Charles Louis, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym
Prince Charles Louis of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym; Schaumburg, 16 May 1723 – Schaumburg, 20 August 1806), was a German prince of the House of Ascania from the Anhalt-Bernburg branch and ruler of the principality of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym. He was the third (but second surviving) son of Victor I Amadeus Adolph, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym, by his first wife Charlotte Louise, daughter of Wilhelm Moritz, Count of Isenburg-Büdingen-Birstein and Countess Anna Amalie of Isenburg-Wächtersbach. Life. The death of his elder brother the Hereditary Prince Christian  in 1758 made him the new heir of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym. Fourteen years later, in 1772, Charles Louis succeeded his father in the government of the principality. Marriages and Issue. First marriage. When Charles Louis was a young officer in a regiment in the service of the Netherlands, he fell in love with Benjamine Gertrude Keiser [also called "Kaiserinn" or "Keyser"] (b. Stevensweert, 1 January 1729 - d. Belleville, near Paris, 6 January 1787), daughter of a Dutch captain. Without the consent of his father, Charles Louis married her in Stevensweert on 25 March 1748. They had one daughter: The  marriage was declared null and void by a court in The Hague on 26 July 1757, and Charles Louis and Benjamine's attempts to have their daughter recognized as a princess of Anhalt were rejected by the Reichshofrat on 11 May 1778; likewise. an attempt to obtain the title of countess of Anhalt was rejected on 14 September. Finally, Charles Louis obtained for his daughter the title of Baroness of Bärenthal (German: "Freifrau von Bärenthal"); however, some sources name Victoria Hedwig Karoline as a princess of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym. Second marriage. In Braunfels on 12 December 1765 Charles Louis  married Princess Amalie Eleonore (b. Braunfels, 22 November 1734 - d. Schaumburg, 19 April 1811), daughter of Frederick William, Prince of Solms-Braunfels and his second wife Countess Sophia Magdalena Benigna of Solms-Utphe. They had five children: