Princess Caroline Louise of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach

Princess Caroline Louise of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (Karoline Luise; 18 July 1786 – 20 January 1816) was a princess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin by virtue of her marriage. She was the daughter of Charles Augustus, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Infancy

Caroline was born at the Stadtschloss in Weimar on 18 July 1786 as a princess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. She was the second of three children to reach adulthood, with her older brother Charles Frederick succeeding their father as Grand Duke in 1828. One of Caroline's nieces was Empress Augusta of Germany, wife of William I, German Emperor.

Hereditary Grand Duchess

On 1 July 1810, she became the second wife of Frederick Ludwig, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. The Hereditary Grand Duke had lost his first wife Elena Pavlovna of Russia in September 1804 after she died of influenza. Caroline Louise gave her husband three children. Her only daughter, Hélène, married Ferdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléans, son of Louis Philippe I of the French. She had a loving relationship with her husband.

After the birth of her youngest child, Prince Magnus, her health never recovered and she died at the age of 29 at Schloss Ludwigslust. On her deathbed, she suggested to her husband that he remarry, recommending her cousin Auguste Fredericka, daughter of Frederick V of Hesse-Homburg. They married in April 1818.

Issue

Albert of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (11 February 1812 – 18 October 1834) died unmarried. Hélène of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (24 January 1814 – 17 May 1858) married Ferdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléans and had issue. Magnus of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (3 May 1815 – 25 April 1816) died in infancy.

Ancestry