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Katharina Friederike ''Wilhelmine'' Benigna, Princess of Courland, Duchess of Sagan (born 8 February 1781 in Mitau, Duchy of Courland and Semigallia;〔 died 29 November 1839 in Vienna, Austrian Empire〔) was a German noble from the Ruling family of Courland and Semigallia (today part of Latvia) and a sovereign Duchess of Sagan. Wilhelmine is mainly known for her relationship with Klemens Metternich, a statesman of the Austrian Empire. French transcription of her name is ''Wilhelmine Catherine Frédérique Biron'', Czech ''Kateřina Frederika Vilhelmína princezna Kuronská''. Among the Czechs she is known as ''kněžna Kateřina Zaháňská'' (Zaháň is Czech name for Żagań). ==Early life== Wilhelmine was born to Peter von Biron, the last Duke of Courland, and his third wife Anna Charlotte Dorothea von Medem (1761–1821). She had three conjugal sisters: Maria Luise Pauline (1782–1845), Johanna Katharina (1783–1876), wife of HSH Fürst Don Francesco, Duke of Acerenza (brother of the 8th Prince of Belmonte), and Dorothea (1793–1862), later wife of Edmond de Talleyrand-Périgord (1787–1872), nephew of the French statesman Talleyrand. Wilhelmine spent her earliest childhood in Mitau. In 1795 the Duke was forced to cede his Duchy to the Russian Empire, and the family moved to the Duchy of Sagan (Żagań) in Silesia, which had been acquired in 1786. Among other properties bought by her father during the 1780s was County Náchod in Bohemia, which included Ratibořice Castle. Wilhelmine, who inherited both Sagan and Náchod, selected this castle as her summer residence. The young duchess was very beautiful, intelligent, eloquent and educated in philosophy and history. She fell in love with Swedish general Gustav Armfelt, her mother's lover and her tutor. The secret relationship with a much older and married Armfelt resulted in the birth of an illegitimate daughter named Adelaide Gustava Aspasia (nicknamed ''Vava''), who was born in secrecy in Hamburg on 13 January 1801. The delivery was traumatic, and, due to an incompetent midwife, she lost the ability to have further children. Wilhelmine gave up her child to one of Armfelt's relatives in Sweden and never saw her again.〔Vava later married with a relative, Magnus Reinhold Armfelt, on 12 November 1825, with whom she had five children: August Magnus Gustav, Mauritz Vilhelm Romuald, Gustav Johan Philip, Hedvig Johanna Vilhelmina Gustava (by marriage Wrede af Elimä) and Carl Magnus Mauritz. After the death of her husband on 29 April 1845, Vava married secondly on 21 May 1846 with Johan August von Essen, with whom she had no children. Vava died on 19 May 1881 at Åbo, Sweden, aged 80. Source: (''Adelaide Gustava Aspasia Armfelt'' in: armigerousdescents.com ) (20 June 2015 ).〕 Wilhelmine greatly regretted this decision as time went on. To protect her reputation, Armfelt organized a marriage for her with an émigré French nobleman, Prince Louis de Rohan-Guémenée (1768–1836), the son of the Princesse de Guéméné, the original governess of the children of King Louis XVI of France. The marriage did not last and ended in divorce in 1805. Wilhelmine spent the rest of her life moving between Vienna, Prague, Ratibořice and Sagan (Żagań). She also undertook journeys to Italy, England and France. Her second marriage with prince Vasily Troubetzkoy (1776–1841), which lasted from 1805 to 1806, also ended in divorce. In Vienna, she set up a salon attended by the highest nobility. An attractive woman, she attracted many aristocratic lovers. She had a short-lived and turbulent relationship during the spring of 1810 with Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz, an Austrian army commander. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Princess Wilhelmine, Duchess of Sagan」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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