Princess Louise Eleanore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg

Princess Luise Eleonore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (11 August 1763, Langenburg – 30 April 1837, Meiningen) was a German noblewoman. She was duchess and (from 1803 to 1821) Regent of Saxe-Meiningen.

Family

Louise Eleonore was a daughter of Prince Christian Albert Louis of Hohenlohe-Langenburg and his wife Princess Karoline of Stolberg-Gedern (1732–1796).

Marriage

On 27 November 1782, in Langenburg, she married George I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. They had three children:

• Adelheid (later Adelaide, 1792–1849), with whom Luise had a very close relationship - in 1818 she married king William IV of the United Kingdom and special taxes needed to be instituted in the duchy to raise funds for her enormous dowry.
• Ida (1794–1852), married Prince Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.
• Bernhard II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, (1800–1882), married Princess Marie Fredericka of Hesse-Kassel (1804–1888).

Regency

When her husband died on 24 December 1803, she took over as regent of the duchy for their son Bernhard II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. She ruled with energy, courage, and good sense during the Napoleonic Wars, which for the next decade ravaged the Saxon states.^[1] The duchy was forced to join the Confederation of the Rhine during these Wars and provide it with troops; afterwards the duchy was struck with famine, which Luise sought to prevent by importing wheat. Despite the fact that French and later Russian armies marched back and forth across the country, Luise refused to flee; she stayed with her infant son and two daughters inside their castle.^[1] She used every strategy to preserve the autonomy of her regency, so that when she joined the Allies in 1813, she had saved the duchy for her son. He became the ruling Duke of Meiningen eight years later.^[1] By adjustments in the duchy's administration she ensured the duchy was better managed and in 1821 opened the Gymnasium Bernhardinum in Meiningen (already begun by her husband). Her children were carefully educated, with a grand tour to Italy under their tutor Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi. After her son came of age, Luise went on several foreign trips, including one to England to visit her daughter Adelaide.

Ancestry

References

Sources

• (German) L. Hertel, Schriften des Vereins für Sachsen-Meiningische Geschichte und Landeskunde, Hildburghausen 1903
• Koller, Ann Marie (1984). The Theater Duke: George II of Saxe-Meiningen and the German Stage. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0804711968.