[1] Her descendants include present-day pretenders to the throne of France, Romania and Italy, and the kings of Spain and Belgium.

[citation needed] Born at the Schloss Ludwigslust, the retreat from the capital of her native Mecklenburg-Schwerin, she was the only daughter born to the Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and his second wife Princess Karoline Luise of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, third daughter of Grand Duke Carl August and Princess Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Via her father she was granddaughter of Frederick Francis I, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and his wife Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg.

Her husband was the eldest son of king Louis Philippe I and his Italian consort, Queen Maria Amalia.

His untimely death sparked a debate within the House of Orléans over the establishment of a regency council which would be necessary should Louis Philippe I die while his heir was still in infancy.

The main contenders were Ferdinand Philippe's widow and his brother Louis, Duke of Nemours, but further developments meant that the regency did not in the end materialise.

Helene died of a flu in Richmond; she passed the illness onto her son Robert who was staying with her at the time but he survived and continued to fight in the Wars of Italian Unification.