Princess Philippine Charlotte of Prussia

Philippine Charlotte of Prussia
Duchess consort of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
Born	13 March 1716 Stadtschloss, Berlin
Died	17 February 1801 (aged 84) Brunswick
Spouse	Charles I of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
Issue	Charles II, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel Prince Georg Franz Sophie, Margravine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth Prince Christian Ludwig Anna, Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach Prince Frederick Augustus Prince Albrecht Heinrich Princess Louise Prince Wilhelm Adolf Elisabeth Christine, Crown Princess of Prussia Princess Friederike Augusta Dorothea, Abbess of Gandersheim Prince Maximilian Julius Leopold
Full name Philippine Charlotte
House	House of Hohenzollern (by birth) House of Brunswick-Bevern (by marriage)
Father	Frederick William I of Prussia
Mother	Sophia Dorothea of Hanover

Princess Philippine Charlotte of Prussia (German: Philippine Charlotte von Preußen) (13 March 1716, in Berlin – 17 February 1801, in Brunswick) was a Duchess consort of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel by marriage to Charles I of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and a known intellectual in contemporary Germany.

Life

Philippine Charlotte was the fourth child and third daughter of Frederick William I of Prussia and his spouse Sophia Dorothea of Hanover.

On 2 July 1733 in Berlin, Princess Philippine Charlotte married Duke Charles of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, eldest son of Ferdinand Albert II, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Charles inherited the dukedom on his father's death in 1735, making her Duchess consort.

The double marriage alliance between Prussia and Brunswick by her marriage to Charles I, and that of her brother Frederick to Charles' sister Elisabeth Christine, led to a permanent alliance of the most important North German Protestant houses Prussia and Brunswick.^[1] The family ties of the two dynasties resulted the alliance of Brunswick and Prussia in the Seven Years' War, and the career of Philippines sons in the Prussian service.^[2]

Philippine Charlotte was described as subtle, highly educated and a child of the enlightenment.^[3] She worked independently of an extract of the philosophical writings of Christian von Wolff in French.^[4] The Duchess pursued, partly because of the influence of the ducal adviser Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Jerusalem, the German intellectual life very closely. She appreciated the poet Salomon Gessner and maintained a personal relationship Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock.^[5] The dramatist Lessing were also among her circle.^[6]

As Duchess consort, Philippine Charlotte's court life focused on the circle of conversation she held before and after dinner in her state apartments in the Grauer Hof, to which she attracted scholars and men of letters with positions at court.^[7] The Brunswick court attended a few opera performances and public balls a year in accordance with court etiquette, but the large expenditure of her spouse soon made it necessary to have a more economic court life.^[8]

She raised her son Charles in reverence of her brother, Frederick of Prussia, gave him a humanist education with Abbé Jerusalem among his tutors, and sent him on a Grand Tour with the archaeologist Winckelmann as his companion.^[9]

In 1773, Charles I was obliged to make his son regent, and in 1780, he died, and was succeeded by her son.

The Swedish Princess Hedwig Elizabeth Charlotte described her, as well as her family, at the time of a visit in August, 1799:

Our cousin, the Duke, arrived immediately the next morning. [...] After he left us, I visited the Dowager Duchess, the aunt of my consort. She is an agreeable, highly educated and well respected lady, but by now so old that she has almost lost her memory.^[10]

Philippine Charlotte left to the Wolfenbüttel Library her own collection of 4,000 volumes.

