Mauritia Eleonora of Portugal

Princess Mauritia Eleonora of Portugal (1609 – 15 June 1674), Prinses Mauritia Eleonora van Portugal, was a princess from the House of Aviz. As a close relative of Prince Frederick Henry of Orange, she spent a long time at his court in The Hague. Later in life she married a count from the House of Nassau-Siegen.

Biography
Mauritia Eleonora was the fifth daughter and the ninth of ten children of Prince Manuel of Portugal (1568–1638) and Countess Emilia of Nassau (1569–1629). Where and when Mauritia Eleonora was born is unknown. She was baptised in Delft on 10 May 1609. Out of gratitude for the reconciliation between her mother and her uncle Prince Maurice of Orange, Mauritia Eleonora was named after her uncle. Mauritia Eleonora's father was the son of the Portuguese prior and self-proclaimed Portuguese king António of Portugal, her mother was the youngest daughter of Prince William I 'the Silent' of Orange and Duchess Anna of Saxony.

In September 1646, Mauritia Eleonora betrayed the secret correspondence between Louise Henriette and the Prince of Talmont and received Amalia's permission or maybe even the order to get her hands on the letters. This was possible because Louise Henriette, despite her lover's warnings, did not burn the letters but kept them in a locked box in her cabinetry, that was also locked. After Mauritia Eleonora one day had discovered two letters, she brutally had the locks opened by a blacksmith when Louise Henriette was not there, and then gave the letters to Amalia. Thereupon the Prince of Talmont fell out of favour with Frederick Henry and Amalia. Louise Henriette married Frederick William of Brandenburg in the same year.

Thereafter, Mauritia Eleonora wanted to leave the court at all costs and she was determined to marry quickly, if necessary to a man with no money. Frederick Henry would be morally obliged to provide her husband with a good office. Her second cousin Count George Frederick of Nassau-Siegen appeared to her to be a suitable candidate. But Amalia preferred to couple her with her nephew Frederick of Dohna, the eldest son of her sister Ursula. In the end, Mauritia Eleonora married George Frederick.

Mauritia Eleonora, now 38 years old, married in The Hague on 4 June 1647 to her second cousin Count George Frederick of Nassau-Siegen (Dillenburg Castle, 23 February 1606 – Bergen op Zoom, 2 October 1674    ), the second son of Count John VII 'the Middle' of Nassau-Siegen and his second wife, Duchess Margaret of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg. George Frederick served in the Dutch States Army and became captain of the infantry in 1627, and in 1633 also ritmeester of the cavalry. In 1637 he was promoted to major and in 1642 to colonel. In the struggle for the county of Nassau-Siegen, John Maurice, the eldest brother of George Frederick, had, after his return from Dutch Brazil, with his brothers George Frederick and Henry and an 80-man entourage, forcibly occupied on 22 January 1645, and had received the renewed homage from the citizens on 15 February, albeit this time only for two thirds of the county. In order to end the constant dispute, John Maurice wanted to adhere strictly to his father's will and testament of 1621 and leave his nephew John Francis Desideratus the one third that was due to him. Already before his departure to Brazil he had explicitly authorised his subjects on 25 October 1635 to recognise his then still living halfbrother John VIII 'the Younger' as co-ruler. In 1645 John Maurice relinquished his rights to the Freudenberg district, granted by the will of 1621, in favour of his brother George Frederick. George Frederick ceded all his rights to John Maurice in 1649. In 1648 George Frederick became commander of Rheinberg, and in 1658 he became governor of Bergen op Zoom. On 6 May 1664 he was elevated into the Reichsfürstenstand.

Mauritia Eleonora died in Bergen op Zoom on 15 June 1674, where she was buried one day later. George Frederick died on 2 October 1674, also in Bergen op Zoom. He was first buried in Terborg and later reburied in the in Siegen. The marriage of Mauritia Eleonora and George Frederick remained childless.