Karl August, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont

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Karl August Friedrich of Waldeck and Pyrmont (September 24, 1704 – August 29, 1763) was Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont and Commander of the Dutch forces in the War of Austrian Succession.

Royal life and military career

Karl was the second son of Friedrich Anton Ulrich, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont and Countess Palatine Louise of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld.

In 1728 his father and his elder brother Christian Philip died, and so he became Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont .

The Waldecks had a tradition of military service in the Dutch Army. Prince Georg Friedrich of Waldeck had already led the Dutch army in the War of the Grand Alliance.

In the War of Austrian Succession, Karl was appointed as commander of the Dutch Army by the States-General of the Netherlands, as counterbalance to William IV, Prince of Orange, who relied completely on his brother-in-law the Duke of Cumberland. The Dutch army under Waldeck's command was defeated in the Battle of Fontenoy, the Battle of Rocoux and the Battle of Lauffeld.

In 1746, Karl became Fieldmarshal of the Holy Roman Empire.

Marriage and children

In Zweibrücken, on August 19, 1741, Karl August married his first cousin Christiane Henriette, Countess Palatine of Zweibrücken (1725–1816), daughter of Christian III, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken.

The couple had seven children:

Charles (1742–1756)

Friedrich Karl August, (1743–1812), Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont

Christian August (1744–1798), a Field Marshal in the Portuguese army

George (1747–1813), Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont, married Princess Augusta of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen

Caroline (1748–1782), married Peter von Biron, last Duke of Courland and Semigallia

Louise (1751–1816), married Frederick Augustus, Duke of Nassau

Louis (1752–1793), killed in action near Kortrijk

Ancestry

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