Princess Wilhelmine of Baden


Princess Wilhelmine of Baden, was by birth Princess of Baden and by marriage Grand Duchess consort of Hesse and the Rhine.
She was the youngest daughter of Charles Louis, Hereditary Prince of Baden and Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Life

In Karlsruhe on 19 June 1804, Wilhelmine married the then Hereditary Prince Louis of Hesse-Darmstadt. The union proved to be unhappy due to Louis' affairs, and they separated after the birth of their three older children.
In 1820 she acquired the Heiligenberg Castle, where she met her chamberlain Baron August von Senarclens de Grancy, with whom she maintained a longtime affair; her last four children, including Alexander and Marie, were believed to have been fathered by Senarclens de Grancy, although they were recognized by Grand Duke Louis II as his own. In 1830, following her father-in-law's death, she became Grand Duchess consort of Hesse and the Rhine.

Issue

Her descendants included both Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, and his wife, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, as well as, King Felipe VI of Spain, Lord Mountbatten of Burma, and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

Ancestry