Duchess Dorothea Wilhelmine of Saxe-Zeitz (20 March 1691 – 17 March 1743) was a duchess of

Saxe-Zeitz The Duchy of Saxe-Zeitz () was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire established in 1656–57 as a secundogeniture of the Electorate of Saxony, Electoral Saxon house of House of Wettin. Its capital was Zeitz. The territory fell back to the Wettin ...

by birth and by marriage

Landgravine Landgrave (, , , ; , ', ', ', ', ') was a noble title, rank of nobility used in the Holy Roman Empire, and its former territories. The German titles of ', ' ("margrave"), and ' ("count palatine") are of roughly equal rank, subordinate to ' ("du ...

Hesse-Kassel The Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (), spelled Hesse-Cassel during its entire existence, also known as the Hessian Palatinate (), was a state of the Holy Roman Empire. The state was created in 1567 when the Landgraviate of Hesse was divided upon t ...

Life

Dorothea Wilhelmine was a daughter of the Duke Maurice William of Saxe-Zeitz (1664–1718) from his marriage to Princess Marie Amalie of Brandenburg (1670–1739), daughter of the Elector Frederick William I of Brandenburg. By 1710 all her siblings had died and so, after her father's death Dorothea Wilhelmine was the last surviving member of the house of

. She married on 27 September 1717 in

Zeitz Zeitz (; , ) is a town in the Burgenlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated on the river White Elster, in the triangle of the federal states Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Saxony. History First a Slavic pagan settlem ...

with future

Landgrave Landgrave (, , , ; , ', ', ', ', ') was a rank of nobility used in the Holy Roman Empire, and its former territories. The German titles of ', ' ("margrave"), and ' ("count palatine") are of roughly equal rank, subordinate to ' ("duke"), and su ...

William VIII of Hesse-Kassel (1682–1760). Queen Caroline of Great Britain reported to the Duchess of Orleans, the Landgravine ''"was ugly and had a weird head"''. Dorothea Wilhelmine became mentally ill and no longer appeared in public after 1725. The new first lady at court was the Landgrave's favorite Barbara Christine von Bernhold whom he made Countess Bernold of Eschau while Dorothea Wilhelmine was still alive.

Issue

From their marriage, Dorothea Wilhelmine had the following children: * Charles (1718–1719) * Frederick II (1720–1785), Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel : married 1740 Princess Mary of Great Britain (1723–1772) * Maria Amalia (1721–1744), she died while engaged to be married with Margrave Charles Frederick Albert of Brandenburg-Schwedt

References

* Carl Eduard Vehse
''Geschichte der deutschen Höfe seit der Reformation'' p. 152 ff

External links

* http://www.vhghessen.de/inhalt/zhg/ZHG_106/04_Loewenstein_Hofhaltung.pdf (PDF file, 56 kB) House of Wettin 1691 births 1743 deaths 18th-century German people Duchesses of Saxe-Zeitz Landgravines of Hesse-Kassel Albertine branch Daughters of dukes Mothers of German monarchs Noblewomen from the Holy Roman Empire {{Germany-duchess-stub