Anna Amalie von Preußenaus classic

Prinzessin Anna Amalie von Preußen (* 9 November 1723 in Berlin; † 30 March 1787 ibid.) was a German composer and the youngest sister of Frederick the Great. She was abbess of Quedlinburg Abbey from 1756 to 1787.

Life

Amalie, also called Amélie according to French custom, was born on 9 November 1723, the youngest daughter of King Frederick William I of Prussia and Sophie Dorothea of Hanover. It is said that her mother did not notice her pregnancy until the very end. She grew up together with her sister Ulrike. Ulrike married the heir to the Swedish throne, Adolph Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, who was actually intended for Amalie. However, Frederick the Great’s youngest sister did not want to convert from Calvinism to Lutheranism.

At her sister’s wedding in July 1744, Amalie is said to have met the ensign Friedrich von der Trenck. There is no historiographical evidence that this resulted in an intimate relationship; the basis for this story is primarily Trenck’s memoirs, some of which are decidedly boastful. However, a recently discovered letter by Trenck from 1787 seems to indicate at least a great intimacy between him and the princess. Trenck was arrested in 1745 and taken without charge to the fortress of Glatz in the county of Glatz, presumably because Frederick II suspected him of spy contacts with his relative, the Panduren Colonel Franz Freiherr von der Trenck, who was in Austrian service. Amalie never married and subsequently – according to court chroniclers – became more and more unbalanced, opinionated and maliciously sarcastic in her behaviour.

Frederick the Great made Amalie abbess of the secular Quedlinburg Abbey in 1756 to provide for his unmarried sister. However, she rarely visited her monastery, mostly staying in Berlin. She took part in court life above all during the Seven Years’ War. In 1758, immediately after the battle of Hochkirch, she ventured to visit her brother’s camp.

Amalie went to Aachen and Spa several times for spa treatments, as her health deteriorated considerably with age. There she is said to have met the family of Baron von der Trenck. After Frederick’s death, according to a rather ambiguous report by Dieudonné Thiébault, Amalie, who had become blind in the meantime, and Trenck met for the last time in 1787. At this meeting, she is said to have assured him that she would take care of one of his daughters. Amalie died a few weeks later. She was buried in the Hohenzollern crypt of Berlin Cathedral.

Because of her wilfulness and her facial features, Amalie was said to be the most like her royal brother of all her siblings. Through her activities and her commitment, she was a confidante to him. Frederick therefore did not hesitate to repeatedly pay Amalie’s debts.

Source Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Amalia,_Abbess_of_Quedlinburg