Princess Marie Amelie of Baden, Dowager Duchess of Hamilton

Overview

Marie Amelie Elisabeth Karoline of Baden (1817–1888), youngest daughter of Charles, Grand Duke of Baden, and Stéphanie de Beauharnais, Napoleon's adopted daughter. In 1843 she married William Hamilton, later 11th Duke of Hamilton (duke 1852, d. 1863); she was thereafter the Dowager Duchess. She converted to Catholicism in 1855 and died at Baden-Baden. Her children were William, 12th Duke of Hamilton (Marie's "duc"), Lord Charles Hamilton, and Mary, who married the future Albert I of Monaco (Wikipedia, "Princess Marie Amelie of Baden").

Not to be confused with the 12th Duke's wife, Lady Mary Montagu (married 1873), who is the "duchesse de Hamilton" of Marie's 1873–74 laments: see LADY_MARY_MONTAGU / DUCHESS_OF_HAMILTON.

Relevance to Marie

She is the duke's mother, and she kept a household in Baden-Baden, where Marie, aged eleven, spent June–July 1870 (000.0023). In 1875 Marie remembers watching guests enter "le palais de la princesse Marie de Bade, duchesse de Hamilton, sœur du grand-duc de Bade et mère de mon duc" (041.0023). "Sœur du grand-duc" is Marie's error: the reigning Grand Duke in 1870, Frederick I, was a distant cousin, not her brother (Wikipedia, "Princess Marie Amelie of Baden"; "Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden").

References in Diary

• 24 October 1873 (011.0225), probably (0.8): "S'il s'enfuira ce ne sera que si la vieille duchesse de Hamilton meurt." In late 1873 the "old duchess" can hardly be the duke's new bride, so the duke's mother is meant.
• 1 September 1875, Paris (041.0023): the Baden-Baden palace memory quoted above.

Related Entries

• #Duke_of_Hamilton — her son
• #Baden_Baden

Sources

• Wikipedia, "Princess Marie Amelie of Baden".
• Wikipedia, "William Hamilton, 11th Duke of Hamilton".