Juliana of Hesse-Eschwege


Juliana of Hesse-Eschwege was a German noblewoman. In her teens she was brought up at the Swedish royal court as the future queen of King Charles XI of Sweden, her cousin. However, on two separate occasions before the wedding Juliana became pregnant, and the engagement was eventually broken off. In 1679 or 1680, Juliana married a Dutchman and lived the rest of her life in the Netherlands, while Charles married Ulrike Eleonora of Denmark in 1680.

Life

Juliana was born in Eschwege to Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse-Eschwege, and Eleonora Catherine, a Swedish princess. Her maternal grandmother was Princess Catharina of Sweden, and her mother was a sister of King Charles X of Sweden. Juliana was likely named after her paternal grandmother, a daughter of John VII of Nassau, who was herself likely named after her paternal grandmother, Juliana of Stolberg.
Juliana's mother had caused a scandal in Sweden when she confessed to her husband that she had an affair with a French lute-player and actor, Beschon, and was expecting his child. Juliana's father tried to hide the matter but it became a known scandal. It is said that Eleonora was too embarrassed to return to the Swedish court, so she preferred to live in the palace in Eschwege, although she did visit Sweden.
Juliana was described as a great beauty. She was taken to the royal Swedish court to be brought up there as the future queen of Sweden by queen dowager Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp, with the prospect of being married to her cousin, King Charles, when he reached adulthood.
These plans never came about. In 1672, during a "walk by carriage" in Stockholm with the queen dowager, Princess Juliana fell to the floor of the carriage in labour. The father of the child proved not to be her cousin the king, but a married officer of the court, Count Gustaf Lillie. The count was exiled, and Juliana was sent to the country, where she was given her own estate and court. The child, a son, was named after his father, Gustaf Gustafsson Lillie, was later raised by Baron Gustaf Adolf von der Osten. His fate is unknown.
A couple of years later, Juliana gave birth to another son. This time the father was Johann Jakob Marchand, the young, unmarried son of her Dutch housekeeper. Baptized on 29 November 1656 in Breda, Marchand was the secretary of the Dutch ambassador, and about four years younger than Juliana. In 1679, Juliana's cousin, King Charles, gave her his permission to marry her lover, who was given the title Baron von Lilienburg. They were married on 22 February 1680 in Raeftnas, Soedermanland and then settled in Haarlem, the Netherlands.
Juliana died in 1693 in IJsselstein. Her husband lived ten years more and died on 7 April 1703 in IJsselstein.
Her sister, Christine of Hesse-Eschwege, became the Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg as the wife of Ferdinand Albert I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and was a great-great-great-grandmother of Victoria of the United Kingdom.

Children

Juliana had the following children.
With Count Gustaf Lillie:
With her husband, Johan Jakob Marchand: