Mauritia Eleonora of Portugal

Mauritia Eleonora of Portugal also called Mauritia Eleonora of Crato and by the nickname Mauke [1] (b. 10 May 1609, d. 25 June 1674 in Bergen op Zoom) was the ninth of ten children of Manuel of Portugal (1568-1638), son of the Portuguese prior and self-proclaimed Portuguese king António of Crato, and Countess Emilia of Nassau (1569-1629), the youngest daughter of William of Orange.[2]

Mauritia Eleonora of Portugal
Born(1609-05-10)May 10, 1609
DiedJune 25, 1674(1674-06-25) (aged 65)
Bergen op Zoom

Life

Since their eldest sister had escaped marriage at the altar, Mauritia Eleonora's and her sisters' chances of getting married were low. After the death of her mother Emilia, who resided at Prangins Castle in Switzerland, she returned in 1629 to the Netherlands to the court of her uncle Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic and Amalie of Solms-Braunfels. She shared a room with Countess Louise Christine von Solms, Amalia's youngest sister.[3]

Her cousin Luise Henriette of Nassau was espoused to her cousin, Henri Charles de la Trémoïlle; nevertheless mother Amalie tried to marry Luise off to Charles II of England. When Charles II kindly declined, and the matter became public, Frederick William, Elector of Brandenburg showed interest. In coordination with her aunt Amalie, Mauritia Eleonora, spied on her cousin Luise [1] and eventually in December 1646 persuaded her to marry Frederick William I.

Out of gratitude, Amalie arranged the marriage of the 38-year-old Mauritia Eleonora with George Frederick, Prince of Nassau-Siegen (1606 - 1674) on 4 June 1647 in 's-Gravenhage (today: The Hague). Mauritia Eleonora and George Frederick had no children.

References
  1. Wilhelmus Theodorus Maria Frijhoff Hans de Waardt, Liefde in Holland, Uitgeverij Verloren, 1998, p 237
  2. Elizabeth (Queen, consort of Frederick I, King of Bohemia), Briefe der Elisabeth Stuart, Königin von Böhmen, an ihren Sohn, den Kurfürsten Carl Ludwig von der Pfalz: 1650-1662 (Google eBook), Litterarischer Verein in Stuttgart, 1902, p. 89
  3. Marika Keblusek, Princely display: the court of Frederik Hendrik of Orange and Amalia van Solms, Historical Museum, 1997, p. 35
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