Wilhelmine of Hessen-Darmstadt
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Wilhelmine Luise of Hesse-Darmstadt (* 25. June 1755 in Prenzlau , † April 15 . Jul / 26. April 1776 greg. In Saint Petersburg ) was under the name Natalia Alexejewna Russian heir to the throne.
Life
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Wilhelmine was a daughter of Landgrave Ludwig IX. von Hessen-Darmstadt (1719–1790) and his wife Henriette Karoline (1721–1774), daughter of the Count Palatine and Duke Christian III. from Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld . Through her sister Friederike von Hessen-Darmstadt , she was the sister-in-law of the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm II.
The princess was born in Prenzlau, where her father was stationed in Prussian services, and was raised in Buchsweiler by her mother, the so-called " Great Landgrave " . On behalf of the Russian Tsarina Catherine the Great , Achatz Ferdinand von der Asseburg , who was supposed to be looking for a bride for the Russian heir to the throne, appeared at the Darmstadt court in 1772 . Landgravine Henriette Karoline was invited to St. Petersburg with her daughters Wilhelmine, Amalie and Luise , where Tsarina Katharina, allegedly when the tour company arrived, decided in favor of Wilhelmine. Johann Heinrich Merck acted as the travel marshal . Even Frederick the Great had supported the marriage project verschwägerte his heir to the Russian court.
On July 9, 1773, the princess was awarded the Order of Saint Catherine . Wilhelmine converted on August 15, 1773 under the name Natalia Alexejewna to the Russian Orthodox Church and married the future Tsar Paul I on October 10, 1773 in St. Petersburg . The Russian marriage project consolidated the ailing financial situation of the state of Hesse-Darmstadt extraordinarily.
Natalia, described as amiable and witty, ruled her husband almost completely and pushed for co-government. She had a love affair with Andrei Rasumowski , a nephew of the secret husband of Empress Elisabeth .
Natalia died three years later, after the birth of her first child, which also did not survive, in childbed . Foreign diplomats speculated that the child's father was Andrei Rasumovsky, a friend of the Tsarevich and a French agent. There was also a rumor that Tsarina Katharina had refused Natalja any medical assistance. The Tsarina officially stood by her daughter-in-law. Wilhelmine was buried in the Alexander Nevsky Monastery in the presence of the entire court , and Paul kept a loving memory of his first wife. Tsarina Katharina chose Wilhelmine's successor as Paul’s wife, Sophie Dorothee von Württemberg , who was actually engaged to Wilhelmine's brother Ludwig at the time .
progeny
- Daughter (* / † April 24, 1776)
ancestors
| Ernst Ludwig Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (1667–1739) | |||||||||||||
| Ludwig VIII Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (1691–1768) | |||||||||||||
| Dorothea Charlotte of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1661–1705) | |||||||||||||
| Louis IX Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (1719–1790) | |||||||||||||
| Johann Reinhard III. von Hanau (1665–1736) | |||||||||||||
| Charlotte von Hanau-Lichtenberg (1700–1726) | |||||||||||||
| Dorothea Friederike of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1676–1731) | |||||||||||||
| Wilhelmine of Hessen-Darmstadt | |||||||||||||
| Christian II of Pfalz-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld (1637–1717) | |||||||||||||
| Christian III of Pfalz-Zweibrücken (1674–1735) | |||||||||||||
| Katharina Agathe von Rappoltstein (1648–1683) | |||||||||||||
| Caroline of Pfalz-Zweibrücken (1721–1774) | |||||||||||||
| Ludwig Kraft of Nassau-Saarbrücken (1663–1713) | |||||||||||||
| Caroline of Nassau-Saarbrücken (1704–1774) | |||||||||||||
| Philippine Henriette zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1679–1751) | |||||||||||||
literature
- Alan Palmer : Alexander I. , ISBN 3-453-55114-1
- Zoe Oledenburg: Katharina II. , ISBN 3-453-55018-8
- Helmut Riege (Ed.): Klopstock Briefe p. 1791
- Jürgen Rainer Wolf: The Russian marriage of Princess Wilhelmine of Hessen-Darmstadt .. In: Archives for Hessian history and antiquity, NF 55, 1997
- Carl Friedrich Günther: Anecdotes, character portrayals and memorabilia from the Hessian ... p. 180
- Samuel Sugenheim: Russia's Influence on, and Relations with Germany from the Beginning of ... p. 43
- Alexa-Beatrice Christ: "The choice has been made ..." Darmstadt princesses in St. Petersburg. Justus von Liebig Verlag, Darmstadt 2015, ISBN 978-3-87390-356-2 .
Web links
- Grave of Natalia Alexejewna
- Russia, Natalja Alexejewna Grand Duchess of. Hessian biography. (As of February 28, 2020). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wilhelmine of Hessen-Darmstadt |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Natalia Alexeyevna |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Princess of Hessen-Darmstadt, by marriage Grand Duchess of Russia |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 25, 1755 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Prenzlau |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 26, 1776 |
| Place of death | St. Petersburg |