Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz | |||||
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Portrait by Johann Tischbein, 1796. | |||||
Queen consort of Hanover | |||||
Tenure | 20 June 1837 – 29 June 1841 | ||||
Predecessor | Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen | ||||
Successor | Marie of Saxe-Altenburg | ||||
Spouse |
Prince Louis Charles of Prussia (m. 1793; dec. 1796) Prince Frederick William of Solms-Braunfels (m. 1798; dec. 1814) Ernest Augustus I of Hanover (m. 1815) | ||||
Issue (more...) |
Prince Frederick of Prussia Princess Frederica Wilhelmina of Prussia Prince William of Solms-Braunfels Princess Augusta of Solms-Braunfels Prince Alexander of Solms-Braunfels Prince Karl of Solms-Braunfels George V of Hanover | ||||
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House |
House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (by birth) House of Hanover (by marriage) House of Hohenzollern (by marriage) House of Solms-Braunfels (by marriage) | ||||
Father | Charles II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz | ||||
Mother | Frederica of Hesse-Darmstadt | ||||
Born |
3 March 1778 Hanover | ||||
Died |
29 June 1841 63) Hanover | (aged||||
Burial | Herrenhausen Palace, Hanover |
Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (full name: Frederica Louise Caroline Sophie Charlotte Alexandrine) (3 March 1778 – 29 June 1841), Duchess of Cumberland and later Queen of Hanover (now part of Germany), was the consort of Ernest Augustus I of Hanover, the fifth son and eighth child of George III and Queen Charlotte.
She was born in the Altes Palais of Hanover as the fifth daughter of Charles II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, and his first wife, Frederica, daughter of George William, Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt. From birth until her first marriage her title was Her Serene Highness Duchess Frederica of Mecklenburg, Princess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Her father assumed the title of Grand Duke of Mecklenburg on 18 June 1815. Duchess Frederica was the niece of her future mother-in-law, Queen Charlotte (formerly Duchess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz), since her last husband was her first cousin.
Early life
Frederica's mother died on 22 May 1782 after giving birth to her tenth child. Two years later (28 September 1784), her father remarried the younger sister of his deceased wife, Landgravine Charlotte of Hesse-Darmstadt, but this union ended just one year later, when Charlotte died of complications resulting from childbirth on 12 December 1785. The twice-widowed Duke Charles considered himself unable to give his daughters proper rearing and education, so he sent Frederica and her elder sisters Charlotte, Therese and Louise to their maternal grandmother, Maria Louise Albertine of Leiningen-Falkenburg-Dagsburg, Dowager Princess of Hesse-Darmstadt, called Princess George (in allusion to her late husband, the second son of Louis VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt). She was a warm and cheerful person and especially fond of Louise and Frederica, the younger sisters, who considered her to be the only mother they really ever knew. Princess George's choice of a Swiss teacher for the girls, Salomé de Gélieu, proved to be a good one. Some time later, Duke Charles also sent his two surviving sons, the Hereditary Prince George and Charles, to be raised by their grandmother.
First marriage
On 14 March 1793, the Princesses of Mecklenburg-Strelitz "coincidentally" met the Prussian King Frederick William II at the Prussian Theatre in Frankfurt-am-Main. He was immediately captivated by the grace and charm of Frederica and her sister Louise.
Some weeks later, Frederica and Louise's father began marriage negotiations with the Prussian King: Louise would marry Crown Prince Frederick William and Frederica would follow suit with his younger brother Frederick Louis Karl (called Prince Louis, b. 5 November 1773).
The double engagement was celebrated in Darmstadt on 24 April. On December 24, Louise and the Crown Prince were married in the Royal Palace of Berlin; two days later, on 26 December Frederica and Prince Louis were also married in the same place. Unlike her sister, Frederica did not enjoy a happy marriage. Her husband preferred the company of his mistresses and completely neglected her; in response, the humiliated wife apparently began an affair with her husband's uncle Prince Louis Ferdinand, but these allegations cannot be proved.
In 1795 King Frederick William II appointed Louis as Chief of the Dragoons Regiment No. 1, which was stationed in Schwedt, and one year later, on 23 December 1796, he died of diphtheria. Frederica and her three children consequently moved to Schönhausen Palace near Berlin.
In 1797 she and her cousin Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, seventh son of King George III of Great Britain by his wife Queen Charlotte (Frederica's paternal aunt), were unofficially engaged. The Duke of Cambridge asked the consent of his father to the marriage, but the King, under pressure from his wife, refused.
Second marriage
In 1798 Frederica became pregnant. The father was Prince Frederick William of Solms-Braunfels (b. 22 October 1770). The Prince recognized his paternity and requested her hand in marriage, a proposal that was quickly granted in order to avoid scandal. On 10 December of that year, the couple was married in Berlin and immediately moved to Ansbach. Two months later, in February 1799, Frederica gave birth to a daughter who only lived eight months. The Prince of Solms-Braunfels, disappointed and embittered, resumed his old dissipated lifestyle and became an alcoholic. In 1805 he resigned his military posts for "health reasons", and thus lost his income. Frederica had to maintain her family with her own resources after her brother-in-law, King Frederick William III of Prussia, refused to restore her annual pension as a Dowager Princess of Prussia. Frederica's older brother-in-law and head of the family, Prince William Christian Karl of Solms-Braunfels, advised her to get a divorce, with his full approval. She and her husband nonetheless refused.
