House Hanover | ||
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Tenure 1 February 1696 – 29 September 1710 Born 6 March 1671
Hanover, Brunswick-Lüneburg ( 1671-03-06 ) Issue
Detail Francesco III, Duke of Modena
Amalia, Marchioness of Villeneuf
Enrichetta, Duchess of Parma Father John Frederick, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg Mother Benedicta Henrietta of the Palatinate Died 29 September 1710, Ducal Palace of Modena, Modena, Italy Spouse Rinaldo d'Este (m. 1696–1710) Children Francesco III d'Este, Duke of Modena, Enrichetta d'Este Parents John Frederick, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Benedicta Henrietta of the Palatinate Siblings Wilhelmine Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg Similar Rinaldo d'Este, Charlotte Aglaé d'Orléans, Francesco III d'Este - Duke of, Lucrezia Barberini, Benedicta Henrietta of the Palati | ||
Charlotte of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Charlotte Felicity; 8 March 1671–29 September 1710) was a German noblewoman. She was born into the House of Hanover and later married into the House of Este. She was thus the Duchess of Modena by marriage. She died in childbirth. Some sources refer to her simply as Charlotte.
Contents
Biography
Born at Schloss Herrenhausen in Hanover, a palace later destroyed in World War II, she was the eldest surviving daughter of John Frederick, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and his wife, Benedicta Henrietta of the Palatinate. Her father had been the ruler of Brunswick-Lüneburg since 1665 and her parents had been married since 1668.
Charlotte had two younger sisters: Princess Henrietta and Princess Wilhelmina Amalia, who made a prestigious marriage in 1699 to the Holy Roman Emperor, Joseph I.
Charlotte married Rinaldo d'Este in Modena on 11 February 1696. The youngest child of Francesco I d'Este, Duke of Modena and his third wife Lucrezia Barberini, Rinaldo had been created a cardinal in 1685, but he left the church in 1694 to succeed his nephew Francesco II as Duke of Modena. Rinaldo wanted to encourage relations between Modena and Brunswick, whose ruling house was the House of Hanover. The marriage was celebrated splendidly despite financial problems in Modena; the artist Marcantonio Franceschini was commissioned to paint a room, the Salone d'onore at the ducal palace in honour of the marriage.
Charlotte fled Modena for Bologna in 1702 along with the rest of the Modenese royal family in order to avoid French troops in Italy due to the War of the Spanish Succession.
Her husband was sixteen years older than Charlotte, but the two had seven children. After her death, her son Francesco, the ducal heir, married in 1721 Charlotte Aglaé d'Orléans, the daughter of Philippe d'Orléans, the Régent of France during the childhood of King Louis XV. Her second daughter, Enrichetta, went on to marry first in 1727 Antonio Farnese, Duke of Parma and, after his death in 1731, Leopold, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt.
Charlotte died at the Ducal Palace of Modena after giving birth to a daughter in September 1710. The child also died. She was buried at the Church of San Vincenzo in Modena. Her son succeeded as Duke of Modena in 1737.