Duchess Marie Elisabeth of Saxony (22 November 1610 – 24 October 1684) was a duchess consort of Holstein-Gottorp as the spouse of Duke Frederick III of Holstein-Gottorp. As a widow, she became known as a patron of culture.

Biography

She was a daughter of John George I, Elector of Saxony and his spouse, Princess Magdalene Sibylle of Prussia. She was engaged in 1627 and married in 1630. Her marriage was arranged by the Danish queen dowager Sophie and the dowager duchess of Saxony, Hedwig of Denmark. In her dowry, she brought paintings by Lucas Cranach the Elder. In 1659, she became a widow; she moved to Wittum Husum Castle in 1660. Her household at Husum became renowned as a culture center, and she herself a noted patron. She produced an interpretation of the Bible in 1664.

Marriage and issue

Marie Elisabeth was married on 21 February 1630 to Duke Friedrich III of Holstein-Gottorp and gave birth to sixteen children in just over eighteen years, ten of whom lived to adulthood: Via her daughters Augusta Marie and Magdalene Sibylle, Marie Elisabeth is the most recent common matrilineal ancestor of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Catherine the Great of Russia.

Ancestry