Caroline of Berlepsch

Caroline of Berlepsch (born 9 January 1820 in Bad Hersfeld; died: 21 February 1877 in Knauthain (now part of Leipzig)) was a member of the noble von Berlepsch family and was the third wife of the Elector William II of Hesse-Kassel (1777-1847). He married her, after the death of his second wife, Countess Emilie of Reichenbach-Lessonitz, on 28 August 1843 in Wilhelmsbad (now part of Hanau). This was a morganatic marriage, because she was considered lesser nobility and therefore not befitting for a sovereign Elector.

Caroline was the daughter of Baron Hermann Ludwig of Berlepsch and Melusine of Kruse and 43 years younger than her husband. The couple's main residence was Frankfurt, since the elector had in 1830 and virtually abdicated the government to his son, Frederick William I, from his first, non-morganatic, marriage.

In 1844, the Elector elevated Caroline to the "Baroness of Bergen" and in 1846, she received the Austrian title of "Countess of Bergen".

After William died in 1847, she married again, in 1851 in Frankfurt, with Count Charles Adolph of Hohenthal (born: 27 November 1811 in Dölkau; died: 9 October 1875 in Knauthain). With him, she had two sons: Charles Adolph (b. 1853) and Charles Louis (b. 1857).

References

Michel Huberty: L' Allemagne dynastique : Les 15 familles qui ont fait l'empire, vol. 1: Hesse - Reuss - Saxe, Le Perreux-sur-Marne, 1976, ISBN 2-901138-01-2