Background
Wilhelmina was the daughter of prince Maximilian of Hesse-Kassel and Friederike Charlotte of Hessen-Darmstadt and the niece of landgrave William VIII of Hesse-Kassel and king Frederick of Sweden.
Wilhelmina was the daughter of prince Maximilian of Hesse-Kassel and Friederike Charlotte of Hessen-Darmstadt and the niece of landgrave William VIII of Hesse-Kassel and king Frederick of Sweden.
Wilhelmina was described as a charming beauty. Wilhelmina and Henry had their own court and lived at Schloss Rheinsberg and Berlin. Wilhelmina had no children with Henry, who was reported to pay more attention to his male friends than to her.
The couple separated in 1766 after an alleged affair on Wilhelmina"s side.
The Swedish Princess Hedwig Elizabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp described her at the time of her visit in 1798:.
After the separation, she lived at Palais Unter den Linden in Berlin, where she was served by successive members of the von Blumenthal family (Amalia, Charlotte, Marie-Thérèse and Leopoldine) as ladies-in-waiting. She was one of the few members of the royal house to remain in Berlin during the French occupation in 1806. While most of the royal family left, reportedly because of the anti-Napoleonic critic they had expressed, and the members of the royal court either followed them or left the capital for their country estates, Wilhelmina remained with Prince Augustus Ferdinand of Prussia and his consort Margravine Elisabeth Louise of Brandenburg-Schwedt because of "their high age" as well as Princess Augusta of Prussia, who was pregnant at the time.