Charlotte of Prussia | |||||
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Hereditary Princess of Saxe-Meiningen | |||||
Born |
Schönhausen Palace, Berlin |
21 June 1831||||
Died | 30 March 1855 Meiningen |
(aged 23)||||
Burial | English Garden, Meiningen, Thuringia, Germany | ||||
Spouse | Georg, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Meiningen | ||||
Issue |
Bernhard III, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen Prince Georg Albrecht Princess Marie Elisabeth |
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House | Hohenzollern | ||||
Father | Prince Albert of Prussia | ||||
Mother | Princess Marianne of the Netherlands |
Full name | |
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German: Friederike Luise Wilhelmine Marianne Charlotte von Preußen |
Princess Frederica Louise Wilhelmina Marianne Charlotte of Prussia (21 June 1831 – 30 March 1855), was by birth a Princess of Prussia and member of the House of Hohenzollern and by marriage Hereditary Princess of Saxe-Meiningen.
She was the eldest child and daughter of Prince Albert of Prussia (younger son of Frederick William III of Prussia and Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz) and his first wife Princess Marianne of the Netherlands (daughter of William I of the Netherlands and Wilhelmine of Prussia).
Her parents' marriage was unhappy due to Prince Albert several affairs, and finally was dissolved on 28 March 1849, after which Princess Marianne began to live with her former coachman Johannes van Rossum, with whom she had a son, Johannes William of Reinhartshausen.
The custody of Charlotte and her two surviving siblings Albert and Alexandrine was given to their father; however, was their childless aunt Queen Elisabeth Ludovika (wife of Frederick William IV of Prussia) took care of them, moreover after Prince Albert's second and morganatic marriage in 1853 with Rosalie von Rauch, who bore him two sons, Counts William and Frederick of Hohenau.
As a young woman, Charlotte was highly eligible, due to her Dutch fortune and Hohenzollern connections. In Charlottenburg on 18 May 1850, the nineteen-year-old princess married Georg, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Meiningen who was twenty-four years old. The only son of Bernhard II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen and Princess Marie of Hesse-Kassel, he had led a battalion from Meiningen in support of the Prussians in the First Schleswig War in 1849. After resuming his military career in Berlin, Georg soon became engaged to Charlotte, whose position as a niece of Frederick William IV of Prussia surely recommended her to him. It was a love match and their marriage occurred after a short engagement. Among the wedding gifts was an opulent old villa on Lake Como from her mother Marianne, as well as a substantial collection of paintings and sculptures. It was renamed the Villa Carlotta in the bride's honour. Due to their Prussian connections, the couple spent the next five years in Berlin and Potsdam but returned to Meiningen for the birth of their children.