Ernestine Charlotte of Nassau-Schaumburg (20 May 1662 – 21 February 1732) was a princess from the House of Nassau-Schaumburg, a cadet branch of the Ottonian Line of the House of Nassau and through marriage Princess of Nassau-Siegen. She served as regent of the Principality of Nassau-Siegen (part of the County of Nassau) for her son Frederick William Adolf from 1691 to 1701.
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Biography
Ernestine Charlotte was born at Schaumburg Castle on 20 May 1662 as the second daughter of Adolph, Prince of Nassau-Schaumburg and his wife Elisabeth Charlotte Melander, Countess of Holzappel.
Ernestine Charlotte married at Schaumburg Castle on 6 February 1678 to William Maurice of Nassau-Siegen, the eldest son of Count Henry of Nassau-Siegen and Countess Mary Magdalene of Limburg-Stirum. Ernestine Charlotte's great-grandfather, George, Count of Nassau-Dillenburg, was a younger brother of William Maurice's grandfather John VII of Nassau-Siegen.
William Maurice succeeded his maternal grandfather in September 1661 as count of Bronkhorst, lord of Wisch, Borculo, Lichtenvoorde and Wildenborch, and hereditary knight banneret of the Duchy of Guelders and the County of Zutphen. On 20 December 1679 he succeeded his uncle and adoptive father John Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen as Prince of Nassau-Siegen. William Maurice died in 1691 and was buried in the Fürstengruft in Siegen on 12 March. He was succeeded by his son Frederick William Adolf who was under the custody and regency of his mother Ernestine Charlotte until 1701.
During her regency, in 1695, a major city fire destroyed a large part of the city of Siegen, including the Nassauischer Hof, the princely Residenz, and the nearby church. Both buildings were built in 1488 by Count John V of Nassau-Siegen as a Franciscan monastery. The Nassauischer Hof housed, among others, the collection of paintings of the Fürsten of Nassau-Siegen. Numerous valuable paintings by famous artists, including Rembrandt, Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, fell victim to the flames. The nearby Fürstengruft was spared in the fire. The burnt down residence building was not rebuilt. Under the old name, a new three-winged palace was built on the site, and the Fürstengruft was completely incorporated into the corps de logis. The construction of the new palace, which has been called Untere Schloss since the mid 18th century, took place between 1695 and 1720.
Ernestine Charlotte remarried secretly in 1696 to Friedrich Philipp Reichsfreiherr von Geuder genannt Rabensteiner, lord of Heroldsberg and Stein, since 1691 Geheimrat and Hofmeister of the Principality of Nassau-Siegen, later also imperial Geheimrat.
Ernestine Charlotte died at the Nassauischer Hof in Siegen on 21 February 1732 and was buried on 15 March in the Fürstengruft there.
Issue
From the marriage of Ernestine Charlotte and William Maurice the following children were born:
Frederick William Adolf (20 February 1680 – 13 February 1722), succeeded his father in 1691. Married firstly at Homburg Castle on 7 January 1702 to Elisabeth Juliana Francisca of Hesse-Homburg, and secondly at the Old Castle in Bayreuth on 13 April 1708 to Duchess Amalie Louise of Courland.
Charles Louis Henry (17 March 1682 – 18 October 1694), hopman of the company of Swiss soldiers in the Dutch States Army which had been his father's since 1691.