Prince Frederick of Hesse-Kassel

Prince Frederick of Hesse-Kassel (11 September 1747 – 20 May 1837) was a younger member of the dynasty that ruled the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) and a Danish general.

Prince Frederick of Hesse-Kassel
Portrait by Carl Gustaf Pilo, c.1765
Born(1747-09-11)11 September 1747
Kassel
Died20 May 1837(1837-05-20) (aged 89)
Rumpenheim Castle, Kassel
Spouse
(m. 1786; died 1823)
IssuePrince William
Prince Karl Friedrich
Prince Friedrich Wilhelm
Prince Ludwig Karl
Prince Georg Karl
Luise, Baroness George von der Decken
Marie, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Princess Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge
HouseHouse of Hesse-Cassel
FatherFrederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel
MotherPrincess Mary of Great Britain
ReligionLutheranism

He was born as the youngest son of Hereditary Prince Frederick of Hesse-Kassel (the future Landgrave Frederick II) and Princess Mary of Great Britain. He was the last surviving legitimate grandchild of George II of Great Britain, dying one month before Queen Victoria (granddaughter of his first cousin King George III) ascended to the throne.[1]

Youth

His father, the then hereditary prince (who reigned from 1760 and died in 1785) had in 1747 left the family and soon converted to Catholicism, and in 1755 formally ended his marriage. The young prince Frederick, together with his two elder brothers, were with their mother the Landgravine Mary and became fostered by Protestant relatives in 1747. Soon the family moved to Denmark to be guests of her sister Louise of Great Britain, who died in 1751. His two elder brothers married Danish princesses - their first cousins - in 1763 and 1766 respectively. They remained in Denmark, becoming important lords and royal functionaries. Only his eldest brother returned to Kassel, in 1785 when ascending the landgraviate. In 1815, the prince was in command of the Royal Danish Auxiliary Corps mobilized as part of the Seventh Coalition against Napoleonic France.

Marriage

On 2 December 1786 in Biebrich, he married Princess Caroline of Nassau-Usingen (4 April 1762 Biebrich - 17 August 1823 Offenbach), a remarkable heiress of a family which became extinct in male line. 1781 he bought Rumpenheim Castle, Offenbach, from his brother Carl, and it became the family's seat. He became known as Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel-Rumpenheim,[2][3][4] and his descendants are known as the Hesse-Kassel-Rumpenheim branch of the House of Hesse, one of only two branches that survived to the present day.

Children

Ancestry

References

  1. The last grandchild of George II was Karl August Ludwig (1792-1883), son of Johann Ludwig, who was one of the King's illegitimate offspring.
  2. McNaughton, Arnold, 1930- (1973). The book of kings : a royal genealogy. London: Garnstone Press. p. 122. ISBN 0-900391-19-7. OCLC 2155441.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. "European Heraldry :: Landgraves and Electors of Hesse-Kassel". www.europeanheraldry.org. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
  4. "The" Illustrated London News. Elm House. 1843. p. 285.
  5. Genealogie ascendante jusqu'au quatrieme degre inclusivement de tous les Rois et Princes de maisons souveraines de l'Europe actuellement vivans [Genealogy up to the fourth degree inclusive of all the Kings and Princes of sovereign houses of Europe currently living] (in French). Bourdeaux: Frederic Guillaume Birnstiel. 1768. p. 58.
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