Friedrich Wilhelm of Hesse (1820-1884)
Friedrich Wilhelm Georg Adolf von Hessen (born November 26, 1820 in Copenhagen ; † October 14, 1884 in Frankfurt am Main ) was Titular Landgrave of Hessen-Kassel zu Rumpenheim from 1867 and (Titular) Landgrave of Hessen-Kassel as well as from 1875 Elector of Hesse and Prussia general.
He came from the Landgrave's branch line Rumpenheim of the main line Hesse-Kassel of the House of Hesse ; with the last Hessian elector Friedrich Wilhelm I he had the common great-grandfather, Landgrave Friedrich II. His parents were Landgrave Wilhelm von Hessen-Kassel zu Rumpenheim and Princess Louise Charlotte of Denmark , daughter of Prince Friedrich of Denmark and sister of the Danish King Christian VIII .
After the death of his father in 1867 and the exiled Elector Friedrich Wilhelm in exile in Prague on January 6, 1875, he was the only male heir to the Hessen-Kassel line of the House of Hesse and carried the personal title of Royal Highness . Since the Kurhessen, annexed by Prussia in 1866 , no longer existed at that time, this title no longer implied any political power.
Life
Friedrich Wilhelm, born in Copenhagen, spent his childhood and youth in Denmark. In addition to studying at the university in Bonn from 1839–1841, he embarked on a military career in the Electorate of Hesse : in 1837 he became captain , in 1843 major general and in 1851 lieutenant general . On board the Danish frigate Thetis , he crossed the Mediterranean to Constantinople in 1842 .
On January 28, 1844, he married 18-year-old Alexandra Nikolajewna Romanowa (1825–1844), the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, in Saint Petersburg . On August 10 of the same year, the first potential heir Wilhelm was born three months early. That same day, the child and the mother, who suffered from tuberculosis, died .
Friedrich Wilhelm married Maria Anna of Prussia (1836–1918), daughter of Prince Carl of Prussia , on May 26, 1853 in Charlottenburg Palace ; he had six children with her.
- Friedrich Wilhelm (1854–1888)
- Elisabeth Charlotte Alexandra (1861–1955) ⚭ 1884 Hereditary Prince Leopold of Anhalt (1855–1886)
- Alexander Friedrich (1863-1945)
- Friedrich Karl (1868–1940), nominally King of Finland in 1918
- Marie Polyxene (1872-1882)
- Sibylle Margaretha (1877–1953) ⚭ 1898–1923 Friedrich Freiherr von Vincke (1867–1925)
In addition to Denmark, the family lived alternately in Kassel Wilhelmshöhe Palace , in Weimar , Berlin, at Gut Panker and at the family's ancestral home, the Rumpenheimer Schloss .
In 1875, the 55-year-old Landgrave, who was richly wealthy through the compensation agreement with Prussia due to his renunciation of the throne, decided to expand Philippsruhe Castle near Hanau into his retirement home, into which he moved in 1880. The rooms on the “ Bel Etage ” of the palace, which are now occupied by the Hanau Historical Museum , show the historic taste of the Landgrave in the Renaissance style from the stucco ceilings, wooden inlays, Murano glass chandeliers and majolica stoves . Landgravine Anna maintained a salon with renowned artistic personalities of her time, u. a. Johannes Brahms , Clara Schumann , Anton Grigorjewitsch Rubinstein , Julius Stockhausen , Niels Wilhelm Gade and Johann Peter Emilius Hartmann .
However, the client only had four years left of this elaborately designed retirement home: he died on October 14, 1884 at the age of less than 64.
Dynastic meaning
Around 1850 the only male descendant of Landgrave Wilhelm - he only had five sisters - was an interesting candidate for marriage for the European royal houses, because due to the family circumstances he still had the two options at that time,
- to become King of Denmark after the death of the childless Danish King Frederick VII or
- to inherit the Electorate of Hesse , since Elector Friedrich Wilhelm remained without legitimate descendants.
In the end, both options did not materialize.
- In the course of the worsening conflict between Prussia and Denmark over the bone of contention Schleswig Holstein, which culminated in the Prussian-Danish War in 1864 , Friedrich Wilhelm von Hessen-Kassel-Rumpenheim renounced the Danish throne in 1851 in favor of his sister Louise , her husband Christian von Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg was determined to succeed King Friedrich VII in 1853.
- The succession in Hessen-Kassel was done in 1866 with the annexation of the electorate by Prussia. The last elector, Friedrich Wilhelm I, left the country into exile. In the end, by means of a compensation agreement, he renounced all rights as a landgrave and elector, which enabled him to maintain a princely lifestyle without political power as a private citizen.
ancestors
| Friedrich II., Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (1720–1785) | |||||||||||||
| Friedrich of Hessen-Kassel-Rumpenheim (1747–1837) | |||||||||||||
| Mary of Great Britain (1723–1772) | |||||||||||||
| Wilhelm of Hessen, titular Landgrave of Hessen-Kassel-Rumpenheim (1787–1867) | |||||||||||||
| Karl Wilhelm von Nassau-Usingen (1735–1803) | |||||||||||||
| Karoline Polyxene of Nassau-Usingen (1762–1823) | |||||||||||||
| Karoline Felicitas of Leiningen-Langsberg-Heidesheim (1734–1810) | |||||||||||||
| Friedrich Wilhelm of Hessen-Rumpenheim | |||||||||||||
| Frederick V, King of Denmark (1723–1766) | |||||||||||||
| Frederick of Denmark (1753–1805) | |||||||||||||
| Juliane von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (1729–1796) | |||||||||||||
| Louise Charlotte of Denmark (1789–1864) | |||||||||||||
| Ludwig of Mecklenburg (1725–1778) | |||||||||||||
| Sophie Friederike von Mecklenburg (1758–1794) | |||||||||||||
| Charlotte Sophie of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1731–1810) | |||||||||||||
literature
- Gustav von Glasenapp : Military Biographies of the Officer Corps of the Prussian Army. Berlin 1868, p. 88.
- The engagement of the Grand Duchess Alexandra of Russia to Prince Friedrich of Hesse . In: Illustrirte Zeitung . No. 33 . J. J. Weber, Leipzig February 10, 1844, p. 97-98 ( books.google.de ).
- Klaus Hoffmann: Philippsruhe Castle. From baroque palace to historical museum , CoCon-Verlag Hanau 2001.
Web links
- Hessen, Friedrich Wilhelm Landgrave of. Hessian biography. (As of November 27, 2019). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Wilhelm of Hesse |
Landgrave of Hessen-Kassel-Rumpenheim 1867–1875 |
rose in the title of Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel |
| Friedrich Wilhelm I. |
(Titular) Landgrave of Hessen-Kassel 1875–1884 |
Friedrich Wilhelm |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hessen, Friedrich Wilhelm von |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Hessen-Kassel, Friedrich Wilhelm Georg Adolf von (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Landgrave of Hessen-Rumpenheim, (titular) Landgrave of Hessen-Kassel as well as Electoral Hesse and Prussian general |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 26, 1820 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Copenhagen |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 14, 1884 |
| Place of death | Frankfurt am Main |