Mauritia Eleonora of Portugal

Princess Mauritia Eleonora of Portugal (1609 – 15 June 1674), , was a princess from the House of Aviz. As a close relative of Prince Frederick Henry of Orange, she spent a long time at his court in The Hague. Later in life she married a count from the House of Nassau-Siegen.

Ancestry and early life Mauritia Eleonora was the fifth daughter and ninth of ten children of Manuel, Hereditary Prince and Countess Emilia of Nassau. Her father was the illegitimate son of António, Prior of Crato, pretender to the Portuguese throne during the succession crisis of 1580. Her mother was the youngest daughter of William the Silent from his second marriage. She was banished from her brother's court for her clandestine marriage to a Catholic (the House of Orange being Calvinists). Where and when Mauritia Eleonora was born is unknown. She was baptised in Delft on 10 May 1609. She was named after her maternal uncle, Maurice, Prince of Orange, to celebrate the reconciliation between him and Mauritia Eleonora's mother. Her second cousin, William Frederick, Prince of Nassau-Diez pursued good relations with her because of her close proximity with her cousin Louise Henriette whom he wanted marry. In November 1644, Mauritia Eleonora confirmed William Frederick's suspicion that Louise Henriette was secretly corresponding with Henri Charles de la Trémoïlle Prince of Talmont. William Frederick did not realise that Mauritia Eleonora's had ulterior motives for giving him biased information, and he was charmed by her.

Mauritia Eleonora declared that she had no friendship as sincere as the one with William Frederick. He asked her if she would marry him, to which she replied "that she would prefer to go with no one else", as she had never valued or trusted anyone as much as him. William Frederick assured her that whoever married her would be the happiest man on earth. He added that the only thing preventing him from proposing was his promise to his mother to marry one of the daughters of the Prince of Orange. There was plans that Mauritia Eleonora could marry another second cousin, John Maurice, Count of Nassau-Siegen, but she refused the match

In May 1645, the relationship between William Frederick and Mauritia Eleonora became strained as she realised that he would never marry her. In the same month, Louise Henriette quarreled with Mauritia Eleonora for gossiping about her and claiming that Louise Henriette looked too much at a certain man. This alarmed Louise Henriette, as her parents did not know about her romance with the Prince of Talmont.

In the spring of 1646, Louise Henriette's mother Amalia noticed her close relationship with Talmont. As she wanted her daughter to marry Charles, Prince of Wales or Elector Frederick William of Brandenburg, she expressed her displeasure, to which Louise Henriette voiced her dislike of both Chalres and Frederick William. Fearing that she would somehow marry the Prince of Talmont, Amalia ordered Mauritia Eleonora to watch Louise Henriette closely. She did her job thoroughly, and Talmont complained that he could never be alone with Louise Henriette He explained Mauritia Eleonora's obedience to her aunt with her dependency: as an orphan in her mid-thirties with no assets, she needed Amalia's help to marry.

In September 1646, Mauritia Eleonora told Amalia about the secret correspondence between Louise Henriette and the Prince of Talmont and received her permission or order to obtain the letters. Louise Henriette, despite her lover's warnings, did not burn the letters, but kept them in a locked box in her locked cabinetry. When Mauritia Eleonora only found two letters, she had the locks broken by a blacksmith. She gave the letters to Amalia, and Talmont fell out of favour. Louise Henriette married Frederick William of Brandenburg in the same year.

Marriage and later life Prince George Frederick of Nassau-Siegen, Mauritia Eleonora's husband on nonymous portrait from 1636.After this episode, Mauritia Eleonora was anxious to leave the court and marry, even to a man with no money. She trusted her uncle's sense of obligation to appoint her husband to some office. Amalia wanted to arrange her marriage with her nephew, Frederick, Burgrave of Dohna, but Mauritia Eleonora selected her second cousin, Count George Frederick of Nassau-Siegen instead. He was the second son of Count John VII of Nassau-Siegen and Margaret of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg. and in 1642 to colonel. on 4 June 1647 In 1648 George Frederick became commander of Rheinberg and in 1658, governor of Bergen op Zoom.

Mauritia Eleonora died in Bergen op Zoom on 15 June 1674, ("Europäische Stammtafeln situates her death in 1679.) Dek (1962) does not know the place of death, but Dek (1970) says «gest. Bergen op Zoom 16 juni 1674» (in contrast to 25 June in Dek (1962)). See for this death: a. the death registers of the city of Bergen op Zoom: «1674. Junius 16 de heer Governeur vrau». This is probably the date of the funeral, because: b. notification sent by the husband from Bergen op Zoom 15 June 1674 in State Archives Wiesbaden (130II, 2201): «Eleonora Mauritia, Fürstin zu Nassau-Siegen, geb. Prinzessin von Portugal, heute, zwischen 3 u. 4 Uhren nachmittags»; c. two other death announcements, identical to the previous one, in State Archives Wiesbaden (130II, 2380III e)."

Ancestors