The Thirty Years War had left Germany in ruins but the Netherlands under the reign of Henriette's father, Frederick Henry, had made great progress since the assassination of William the Silent.

Her mother, continuing this policy had Henriette married to John George II, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau in Groningen on 9 September 1659.

[3] Henriette and John George were a great influence over the German court at agriculture, construction of ports, levees, architecture and painting.

In 1660, John George gave his wife the town of Nischwitz where she built houses and a cemetery, made glass and brought it to fruition.

During her regency, she founded a refuge home for children and women and instituted regulations for lawyers and a system for the care of orphans.