Early life on the banks of the
Rhine in 1865. Princess Hilda of Nassau was born on 5 November 1864 at
Biebrich Palace near the city of
Wiesbaden, then capital of the
Duchy of Nassau. She was the second (but only surviving) daughter and fifth child born to
Adolf, Duke of Nassau by his second wife
Princess Adelheid-Marie of Anhalt-Dessau.
Hereditary Grand Duchess ,
1903. For the first years after the wedding, Hereditary Grand Duchess Hilda lived with her husband in the various
garrison towns where his military career saw him stationed:
Freiburg im Breisgau,
Berlin and
Koblenz. Hilda, as well as the rest of the family, left the palace the back way and left for the Zwingenberg palace in the Neckar valley. By permission of the new government, they were allowed to stay at the Langenstein Palace, which belonged to a Swedish count, Douglas. The government gave the order that the former grand ducal family was to be protected, and that Langenstein be excepted from housing the returning soldiers, because the Queen of Sweden was in their company, and Baden should not do anything to offend Sweden. In 1919, the family requested permission from the government to reside in Mainau, and was told that they were now private citizens and could do as they wished.
Later life Hilda is described as a jolly and cheerful character with the ability to ease things up with her good sense of humor, an ability she used during the revolution and the years after, taking care of her husband whose health was weak. The former grand duchess died on 8 February 1952 in
Badenweiler. As Frederick and Hilda were without own direct heirs, they bequeathed their
castle of Mainau to a grandson of Frederick's sister,
Count Lennart Bernadotte, who was also a great-grandson of Hilda's
aunt. ==Honours==