Henrietta Maria of Brandenburg-Schwedt Biography
Henriette Maria of Brandenburg-Schwedt (2 March 1702 probably in Berlin – 7 May 1782 in Köpenick), was a granddaughter of the "Great Elector" Frederick William of Brandenburg. She was the daughter of Philip William, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt (1669-1711), the eldest son of the elector's second marriage with Sophia Dorothea of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg. Her mother was Johanna Charlotte (1682-1750), the daughter of Prince John George II, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau.
Life
She married on 8 December 1716 in Berlin to Hereditary Prince Frederick Louis of Württemberg (1698-1731), the only son of Duke Eberhard Louis of Württemberg. The marriage produced two children:
- Eberhard Frederick (1718-1719)
- Louise Frederica (1721-1791), married Frederick II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
Henrietta Maria died on 7 May 1782, aged 81, and was buried in the crypt below the church of Köpenick Palace, where she had spent her years of widowhood. Her daughter arranged for a black marble plate in the crypt to commemorate her mother. In the 1960s, the coffin was cremated, with permission of the Hohenzollern family, and the formerly open-ended crypt (as described by Fontane) was walled off. Her urn was buried below the black marble plate.
References
- Theodor Fontane. Wanderungen durch die Mark Brandenburg. Volume 4 Spreeland. "An der Spree: Schloss Köpenick"
