Albert Wolfgang, Count of Schaumburg-Lippe
Albrecht Wolfgang Graf zu Schaumburg -Lippe ( born May 8, 1699 Biickeburg; † September 24, 1748 ) was a military and army commander in the early days of the Enlightenment. From 1728 to 1748 he was the reigning sovereign of the small county of Schaumburg -Lippe.
Life
Wolfgang Albrecht was the son of Frederick Christian, Count of Schaumburg -Lippe (1655-1728) and his first wife Johanna Sophie born of Hohenlohe- Langenburg. His first wife was Margaret Gertrude, née Countess von Oeynhausen (1701-1726), the daughter of the Elector Georg Ludwig ( later King George I of Great Britain) and his longtime mistress, Melusine von der Schulenburg ( 1667-1743 ), the later Duchess of Kendal. After her death he married in 1730 Charlotte Friederike Amalie ( 1702-1785 ), the widow of Prince Leopold of Anhalt- Köthen and daughter of Prince Friedrich Wilhelm I of Nassau-Siegen. Albrecht Wolfgang's younger brother Friedrich Ludwig Carl Graf zu Schaumburg -Lippe (1702-1776) was twenty years French officer and therefore temporarily lived in Paris, where he informed the court Bückeburger an ongoing literary news, including on the reconnaissance to Voltaire.
Albrecht Wolfgang had two sons: the elder, George (1722-1742), died in a duel, the younger William (1724-1777), should later become the most famous representative of the House of Schaumburg -Lippe. The year 1740 brought ( in May ), not only the birth of Wolfgang Albrecht 's illegitimate son Charles, his mother was his mistress, the Countess Charlotte Sophie Bentinck ( 1715-1800 ), with ( and his wife ), he dared at this time in a triangular relationship in Biickeburg lived. In November 1740 was also common ( with the Countess Bentinck and Johann Heinrich Meister, the educators of Albrecht Wolfgang's son William ) read the " Anti-Machiavel " of the hopeful Prussian Prince Frederick. The famous Voltaire held from 9 to 11 December 1740 in Biickeburg on, he was on his way back from Berlin and we had discussions - together again with the Countess Bentinck, which closed its intimate friendship with Voltaire here. From the visit also testifies of Voltaire's letter of thanks to Wolfgang Albrecht from Herford 12 December 1740.
1743 took Wolfgang Albrecht and son William in the Anglo- Hanoverian army at the Austrian War of Succession in Germany and at the Battle of Dettingen (27 June ) part. 11th May 1745 Wolfgang Albrecht fought with his regiment ( on the part of the Anglo- Hanoverian -Dutch army ) at the battle of Fontenoy against the French in the War of the Austrian Succession. 1747 was Albrecht Wolfgang's departure from the Dutch military service because of differences with the Prince of Orange. At his death in 1748 Albrecht Wolfgang bequeathed to his son William, a highly indebted country.
This representative of enlightened absolutism was the first head of a reigning German house, which was Masonic. He appeared in 1725 in the lists of members of the Lodge Rummer and Grapes, London, one of the four founding lodges of the United Grand Lodge of England. He was there friends with the Grand Masters John Theophilus Desaguliers and George Payne. In 1738 he was the crucial person who has brought Frederick the Great to Freemasonry.