Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
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| Luisa Augusta Wilhelmina Amelia | |
| Princess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz Electress of Brandenburg Queen of Prussia |
|
 portrait by Joseph Grassi |
|
| Born | March 10, 1776 |
|---|---|
| Birthplace | Hanover |
| Died | July 19, 1810 (aged 34) |
| Place of death | Schloss Hohenzieritz |
| Buried | Charlottenburg |
| Consort | 1797 – 1810 |
| Consort to | Frederick William III |
| Issue | Frederick William, William, Charlotte, Frederica, Charles, Alexandrine, Ferdinand, Louise, Albert |
| Royal House | House of Nikloting |
| Father | Charles II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz |
| Mother | Friederike of Hesse-Darmstadt |
Luise Auguste Wilhelmine Amalie (Luisa Augusta Wilhelmina Amelia) (March 10, 1776 - July 19, 1810), Queen of Prussia, was born in Hanover, where her father, Karl of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, was field marshal of the household brigade. Her mother was princess Friederike Caroline Luise of Hesse-Darmstadt.
Her paternal grandparents were Charles Louis Frederick of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Elizabeth Albertine, Princess of Saxe-Hildburghausen. Queen Charlotte, royal consort of King George III of the United Kingdom, was her paternal aunt.
Her maternal grandparents were Georg Wilhelm of Hessen-Darmstadt and Maria of Leiningen-Dagsburg. Georg Wilhelm was a son of Louis VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt.
In 1793, at Frankfurt, Luise met the crown prince of Prussia, afterwards King Frederick William III. Deeply impressed by her beauty and nobility of character, Frederick William asked her to become his wife. They were married on December 24 of the same year. As Queen of Prussia she commanded universal respect and affection, and nothing in Prussian history is more admired than the dignity and unflinching courage with which she bore the sufferings inflicted on her and her family during the war between Prussia and France.
After the battle of Jena she went with her husband to Königsberg, and when the battles of Eylau and Friedland had placed Prussia absolutely at the mercy of France, she made a personal appeal to Napoleon I of France at his headquarters in Tilsit, but without success. Early in 1808 she accompanied the king from Memel to Königsberg, whence, towards the end of the year, she visited Saint Petersburg, returning to Berlin on December 23, 1809.
During the war Napoleon attempted to destroy the queen's reputation, but the only effect of his charges in Prussia was to make her more deeply beloved. On July 19, 1810 she died in her husband's arms, while visiting her father in Strelitz. She was buried in the garden of the palace at Charlottenburg, where a mausoleum, containing a fine recumbent statue by Rauch, was built over her grave. In 1840 her husband was buried by her side.
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[edit] Husband and Issue
- Louise married King Frederick William III (August 3, 1770-June 7, 1840), on December 24, 1793.
[edit] Children
| Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stillborn Daughter | October 1, 1794 | October 1, 1794 | died in childhood, no issue |
| Frederick William IV of Prussia | October 15, 1795 | January 2, 1861 | married with Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria (1801-1873), no issue |
| Wilhelm I of Prussia | March 22, 1797 | March 9, 1888 | married Augusta of Saxe-Weimar (1811-1890), had issue |
| Charlotte | July 13, 1798 | November 1, 1860 | married Nicholas I of Russia, had issue |
| Frederica | October 14, 1799 | March 30, 1800 | died in childhood, no issue |
| Charles | July 29, 1801 | January 21 1883 | married Count Georg of Waldburg-Zeil-Trauchburg, Widower of her sister Elisabeth, had issue. |
| Alexandrine | February 23, 1803 | April 21, 1892 | married Paul Friedrich, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and had issue |
| Ferdinand | December 13, 1804 | April 1, 1806 | died in childhood, no issue |
| Louise | February 1, 1808 | December 6, 1870 | married Prince Frederick of the Netherlands, had issue |
| Albert (Albrecht) | October 4, 1809 | October 14, 1872 | married Marianne, daughter of King William I of the Netherlands, had issue, Married second to Rosalie von Rauch, Countess of Hohenau, daughter of Gustav von Rauch, had issue. |
The Louise Foundation (Luisenstift) for the education of girls was established in her honour, and in 1814 Frederick William III instituted the Order of Louise (Luisenorden). In 1880 a statue of Queen Louise was erected in the Tiergarten in Berlin.
[edit] References
- Adami, F., Luise, Konigin von Preussen (7th ed., 1875),
- Engel, E., Königin Luise (1876);
- A. Kluckhohn, Luise, Konigin von Preussen (1876);
- Mommsen and Treitschke, Königin Luise (1876).
- Hudson, Life and Times of Louisa, Queen of Prussia (1874), (in English).
- Horn, G., Das Buch von der Königin Luise (Berlin, 1883).
- Lonke, A., Königin Luise von Preussen (Leipzig, 1903).
- H. von Petersdorff, Königin Luise, Frauenleben, Bd. i., (Bielefeld, 1903; 2nd edition, 1904).
- Wright, Constance, Louise, Queen of Prussia, (London, 1969), ISBN 0-584-10163-5
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
[edit] External links
- FemBiography Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
- http://www.batguano.com/Xqueenofprussia.html
- http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/Rulers/hohenzollern.html
- Louise's death mask, from the Laurence Hutton Collection
- Online Biography of Louise von Mecklenburg-Strelitz (in French)
| Preceded by Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt |
Electress of Brandenburg 1797 – 1806 |
Succeeded by Title abandoned. |
| Preceded by Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt |
Queen of Prussia 1797 – 1810 |
Succeeded by Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria |
