Duchess Helene of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Helene Luise Elisabeth
Schloss Ludwigslust, Germany
Died17 May 1858(1858-05-17) (aged 44)
Richmond upon Thames, London, England
Burial
Chapelle royale de Dreux
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1837; died 1842)​
Lutheran

Duchess Helene of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (Helene Luise Elisabeth; 24 January 1814 – 17 May 1858) was a French Crown Princess after her marriage in 1837 to the eldest son of Louis Philippe I. She is known as the mother of the future Count of Paris and Duke of Chartres.[1]

Her descendants include present-day

Spain and Belgium.[citation needed
]

Biography

Early life and family

Born at the

Queen of Prussia[2] as well as the King of Württemberg
.

Helene in her earlier years. Pastel by Friedrich Christoph Georg Lenthe, heightening in opaque colours; made in 1828 according to his own design, mounted on gray backing paper
Helene in her earlier years. Pastel by Friedrich Christoph Georg Lenthe, heightening in opaque colours; made in 1828 according to his own design, mounted on gray backing paper

Her father was the eldest son and heir of

Paul Frederick of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
, the new Hereditary Grand Duke, and her other siblings to be raised by her grandfather, the reigning Grand Duke.

Marriage

On 30 May 1837 Helene Luise married

Notre Dame de Paris. She was chosen as the bride for the Duke to form an alliance with her cousin Frederick William III of Prussia
, despite the fact that she was a Protestant and that she was considered to be a liberal, and not considered a beauty: described as an ambitious person, she accepted the proposal against the will of her family because she wanted to become a queen.

Her husband was the eldest son of king

Queen Maria Amalia.[3] For the Duke of Orléans, it was a convenient alliance but one without much attraction – Metternich remarked that she was "Petite but of a good house".[4]

Portrait of Princess Helene as a bride
Portrait of Princess Helene as a bride (attributed to Gaston Lenthe, c. 1837)

The marriage was described as happy, and it was mostly the Queen who opposed her as a Protestant and a liberal. She became popular with the public by her introduction of the German

Palais des Tuileries in Paris, would later be hailed as Louis Philippe II by Royalists. Their other son Robert fought for the Union in the American Civil War, and then for France in the 1870 Franco-Prussian War
.

On 13 July 1842, her husband died from injuries sustained after jumping from an out of control carriage. His untimely death sparked a debate within the House of Orléans over the establishment of a regency council which would be necessary should Louis Philippe I die while his heir was still in infancy. The main contenders were Ferdinand Philippe's widow and his brother

Count of Chambord
instead.

Portrait of a woman holding a baby, both wearing long dresses
Portrait of Helene with her son Prince Philippe (by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, 1839)

Death

Helene died of a flu in Richmond; she passed the illness onto her son Robert who was staying with her at the time but he survived and continued to fight in the

Wars of Italian Unification
.

She was initially buried at Weybridge before being transported to the Chapelle royale de Dreux in Dreux in 1876.

Helene in 1850
Helene in her later years (portrait by Heinrich Pommerencke, c. 1850)

Children

Children of Helene Luise Elisabeth
Name Photograph Lifespan Notes
Louis Philippe Albert d’Orléans
Count of Paris 		24 August 1838 –
8 September 1894 		Married Princess Marie Isabelle of Orléans; had issue. Louis Philippe is known as Louis Philippe II, though he never officially proclaimed as such.
Robert Philippe Louis Eugène Ferdinand of Orléans
Duke of Chartres 		9 November 1840 –
5 December 1910 		Married Princess Françoise of Orléans; had issue.

Ancestors

References and notes

  1. ^ "Collections Online | British Museum". www.britishmuseum.org. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  2. Wilhelm I, German Emperor
  3. ^ Born a Princess of Naples and Sicily and daughter of Maria Carolina of Austria
  4. ^ Cited by Guy Antonetti, Op. cit., p. 782

Bibliography

  • (in French) Généalogie des rois et des princes, by Jean-Charles Volkmann. Edit: Jean-Paul Gisserot (1998)
  • (in French) Les Orléans, une famille en guête d’un trône Les Orléans, by Georges Poisson Perrin (1999)
  • (in French) Hélène de Mecklembourg-Schwerin; Madame la duchesse d'Orléans; new edition. Paris: Michel Lévy (1859)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Helene of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Duchess of Orléans.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Duchess_Helene_of_Mecklenburg-Schwerin&oldid=1218691255"