Anna Louise Föhse | |
|---|---|
| Princess of the Holy Roman Empire | |
 Anna Louise Föhse, painted by Antoine Pesne | |
| Born | 22 March 1677 Dessau |
| Died | 5 February 1745 (aged 67) |
| Spouse(s) | Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau |
| Issue | William Gustav of Anhalt-Dessau Leopold II, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau Dietrich of Anhalt-Dessau Frederick Henry Eugen of Anhalt-Dessau Henriette Marie Louise Louise of Anhalt-Dessau Moritz of Anhalt-Dessau Anna Wilhelmine of Anhalt-Dessau Leopoldine Marie of Anhalt-Dessau Henriette Amalie of Anhalt-Dessau |
| Father | Rudolf Föhse |
| Mother | Agnes Ohme |
Anna Louise Föhse, Princess of the Holy Roman Empire (22 March 1677 in Dessau – 5 February 1745) was a German imperial princess. Born as a commoner to Rudolf Föhse (d. 1698), the court pharmacist in Dessau, and his wife, Agnes Ohme (d. 1707), she married Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau and was later ennobled by Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor.
Life
Anna Louise Föhse was the childhood sweetheart and later morganatic wife of Prince Leopold I of Anhalt-Dessau. Despite great resistance on the part of her own father and of her mother-in-law Henriette Catherine, the daughter of Frederick Henry of Orange-Nassau, she married him in 1698 at age 22. After paying 92000Taler to the imperial treasury, she was raised to Imperial Princess by Emperor Leopold I three years later, giving her a higher rank than him.[1]
In the same year 1698, he took up government. Anna Louise and Leopold had ten children together; Leopold also fathered two illegitimate children in 1733 and 1735.
Relations between Anna Louise and her mother-in-law later improved. She also had a good relationship with the Prussian royal family. Her career was the subject of the tabloid press of the day, and of several plays. She died in 1745; broken-hearted by her loss, Leopold died only two years later.
Issue
- William Gustav (1699-1737)
- Leopold II Maximilian (1700-1751), Leopold's successor and a Prussian Field Marshal
- Dietrich (1702-1769), also a Prussian field marshal
- Frederick Henry (1705-1781)
- Henriette Marie Louise (1707-1707)
- Louise (1709-1732), married Victor Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg
- Maurice (1712-1760), also a Prussian field marshal
- Anna Wilhelmine (1715-1780)
- Leopoldine Marie (1716-1782) - married to Frederick Henry of Brandenburg-Schwedt (1709-1788)
- Henriette Amalie (1720-1793)
Footnotes
- ↑ Esther Knorr-Anders, Preußische Allgemeine Zeitung, issue. 52/53, 26 December 2009, p. 9
