Amalie Louise of Courland

Duchess Amalie Louise of Courland (23 July 1687 – 18 January 1750), , official titles: Herzogin in Livland, zu Kurland und Semgallen, Fürstin zu Pilten, was a duchess from the House of Kettler and through marriage Fürstin of Nassau-Siegen. She was regent of the Principality of Nassau-Siegen (part of the County of Nassau) for her stepson Frederick William II in the period 1722–1727. Biography Amalie Louise was born in Mitau on 23 July 1687 as the third daughter of Duke Frederick Casimir of Courland and his first wife Princess Sophie Amalie of Nassau-Siegen. Amalie Louise married at the in Bayreuth on 13 April 1708 to her first cousin Fürst Frederick William Adolf of Nassau-Siegen (, Siegen, 20 February 1680 – Nassauischer Hof, Siegen, 13 February 1722), the eldest son of Fürst William Maurice of Nassau-Siegen and Princess Ernestine Charlotte of Nassau-Schaumburg. Frederick William Adolf was the widower of Landgravine Elisabeth Juliana Francisca of Hesse-Homburg. Amalie Louise was not only a first cousin of her husband Frederick William Adolf, but also of his first wife Elisabeth Juliana Francisca. On the death of his father in 1691, Frederick William Adolf succeeded his father as the territorial lord of the Protestant part of the principality of Nassau-Siegen and co-ruler of the city of Siegen. He possessed the district of Siegen (with the exception of seven villages) and the districts of Hilchenbach and Freudenberg. He shared the city of Siegen with the Catholic Fürst of Nassau-Siegen. Frederick William Adolf also succeeded his father as count of Bronkhorst, lord of , , and , and hereditary knight banneret of the Duchy of Guelders and the County of Zutphen. Following the death of Frederick William Adolf in 1722 he was succeeded by Frederick William II, the only son from the first marriage. But because the latter was still a minor, he was under the custody and regency of his stepmother Amalie Louise until 1727.