Landgrave Frederick of Hesse-Cassel

Prince Frederick of Hesse (11 September 1747 – 20 May 1837) was a younger member of the dynasty that ruled the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) and a Danish general.

He was born as the youngest son of Hereditary Prince Frederick of Hesse-Kassel (the future Landgrave Frederick II) and Princess Mary of Great Britain.

Youth

His father, the then hereditary prince (who reigned from 1760 and died in 1785) had in 1747 left the family and soon converted Catholicism, and in 1755 formally ended the marriage. The young prince Frederick, together with his two elder brothers, were with their mother the landgravine Mary and became since 1747 fostered by Protestant relatives and soon moved to Denmark, to be guests of her sister Louise of Great Britain who however died in 1751. His two elder brothers married Danish princesses, their first cousins, in 1763 and 1766 respectively. They remained in Denmark, becoming its important lords and royal functionaries. Only his eldest brother returned to Kassel, in 1785 when ascending the landgraviate.

Ancestry

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1= 1. Prince Frederick of Hesse
2= 2. Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse
3= 3. Princess Mary of Great Britain
4= 4. William VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel
5= 5. Dorothea Wilhelmine of Saxe-Zeitz
6= 6. George II of Great Britain
7= 7. Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach
8= 8. Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel
9= 9. Maria Amalia of Courland
10= 10. Maurice Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Zeitz
11= 11. Marie Amalie of Brandenburg
12= 12. George I of Great Britain
13= 13. Sophia Dorothea of Celle
14= 14. Johann Friedrich, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach
15= 15. Eleanor Erdmuthe Louise of Saxe-Eisenach
16= 16. Wilhelm VI of Hesse-Kassel
17= 17. Hedwig Sophia of Brandenburg
18= 18. Jacob Kettler, Duke of Courland
19= 19. Louise Charlotte of Brandenburg
20= 20. Maurice, Duke of Saxe-Zeitz
21= 21. Dorothea Marie of Saxe-Weimar
22= 22. Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg
23= 23. Sophie Dorothea of Holstein-Glücksburg
24= 24. Ernest Augustus, Elector of Hanover
25= 25. Sophia, Countess Palatine of Simmern
26= 26. George William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
27= 27. Eleonore d'Esmier d'Olbreuse
28= 28. Albert V, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach
29= 29. Sophia Margaret of Oettingen-Oettingen
30= 30. John George I, Duke of Saxe-Eisenach
31= 31. Johannetta of Sayn-Wittgenstein

Marriage

He married Princess Caroline Polyxene of Nassau-Usingen (4 April 1762 Biebrich - 17 August 1823 Offenbach), a remarkable heiress of a family which went extinct in male line. Her inheritance included the castle of Rumpenheim, Offenbach, which became the family's seat.

Children

* William (24 December 1787-5 September 1867), married Louise Charlotte of Denmark (1789-1864) and was the father of Louise of Hesse-Kassel (wife of Christian IX of Denmark).
* Karl Friedrich (9 March 1789-10 September 1802)
* Friedrich Wilhelm (24 April 1790-25 October 1876)
* Ludwig Karl (12 November 1791-12 May 1800)
* Georg Karl (14 January 1793-4 March 1881)
* Luise Karoline Marie Friederike (9 April 1794-16 March 1881)
* Marie Wilhelmine Friederike (21 January 1796-30 December 1880), married Georg, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1779-1860)
* Augusta Wilhelmine Luise (25 July 1797-6 April 1889), married Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge (1774-1850)