This biography tells the story of Anna Amalia's life and, for the first time based on a wide range of sources, brings to life the everyday experiences of a German duchess in the 18th century. It portrays her life with all its breaks, uncertainties, and challenges. Within the narrow confines that were set for her, Anna Amalia escaped the routine of daily life as often as possible. Travel and turning points in her life often coincided. Along these milestones, the biography takes its readers on a journey through the life of a princess who understood herself as an independent personality yet had to assert herself within a courtly system of rules. Duchess Anna Amalia of Weimar led a remarkable life, as a contemporary expressed. At the age of 16, she was married, shortly thereafter a mother of two, a widow, and a regent in Weimar-Eisenach. By the end of her sixteen-year regency, that was her story.