Princess Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt
| Augusta Wilhelmine | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Portrait by Johann Heinrich Schröder, 1790. | |||||
| Duchess consort of Zweibrücken | |||||
| Tenure | 1 April 1795 – 30 March 1796 | ||||
| Born | 14 April 1765 Darmstadt, Germany | ||||
| Died | 30 March 1796 (aged 30) Rohrbach, Germany | ||||
| Burial | |||||
| Spouse | |||||
| Issue | |||||
| |||||
| House | Hesse-Darmstadt | ||||
| Father | Prince George William of Hesse-Darmstadt | ||||
| Mother | Countess Maria Louise Albertine of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg | ||||
| Religion | Lutheranism | ||||
Princess Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt (German: Marie Auguste Wilhelmine von Hessen-Darmstadt) (14 April 1765 – 30 March 1796) was Duchess consort of Zweibrücken by marriage to Maximilian, Duke of Zweibrücken, and the mother of King Ludwig I of Bavaria.
Biography[]
Augusta Wilhelmine was born at Darmstadt, the fourth daughter and ninth child of Prince George William of Hesse-Darmstadt (second son of Louis VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt) and Countess Maria Louise Albertine of Leiningen-Falkenburg-Dagsburg.
Marriage[]
On 30 September 1785, in Darmstadt, Augusta Wilhelmine married Maximilian, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken (later King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria).
Maximilian was an officer in the French army stationed at Strasbourg, but the couple also often visited Paris.[1] There Augusta Wilhelmine met Queen Marie Antoinette, with whom she maintained an ongoing correspondence.
In 1789, Maximilian's regiment rose in revolt and he and Augusta Wilhelmine fled to her parents' home in Darmstadt.[2] For the next five years, they lived mostly in the neighboring town of Mannheim. In December 1794, the French army attacked Mannheim. Augusta Wilhelmine fled the city when her home was shelled by French artillery.[3]
Duchess of Zweibrücken[]
In April 1795 Maximilian succeeded his brother as reigning Duke of Zweibrücken; however, his duchy was entirely occupied by the French. In March 1796 Augusta Wilhelmine, who had always had delicate lungs, finally succumbed and died at .[4] She was buried in the Schlosskirche in Darmstadt.[5]
Issue[]
She had five children:
- Prince Ludwig (1786–1868), married Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen.
- Princess Augusta Amalia Ludovika, (21 June 1788 – 13 May 1851), married Eugène de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg, Prince of Eichstätt.
- Princess Amalie Marie Auguste (9 October 1790 – 24 January 1794), died in infancy.
- Princess Caroline Augusta (8 February 1792 – 9 February 1873), married William I of Württemberg, and then Francis II of Austria.
- Prince Karl Theodor Maximilian (7 July 1795 – 16 August 1875).
Ancestry[]
Footnotes[]
- ^ Egon Caesar Corti, Ludwig I of Bavaria (London: , 1938), 15.
- ^ Corti, 19.
- ^ Corti, 21.
- ^ Corti, 24.
- ^ Hans Rall, Wittelsbacher Lebensbilder von Kaiser Ludwig bis zur Gegenwart (Munich: Wittelsbacher Ausgleichsfonds), 142.
- ^ Genealogie ascendante jusqu'au quatrieme degre inclusivement de tous les Rois et Princes de maisons souveraines de l'Europe actuellement vivans [Genealogy up to the fourth degree inclusive of all the Kings and Princes of sovereign houses of Europe currently living] (in French). Bourdeaux: Frederic Guillaume Birnstiel. 1768. p. 70.
Bibliography[]
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt. |
- Winkler, Wilhelm. "Die Mutter König Ludwig I. von Bayern nach ungedruckten Briefen", Die Wächter (1924).
Authority control  |
|---|
- 1765 births
- 1796 deaths
- House of Hesse-Darmstadt
- House of Wittelsbach
- Nobility from Darmstadt
- 18th-century deaths from tuberculosis
- Tuberculosis deaths in Germany