz Duchess Therese Mathilde Amalie of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (; 5 April 1773 – 12 February 1839) was a member of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and a Duchess of Mecklenburg. Through her marriage to Karl Alexander, 5th Prince of Thurn and Taxis, T ...

, on 24 August 1828 in

Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...

. Princess Wilhelmine and Prince Maximilian Karl had five children, four sons and only one daughter: *Prince Karl Wilhelm of Thurn and Taxis (14 April 1829 – 21 July 1829) *Princess Therese Mathilde of Thurn and Taxis (31 August 1830 – 10 September 1883), 1. ⚭ Duke Carl Alfred August Konstantin von

Beaufort-Spontin The House of Beaufort-Spontin is a noble family which held prominent posts under the Holy Roman Emperors in the Austrian Netherlands, their family seat having originally been in Namur. The most notable member of the family was Frederic August Ale ...

(1816-1888), 2. ⚭ Wilhelm von Pirch (d. 1881) *

Maximilian Anton Lamoral, Hereditary Prince of Thurn and Taxis ''Maximilian Anton Lamoral'', Hereditary Prince of Thurn and Taxis (German: ''Maximilian Anton Lamoral Erbprinz von Thurn und Taxis''; 28 September 1831 – 26 June 1867) was the Hereditary Prince of Thurn and Taxis from birth until his death ...

(28 September 1831 – 26 June 1867) ⚭

Duchess Helene in Bavaria Duchess Helene in Bavaria (Helene Caroline Therese; 4 April 1834 16 May 1890), nicknamed Néné, was the Hereditary Princess of Thurn and Taxis as the wife of Maximilian Anton Lamoral. She was a Duchess in Bavaria by birth as the daughter of D ...

*Prince Egon of Thurn and Taxis (17 November 1832 – 8 February 1892) ⚭ Viktoria Edelspacher de Gyorok (1841-1895) and had issue *Prince Theodor of Thurn and Taxis (9 February 1834 – 1 March 1876) ⚭ Baroness Melanie von Seckendorff (1841-1919) and had issue Wilhelmine's family, the House of Dörnberg, was a Protestant Hessian noble family and was not, according to the laws of the Princely House of Thurn and Taxis Family Act of 1776, equal in rank to her husband's family. Despite the fierce resistance to the union from the members of the princely house, especially from Maximilian Karl's mother Therese, the two married. Wilhelmine's only brother, Baron Ernst Friedrich von Dörnberg (1801-1878), became chief of the Thurn and Taxis administration and was elevated to the title of '' Graf von Dörnberg'' (Count of Dörnberg) in Vienna on February 21, 1865.https://genealogy.euweb.cz/titles/d.html

Illness and death

In 1834, Wilhelmine fell ill on a hard drive to Castle Chraustowitz, one of the many estates that Thurn and Taxis family possessed in

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

. At the beginning of 1835, she went to

Nuremberg Nuremberg (, ; ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the Franconia#Towns and cities, largest city in Franconia, the List of cities in Bavaria by population, second-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Bav ...

to receive a

homeopathic Homeopathy or homoeopathy is a pseudoscientific system of alternative medicine. It was conceived in 1796 by the German physician Samuel Hahnemann. Its practitioners, called homeopaths or homeopathic physicians, believe that a substance tha ...

treatment with Dr. Reuter. Wilhelmine was hopeful that the treatments would restore her quality of life. However, she died on 14 May 1835.

Ancestry

References

*Martin Dallmeier, Martha Schad: ''Das Fürstliche Haus Thurn und Taxis''. Friedrich Pustet Verlag Regensburg 1996. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilhelmine Of Dornberg, Baroness 1803 births 1835 deaths People from Ansbach Princesses of Thurn und Taxis German baronesses German Roman Catholics Burials at the Gruftkapelle, St. Emmeram's Abbey