#Wilhelmina Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt

[venicepearl]

Alexander Roslin -  Natalia Alexeievna (Wilhelmina Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt)

[tiny-librarian]

An engraving of Natalia Alexeievna (Wilhelmina Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt).  

[thebeautiesofthepast]

Natalia Alexeievna

A Portrait by Alexander Roslin, 1776, rococo

Princess Wilhelmina Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt (25.06.1755 - 26.04.1776) was the daughter of Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt and Countess Palatine Caroline of Zweibrücken. She had been brought up under the strict supervision of her mother and was known for her temperament, outstanding mind and strong character.

When Wilhelmina was seventeen years old, Empress Catherine II decided that her son, Tsarevich Pavel Petrovich should marry her or one of her sisters, even if she was quite displeased with that choice. She sent an invitation to the girls and their mother to come and visit her in Russia.

There, the minute Tsarevich Pavel Petrovich had laid eyes on her, he was in love and so Wilhelmina converted to Russian Orthodoxy and took up the name Grand Duchess Natalia Alexeievna. They married in 1773. After a few years at court, where she stood out like a sore thumb for refusing to speak Russian, intriguing against her mother-in-law and being a steadfast believer in liberal ideas, she became pregnant.

Her labour lasted five days, after which she delivered a stillborn son and died as well, aged 20. There were rumours that Catherine II killed her by not letting doctors intervene but it was shown that she suffered from scoliosis of the spine, with which it would have been impossible to give birth naturally.

[graceofromanovs]

𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐯𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝: 𝐏𝐚𝐮𝐥 & 𝐍𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚 𝐀𝐥𝐞𝐱𝐞𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐧𝐚

On 29th September 1773, Emperor Paul, when Tsarevich married Grand Duchess Natalia Alexeievna (née Princess Wilhelmina Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt). The English envoy James Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury noted that she "ruled her husband despotically, without even giving herself the trouble to show the least attachment to him." Their union was considered a failure: although Paul Petrovich loved his wife, Natalia was disappointed with her life as a married woman. In 1776, Natalia delivered a stillborn son and died as a result, Paul was devastated to lose his wife but as duty calls, he married a second time in less six months after Natalia’s death.

Paul and Natalia were both 4th cousins (twice), and 6th cousins (twice). Their common ancestors were Frederick IV, Margrave of Baden-Durlach and Louis V, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt.

[history-of-fashion]

1776 Alexander Roslin - Portrait of Grand Duchess Natalia Alexeievna (Wilhelmina Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt)

(State Hermitage Museum)

[tiny-librarian]

A pair of ivory miniatures of Paul I and his first wife,  Natalia Alexeievna.

[tiny-librarian]

Catherine started to look for wives among the minor Princesses of the Holy Roman Empire, whence she herself had come. She selected Princess Wilhelmina of Hesse-Darmstadt and invited her to Petersburg. Paul liked her, but just as she converted to Orthodoxy under the name Natalya, he was embroiled in an intrigue, hatched by an ambitious Holsteiner diplomat, Caspar von Saldern, to make him joint Tsar with Catherine. Panin discouraged it, but Catherine was alarmed. She avoided giving him a full separate court.

On 29 September 1773, Paul married Natalya in a blaze of festivities and fireworks. 

The Romanovs 1613–1918 - Simon Sebag Montefiore

[tiny-librarian]

The grave of Natalia Alexeievna (Wilhelmina Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt), the first wife of the future Paul I. She died shortly after giving birth to a large stillborn son, before Paul took the throne, and thus never became Tsarina.

[tiny-librarian]

A portrait of Frederick William II of Prussia, his second wife Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt, and three of their children: The future Frederick William III, Louis Charles, and baby Wilhelmina. On the right is his daughter from his first marriage, Frederica Charlotte.

[venicepearl]

Natalia Alexeievna, Tsarevna of Russia (25 June 1755 – 26 April 1776) was the first wife of Paul Petrovich, Tsarevich of Russia (future Emperor Paul I), son of the Empress Catherine II. She was born as Princess Wilhelmina Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt as the fifth child of Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt and his spouse Countess Palatine Caroline of Zweibrücken.

[tiny-librarian]

Royal Birthdays for today, June 25th:

Beatrice of England, Countess of Richmond, 1242

Joanna II, Queen Regnant of Naples, 1373

Gunilla Bielke, Queen of Sweden, 1568

John Albert Vasa, Polish Cardinal, 1612

Natalia Alexeievna, Tsesarevna of Russia, 1755

Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, 1900

Yasuhito, Prince Chichibu, 1902

[tiny-librarian]

A portrait of Grand Duchess Natalia Alexeievna (Wilhelmina Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt), which forms part of the exhibition: Hessian Princesses in Russian History.

[venicepearl]

Wilhelmina Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt

[tiny-librarian]

On 10 April 1776, Grand Duchess Natalya Alexeievna went into labour, attended by Catherine in an apron. Natalya was already a disappointment to the empress, who knew she was extravagant and suspected she was unfaithful. For two days, Catherine rushed repeatedly to the bedside, but it became apparent that Natalya was unable to give birth due to a deformation of the spine. After two days of agony the dead foetus infected the mother. On 15 April she died.

The Romanovs 1613–1918 - Simon Sebag Montefiore

[tiny-librarian]

Royal Birthdays for today, June 25th:

Beatrice of England, Countess of Richmond, 1242

Joanna II, Queen of Naples, 1373

Natalia Alexeievna, Tsesarevna of Russia, 1755

Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, 1900

Yasuhito, Prince Chichibu, 1902

[tiny-librarian]

Natalia Alexeievna, Tsesarevna of Russia