Princess Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt

Princess Augusta Wilhelmina of Hesse-Darmstadt (German: Augusta Wilhelmina Maria von Hessen-Darmstadt; 14 April 1765 – 30 March 1796) was Duchess consort of Zweibrücken by marriage to Maximilian, Duke of Zweibrücken and the mother of King Ludwig I of Bavaria.

Augusta Wilhelmina
Duchess of Zweibrücken
Portrait by Johann Friedrich Dryander, 1790.
Duchess consort of Zweibrücken
Tenure	1 April 1795 – 30 March 1796
Born	(1765-04-14)14 April 1765 Darmstadt, Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt
Died	30 March 1796(1796-03-30) (aged 30) Rohrbach, Electoral Palatinate
Burial	Stadtkirche Darmstadt
Spouse	Maximilian, Duke of Zweibrücken ​ ​ (m. 1785)​
Issue	Ludwig I Princess Augusta, Duchess of Leuchtenberg Princess Amalie Caroline Augusta, Empress of Austria Prince Karl Theodor
Names German: Augusta Wilhelmina Maria
House	Hesse-Darmstadt
Father	Prince George William of Hesse-Darmstadt
Mother	Countess Maria Louise Albertine of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg
Religion	Lutheranism

Biography

Augusta Wilhelmina was born in Darmstadt, the fourth daughter and ninth child of Prince George William of Hesse-Darmstadt (second son of Louis VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt) and Countess Maria Louise Albertine of Leiningen-Falkenburg-Dagsburg.

Marriage

Portrait by Johann Friedrich Dryander.

On 30 September 1785, in Darmstadt, Augusta Wilhelmina married Maximilian, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken (later King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria).

Maximilian was an officer in the French army stationed at Strasbourg, but the couple also often visited Paris.^[1] There, Augusta Wilhelmina met Queen Marie Antoinette, with whom she maintained an ongoing correspondence.

In 1789, Maximilian's regiment rose in revolt and he and Augusta Wilhelmina fled to her parents' home in Darmstadt.^[2] For the next five years, they lived mostly in the neighboring town of Mannheim. In December 1794, the French army attacked Mannheim. Augusta Wilhelmina fled the city when her home was shelled by French artillery.^[3]

Duchess of Zweibrücken

In April 1795, Maximilian succeeded his brother as reigning Duke of Zweibrücken; however, his duchy was entirely occupied by the French. In March 1796, Augusta Wilhelmina, who had always had delicate lungs, finally succumbed and died at Rohrbach [de]. Her death plunged Maximilian into deep mourning. He wrote some poems in memory of his wife.^[4] She was buried in the Schlosskirche in Darmstadt.^[5]

Issue

Augusta Wilhelmina had five children:

• Prince Ludwig (1786–1868), married Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen.
• Princess Augusta Amalia Ludovika, (21 June 1788 – 13 May 1851), married Eugène de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg, Prince of Eichstätt.
• Princess Amalia Maria Augusta (9 October 1790 – 24 January 1794), died in childhood.
• Princess Caroline Augusta (8 February 1792 – 9 February 1873), married William I of Württemberg, and then Francis II of Austria.
• Prince Karl Theodor Maximilian (7 July 1795 – 16 August 1875).

Ancestry

Ancestors of Princess Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt[6]

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 Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt 12. Johann, Count of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg 6. Count 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

Footnotes

1. Egon Caesar Corti, Ludwig I of Bavaria (London: Thornton Butterworth, 1938), 15.
2. Corti, 19.
3. Corti, 21.
4. Corti, 24.
5. Hans Rall, Wittelsbacher Lebensbilder von Kaiser Ludwig bis zur Gegenwart (Munich: Wittelsbacher Ausgleichsfonds), 142.
6. 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.

Bibliography

• Winkler, Wilhelm. "Die Mutter König Ludwig I. von Bayern nach ungedruckten Briefen", Die Wächter (1924).