Princess Maria Anna of Hesse-Homburg

Princess Maria Anna of Hesse-Homburg (13 October 1785, Bad Homburg vor der Höhe – 14 April 1846, Berlin) was a German noblewoman. She was the most senior woman at the Prussian court from 1810 to 1823. She was styled as "Princess Wilhelm of Prussia".

Life
She was the twelfth child (and sixth daughter) of Frederick V, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg and Caroline of Hesse-Darmstadt, thus being a granddaughter of Countess Palatine Caroline of Zweibrücken, known as the "great Landgräfin".

Maria Anna belonged to the anti-Napoleon-party around Queen Luise and supported the war against France in 1806. She followed the royal house in its escape from the French occupation.

After the death of Queen Luise in 1810, she acted as first lady on official occasions. In March 1813, she proclaimed the famous "Aufruf der königlichen Prinzessinnen an die Frauen im preußischen Staate" and founded the patriotic women's association "Vaterländischen Frauenverein." She corresponded with Freiherr vom Stein, von Hardenberg and the Humboldt brothers and was an acquaintance of the poet Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué. In 1822, she was in love with Count Anton of Stolberg-Wernigerode, who later became Prussian Minister of State. She was active in prison care at the Berliner Gefängnisinsassen and founded an orphanage in Pankow in Berlin.

Marriage and issue
She married in 1804 to Prince Wilhelm of Prussia (1783–1851), her first cousin, and they had nine children:


 * Princess Amalie Friederike Luise Karoline Wilhelmine of Prussia (4 July 1805 – 23 November 1805); died in infancy.
 * Princess Irene of Prussia (born and died 3 November 1806); stillborn.
 * Unnamed son (born and died 30 August 1809); stillborn.
 * Prince Friedrich Tassilo Wilhelm of Prussia (29 October 1811 – 9 January 1813); died in infancy.
 * Prince Heinrich Wilhelm Adalbert of Prussia (29 October 1811 – 6 June 1873); married morganatically, in 1850, Therese Elssler and had issue.
 * Prince Friedrich Wilhelm Tassilo of Prussia (15 November 1813 – 9 January 1814); died in infancy.
 * Princess Marie Elisabeth Karoline Viktoria of Prussia (18 June 1815 – 21 March 1885); married, in 1836, Prince Karl of Hesse and by Rhine and had issue.
 * Prince Friedrich Wilhelm Waldemar of Prussia (2 August 1817 – 17 February 1849), never married.
 * Princess Marie Friederike Franziska Hedwig of Prussia (15 October 1825 – 17 May 1889); married, in 1842, King Maximilian II of Bavaria and had issue.