by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2019

Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt, Duchess of Zweibrücken; Credit – Wikipedia

Princess Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt (Marie Augusta Wilhelmine) was the first wife of the future Maximilian I Joseph, King of Bavaria. She died before her husband became King of Bavaria but she did give birth to his heir. Born on April 14, 1765, in Darmstadt in the Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt, now in Hesse, Germany, Augusta Wilhelmine was the ninth of the nine children and the fourth of the four daughters of Prince Georg Wilhelm of Hesse-Darmstadt, the second son of Ludwig VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, and Countess Maria Louise Albertine of Leiningen-Falkenburg-Dagsburg.

Augusta Wilhelmine had eight older siblings:

• Ludwig Georg Karl of Hesse-Darmstadt (1749 – 1823), married morganatically Friederike Schmidt, Baroness von Hessenheim, no children
• Georg Friedrich of Hesse-Darmstadt (born and died 1750)
• Friederike of Hesse-Darmstadt (1752 – 1782), married Duke Carl of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the future Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, had eleven children including Luise who married King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia and Friederike who married King Ernst August I of Hanover; died due to childbirth complications
• Georg Karl of Hesse-Darmstadt (1754 – 1830)
• Charlotte of Hesse-Darmstadt (1755 – 1785), married her sister’s widower Duke Carl of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the future Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, died due to childbirth complications after giving birth to her only child, a son
• Karl Wilhelm Georg of Hesse-Darmstadt (1757 – 1797)
• Friedrich Georg August of Hesse-Darmstadt (1759 – 1808), married morganatically Karoline Luise Seitz, Baroness von Friedrich, had one son
• Luise of Hesse-Darmstadt (1761 – 1829), married Ludwig I, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, had six children

Augusta Wilhelmine’s husband Maximilian Joseph; Credit – Wikipedia

Augusta Wilhelmine married Count Palatine Maximilian Joseph von Zweibrücken, the future King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria, on September 30, 1785, in Darmstadt, Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt now in Hesse, Germany. Maximilian Joseph was a member of the House of Palatinate-Birkenfeld-Zweibrücken, a branch of the House of Wittelsbach. He was the son of the Count Palatine Friedrich Michael of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld and Maria Francisca of Sulzbach.

Augusta Wilhelmine and Maximilian Joseph had five children:

• King Ludwig I of Bavaria (1786 – 1868), married Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen, had nine children including King Maximilian II of Bavaria and King Otto of Greece
• Princess Augusta of Bavaria (1788 – 1851), married Eugène de Beauharnais, Duke of Leuchtenberg, the son of Empress Joséphine of the French from her first marriage, had seven children including Joséphine who married King Oscar I of Sweden, Auguste who married Queen Maria II of Portugal, and Amélie who married Pedro I of Brazil
• Princess Amalie (1790 – 1794), died in childhood
• Princess Caroline Augusta (1792 – 1873), married (1) the future King Wilhelm I of Württemberg, no children (2) Emperor Franz I of Austria, no children
• Prince Karl Theodor (1795) married (1) Maria de Pétin, had three children (2) Henriette Schöller, no issue

Augusta Wilhelmina with her two eldest children Ludwig and Augusta; Credit – Wikipedia

The family mainly lived in Strasbourg, France where Maximilian Joseph was stationed with the French army, attaining the rank of Major General. The couple often visited Paris where Augusta Wilhelmine met Queen Marie Antoinette of France. Afterward, the two corresponded with each other. After the outbreak of the French Revolution, Maximilian Joseph joined the Austrian Army.

In 1789, Maximilian Joseph’s regiment revolted and the family fled to Augusta Wilhelmine’s parents in Darmstadt. The family then settled near the town of Mannheim, then in the Palatinate, now in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, which belonged to Maximilian Joseph’s family. In December 1794, the French army attacked Mannheim and the family home was attacked by French artillery. Once again the family had to flee.

In 1795, upon the death of his brother Karl II August, Duke of Zweibrücken, Maximilian Joseph succeeded him as Duke of Zweibrücken. However, at that time the Duchy of Zweibrücken was entirely occupied by the French.

On March 30, 1796, 31-year-old Augusta Wilhelmine, weakened from five pregnancies and the travails of war, died from pulmonary tuberculosis at Schloss Rohrbach (link in German) near Heidelberg, then in the Palatinate, now in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. She was buried in the Stadtkirche (City Church) Darmstadt in Darmstadt, Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt, now in Hesse, Germany.

In 1797, Augusta Wilhelmine’s widower Maximilian Joseph married for a second time, to Princess Caroline of Baden, and had seven more children.  Maximilian Joseph became the first King of Bavaria on January 1, 1806.

Interior of the Stadtkirche Darmstadt where Augusta Wilhelmine is interred; Credit – CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=788614

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Bavaria Resources at Unofficial Royalty

• Kingdom of Bavaria Index
• Bavarian Royal Dates
• Profiles: Bavarian Rulers and Consorts
• Royal Burial Sites of the Kingdom of Bavaria
• Rulers of Bavaria

Works Cited

• De.wikipedia.org. (2019). Auguste Wilhelmine von Hessen-Darmstadt. [online] Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auguste_Wilhelmine_von_Hessen-Darmstadt [Accessed 18 Jul. 2019].
• En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Princess Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Augusta_Wilhelmine_of_Hesse-Darmstadt [Accessed 18 Jul. 2019].
• Mehl, S. (2019). Maximilian I Joseph, King of Bavaria. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/maximilian-i-joseph-king-of-bavaria/ [Accessed 18 Jul. 2019].
• Nl.wikipedia.org. (2019). Augusta Wilhelmina van Hessen-Darmstadt. [online] Available at: https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augusta_Wilhelmina_van_Hessen-Darmstadt [Accessed 18 Jul. 2019].