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Countess Palatine Caroline of Zweibrücken

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Caroline of Zweibrücken
Landgravine consort of Hesse-Darmstadt
Tenure17 October 1768 – 30 March 1774
Born9 March 1721
Strasbourg
Died30 March 1774 (aged 53)
Darmstadt
Spouse
(m. 1741)
Issue
HousePalatinate-Zweibrücken
FatherChristian III, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken
MotherCaroline of Nassau-Saarbrücken

Caroline of the Palatinate-Zweibrücken (Caroline Henriette Christiane Philippine Louise; 9 March 1721 – 30 March 1774) was Landgravine of Hesse-Darmstadt by marriage to Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt. She was famed as one of the most learned women of her time and known as The Great Landgräfin.

Together with Louis IX, her husband, she became the most recent common ancestors of all current sovereigns of hereditary monarchies in Europe in 2022 after Charles III became King of the United Kingdom.[citation needed]

Biography

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Caroline was the daughter of Christian III, Duke of Zweibrücken and his wife Caroline of Nassau-Saarbrücken.

Caroline married on 12 August 1741 in Zweibrücken, Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt. The marriage was arranged and unhappy[citation needed]: Caroline was interested in music and literature, while Louis was interested in military matters. She lived separated from him at Buchsweiler. In 1772, Caroline promoted the politician Friedrich Karl von Moser.

Caroline was better known as The Great Landgräfin, a name given to her by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. She befriended several writers and philosophers of her time, such as Johann Gottfried Herder, Christoph Martin Wieland and Goethe. Wieland wished he had the power to make her Queen of Europa.

Caroline also had contact with Frederick II of Prussia. She was one of the few women that the Alte Fritz respected, and he famously referred to her as the Glory and Wonder of our century; after Caroline's death, he sent an urn to Darmstadt with the text femina sexu, ingenio vir ('A woman by sex, a man by spirit').[1]

Caroline and her husband became the most recent common ancestors of all reigning hereditary European monarchs in 2022 after Charles III became King of the United Kingdom.[citation needed]

Issue

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Name Portrait Birth Death Notes
Caroline
Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg
2 March 1746 18 September 1821 Married in 1768 Frederick V, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg, had issue
Frederika Louisa
Queen of Prussia
16 October 1751 25 February 1805 Married in 1769 Frederick William II of Prussia, had issue.
Louis I
Grand Duke of Hesse
14 June 1753 6 April 1830 Married in 1777 Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt, had issue
Amalie
Hereditary Princess of Baden
20 June 1754 21 June 1832 Married in 1775 Charles Louis, Hereditary Prince of Baden, had issue
Wilhelmina Louisa
Grand Duchess Natalia Alexeievna of Russia
25 June 1755 26 April 1776 Married in 1773 the future Emperor Paul I of Russia, no surviving issue
Louisa Augusta
Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
30 January 1757 14 February 1830 Married in 1775 Charles Augustus of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, had issue
Friedrich
Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt
10 June 1759 11 March 1802 never married, mistress was Catharina Wenedick, 2 illegitimate children: Lisette Thimotee Friedrich (born: 24 January 1799) and Friedrich Friedrich (born around 1800)
Christian
Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt
25 November 1763 17 April 1830 Died unmarried

Ancestry

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ Philipp A. Pauli: Darmstadt: Eine historisch-topographische Skizze und Excursionen in die Umgegend. Will, 1815, S. 89.
  2. ^ 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. 93.

Further reading

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  • Marita A. Panzer: Die Große Landgräfin Caroline von Hessen-Darmstadt, Verlag Friedrich Pustet Regensburg, 2005
[edit]
Countess Palatine Caroline of Zweibrücken
Cadet branch of the House of Wittelsbach
Born: 9 March 1721 Died: 30 March 1774
German royalty
Vacant
Title last held by
Dorothea Charlotte of Brandenburg-Ansbach
Landgravine consort of Hesse-Darmstadt
17 October 1768 – 30 March 1774
Vacant
Title next held by
Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt