Natalia Alexeievna of Russia
Wilhelmine Luise of Hesse- Darmstadt ( born June 25, 1755 in Prenzlau, .. † 15 Apriljul / April 26 1776greg in Saint Petersburg ) was Russia's heir to the throne under the name Natalia Alexeyevna.
Life
Wilhelmine was a daughter of the Landgrave Ludwig IX. of Hesse- Darmstadt (1719-1790) and his wife Henriette Karoline (1721-1774), daughter of the Count Palatine and Duke Christian III. of Zweibrücken- Birkenfeld. About her sister Friederike of Hesse- Darmstadt, she was sister of the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm II
The princess was born in Prenzlau, where her father was stationed in the Prussian service, and was brought up by her mother, the so-called " Great Countess " in Buchsweiler. On behalf of the Russian Empress Catherine the Great Achatz Ferdinand appeared from the Asseburg, which should hold for a bride for the Russian throne lookout, 1772 at the Darmstadt court. Countess Henriette Caroline was invited with her daughters Wilhelmine Amalie Luise to St. Petersburg, where the Empress Catherine, allegedly decided already at the arrival of the travel company, for Wilhelmine. As a travel Marshal acted Johann Heinrich Merck. Frederick the Great also had the marriage project support, the in-laws his heir apparent to the Russian court.
On July 9, 1773 Princess received the St. Catherine's Order. Wilhelmine converted on August 15, 1773 under the name Natalia Alexeyevna to the Russian Orthodox Church and married on 10 October 1773 in St. Petersburg the later to become Czar Paul I. The Russian marriage project consolidated the ailing financial situation of the state of Hesse -Darmstadt extraordinary.
Natalia, described as amiable and witty, almost completely dominated her husband and urged co-regency. It maintained a love relationship with Andrei Razumovsky, a nephew of the secret husband of Empress Elizabeth.
Natalia died three years later, after the birth of her first child, which did not survive also in the postpartum period. Foreign diplomats speculated that the child's father Andrei Razumovsky was a friend of the Tsarevich and French agent. Also, it was rumored, Catherine had failed Natalja any medical assistance. Officially the Tsarina at her daughter. Wilhelmine was buried in the presence of the entire court at the Alexander Nevsky Monastery, and Paul kept his first wife, a loving remembrance. Catherine chose as his successor as the wife Wilhelmine Sophie Dorothee Paul of Württemberg, who was engaged at that time actually with Wilhelmina's brother Louis.
Progeny
- Daughter ( * / † April 24, 1776 )