Recent from talks
Princess Anna of Prussia
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Princess Anna of Prussia
Anna of Prussia (German: Maria Anna Friederike von Preußen; 17 May 1836 – 12 June 1918) was a Prussian princess as the granddaughter of King Frederick William III of Prussia. She was the second wife of Prince Frederick William of Hesse-Kassel.
Anna was the youngest of the three children of Prince Charles of Prussia and Princess Marie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.
As a beautiful young princess, she was the object of much attention at court. In the winter of 1852, the young Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria met her in Berlin, fell in love, and wished to propose to her. His mother, Archduchess Sophie of Austria, wrote to her sister Queen Elisabeth of Prussia referring to "the happiness that showed itself to him like a fleeting dream and made an impression on his heart -- alas -- much stronger and deeper than I had first thought." However, Anna was already engaged at that time, and as an added complication, there were strong feelings against an alliance with Austria among Prussian statesmen. Franz Joseph's mother asked, "whether there is any hope that this sad marriage, which they are imposing on this charming Anna and which leaves her no prospect of happiness whatsoever, could be prevented," but to no avail. Sophie predicted that Anna's marriage to her betrothed, Frederick William of Hesse-Kassel, would be unhappy, which turned out to be correct.
On 26 May 1853, Anna married her second cousin Prince Frederick William of Hesse-Kassel at Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin. Anna was the second wife of her new husband, who nine years previously had experienced the traumatic death in childbirth of his beloved first wife, Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaevna of Russia. He never got over this loss, which took place less than a year after his wedding to Alexandra. Like Sophie correctly predicted, Frederick's relationship with Anna was polite, but emotionally distant. They did, however, have six children, being:
Queen Victoria's daughter, Victoria, Princess Royal, who was married to Anna's cousin, the future Emperor of Germany, wrote about Anna:
...[she] is very pretty, the most splendid figure you ever saw, but I do not like her style quite, her gowns are a good deal fuller than the Empress' and so low, I cannot bear that; and I do not like to see the Princesses dancing about with everybody ...
However, Anna also had a reputation for intelligence, and presided over a court salon of artists and musicians, which included Johannes Brahms, Clara Schumann, Anton Rubinstein, and Julius Stockhausen. She herself was a classically trained pianist who studied under Theodor Kullak. Brahms dedicated his Piano Quintet to her in 1865.
Unusually for a Hessian landgravine, she converted to Catholicism in 1901, which led to political complications. Anna was the subject of one of the most famous paintings by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, in which she is depicted wearing a sweeping dress of tulle over pink silk.
Hub AI
Princess Anna of Prussia AI simulator
(@Princess Anna of Prussia_simulator)
Princess Anna of Prussia
Anna of Prussia (German: Maria Anna Friederike von Preußen; 17 May 1836 – 12 June 1918) was a Prussian princess as the granddaughter of King Frederick William III of Prussia. She was the second wife of Prince Frederick William of Hesse-Kassel.
Anna was the youngest of the three children of Prince Charles of Prussia and Princess Marie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.
As a beautiful young princess, she was the object of much attention at court. In the winter of 1852, the young Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria met her in Berlin, fell in love, and wished to propose to her. His mother, Archduchess Sophie of Austria, wrote to her sister Queen Elisabeth of Prussia referring to "the happiness that showed itself to him like a fleeting dream and made an impression on his heart -- alas -- much stronger and deeper than I had first thought." However, Anna was already engaged at that time, and as an added complication, there were strong feelings against an alliance with Austria among Prussian statesmen. Franz Joseph's mother asked, "whether there is any hope that this sad marriage, which they are imposing on this charming Anna and which leaves her no prospect of happiness whatsoever, could be prevented," but to no avail. Sophie predicted that Anna's marriage to her betrothed, Frederick William of Hesse-Kassel, would be unhappy, which turned out to be correct.
On 26 May 1853, Anna married her second cousin Prince Frederick William of Hesse-Kassel at Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin. Anna was the second wife of her new husband, who nine years previously had experienced the traumatic death in childbirth of his beloved first wife, Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaevna of Russia. He never got over this loss, which took place less than a year after his wedding to Alexandra. Like Sophie correctly predicted, Frederick's relationship with Anna was polite, but emotionally distant. They did, however, have six children, being:
Queen Victoria's daughter, Victoria, Princess Royal, who was married to Anna's cousin, the future Emperor of Germany, wrote about Anna:
...[she] is very pretty, the most splendid figure you ever saw, but I do not like her style quite, her gowns are a good deal fuller than the Empress' and so low, I cannot bear that; and I do not like to see the Princesses dancing about with everybody ...
However, Anna also had a reputation for intelligence, and presided over a court salon of artists and musicians, which included Johannes Brahms, Clara Schumann, Anton Rubinstein, and Julius Stockhausen. She herself was a classically trained pianist who studied under Theodor Kullak. Brahms dedicated his Piano Quintet to her in 1865.
Unusually for a Hessian landgravine, she converted to Catholicism in 1901, which led to political complications. Anna was the subject of one of the most famous paintings by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, in which she is depicted wearing a sweeping dress of tulle over pink silk.
Recent media