Third marriage
In May 1813, during a visit to his uncle Duke Charles in Neustrelitz, Prince Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, the fifth son of King George III of Great Britain, met and fell in love with Frederica. Duke Charles made it clear to his daughter that her separation from the Prince of Solms-Braunfels was absolutely logical, and that he saw a marriage with an English prince as a great opportunity for her. During the next months Frederica considered the intentions of Ernest Augustus and the possible effects on her own situation. When, after the victory of the allies in the Battle of Leipzig, Ernest Augustus spent some days in Neustrelitz, he was greeted enthusiastically. Some time later Frederica asked the Prussian King for approval for her divorce from the Prince of Solms-Braunfels. All parties agreed, including the Prince of Solms-Braunfels, but his sudden death on 13 April 1814 precluded the need for a divorce. The Prince's demise was considered by some as a little too convenient, and some suspected that Frederica had poisoned him.[1] In August, the engagement with Ernest Augustus was officially announced. After the British Parliament gave its consent to the wedding, Frederica and Ernest Augustus were married on 29 May 1815 at the parish church of Neustrelitz. Some time later, the couple traveled to Great Britain and married again on 29 August 1815 at Carlton House, London.
Queen Charlotte bitterly opposed the marriage, even though her future daughter-in-law was also her niece. She refused to attend the wedding and advised her son to live outside England with his wife. Frederica never obtained the favor of her aunt/mother-in-law, who died unreconciled with her in 1818. From her marriage to Ernest Augustus, she had a further three children, only one of whom survived childhood: a son, who would eventually become King George V of Hanover.
Queen of Hanover
On 20 June 1837 King William IV of the United Kingdom and Hanover died without issue. His heir was Princess Victoria, only daughter of Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent, but because Hanover had been ruled under Salic Law since the times of the Holy Roman Empire, she could not inherit the Hanoverian throne. The next male descendant of the late King was the Duke of Cumberland, Frederica's husband, who then became King Ernest Augustus I of Hanover, with Frederica as his Queen consort.
After a short illness, Queen Frederica of Hanover died in 1841 at Hanover. The Court master builder Georg Ludwig Friedrich Laves was instructed by the King to build a mausoleum for his wife and himself in the garden of the Chapel at Herrenhausen Palace. He also gave royal orders for the transformation of a central square near the Leineschloss and renamed it Friederikenplatz in her honor.
Titles, styles, honours and arms
- 3 March 1778 – 26 December 1793: Her Serene Highness Duchess Frederica of Mecklenburg, Princess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
- 26 December 1793 – 10 December 1798: Her Royal Highness Princess Frederick Louis of Prussia
- 10 December 1798 – 29 August 1815: Her Serene Highness Princess Frederick William of Solms-Braunfels
- 29 August 1815 – 29 June 1841: Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cumberland and Teviotdale
- 20 June 1837 – 29 June 1841: Her Majesty The Queen of Hanover
Issue
Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
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By Prince Frederick Louis of Prussia (married 29 December 1793; he died 23 December 1796) | |||
Prince Frederick Wilhelm Ludwig of Prussia | 30 October 1794 | 27 July 1863 | married, 1817, Princess Louise of Anhalt-Bernburg |
Prince Frederick Wilhelm Charles George of Prussia | 26 September 1795 | 6 April 1798 | |
Princess Frederica Wilhelmina Luise Amalie of Prussia | 30 September 1796 | 1 January 1850 | married, 1818, Leopold IV, Duke of Anhalt |
By Frederick William, Prince of Solms-Braunfels (married 10 December 1798; he died 13 April 1814) | |||
Princess Sophia of Solms-Braunfels | 27 February 1799 | 20 October 1799 | |
Prince Frederick William of Solms-Braunfels | 11 September 1800 | 14 September 1800 | |
Prince Frederick Wilhelm Heinrich Casimir Georg Karl Maximilian of Solms-Braunfels | 13 December 1801 | 12 September 1868 | married, 1831, Countess Maria Kinsky of Wchinitz and Tettau |
Princess Augusta Luise Therese Matilda of Solms-Braunfels | 25 July 1804 | 8 October 1865 | married, 1827, Albert, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt |
Unnamed daughter | 1805 | 1805 | stillborn |
Prince Alexander Frederick of Solms-Braunfels | 12 March 1807 | 20 February 1867 | married, 1863, Princess Louise of Landsberg-Velen |
Prince Frederick Wilhelm Ludwig Georg Karl Alfred Alexander of Solms-Braunfels | 27 July 1812 | 13 November 1875 | married, 1845, Princess Sophie of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg |
By Prince Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland (later HM King Ernest Augustus I of Hanover) (married 29 May 1815) | |||
Princess Frederica of Cumberland | 27 January 1817 | 27 January 1817 | stillborn |
Unnamed daughter | April 1818 | April 1818 | stillborn |
George V of Hanover | 27 May 1819 | 12 June 1878 | married, 1843, Marie of Saxe-Altenburg; had issue |
References
- ↑ Van der Kiste, p. 114
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Friederike von Mecklenburg-Strelitz. |
- "Friederike Luise Karoline Sophie Charlotte Alexandrine Herzogin von Mecklenburg-Strelitz" at The Peerage
Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz Born: 3 March 1778 Died: 29 June 1841 | ||
Hanoverian royalty | ||
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Preceded by Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen |
Queen consort of Hanover 20 June 1837 – 29 June 1841 |
Succeeded by Marie of Saxe-Altenburg |
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