Countess Palatine Christiane Henriette of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld

Christiane Henriette of Palatinate-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld (16 November 1725, Ribeauvillé – 11 February 1816, Arolsen) was a Countess of Palatine of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld by birth and by marriage a Princess of Waldeck-Pyrmont.

Christiane Henriette was the daughter of the Count Palatine and Duke Christian III of Zweibrücken (1674–1735) from his marriage to Caroline of Nassau-Saarbrücken (1704–1774), daughter of Louis Crato, Count of Nassau-Saarbrücken.

[1] In the years 1764 to 1778, the New Castle at Arolsen was built as her Wittum by Franz Friedrich Rothweil.

She was a close friend of the anthropologist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach[2] Christiane collected a comprehensive library,[3] which by 1788 included about 6,000 volumes[4] and in her Arolsen Castle, she maintained an art and natural history collection.

[5] When she died, Christiane left behind a considerable debt,[6] which is why parts of her library and art collection had to be auctioned off in 1820.