Princess Caroline Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt

Caroline Louise
Margravine consort of Baden
Tenure	21 October 1771 – 8 April 1783
Margravine consort of Baden-Durlach
Tenure	28 January 1751 – 21 October 1771
Born	(1723-07-11)11 July 1723 Palace of Darmstadt
Died	8 April 1783(1783-04-08) (aged 59) Paris, France
Spouse	Charles Frederick, Margrave of Baden ​ ​ (m. 1751)​
Issue among others...	Charles Louis, Hereditary Prince of Baden Prince Frederick Louis I, Grand Duke of Baden Princess Louise Auguste
House	Hesse-Darmstadt
Father	Louis VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt
Mother	Charlotte Christine Magdalene Johanna of Hanau

Princess Caroline Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt (11 July 1723 – 8 April 1783), was a consort of Baden, a dilettante artist, scientist, collector and salonist.

Biography

The daughter of Louis VIII of Hesse-Darmstadt and Charlotte Christine Magdalene Johanna of Hanau, she married on January 28, 1751, to Charles Frederick, Margrave of Baden.

She is described as learned, spoke five languages, corresponded with Voltaire and made Karlsruhe to a cultural centre in Germany where she counted Johann Gottfried von Herder, Johann Caspar Lavater, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock, Christoph Willibald Gluck and Christoph Martin Wieland among her guests. She was a member of Markgräflich Baden court orchestra and the Danish Academy of Fine Arts, draw, painted in water colours and had a laboratory set up in the Karlsruhe palace. Carl von Linné named Glückskastanie Carolinea Princeps L. after her, and Friedrich Wilhelm von Leysser was hired to gather plants for her. She supported herself and managed a soap- and candle-factory. Her health was ruined by a fall in 1779, and she died by a stroke during a trip with her son.

Her collections were the foundation of the Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe and the State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe.

Issue

Caroline Louise with her sons Charles Louis and Frederick.
Painting by Joseph Melling, 1757.

• Charles Louis, Hereditary Prince of Baden (February 14, 1755 – December 16, 1801). Charles Louis's son, Charles Louis Frederick, succeeded Charles Frederick as Grand Duke upon the latter's death in 1811.
• Frederick (August 29, 1756 – May 28, 1817) married on December 9, 1791, Louise of Nassau-Usingen (August 16, 1776 – February 19, 1829), the daughter of Duke Frederick of Nassau-Usingen
• Louis I, Grand Duke of Baden (February 9, 1763 – March 30, 1830) married Countess Katharina Werner von Langenstein in 1818. Louis succeeded his nephew Charles Louis Frederick as 3rd Grand Duke in 1818.
• Son (July 29, 1764 – July 29, 1764)
• Louise Auguste (January 8, 1767 – January 11, 1767)

Ancestry

Ancestors of Princess Caroline Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt [1]

Louis VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt Ernest Louis, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt Elisabeth Dorothea of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg Louis VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt Albert V, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach Dorothea Charlotte of Brandenburg-Ansbach Countess Sophie Margarete of Oettingen-Oettingen Landgravine Caroline Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt Johann Reinhard II of Hanau-Lichtenberg John Reynard III of Hanau-Lichtenberg Anna Magdalena, Countess Palatine of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld Charlotte Christine Magdalene Johanna of Hanau John Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach Margravine Dorothea Friederike of Brandenburg-Ansbach Johanna Elisabeth of Baden-Durlach

Sources

1. Genealogie ascendante jusqu'au quatrieme degre inclusivement de tous les Rois et Princes de maisons souveraines de l'Europe actuellement vivans [Genealogy up to the fourth degree inclusive of all the Kings and Princes of sovereign houses of Europe currently living] (in French). Bourdeaux: Frederic Guillaume Birnstiel. 1768. p. 68.

Princess Caroline Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt House of Hesse-Darmstadt Cadet branch of the House of Hesse Born: 11 July 1723 Died: 8 April 1783
German royalty
Preceded by Magdalena Wilhelmine of Württemberg	Margavine consort of Baden-Durlach 1751–1771	Reunification of Baden
Preceded by Herself as Margravine of Baden-Durlach	Margavine consort of Baden 1771–1783	Vacant Title next held by Stéphanie de Beauharnais as Grand Duchess
Preceded by Marie Victoire d'Arenberg as Margravine of Baden-Baden