by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2020

The County of Waldeck was a county within the Holy Roman Empire since 1180.  In 1625, the much smaller County of Pyrmont became part of the much larger County of Waldeck through inheritance and the combined territory was known as the County of Waldeck-Pyrmont. In 1712,  Friedrich Anton Ulrich, Count of Waldeck-Pyrmont was elevated to Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont by Holy Emperor Karl VI.

Friedrich, the last Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont,  abdicated on November 13, 1918, and negotiated an agreement with the government that gave him and his descendants the ownership of the family home Arolsen Castle and Arolsen Forest. Today the territory that encompassed the Principality of Waldeck-Pyrmont is located in the German states of Hesse and Lower Saxony

Friedrich Anton Ulrich was the Count of Waldeck-Pyrmont from 1706 – 1712 and then the first Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont from 1712 – 1728. Born on November 27, 1676, in Landau, County of Waldeck-Pyrmont, now part of Arolsen in the German state of Hesse, he was fourteenth of the fifteen children and the youngest of the seven sons of Christian Ludwig, Count of Waldeck-Pyrmont (1635 – 1706) and his first wife Anna Elisabeth of Rappoltstein (1644 – 1676).

One of Friedrich Anton Ulrich’s sisters, three of his half-sisters, and two of his daughters were Abbesses at Schaaken Monastery (link German), originally a Roman Catholic Benedictine monastery. After the Reformation, it was a Protestant women’s monastery for members of the nobility with daughters and sisters of the Counts and Princes of Waldeck-Pyrmont serving as the Abbesses.

Friedrich Anton Ulrich had fourteen siblings:

• Charlotte Elisabeth (1659 – 1660), died in infancy
• Dorothea Elisabeth (1661 – 1702), married Rudolf of Lippe-Brake, had two sons
• Georg Friedrich (1663 – 1686), unmarried
• Heinrich Wolrad (1665 – 1688), unmarried, killed in action at the Siege of Negroponte
• Charlotte Sofie (1667 – 1723), married Johann Junker, had one daughter
• Alexandrine Henriette (born and died 1668)
• Christiane Magdalene (1669 – 1699), Abbess at Schaaken Monastery
• Elenore Katharine (1670 – 1717), unmarried
• Eberhardine Luise (1671 – 1725), unmarried
• Friedrich Ludwig Karl (1672 – 1694), unmarried
• Philipp Ernst (1673 – 1695), unmarried
• Karl (born and died 1674), died in infancy
• Wilhelm August (1675 – 1676), died in infancy
• Marie Henriette (1676 – 1678), died in early childhood

On December 6, 1676, Friedrich Anton Ulrich’s mother Anna Elisabeth died due to childbirth complications after giving birth to her fifteenth child. His father Christian Ludwig married for a second time to Johannette von Nassau-Idstein (1657 – 1733) on June 6, 1680.

From his father’s second marriage, Friedrich Anton Ulrich had eleven half-siblings:

• Ernst August (1681 – 1703), unmarried, killed at the Battle of Speyerbach
• Heinrich Georg (1683 – 1736), married Ulrike Eleonore of Dohna-Carimmern
• Christine Eleonore Luise (1685 – 1737), Abbess at Schaaken Monastery
• Sofie Wilhelmine (1686 – 1749), Abbess at Schaaken Monastery
• Karl Christian Ludwig (1687 – 1734), unmarried, killed in action at the Battle of Guastalla
• Josias (1689 – 1693), died in childhood
• Johann Wolrad (born and died in 1691), died in infancy
• Henriette Albertine (1695 – 1699), died in childhood
• Josias (1696 – 1763), married Dorothea Sophie of Solms-Rödelheim and Assenheim, had one son
• Charlotte Florentine (1697 – 1777), Abbess at Schaaken Monastery
• Friedrich Wilhelm (1699 – 1718), unmarried

On October 22, 1700, in Hanau, County of Hanau, now in the German state of Hesse, Friedrich Anton Ulrich married Luise of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld (1678 – 1753), daughter of Christian II, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld and Catharine Agathe of Rappoltstein.

