Charles Louis, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym


Prince Charles Louis of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym; Schaumburg, 16 May 1723 - Schaumburg, 20 August 1806), was a German prince of the House of Ascania from the Anhalt-Bernburg branch and ruler of the principality of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym.
He was the third son of Victor I Amadeus Adolph, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym, by his first wife Charlotte Louise, daughter of William Maurice, Count of Isenburg-Büdingen-Birstein.

Life

The death of his elder brother the Hereditary Prince Christian in 1758 made him the new heir of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym. Fourteen years later, in 1772, Charles Louis succeeded his father in the government of the principality.

Marriages and Issue

First marriage

When Charles Louis was a young officer in a regiment in the service of the Netherlands, he fell in love with Benjamine Gertrude Keiser , daughter of a Dutch captain. Without the consent of his father, Charles Louis married her in Stevensweert on 25 March 1748. They had one daughter:
  1. Victoria Hedwig Karoline, married on 21 November 1776 to Thomas de Mahy, marquis de Favras, an officer in the guards of the Count de Provence, later King Louis XVIII of France.
The marriage was declared null and void by a court in The Hague on 26 July 1757, and Charles Louis and Benjamine's attempts to have their daughter recognized as a princess of Anhalt were rejected by the Reichshofrat on 11 May 1778; likewise. an attempt to obtain the title of countess of Anhalt was rejected on 14 September. Finally, Charles Louis obtained for his daughter the title of Baroness of Bärenthal ; however, some sources name Victoria Hedwig Karoline as a princess of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym.

Second marriage

In Braunfels on 12 December 1765 Charles Louis married Amalie Eleonore, daughter of Frederick William, Prince of Solms-Braunfels. They had five children:
  1. Victor II Charles Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym married Amalie Charlotte of Nassau-Weilburg on October 29, 1793.
  2. William Louis.
  3. Alexius Klemens.
  4. Sophie Charlotte.
  5. Karoline Ulrike.