author
Margrave of Bayreuth consort of Friedrich Margravine Wilhelmine
1709–1758
A sharp-eyed memoirist, gifted composer, and energetic patron of the arts, she helped turn Bayreuth into a lively cultural center. Best known as the older sister of Frederick the Great, she also left a vivid record of court life in 18th-century Europe.
2 Audiobooks
Mémoires de Frédérique Sophie Wilhelmine de Prusse, margrave de Bareith. Tome 1
by Margrave of Bayreuth consort of Friedrich Margravine Wilhelmine
Mémoires de Frédérique Sophie Wilhelmine de Prusse, margrave de Bareith. Tome 2
by Margrave of Bayreuth consort of Friedrich Margravine Wilhelmine
About the author
Born a Prussian princess in Berlin in 1709, Friederike Sophie Wilhelmine was the eldest daughter of Frederick William I of Prussia and Sophia Dorothea of Hanover. In 1731 she married Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, and became Margravine of Bayreuth when he succeeded in 1735.
Wilhelmine is remembered not just for her royal family ties, but for her own work as a composer, writer, and arts patron. Sources on Bayreuth’s court credit her and her husband with transforming the city into a residence of European standing, and her memoirs remain one of the best-known firsthand accounts of her world.
She died in Bayreuth in 1758. Today, she is often celebrated for combining intelligence, artistic ambition, and political awareness in a life that reached far beyond ceremonial court duties.