She was born in Berlin on 28 August 1748, the daughter of Prussian Field Marshall Samuel von Schmettau. Her father died when she was very young, and at the age of four or five, her mother placed her in a convent school in Breslau. At the age of nine, she was brought back home to Berlin and taught by private tutors. At the age of fourteen or fifteen she attended a French finishing academy in the city for two years. After leaving finishing school, Amalie was introduced into society and invited to become one of the maids of honor to Margravine Elisabeth Louise of Brandenburg-Schwedt, wife of Prince Ferdinand, brother of Frederick the Great. It was while on an excursion with Princess Ferdinand and other ladies of court to the spa at Aachen, that she met Prince Dimitri Gallitzin. Prince Gallitzin was returning to Saint Petersburg, having completed fourteen years serving as Catherine the Great's ambassador to France.
Princess Gallitzin
On 28 August 1768, her twentieth birthday, she married the Prince in a chapel at Aix-la-Chapelle. The couple proceeded to Saint Petersburg, where her husband was given a posting as Imperial Ambassador to Holland. On the way to The Hague, they stopped in Berlin, where her daughter Princess Marianna was born on 7 December 1769. The family stayed there some time before continuing to The Hague, where on 22 December 1770, her son Prince Demetri was born. At the age of 24 she forsook society suddenly and devoted herself to the education of her children. She applied herself to the study of mathematics, classical philology, and philosophy under Franz Hemsterhuis, who kindled her enthusiasm for Socratic-Platonic idealism, and later under the name of "Diokles" dedicated to her the "Diotima", his Lettres sur l'atheisme. Although a professing Catholic, she was a great admirer of Diderot. The educational reform introduced by Franz Friedrich Wilhelm von Fürstenberg, Vicar-General of Münster, induced her to take up her residence in the Westphalian capital. She was able to gather around her, at Muenster, a mystical-literary cenacle which had a considerable influence on the German spiritual life of the time. Here she soon became the centre of a set of intellectual men led by Fürstenberg. This circle also included the gymnasial teachers, Bernhard Heinrich Overberg, the reformer of popular school education, Clemens August von Droste-Vischering, Count Leopold zu Stolberg, and the philosopher Johann Georg Hamann, who was interred in her garden. The poet Matthias Claudius of the "Wandsbecker Bote" was also a familiar visitor, and Johann Wolfgang Goethe said that his hours in this circle were among his most pleasant recollections. A severe illness in 1786 led her to the reading of Sacred Scripture, and her return to religion. On 28 August 1786, at the insistence of Overberg, she approached the confessional for the first time in many years. Soon afterwards, she made Overberg her chaplain. Under his influence, she underwent a complete change which affected all her surroundings. Her religious life took on a larger importance. She became the centre of Roman Catholic activity in Münster. In those revolutionary times, she provided for the spread of religious writings, proved a support for the religious faith of many of her friends, and induced others, among them Count Stolberg, to make their peace with the Church. In 1797 Johann Theodor Katerkamp joined her household as a private tutor. She was known for gentle charity and as a model for religious life. Portions of her correspondence and diaries were published by Scheuter in three parts. She was the mother of the well-known American missionaryPrince Demetrius Gallitzin. She died in Angelmodde.
