Dorothea Maria of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, Duchess of Saxe-Meiningen

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

Dorothea Maria of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, Duchess of Saxe-Meiningen

Dorothea Maria of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg was the first wife of Ernst Ludwig I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. She was born in Gotha, Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, now in Thuringia, Germany, on January 22, 1674, to Friedrich I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and Magdalena Sibylla of Saxe-Weissenfels. She had seven siblings:

Ernst Ludwig I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen

On September 19, 1704, at Schloss Friedenstein in Gotha, Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, now in Thuringia, Germany, Dorothea Maria married Ernst Ludwig. The two first cousins – both were grandchildren of Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha – had become engaged four months earlier. Over the next eight years, they had five children:

The marriage was a happy one, and both shared the same interests in music and the arts. She devoted much of her time to charitable works, in particular supporting the orphanage in Meiningen. Because of a condition referred to as ‘facial fluxes’ – probably a nervous condition – she spent much of her time living in the countryside. At Dreiẞigacker, her husband planned to build a palace and name it Dorotheenburg in her honor, but she did not live long enough to see this happen.

Dorothea Maria died, aged 39, in Meiningen, Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen, now in Thuringia, Germany, on April 18, 1713. She is buried in the Castle Church at Elisabethenburg Palace. in Meiningen.

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