Benedicte Henriette
(1652-1730)

Princess Palatine
Duchess of Brunswick - Lüneburg - Calenberg (Hanover) (from 1668)

Benedicte Henriette was the youngest daughter of prince Edward of the Palatinate (1625-1663) and Anna Gonzaga, Princess of Mantua - Nevers.  Edward was the brother of Princess Sophie (1630-1714) of the Palatinate, later electress of Hanover (1692).  In 1668 Benedicte Henriette married duke Johann Friedrich (1625-1679) of Brunswick - Lüneburg - Calenberg (Hanover), who was Sophie's brother-in-law through her marriage to his younger brother, Ernst August (1622-1698), later first elector of Hanover (1692).   Johann Friedrich fathered four daughters with Benedicte, three of which survived infancy.  Of these three, two made significant marriages:  Charlotte Felicitas (1671-1710) married Rinaldo III (1655-1737), duke of Modena, and Wilhelmine Amalie (1673-1742) married the Roman king Joseph (1678-1711), who, upon the death of his father Leopold I. (1640-1705), became emperor Joseph I.

Sources

• Hatton, Ragnhild Marie. George I: Elector and King. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1978.