Princess Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt (1761–1829)

Names
	Louise Henriette Karoline

Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt
Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt
	Portrait by Johann Friedrich Dryander.
Landgravine consort of Hesse-Darmstadt
Tenure	6 April 1790 – 13 August 1806
Grand Duchess consort of Hesse and by Rhine
Tenure	13 August 1806 – 24 October 1829
Born	15 February 1761; Darmstadt
Died	24 October 1829 (aged 68); Auerbach
Spouse	Louis I, Grand Duke of Hesse (m. 1777)
Issue; Detail	Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine; Landgravine Louise; Prince George; Prince Frederick; Prince Emil; Landgrave Gustav.
Names
Names
	Louise Henriette Karoline
House	House of Hesse-Darmstadt
Father	Prince George William of Hesse-Darmstadt
Mother	Countess Maria Louise Albertine of Leiningen-Falkenburg-Dagsburg
Religion	Lutheranism

Princess Louise Henriette Karoline of Hesse-Darmstadt (15 February 1761 – 24 October 1829), was the first Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine by marriage.

Life

Louise was a daughter of Prince George William of Hesse-Darmstadt (1722–1782) from his marriage to Countess Maria Louise Albertine of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg (1729–1818), daughter of Count Christian Karl Reinhard of Leiningen-Dachsburg-Falkenburg-Heidesheim.

The princess was in 1770 in the entourage of Marie Antoinette, as they traveled to France for her marriage. Louise exchanged letters with the French queen until 1792.

Louise married on 19 February 1777 in Darmstadt, her cousin the then hereditary prince Louis I of Hesse-Darmstadt (1753–1830). Her husband ruled Hesse-Darmstadt from 1790 as Landgrave Louis X and from 1806 as Ludwig I, Grand Duke of Hesse and the Rhine.

Louise spent the summer months since 1783 in the State Park Fürstenlager, and died there in 1829. Here provided charity to the population Auerbach. The Grand Duchess was described as amiable and revered by the nation.^[1] Johann Wolfgang von Goethe stayed at her court and Friedrich Schiller read from his Don Carlos in her salon. It was said that Napoleon Bonaparte promised the beautiful Louise, whom he believed to be one of the cleverest women of her time, that he would give her a crown.

Luisenstraße and Luisenplatz in Darmstadt are named after Louise.

Issue

From her marriage with Louis, Louise had the following children:

Louis II (1777–1848), Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine; married in 1804 princess Wilhelmine of Baden (1788–1836)
Luise Karoline of Hesse-Darmstadt (1779–1811); married in 1800 Prince Louis of Anhalt-Köthen (1778–1802)
George of Hesse-Darmstadt (1780–1856); married morganatically in 1804 Caroline Török de Szendrő (1786–1862), "Baroness of Menden" 1804, "Countess of Nidda," 1808, "Princess of Nidda 1821; (divorced 1827)
Frederick of Hesse-Darmstadt (1788–1867)
Stillborn twin daughters (1789).
Emil of Hesse-Darmstadt (1790–1856)
Gustav of Hesse-Darmstadt (1791–1806)

Ancestry

Ancestors of Princess Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt (1761–1829)^[2]

8. Ernest Louis, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt

4. Louis VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt

9. Princess Dorothea Charlotte of Brandenburg-Ansbach

2. Prince George William of Hesse-Darmstadt

10. Johann Reinhard III, Count of Hanau-Lichtenberg

5. Countess Charlotte of Hanau-Lichtenberg

11. Princess Dorothea Friederike of Brandenburg-Ansbach

1. Princess Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt

12. Johann, Count of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg

6. Christian Karl Reinhard of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg

13. Countess Johanna Magdalene of Hanau-Lichtenberg

3. Countess Maria Louise Albertine of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg

14. Count Georg Ludwig of Solms-Rödelheim

7. Countess Katharina Polyxena of Solms-Rödelheim

15. Countess Charlotte Sibylle of Ahlefeldt

References

^ Carl Hertzog: Louis I and his monument to Darmstadt, p. 5
^ 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. 70.

Philip Alexander Ferdinand Walther: Darmstadt, what was like and what it has become, p. 240
Carl Friedrich Günther: Anecdotes, character descriptions and memoirs from the Hessian area., p. 172

German royalty
Princess Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt (1761–1829) House of Hesse-Darmstadt Cadet branch of the House of Hesse Born: 15 February 1761 Died: 24 October 1829
Vacant Title last held by Caroline of Zweibrücken	Landgravine consort of Hesse-Darmstadt 6 April 1790 – 13 August 1806	Title abolished
Title created	Grand Duchess consort of Hesse and by Rhine 13 August 1806 – 24 October 1829	Vacant Title next held by Wilhelmine of Baden

[1] Carl Hertzog: Louis I and his monument to Darmstadt, p. 5

[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. 70.

[1]

[2]