Princess Marie Frederica of Hesse-Kassel

Princess Marie Frederica Wilhelmina of Hesse-Kassel (6 September 1804 – 1 January 1888) was a daughter of William II, Elector of Hesse and Princess Augusta of Prussia. By her marriage to Bernhard II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, she became Duchess consort of Saxe-Meiningen.

Family

Marie Frederica was one of six children born to William II, Elector of Hesse by his first wife Augusta of Prussia. Her only sibling to live past the age of five was Frederick William, Elector of Hesse however. In addition, she had eight half-siblings by her father's second marriage to Emilie Ortlöpp, Countess of Reichenbach-Lessonitz.

Marie Frederica's paternal grandparents were William I, Elector of Hesse and Wilhelmina Caroline of Denmark and Norway. Her maternal grandparents were Frederick William II of Prussia and Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Marriage and children

In 1822, Marie, through the suggestion of her mother's friend, the Swedish countess Charlotta Aurora De Geer, was considered a possible bride for Oscar I of Sweden, but the following year, he married Josephine of Leuchtenberg instead.

On 23 March 1825, Marie married Bernhard II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. He was a son of Georg I Frederick Karl, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen and Luise Eleonore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, as well as a brother of Queen Adelaide of the United Kingdom. He and Marie had two surviving issue:

Her son Georg would remain an only child for seventeen years until the birth of his sister Augusta in 1843. Marie Frederica died on 1 January 1888, six years after her husband.

Ancestry