Maria Amalia of Courland

Maria Amalia was the daughter of Jacob Kettler, Duke of Courland and Semigallia (1610–1681) and his wife, Princess Louise Charlotte of Brandenburg (1617–1676).

During the Northern Wars, from 1658 to 1660 Maria Amalia and her family were kept as prisoners by the invading Swedes in Riga and later in Ivangorod.

She was first engaged to her first cousin William VII, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (1651–1670), but he died during his Grand Tour. She was then engaged to William's younger brother and heir, Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (1654–1730), whom she married on 21 May 1673 in Kassel.

As landgravine, she participated in the creation of the Karlsaue Park in Kassel. The marmor fountain in the park contains a medallion by the Roman sculptor Pierre Etienne Monnot depicting Maria Amalia. In 1699, together with her son Maximilian, she bought Sensenstein Castle. She was described as modest, affable and pious.

Maria Amalia died in 1711 and was buried in the Martinskirche of Kassel. The village of Mariendorf in Hesse, Germany was named in her memory.

Frederick I of Sweden, Maria Amalia's eldest surviving son

Maria Amalia and her husband Charles had seventeen children, nine of whom survived to adulthood. Their eldest surviving son, Frederick I succeeded his father as Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, while also becoming King of Sweden; their second-eldest surviving son William VIII also became landgrave after his brother's death

• William (1674–1676)
• Charles (1675–1677)
• Frederick I (1676–1751), Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, King of Sweden, married firstly Princess Louise Dorothea of Prussia (1680–1705) in 1700 and had no issue; married secondly Queen Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden (1688–1741) in 1715 and had no issue

• Christian (1677–1677)
• Sophie Charlotte (1678–1749), married Duke Frederick William of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1675–1713) in 1704 and had no issue

• Stillborn son (1679)
• Charles (1680–1702)
• William VIII (1682–1760), Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, married Princess Dorothea Wilhelmina of Saxe-Zeitz (1691–1743) in 1717 and had issue
• Leopold (1684–1704)
• Louis (1686–1706)
• Marie Luise (1688–1765), married Prince John William Friso of Nassau-Dietz (1687–1711) in 1709 and had issue; together with her husband, were the most recent common ancestors of all currently reigning monarchs in Europe from 1939 to 1941 and from 1943 to 2022
• Maximilian (1689–1753), married Friederike Charlotte of Hesse-Darmstadt in 1720, and had issue
• Daughter (1690)
• George Charles (1691–1755)
• Eleonore (1694)
• Wilhelmine Charlotte (1695–1722)
• Child (1696)

• Christian Röth: Geschichte von Hessen p. 305
• Ulrich Schoenborn (2010), Mit Herz und Verstand: Biographie und Lebenswelt der Töchter Herzog Jakobs von Kurland in Hessen-Homburg, Herford und Hessen-Kassel, Hamburg: Kovač, ISBN 978-3-8300-4667-7