Maria von Hanau and zu Hořowitz

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Maria von Hanau und zu Hořowitz (* August 22, 1839 , Wilhelmshöhe Palace ; † March 26, 1917 in Bonn ) was the youngest daughter of Elector Friedrich Wilhelm I of Hesse-Kassel (* 1802; † 1875) and his (not more befitting ) Mrs. Gertrude , who later became Princess of Hanau and zu Hořowitz (* 1803; † 1882).

Life

On December 27, 1857, Maria married Prince Wilhelm von Hessen-Philippsthal-Barchfeld (born October 3, 1831 in Burgsteinfurt , † January 17, 1890 in Rotenburg an der Fulda ). Previously, an application from Prince Friedrich von Holstein had been rejected. The marriage with Wilhelm was intended to better integrate the elector's family, who were not on an equal footing due to the bourgeois origin of their mother, in the House of Hesse . But that failed: The Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt refused to recognize the couple's firstborn son as a Hessian prince. Nevertheless, the five children of Wilhelm and Maria initially bore the father's title and name.

The marriage was divorced on March 18, 1872. Maria initially lived in Wiesbaden with the daughters who remained with her . Regarding her name - she continued to call herself "Princess of Hesse" - there was a dispute with the presumptive heir to the Electorate of Hesse, Friedrich Wilhelm. In the pending legal dispute about this, she gave in, after corresponding legal opinions were not advantageous for her, and asked the German Kaiser , Wilhelm I , to give her a new name. She received a list of Nassau castles from Berlin - which were probably thought to be Hessian - from which she chose the name "Ardeck". The castle Ardeck is in ruins and is Holzheim , now in Rhein-Lahn-Kreis in Rhineland-Palatinate . Since July 28, 1876, she and her children have been called Princess / Prince of Ardeck .

She later moved to Bonn, where she died in 1917.

literature

  • Michel Huberty: L'Allemagne dynastique: Les 15 familles qui ont fait l'empire . Vol. 1: Hesse - Reuss - Saxe. Le Perreux-sur-Marne 1976. ISBN 2-901138-01-2
  • Philipp Losch: The Princess of Hanau and her children . In: Hanauer Geschichtsblätter 13 (1939), p. 35f.