Brandenburg-Schwedt was a secundogeniture of the Hohenzollern margraves of Brandenburg, established by Prince Philip William who took his residence at Schwedt Castle in 1689. By appanage, they administered the manors of Schwedt and Vierraden on the Oder river (Uckermark and Neumark) as well as Wildenbruch in Pomerania (present-day Swobnica, Poland). Though prosperous, the cadet branch never obtained Imperial immediacy.
Because of a lack of money in the late days of the disastrous Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), the "Great Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg in about 1640 mortgaged the Schwedt region to the Baltic German noble Gustav Adolf von (Varrensback, Varensbeke) for the sum 25,000 Thalers. His second wife, Electress Sophia Dorothea, daughter of Duke Philip of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, personally re-acquired the territory for 26,500 Thalers shortly after the birth of her first son Prince Philipp William (1669–1711).
Dorothea dedicated herself to the reconstruction of the Renaissance castle at Schwedt, which had been devastated in the Thirty Years' War, as well as to the economic development of the town and its surroundings. Dutch experts and French Huguenots were invited to cultivate tobacco in the Spring of 1686. By the end of the 18th century, the Uckermark, with an area of 44 km², was the largest coherent tobacco-producing region in the Holy Roman Empire. Its three cigar factories were the most important economic driving forces in the region.
For financial safeguarding of her sons, she later also purchased the Lordship of Wildenbruch and further estates. Upon the death of his mother in 1689, Philipp William and his brothers inherited a vast territory including three towns, three castles, 33 villages, and 24 farmsteads. In 1692 he came to terms with his elder half-brother Elector Frederick III in 1692, obtained a considerable severance payment and the title of a "Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt"; intensively cultivating his dominions and furnishing his castle in a Baroque style at great expense. His younger brother Albert Frederick (1672–1731) became a general lieutenant and Grand Master of the Order of Saint John; the third-born, Charles Philip (1673–1695) likewise became an officer and shortly before his death secretly married the Piedmontese noblewoman Caterina di Balbiano, who called herself Madame de Brandebourg as a widow. The youngest of Dorothea's sons was Margrave Christian Ludwig (1677–1734), officer and administrator of Halberstadt, the honoree of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos .
The brisk building activity was continued by Philipp William's son and successor, Margrave Frederick William (1700-1771). Initially under the tutelage of his uncle Frederick (Prussian king as Frederick I since 1701) he ruled his dominions from 1731 onwards and began to develop Schwedt into a country seat for the cadet line. In 1734 he had married his cousin Princess Sophia Dorothea of Prussia, a sister of King Frederick the Great. As he left no male heirs upon his death, Philip William's youngest son, Frederick Henry (1709-1788) ruled as the last Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt and developed Schwedt into a cultural center. Known for his numerous love affairs, his marriage with Princess Leopoldine Marie of Anhalt-Dessau likewise produced no male descendants.
After Frederick Henry's death in 1788, the male line of Brandenburg-Schwedt became extinct and their appanage territories reverted to the King of Prussia. For a few years, beginning in 1794, the castle of Schwedt was the residence of King Frederick William II of Prussia's second son, Prince Frederick Louis Charles of Prussia. The last Schwedt heiress Elisabeth Louise, daughter of Margrave Frederick William, died in 1820.
Descendants from Sophia Dorothea of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (1636–1689) by her marriage with Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg:
Friedrich Eugen, Duke of Württemberg was the fourth son of Karl Alexander, Duke of Württemberg, and Princess Maria Augusta of Thurn and Taxis. He was born in Stuttgart. From 1795 until 1797 he was Duke of Württemberg.
Christian Ludwig, a member of the House of Hohenzollern, was a Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt and a military officer of the Prussian Army. The margravial title was given to princes of the Prussian Royal House and did not express a territorial status. He is best known as the recipient of Johann Sebastian Bach's Brandenburg concertos.
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Princess Sophia Dorothea of Prussia was the ninth child and fifth daughter of Frederick William I of Prussia and Sophia Dorothea of Hanover. By marriage, she was a Margravine of Brandenburg-Schwedt.
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Frederick William of Brandenburg-Schwedt was a German nobleman. In his lifetime, from 1711 to 1771, he held the titles Prince in Prussia and Margrave of Brandenburg, with the style Royal Highness. He was made a knight of the Order of the Black Eagle.
Princess Dorothea of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, was Duchess consort of Brunswick-Lüneburg by marriage to Christian Louis, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and Electress of Brandenburg by marriage to Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg, the "Great Elector".
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Swobnica is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Banie, within Gryfino County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-western Poland.
Princess and Margravine Anna Elisabeth Louise of Brandenburg-Schwedt was a Prussian princess. She was a daughter of Margrave Frederick William of Brandenburg-Schwedt and his wife, Princess Sophia Dorothea of Prussia.
Duchess Frederica of Württemberg was a daughter of Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg and Friederike Dorothea of Brandenburg-Schwedt.
Philip William, Prince in Prussia was a Prussian Prince, was the first owner of the Prussian secundogeniture of Brandenburg-Schwedt and was governor of Magdeburg from 1692 to 1711.
Albert Frederick, Prince of Prussia, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt, was a Lieutenant General in the army of the Electorate of Brandenburg-Prussia and Grand Master of the Order of Saint John. In his lifetime he held the courtesy title of Margrave of Brandenburg. His elder brother Philip William held the town and lands of Schwedt.
Johanna Charlotte of Anhalt-Dessau was a princess of Anhalt-Dessau from the House of Ascania by birth and Margravine of Brandenburg-Schwedt by marriage. From 1729 until her death she was abbess of Herford Abbey.
Frederick Henry, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt was the last owner of the Prussian secundogeniture of Brandenburg-Schwedt. His father was Margrave Philip William; his mother was Charlotte Johanna, a daughter of Prince John George II of Anhalt-Dessau and Princess Henriette Catherine of Nassau.
Maria Amalia of Brandenburg-Schwedt was a princess from the Brandenburg-Schwedt line of the House of Hohenzollern and by marriage a Duchess of Saxe-Zeitz.
Leopoldine Marie, Princess of Anhalt-Dessau was the ninth child of Prince Leopold I of Anhalt-Dessau and his wife, Anna Louise Föhse. She married on 13 February 1739 the last margrave Frederick Henry of Brandenburg-Schwedt (1709-1788). After 1788, her Schwedt Castle was used by the Prussian royal family as a summer residence.
Louise Henriette Wilhelmine of Brandenburg-Schwedt, was a Margravine of Brandenburg by birth and by marriage a princess, and later Duchess, of Anhalt-Dessau.
Henriette Maria of Brandenburg-Schwedt, 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.
Albertine, Princess of Anhalt-Bernburg was the second wife and consort of Victor Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg.
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