Princess Caroline Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt


Princess Caroline Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt (11 July 1723 – 8 April 1783), was a consort of Baden, a dilettante artist, scientist, collector and salonist.

Caroline Louise
Margravine consort of Baden
Tenure21 October 1771 – 8 April 1783
Margravine consort of Baden-Durlach
Tenure28 January 1751 - 21 October 1771
Born(1723-07-11)11 July 1723
Palace of Darmstadt
Died8 April 1783(1783-04-08) (aged 59)
Paris, France
Spouse
(m. 1751)
Issue
among others...
Charles Louis, Hereditary Prince of Baden
Prince Frederick
Louis I, Grand Duke of Baden
Princess Louise Auguste
HouseHesse-Darmstadt
FatherLouis VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt
MotherCharlotte Christine Magdalene Johanna of Hanau

Biography

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The daughter of Louis VIII of Hesse-Darmstadt and Charlotte Christine Magdalene Johanna of Hanau, she married on January 28, 1751, to Charles Frederick, Margrave of Baden.

She is described as learned, spoke five languages, corresponded with Voltaire and made Karlsruhe to a cultural centre in Germany where she counted Johann Gottfried von Herder, Johann Caspar Lavater, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, Christoph Willibald Gluck and Christoph Martin Wieland among her guests. She was a member of Markgräflich Baden court orchestra and the Danish Academy of Fine Arts, draw, painted in water colours and had a laboratory set up in the Karlsruhe palace. Carl von Linné named Glückskastanie Carolinea Princeps L. after her, and Friedrich Wilhelm von Leysser was hired to gather plants for her. She supported herself and managed a soap- and candle-factory. Her health was ruined by a fall in 1779, and she died by a stroke during a trip with her son.

Her collections were the foundation of the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe and the State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe.

Issue

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Caroline Louise with her sons Charles Louis and Frederick.
Painting by Joseph Melling, 1757.
  • Charles Louis, Hereditary Prince of Baden (February 14, 1755 – December 16, 1801). Charles Louis's son, Charles Louis Frederick, succeeded Charles Frederick as Grand Duke upon the latter's death in 1811.
  • Frederick (August 29, 1756 – May 28, 1817) married on December 9, 1791, Louise of Nassau-Usingen (August 16, 1776 – February 19, 1829), the daughter of Duke Frederick of Nassau-Usingen
  • Louis I, Grand Duke of Baden (February 9, 1763 – March 30, 1830) married Countess Katharina Werner von Langenstein in 1818. Louis succeeded his nephew Charles Louis Frederick as 3rd Grand Duke in 1818.
  • Son (July 29, 1764 – July 29, 1764)
  • Louise Auguste (January 8, 1767 – January 11, 1767)

Ancestry

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Sources

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  1. ^ 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. 68.
Princess Caroline Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt
Cadet branch of the House of Hesse
Born: 11 July 1723 Died: 8 April 1783
German royalty
Preceded by Margavine consort of Baden-Durlach
1751–1771
Reunification of Baden
Preceded by
Herself
as Margravine of Baden-Durlach
Margavine consort of Baden
1771–1783
Vacant
Title next held by
Stéphanie de Beauharnais
as Grand Duchess
Preceded byas Margravine of Baden-Baden