Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

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Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Charlottenburg Palace
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1793)​
Issue
Names
Luise Auguste Wilhelmine Amalie
Mecklenburg-Strelitz
FatherCharles II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
MotherPrincess Friederike of Hesse-Darmstadt
SignatureLouise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz's signature

Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Luise Auguste Wilhelmine Amalie; 10 March 1776 – 19 July 1810) was

Frederick William III. The couple's happy, though short-lived, marriage produced nine children, including the future monarchs Frederick William IV of Prussia and William I, German Emperor
.

Her legacy became cemented after her extraordinary 1807 meeting with French Emperor

Tilsit – she met with him to plead unsuccessfully for favorable terms after Prussia's disastrous losses in the War of the Fourth Coalition. She was already well loved by her subjects, but her meeting with Napoleon led Louise to become revered as "the soul of national virtue". Her early death at the age of thirty-four "preserved her youth in the memory of posterity", and caused Napoleon to reportedly remark that the king "has lost his best minister". The Order of Louise was founded by her grieving husband four years later as a female counterpart to the Iron Cross. In the 1920s, conservative German women founded the Queen Louise League
.

Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1776–1793)

Duchess Luise Auguste Wilhelmine Amalie of Mecklenburg-Strelitz ("Louise" in English) was born on 10 March 1776 in a one-storey villa,[note 1] just outside the capital in Hanover.[1][2] She was the fourth daughter and sixth child of Duke Charles of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and his wife Princess Friederike of Hesse-Darmstadt. Her father Charles was a brother of Queen Charlotte and her mother Frederike was a granddaughter of Louis VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt. Her maternal grandmother, Princess Marie Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt, and her paternal first-cousin Princess Augusta Sophia of the United Kingdom served as sponsors at her baptism; her second given name came from Princess Augusta Sophia.[3]

At the time of her birth, Louise's father was not yet the ruler of

Herrenhausen.[4]

Famous Schadow statue of Louise (left), with her sister, Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The statue was initially deemed too erotic, and was consequently closed to public viewing.[5]

Louise was particularly close to her sister

Versailles".[6] Duke Charles remarried two years later to his first wife's younger sister Charlotte, producing a son, Charles. Louise and her aunt and new stepmother became close until Charlotte's early death the year after their marriage, also from childbirth complications.[7] The twice widowed and grieving duke went to Darmstadt, where he gave the children into the care of his mother-in-law and Louise's grandmother, the widowed Princess Marie Louise.[7]

Education

Marie Louise preferred to raise her grandchildren simply, and they made their own clothes.

Shakespeare, as well as ancient Greek tragedies.[14]

In 1793, Marie Louise took the two youngest duchesses with her to

Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, hoped to strengthen ties between his house and Prussia.[17] Consequently, on one evening carefully planned by the duke, seventeen-year-old Louise met the king's son and heir, Crown Prince Frederick William.[2][17] The crown prince was twenty-three, serious-minded, and religious.[18] She made such a charming impression on Frederick William that he immediately made his choice, desiring to marry her.[19] Frederica caught the eye of his younger brother Prince Louis Charles
, and the two families began planning a double betrothal, celebrating a month later, on 24 April 1793 in Darmstadt. Frederick and Louise were subsequently married on 24 December that same year, with Louis and Frederica marrying two days later.

Crown Princess of Prussia (1793–1797)

Louise and Frederick William, 1794 – a year after their marriage

In the events leading up to her marriage, Louise's arrival in Berlin, the Prussian capital, caused quite a sensation, and she was greeted with a grand reception by the city's joyful citizens.[5][20] When she broke protocol and stopped to pick up and kiss a child, Prussian writer Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué remarked that "The arrival of the angelic Princess spreads over these days a noble splendor. All hearts go out to meet her, and her grace and goodness leaves no one unblessed."[5][20] Another wrote "The more perfectly one becomes acquainted with the Princess the more one is captivated by the inner nobility, and the angelic goodness of her heart."[21]

Louise's

Alexandrine (1803), Prince Ferdinand (1804), Princess Louise (1808), and Prince Albert (1809). The couple also used the Crown Prince's Palace
in the capital.

