Princess Maria Anna of Hesse-Homburg


Princess Maria Anna of Hesse-Homburg was a German noblewoman. She was the most senior woman at the Prussian court from 1810 to 1823. She was styled as "Princess Wilhelm of Prussia".

Life

She was the twelfth child of Frederick V, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg and Caroline of Hesse-Darmstadt, thus being a granddaughter of Countess Palatine Caroline of Zweibrücken, known as the "great Landgräfin".
Maria Anna belonged to the anti-Napoleon-party around Queen Luise and supported the war against France in 1806. She followed the royal house in its escape from the French occupation.
After the death of Queen Luise in 1810, she acted as first lady on official occasions. In March 1813, she proclaimed the famous "Aufruf der königlichen Prinzessinnen an die Frauen im preußischen Staate" and founded the patriotic women's association "Vaterländischen Frauenverein." She corresponded with Freiherr vom Stein, von Hardenberg and the Humboldt brothers and was an acquaintance of the poet Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué. In 1822, she was in love with Count Anton of Stolberg-Wernigerode, who later became Prussian Minister of State. She was active in prison care at the Berliner Gefängnisinsassen and founded an orphanage in Pankow in Berlin.

Marriage and issue

She married in 1804 to Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, her first cousin, and they had nine children: