Elector Of Hesse Wilhelm I

Notable

Family

Elector of Hesse and the eldest surviving son of Friedrich II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel) and Princess Mary of Great Britain, the daughter of George II. On 1 September 1764, Wilhelm married his first cousin, Vilhelmine Caroline of Denmark and Norway (1747–1820), who was the second surviving daughter of Frederik V of Denmark and Norway. They married at Christiansborg Palace and resided for two decades mostly in Denmark. In 1785 they moved to Kassel when Wilhelm succeeded to the landgraviate (as Wilhelm IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel). During the lifetime of his father, Wilhelm had already received the Principality of Hanau, south of the Hessian territories near Frankfurt, as successor of its newly extinct princes. The Hanau people did not want to have a Catholic ruler. In 1803, Landgrave Wilhelam was created His Royal and Serene Highness The Prince-Elector of Hesse. Hesse-Kassel would remain an Electorate until it was annexed by Prussia in 1866. He ruled until his death in Kassel on 27 February 1821. He was succeeded by his son Wilhelm. Link to Wikipedia biography