Princess Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt (1761–1829)


Louise Henriette Karoline of Hesse-Darmstadt, was the first Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine by marriage.

Life

Louise was a daughter of Prince George William of Hesse-Darmstadt from his marriage to Countess Maria Louise Albertine of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg, daughter of Count Christian Karl Reinhard of Leiningen-Dachsburg-Falkenburg-Heidesheim.
The princess was in 1770 in the entourage of Marie Antoinette, as they traveled to France for her marriage. Louise exchanged letters with the French queen until 1792.
Louise married on 19 February 1777 in Darmstadt, her cousin the then hereditary prince Louis I of Hesse-Darmstadt. Her husband ruled Hesse-Darmstadt from 1790 as Landgrave Louis X and from 1806 as Ludwig I, Grand Duke of Hesse and the Rhine.
Louise spent the summer months since 1783 in the State Park Fürstenlager, and died there in 1829. Here provided charity to the population Auerbach. The Grand Duchess was described as amiable and revered by the nation.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe stayed at her court and Friedrich Schiller read from his Don Carlos in her salon. It was said that Napoleon Bonaparte promised the beautiful Louise, whom he believed to be one of the cleverest women of her time, that he would give her a crown.
Luisenstraße and Luisenplatz in Darmstadt are named after Louise.

Issue

From her marriage with Louis, Louise had the following children: