Princess Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt (Louise Henriette Karoline; 15 February 1761 – 24 October 1829), was the first
Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine by marriage.
Life
Louise was a daughter of
Prince George William of Hesse-Darmstadt (1722–1782) from his marriage to
Countess Maria Louise Albertine of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg (1729–1818), daughter of Count
Christian Karl Reinhard of Leiningen-Dachsburg-Falkenburg-Heidesheim.
The princess was in 1770 in the entourage of
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette (; ; Maria Antonia Josefa Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last List of French royal consorts, queen of France before the French Revolution and the establishment of the French First Republic. She was the ...
, as they traveled to France for her marriage. Louise exchanged letters with the French queen until 1792.
Louise married on 19 February 1777 in Darmstadt, her cousin the then hereditary prince
Louis I of Hesse-Darmstadt (1753–1830). Her husband ruled
Hesse-Darmstadt from 1790 as Landgrave Louis X and from 1806 as Ludwig I, Grand Duke of Hesse and the Rhine.
Louise spent the summer months since 1783 in the State Park Fürstenlager, and died there in 1829. Here provided charity to the population Auerbach. The Grand Duchess was described as amiable and revered by the nation.
Carl Hertzog: ''Louis I and his monument to Darmstadt'', p. 5
/ref>
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...
stayed at her court and Friedrich Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, philosopher and historian. Schiller is considered by most Germans to be Germany's most important classical playwright.
He was born i ...
read from his Don Carlos in her salon. It was said that Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
promised the beautiful Louise, whom he believed to be one of the cleverest women of her time, that he would give her a crown.
Luisenstraße and Luisenplatz in Darmstadt are named after Louise.
Issue
From her marriage with Louis, Louise had the following children:
* Louis II (1777–1848), Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine; married in 1804 princess Wilhelmine of Baden (1788–1836)
* Luise Karoline of Hesse-Darmstadt (1779–1811); married in 1800 Prince Louis of Anhalt-Köthen (1778–1802)
* George of Hesse-Darmstadt (1780–1856); married morganatically in 1804 Caroline Török de Szendrő (1786–1862), "Baroness of Menden" 1804, "Countess of Nidda," 1808, "Princess of Nidda 1821; (divorced 1827)
* Frederick of Hesse-Darmstadt (1788–1867)
* Stillborn twin daughters (1789).
* Emil of Hesse-Darmstadt (1790–1856)
* Gustav of Hesse-Darmstadt (1791–1806)
Ancestry
References
* Philip Alexander Ferdinand Walther
Darmstadt, what was like and what it has become, p. 240
* Carl Friedrich Günther
Anecdotes, character descriptions and memoirs from the Hessian area., p. 172
{{DEFAULTSORT:Louise # Hesse Darmstadt
Louise # 1761
1761 births
1829 deaths
Landgravines of Hesse-Darmstadt
Grand duchesses of Hesse
Burials at the Mausoleum for the Grand Ducal House of Hesse, Rosenhöhe (Darmstadt)
Mothers of German monarchs