Born in Berlin, she was the youngest child and second daughter of King William I of the Netherlands by his wife Wilhelmine of Prussia. Her elder sister, Pauline, had died in 1806, long before her birth, so Marianne became the only daughter of her parents to survive adulthood. In The Hague on 14 September 1830, Marianne married her first cousin Prince Albert, the fourth son of her mother"s brother, King Frederick William III of Prussia.
Her two older brothers were the future King William II and Prince Frederik of the Netherlands. Two other brothers were stillborn. The union produced five children:
Frederika Louise Wilhelmine Marianne Charlotte (b Schloss Schönhausen, near Berlin, 21 June 1831 - d Meiningen, 30 March 1855), married on 18 May 1850 with the later Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen.
A son (Prinz-Albrecht-Palais, Wilhelmstraße, near Berlin, 4 December 1832).
He was either stillborn or lived only a few hours. Frederick Wilhelm Nikolaus Albert (b Berlin, 8 May 1837 - d Kamenz, 13 September 1906), married Princess Marie of Saxe-Altenburg.
Frederika Louise Wilhelmine Elisabeth (b Kamenz, 27 August 1840 - d Kamenz, 9 October 1840). Frederika Wilhelmine Louise Elisabeth Alexandrine (b Berlin, 1 February 1842 - d Schloss Marley, near Potsdam, 26 March 1906), married on 9 December 1865 to Wilhelm of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
On 28 March 1849, Marianne and Albert of Prussia were formally divorced.
After this, the courts of The Hague and Berlin broke all contact with her. In 1855 Marianne bought Schloss Reinhartshausen in Erbach, Rheingau. An unusually progressive woman and cultural visionary, she made the Schloss Reinhartshausen a cultural center of the Rhine.
Marianne reconstructed part of the Schloss as a museum to house her collection of 600 paintings.
The museum is known today as the Festsäle. The Schloss was always vibrant with many guests and Marianne encouraged young artists providing them accommodation.
Of her treasures, 180 paintings, 110 drawings including watercolors and gouaches, as well as various sculptures can be found there today. To honor him, Marianne donated 60.000 Gulden to the Erbacher locals for a piece of land on which a church was to be constructed.
The church was completed and Johannes buried under its altar.
Marianne survived him by ten years and died in the Schloss Reinhartshausen in Erbach twenty days after her seventy-third birthday. Her eldest son, Prince Albert of Prussia, inherited her estate, included the Schloss Reinhartshausen. Today the Schloss Reinhartshausen is a 5-stars hotel.