Issue

Issue
Name	Portrait	Lifespan	Notes
Charles II Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel		9 October 1735- 16 October 1806	Married Princess Augusta of Great Britain, had issue
Georg Franz		29 September 1736- 10 December 1737	Died in infancy
Sophie Caroline Marie Margravine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth		7 October 1737- 21 December 1817	Married Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth and had no issue
Christian Ludwig		13 November 1738- 12 April 1742	Died in infancy
Anna Amalia Duchess of Saxe-Weimar and Eisenach		24 October 1739- 10 April 1807	Married Ernest Augustus II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and had issue
Frederick Augustus		29 October 1740- 8 October 1805	Married Princess Friederike Sophie Charlotte Auguste of Württemberg-Oels and had no issue
Albrecht Heinrich		26 February 1742- 8 August 1761	Died unmarried;
Luise		18 December 1743- 22 February 1744	Died in infancy
Wilhelm Adolf		18 May 1745- 24 August 1770	Died unmarried;
Elisabeth Christine Crown Princess of Prussia		8 November 1746- 18 February 1840	Married Frederick William, Crown Prince of Prussia and had issue The marriage was dissolved in 1769
Friederike		8 April 1748- 22 January 1758	Died in infancy
Augusta Dorothea Abbess of Gandersheim		2 October 1749- 10 March 1810
Maximilian Julius Leopold		11 October 1752- 24 April 1785	Died unmarried

Ancestry

Ancestors of Princess Philippine Charlotte of Prussia

16. George William, Elector of Brandenburg               8. Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg                       17. Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate               4. Frederick I of Prussia                             18. Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange               9. Countess Luise Henriette of Nassau                       19. Countess Amalia of Solms-Braunfels               2. Frederick William I of Prussia                                   20. George, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg               10. Ernest Augustus, Elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg                       21. Landgravine Anne Eleonore of Hesse-Darmstadt               5. Princess Sophia Charlotte of Hanover                             22. Frederick V, Elector Palatine               11. Sophia of the Palatinate                       23. Princess Elizabeth of Scotland               1. Princess Philippine Charlotte of Prussia                                         24. George, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg =20, 28               12. Ernest Augustus, Elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg =10                       25. Landgravine Anne Eleonore of Hesse-Darmstadt =21, 29               6. George I of Great Britain                             26. Frederick V, Elector Palatine =22               13. Sophia of the Palatinate =11                       27. Princess Elizabeth of Scotland =23               3. Princess Sophia Dorothea of Hanover                                   28. George, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg =20, 24               14. George William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg                       29. Landgravine Anne Eleonore of Hesse-Darmstadt =21, 25               7. Sophia Dorothea of Celle                             30. Alexandre d'Esmier d'Olbreuse               15. Éléonore Desmier d'Olbreuse                       31. Jacquette Poussard du Bas Vandré

References

1. Harm Klueting, Wolfgang Schmale: Das Reich und seine Territorialstaaten im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert. LIT Verlag, Berlin-Hamburg-Münster 2004, S. 60.
2. Harm Klueting, Wolfgang Schmale: Das Reich und seine Territorialstaaten im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert. LIT Verlag, Berlin-Hamburg-Münster 2004, S. 60.
3. Fraser, Flora: The Unruly Queen: The Life of Queen Caroline
4. Friedrich Cramer: Zur geschichte Friedrich Wilhelms I. und Friedrichs II., Könige von Preussen. Schreck, 1835, S. 77.
5. Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, Horst Gronemeyer, Helmut Riege, Rainer Schmidt: Hamburger Klopstock-Ausgabe. Walter de Gruyter, 1988, S. 258.
6. Fraser, Flora: The Unruly Queen: The Life of Queen Caroline
7. Fraser, Flora: The Unruly Queen: The Life of Queen Caroline
8. Fraser, Flora: The Unruly Queen: The Life of Queen Caroline
9. Fraser, Flora: The Unruly Queen: The Life of Queen Caroline
10. none, Hedvig Elisabeth Charlotta (1927) [1797-1799]. af Klercker, Cecilia, ed. Hedvig Elisabeth Charlottas dagbok [The diary of Hedvig Elizabeth Charlotte] (in Swedish). VI 1797-1799. Translated by Cecilia af Klercker. Stockholm: P.A. Norstedt & Söners förlag. pp. 219–220. OCLC 14111333. (search for all versions on WorldCat)

External links

Media related to Princess Philippine Charlotte of Prussia at Wikimedia Commons