Emilie Ortlöpp

Emilie Ortlöpp
Emilie Ortlepp, Countess of Reichenbach-Lessonitz, portrait by L. Grünbaum, c. 1825
Spouse(s)	William II, Elector of Hesse
Noble family	von Reichenbach-Lessonitz
Father	Johann Christian Ortlöpp
Mother	Agnes Louise Sophie Weißenberg
Born	(1791-05-13)13 May 1791 Berlin
Died	12 February 1843(1843-02-12) (aged 51) Frankfurt

Countess Emilie of Reichenbach-Lessonitz née Ortlöpp (13 May 1791 in Berlin – 12 February 1843 in Frankfurt) was the mistress and later second wife of Elector William II of Hesse.

Emilie was the second daughter of the goldsmith Johann Christian Ortlöpp and his wife Agnes Louise Sophie, née Weißenberg from Berlin, and from 1812, the mistress of the Elector William II of Hesse, whom she had met during a stay in Berlin. He brought her to Kassel in 1813, leading to a de facto termination of his marriage with Princess Augusta of Prussia, but for political reasons, he was not allowed to divorce his wife. In 1815, William and Augusta were separated from bed and board.

Emilie was admitted at court, and later lived in the Reichenbach Palace at the corner of Königsstraße and Friedrichsplatz. In 1821, William raised her to Countess Reichenbach (named after Reichenbach Castle in Hessisch Lichtenau) and in 1824, she received the Austrian title of Countess of Lessonitz after William had purchased the Moravian estates of Lessonitz, Bzenec and Dolní Moštěnice for her. At the same time she and her children received the Austrian citizenship.

Their relationship caused a scandal; they even received death threats. The Countess was probably unpopular and was alleged to have had a negative impact on William's politics, or at least some of his political failures were attributed to her.

Their relationship was one of the reasons why the William did not return to his capital Kassel after the 1830 revolution. He initially moved to Hanau and later to Frankfurt, where he acquired a palace in the Neue Mainzer Straße and later a garden house in the Gallus district.