Princess Karoline Amalie of Hesse-Kassel

Princess Karoline Amalie of Hesse-Kassel
Duchess of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg
Karoline Amalie, Duchess of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburb, by Josef Mathias Grassi, 1804.
Born	(1771-07-11)11 July 1771 Hanau
Died	22 February 1848(1848-02-22) (aged 76) Gotha
Spouse	Augustus, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg
Names German: Karoline Amalie
House	House of Hesse-Kassel (by birth) House of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (by marriage)
Father	William I, Elector of Hesse
Mother	Princess Wilhelmina Caroline of Denmark and Norway

Karoline Amalie of Hesse-Kassel (11 July 1771, Hanau – 22 February 1848, Gotha) was a German princess and member of the House of Hesse-Kassel by birth, and Duchess of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg by marriage.

She was the daughter of Landgrave (later Prince) William I of Hesse by his wife, Wilhelmina Caroline, by birth Princess of Denmark as daughter of King Frederick V.

Life

Since early childhood, Karoline Amalie was betrothed to her double first-cousin Prince Frederik of Hesse; however, the engagement was dissolved in 1799 after the apparent affair between her and chamberlain Count Ludwig von Taube, who ended when Landgrave William I dismissed him from his service and expelled from court. In the summer of 1801 Karoline Amalie met Hereditary Prince Augustus of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg when he visited the Kassel court. In January of 1802 Duke Ernest II of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, in the name of his son, asked the hand of the princess in marriage. The wedding ceremony took place in her homeland, Kassel, on 24 April of that year. The union remained childless, but Karoline Amalie was a devoted stepmother for her husband's daughter from his first marriage, Princess Louise. Two years later, in 1804, Karoline Amalie became Duchess consort of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg after the death of her father-in-law.

The well-known painter Caroline Louise Seidler, who was at the court of Gotha in the winter of 1811 to paint the Ducal family, described Karoline Amalie rather unflattering as "good, benevolent, but not just an excellent lady". About the relation of the Duchess with her husband August, she quoted: "She loved him enthusiastically, whose spirit they anstaunte".

However, "since they mutual points of view about life are completely different", the Ducal couple became estranged after a few years of marriage and withdrew from court life and the public in general increasingly since 1810. One main reason for this was the enthusiasm of her husband for Napoleon, which Karoline Amalie didn't share -her parents had been forced to flee into exile after the occupation of Hesse-Kassel by the French army in 1806-.

Family of Princess Karoline Amalie of Hesse-Kassel

16. Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel 8. William VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel 17. Maria Amalia of Courland 4. Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse 18. Moritz Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Zeitz 9. Dorothea Wilhelmine of Saxe-Zeitz 19. Marie Amalie of Brandenburg 2. William I, Elector of Hesse 20. George I of Great Britain 10. George II of Great Britain 21. Sophia Dorothea of Celle 5. Princess Mary of Great Britain 22. John Frederick of Brandenburg-Ansbach 11. Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach 23. Eleonore Erdmuthe of Saxe-Eisenach 1. Caroline Amalie of Hesse-Kassel 24. Frederick IV of Denmark 12. Christian VI of Denmark 25. Louise of Mecklenburg-Güstrow 6. Frederick V of Denmark 26. Christian Heinrich of Brandenburg-Bayreuth-Kulmbach 13. Sophia Magdalen of Brandenburg-Kulmbach 27. Sophie Christiane of Wolfstein 3. Wilhelmina Caroline of Denmark and Norway 28. George I of Great Britain (=20) 14. George II of Great Britain 29. Sophia Dorothea of Celle (=21) 7. Louise of Great Britain 30. John Frederick of Brandenburg-Ansbach (=22) 15. Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach 31. Eleonore Erdmuthe of Saxe-Eisenach (=23)