She was the maternal grandmother of George III of the United Kingdom.

Her father was Karl of Anhalt-Zerbst and her mother was Duchess Sophia of Saxe-Weissenfels.

The Duchess's letters to her husband, kept in the Gotha library, bear witness to a loving and happy marriage.

Her refusal to let her youngest daughter be taught English after she was promised to the presumptive heir to the British throne shows her rather modest sense.

She claimed: "[...] this is completely unnecessary, because since the Hanover family has been on the English throne for over twenty years, the people in England and especially at court have to speak German as often and as well as English. "