Louise's charitable giving continued throughout her life, and on one occasion, while attending a harvest festival, she purchased presents and distributed them to local children. On her first birthday after her marriage in Berlin, when King Frederick William II asked his daughter-in-law what she desired for a present, Louise replied she wanted a handful of money to let the city's people share her joy; he smilingly gave her a large quantity for the task.[25]

Queen consort of Prussia (1797–1810)

A painting by German artist Henriette-Félicité Tassaert of Louise in 1797, the year she became queen

On 16 November 1797, her husband succeeded to the throne of Prussia as King Frederick William III after the death of his father. Louise wrote to her grandmother, "I am now queen, and what rejoices me most is the hope that now I need no longer count my benefactions so carefully."

predecessors.[5] Louise's presence on her husband's eastern journey was a break from the traditional role of the consort – importantly however the queen's power and enduring legacy did not stem from holding a separate court and policy than her husband's, but rather the opposite: she subordinated her formidable intelligence and skill for her husband's sole advantage.[28] She also became a fashion icon, for instance starting a trend by wearing a neckerchief to keep from getting ill.[29]

Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun
painting of Queen Louise, c. 1801

After her husband's accession, Louise developed many ties to senior ministers and became a powerful figure within the government as she began to command universal respect and affection.[2][30] The queen went out of her way to stay informed about political developments at court, and from the very beginning of his reign the new king consulted Louise on matters of state.[31] Frederick William was hesitant and cautious, and hated war, stating in 1798, "I abhor war and... know of nothing greater on earth than the preservation of peace and tranquility as the only system suited to the happiness of human kind".[32] In keeping with the later foreign policy of his father's, Frederick William favored neutrality during the early years of the conflict with the revolutionary French First Republic, which evolved into the Napoleonic Wars (1803–15); he refused the various pressures to pick a side in the War of the Second Coalition.[32] Louise supported this view, warning that if Prussia were to side with the coalition powers of Austria, Great Britain, and Russia, it would lead to dependence on the latter power for military support.[33] She foresaw that because Prussia was by far the weakest of the great powers, and it would not have been able to ensure it benefited from the results of such an alliance.[33] French aggression caused the king to eventually consider entering the wars, but his indecision prevented him from choosing a side, either France or the coalition powers. He consulted the many differing opinions of Queen Louise and his ministers, and was eventually compelled into an alliance with Napoleon, who was recently victorious from the Battle of Austerlitz (1805).[34]

Queen Louise with her husband and children, c. 1806

reform the organization of the government from favor-based cronyism into a responsible ministerial government.[35] He prepared a document for the king detailing in strong language what administrative reforms were needed, such as establishing clearer lines of responsibility among ministers; this work however never reached Frederick William, as Stein passed it first to General Ernst von Rüchel, who in turn passed it onto the queen in the spring of 1806. Though Louise agreed with its contents, she thought it "too violent and passionate" for the king, and consequently helped suppress it.[35][36]

War with France

Among the king's advisers, members of his family, such as the queen (an open advocate of war)

Fronde.[40]

Though Prussia had not fought in a war since 1795, its military leaders confidently expected that they could win against Napoleon's troops. After a small incident concerning an anti-French pamphlet occurred, King Frederick William was finally pressured by his wife and family to break off his uneasy peace and enter the war against the French emperor.

Battle of Jena-Auerstedt, which was a disaster for Prussia, as the ability of its armed forces to continue the war were effectively wiped out. The king and queen had accompanied their troops into battle at Jena (with Louise apparently dressed "like an Amazon"), but had to flee from French troops.[42]

Napoleon, Alexander I of Russia, Queen Louise, and Frederick William in Tilsit, 1807. Painted by Nicolas Gosse, c. 1900

Napoleon himself occupied Berlin, causing the king, queen and the rest of the royal family to flee, despite Louise's illness, in the dead of winter to Memel in the easternmost part of the kingdom.[2][43] On the journey there, there was no food or clean water, and the king and queen were forced to share the same sleeping arrangements in "one of the wretched barns they call houses", according to one witness traveling with them.[44]

After various events took place,

Tilsit, but only to save Prussia. Napoleon had previously attempted to destroy her reputation by questioning Louise's marital fidelity, but the queen met him anyway, attempting to use her beauty and charm to flatter him into more favorable terms.[47] Formerly Louise had regularly referred to him as "the Monster",[37] but nevertheless made a request for a private interview with the emperor, whereon she threw herself at his feet;[48] though he was impressed by her grace and determination, