Benedicta Henrietta of the Palatinate

Princess Palatine Benedicta Henrietta (Benedicta Henrietta Philippina; 14 March 1652 – 12 August 1730) was Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg, or of Hanover, by her marriage to Duke John Frederick. She was the third and youngest daughter of Prince Palatine Edward and the political hostess Anna Gonzaga.

Benedicta Henrietta of Hanover
Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Portrait c. 1680
Born	(1652-03-14)14 March 1652 Paris, France
Died	12 August 1730(1730-08-12) (aged 78) Braunschweiger Schloss, Hanover, Germany
Spouse	John Frederick, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Issue Detail	Duchess Anne Sophie Charlotte, Duchess of Modena Duchess Henriette Maria Wilhelmine, Holy Roman Empress
House	Palatinate-Simmern (by birth) Hanover (by marriage)
Father	Edward, Prince Palatine
Mother	Anna Gonzaga

Life

Born in Paris to the landless Prince Palatine Edward, Bénédicte Henriette's paternal grandparents were Frederick V, Elector Palatine and Elizabeth Stuart, the Winter Queen. Her maternal grandparents were Charles I, Duke of Mantua and Montferrat and his French wife Catherine de Mayenne, daughter of Charles de Lorraine-Guise, Duke of Mayenne. She was the youngest of three daughters.

Bénédicte was reared by Louise de La Fayette, a courtier-turned-nun known as Sister Louise-Angélique.^[1]

Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg

She was married at the age of sixteen to a distant cousin, John Frederick, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, who was the same age as her father, and childless. They were married on 30 November 1668. The union, which had been arranged by the French diplomatist Gourville,^[2] produced four daughters, only two of whom lived to mature adulthood.

John Frederick died in 1679 without a male heir, and the duchy of Brunswick was inherited by his Protestant younger brother, Ernest Augustus, the husband of Benedicta Henrietta's paternal aunt, Sophia of Hanover, and father of George I of Great Britain. After her husband's death, Benedicta returned to her native France and resided there with her sister, the princess of Condé.

She corresponded with Gottfried Leibniz.^[3]

Benedicta died the age of 78, at Asnieres, her late sister's residence near Paris, on 12 August 1730.

Issue

• Anna Sophie of Brunswick-Lüneburg (10 February 1670 – 24 March 1672), died in childhood;
• Charlotte Felizitas of Brunswick-Lüneburg (8 March 1671 – 29 September 1710), married Rinaldo d'Este, Duke of Modena and had issue;
• Henriette Maria of Brunswick-Lüneburg (9 March 1672 – 4 September 1687), died unmarried;
• Wilhelmine Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg (21 April 1673 – 10 April 1742), married Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor and had issue.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Benedicta Henrietta of the Palatinate

8. Frederick IV, Elector Palatine 4. Frederick V, Elector Palatine 9. Countess Louise Juliana of Nassau 2. Prince Palatine Edward 10. James I of England 5. Elizabeth Stuart 11. Anne of Denmark 1. Princess Palatine Benedicta Henrietta 12. Louis Gonzaga, Duke of Nevers 6. Charles I, Duke of Mantua and Montferrat 13. Henriette of Cleves, Duchess of Nevers 3. Anna Gonzaga 14. Charles of Lorraine, Duke of Mayenne 7. Catherine of Mayenne 15. Henriette de Savoie, Marquise de Villars

References

1. Bougaud, 258
2. Littell's living age, Volume 166
3. State papers and correspondence: illustrative of the social and political... By John Mitchell Kemble, p. 224

Sources

• Bougaud, Emile. St. Chantal and the Foundation of the Visitation. Vol. 2. New York: Benziger Brothers, 1895. Google Books. Web.

German nobility
Preceded by Sophia Dorothea of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg	Duchess consort of Brunswick-Lüneburg 1668–1679 Served alongside: Éléonore Desmier d'Olbreuse	Vacant Title next held by Sophia of Hanover