Friedrich Anton Ulrich and Luise had eleven children:

• Christian Philipp (1701 – 1728), unmarried
• Friederike Magdalene (1702 – 1713), died in childhood
• Henriette (1703 – 1785), Abbess at Schaaken Abbey
• Karl August Friedrich, Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont (1704 – 1763), married Christiane Henriette of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld, had seven children
• Ernestine Luise (1705 – 1782), married Friedrich Bernhard, Count Palatine of Birkenfeld-Gelnhausen, had two daughters
• Ludwig Franz Anton (1707 – 1739), unmarried
• Johann Wilhelm (1708 – 1713), died in childhood
• Sofie Wilhelmine Elisabeth (1711 – 1775), unmarried
• Franziska Christiane Ernestine (1712 – 1782), unmarried
• Luise Albertine Friederike (1714 – 1794), Abbess of Schaaken Abbey
• Josef (1715 – 1719), died in childhood

On December 12, 1706, Christian Ludwig, Count of Waldeck-Pyrmont died and Friedrich Anton Ulrich succeeded his father as Count of Waldeck-Pyrmont. On January 6, 1712, the County of Waldeck-Pyrmont was raised to the Principality of Waldeck-Pyrmont by Karl VI, Holy Roman Emperor, and Friedrich Anton Ulrich became Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont.

Friedrich Anton Ulrich’s most notable accomplishment was his building program which resulted in considerable indebtedness for the small principality. He built the Friedrichsthal Hunting Lodge in Selbach (1701 – link in German), Schloss Pyrmont (1706), Schloss Friedrichstein in Wildungen (1707 – 1714, link in German), and the Residenzschloss Arolsen (1713 – 1729). With the building of the Residenzschloss Arolsen, the town of Arolsen became the main town of the Principality of Waldeck-Pyrmont.

Friedrich Anton Ulrich died on January 1, 1728, aged 51, in Arolsen, Principality of Waldeck-Pyrmont, now in the German state of Hesse. He was first buried at the Stadt-Kirche Bad Wildungen (link in German) in Bad Wildungen now in the German state of Hesse. In 1962, his remains were transferred to the Princely Burial Chapel at the Church of St. Mary (link in German) in Netze, a district of Waldeck, now in the German state of Hesse. Friedrich Anton Ulrich’s wife Luise of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld, Princess of Waldeck-Pyrmont survived her husband by twenty-five years, dying on May 3, 1753, at the of 74. She was buried with her husband at the Stadt-Kirche Bad Wildungen and then reburied at the Princely Burial Chapel at the Church of St. Mary with her husband.

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Waldeck-Pyrmont Resources at Unofficial Royalty

• Principality of Waldeck-Pyrmont Index
• Profiles: Princes and Consorts of Waldeck and Pyrmont
• Waldeck and Pyrmont Royal Burial Sites

Works Cited

• De.wikipedia.org. 2020. Christian Ludwig (Waldeck). [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Ludwig_(Waldeck)> [Accessed 30 November 2020].
• De.wikipedia.org. 2020. Friedrich Anton Ulrich (Waldeck-Pyrmont). [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Anton_Ulrich_(Waldeck-Pyrmont)> [Accessed 30 November 2020].
• En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Friedrich Anton Ulrich, Prince Of Waldeck And Pyrmont. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Anton_Ulrich,_Prince_of_Waldeck_and_Pyrmont> [Accessed 30 November 2020].
• Flantzer, Susan, 2020. Royal Burial Sites Of The Principality Of Waldeck-Pyrmont. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/former-monarchies/german-royals/principality-of-waldeck-and-pyrmont/royal-burial-sites-of-the-principality-of-waldeck-pyrmont/> [Accessed 30 November 2020].