Éléonore Desmier d'Olbreuse

Éléonore d'Esmier d'Olbreuse
Duchess consort of Brunswick-Lüneburg Duchess consort of Saxe-Lauenburg
File:Eleonore, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg.jpg Éléonore d'Esmier d'Olbreuse, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Born	(1639-01-03)3 January 1639 Château d'Olbreuse, Deux-Sèvres
Died	Celle Castle, Celle
Spouse	George William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Issue	Sophia Dorothea of Celle
Father	Alexandre Desmier
Mother	Jacquette Poussard du Bas-Vandré et de Saint-Marc

Éléonore Marie d'Esmier d'Olbreuse (3 January 1639 – 5 February 1722) was the wife of George William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and grandmother of George II of Great Britain. She was Countess of Wilhelmsburg from 1674 and Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg from 1676. She was also the great-grandmother of Frederick the Great.

Life

Éléonore d'Esmier d'Olbreuse was born at the Château d'Olbreuse in Deux-Sèvres near Niort, France into a Huguenot family of lower nobility. Her parents were Alexandre d'Esmier d'Olbreuse and Jacquette Poussard du Bas-Vandré et de Saint-Marc. She went to the royal court in Paris as a lady-in-waiting in the service of Marie de la Tour d'Auvergne, Duchess of Thouars, whose son had married Emily of Hesse-Kassel, daughter of William V, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, in 1648.

In the winter of 1664 Éléonore accompanied the Duchess of Thouars who visited her son in Kassel. There the beautiful Éléonore met the unmarried George William, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, who immediately fell in love with her.

Éléonore became his mistress and received the title Lady of Harburg. In 1666 their only child, Sophie Dorothea, was born. In 1674 the child was legitimised and Éléonore became the Duchess of Wilhelmsburg. Two years later the couple could finally marry. It was a happy marriage.

Their daughter was married in 1682 to George Louis, the son of her father's brother, Ernest Augustus, Elector of Hanover, for dynastical reasons. The marriage was a disaster. Finally Sophie Dorothea was imprisoned by her husband in the Castle of Ahlden for the rest of her life. During the last years of her life, Éléonore cared for her daughter and tried to obtain her release, without success.

Éléonore d'Esmier d'Olbreuse died on 5 February 1722, nearly blind, in Celle Castle, Celle. She mentioned 342 persons in her will. She was buried in the Stadtkirche St. Marien (town church of St. Mary) in Celle.

Ancestors of Éléonore Desmier d'Olbreuse

16. François Desmier Seigneur d'Olbreuse               8. Louis Desmier Seigneur d'Olbreuse                       17. Hélène Dorin de Ligné               4. Alexandre Desmier Seigneur d'Olbreuse                             18. Jacques de Mathefelon Seigneur d'Orfeuille               9. Jeanne de Mathefelon                       19. Luce du Courret               2. Alexandre Desmier Seigneur d'Olbreuse                                   20. Pierre Baudoin de La Règle               10. Mathieu Baudoin Seigneur du Peux                       21. Magdeleine Baudu de Beloeil               5. Marie Baudoin du Peux                             22. Guillaume Tarquois Seigneur de Fontaines               11. Jacquette Tarquois de Fontaines                       23. Guillemette de Biron-Montferrand               1. Éléonore Marie Desmier d'Olbreuse                                         24. René Poussard Seigneur du Bas-Vandré et de Saint-Marc               12. Jean Poussard Seigneur du Bas-Vandré et de Saint-Marc                       25. Jacqueline de Barbezières               6. Joachim Poussard Seigneur du Bas-Vandré                             26. Simon II de La Jaille Seigneur de La Tour Saint-Gelin               13. Anne de La Jaille                       27. Simone de Mauléon               3. Jacquette Poussard du Bas-Vandré et de Saint-Marc                                   28. Guillaume Gaillard Seigneur de La Leu et de Saint-Dizant               14. Lancelot Gaillard Seigneur de Saint-Dizant                       29. Léone de Pompadour               7. Suzanne Gaillard de Saint-Dizant                             30. N. de L'Isle Seigneur de Saint-Maurice               15. Jacquette de L'Isle

External links

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons

Succession

German nobility
Preceded by Sophia Dorothea of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg	Duchess consort of Brunswick-Lüneburg 1676–1705 Served alongside: 1) Benedicta Henrietta of the Palatinate and 2) Sophia of Hannover	Vacant Title next held by Caroline of Ansbach
Vacant Title last held by Hedwig of the Palatinate-Sulzbach	Duchess consort of Saxe-Lauenburg 1689–1705