Countess Anna of Nassau

Anna of Nassau ( born November 5, 1563 Breda, † June 13, 1588 in Franeker ) was a Dutch aristocrat, Princess of Orange-Nassau and by marriage Countess of Nassau- Dillenburg.

Life

Anna was a daughter of Dutch freedom fighter William I of Orange-Nassau and his second wife Anna of Saxony.

The early breakdown of the marriage of her parents, Anna was separated together with her siblings from the mother and was raised by her uncle John and his numerous children in Dillenburg. Here she fell in love with her ​​cousin Wilhelm Ludwig. The marriage was also welcomed by Anna's father and their stepmother Louise de Coligny, but Wilhelm Ludwig's father was against the marriage, probably because of the ailing financial background of the princess.

Anna's brother Maurice of Orange helped, as some German relatives, with substantial funds, so that Anna could get married in Franeker Count Wilhelm Ludwig of Nassau- Dillenburg on November 25, 1587. However, the love marriage lasted less than a year and was completed by the early death of Anna on June 13, 1588. Wilhelm Ludwig barely coped with the death of his beloved wife, never remarried and died without issue.