Henriette was born in
The Hague as a member of the
House of Orange-Nassau, being the seventh of nine children born to
Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange and
Amalia of Solms-Braunfels. Some of her siblings died in childhood. Henriette and four other siblings lived to adulthood, her surviving siblings were:
William II, Prince of Orange,
Luise Henriette of Nassau,
Albertine Agnes of Nassau and
Maria of Nassau.
Princess consort of Anhalt-Dessau The
Thirty Years War had left
Germany in ruins but the
Netherlands under the reign of Henriette's father, Frederick Henry, had made great progress since the assassination of William the Silent. Her father wanted to make peace with Germany and so married some of his daughters off to German nobles. Her mother, continuing this policy had Henriette married to
John George II, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau in
Groningen on 9 September 1659. Henriette's consent cannot have been taken for granted: she was a woman of spirit and independence, who had already refused to marry a cousin whom she disliked, and for a time considered marrying her brother-in-law
Charles II of England. Judging by his letters Charles may have been genuinely in love with her, but later said that he was happy about her marriage, and believed that Henriette and John had married for love. Henriette and John George were a great influence over the German court at
agriculture,
construction of ports,
levees,
architecture and
painting. In 1660, John George gave his wife the town of
Nischwitz where she built houses and a cemetery, made glass and brought it to fruition.
Regency John George died in
Berlin 1693. Their son, Leopold was still only a minor, so Henriette resumed regency for his son until he came of age, and resigned from regency in 1698. She was first regent during his minority; when he became of age, however, she continued as regent due to his absence from the Principality, and thus did not resign her regency until 1698. During her regency, she founded a refuge home for children and women and instituted regulations for lawyers and a system for the care of orphans. Henriette died in 1708. ==Issue==