Personal data
Johanne Sophie Herre
Born 1706   Died 1795  

Born a commoner, she secretly married Wilhelm Gustav von Anhalt-Dessau (1699-1737) in 1726. Her husband was the first-born son of Leopold I of Anhalt-Dessau, but as a consequence of this marriage, his father was succeeded as monarch of Anhalt-Dessau not by Wilhelm, but by Wilhelm's younger brother, Leopold Maximillian (1700-1751). Only after Wilhelm's death in 1737 was his widow and their children granted the titles of Counts and Countesses of Anhalt.

One of her sons was Friedrich, Count of Anhalt.

Boswell waited on the Countess of Anhalt, as she then were, and was apparently introduced to her and her three daughters, at Dessau on September 25, 1764.

    The Journal of His German and Swiss Travels, 1764
    Boswell on the Grand Tour I, 1764

    Unless otherwise noted, the source for a dated quotation of Boswell's is generally the corresponding volume of the Yale Trade Editions of Boswell's journals.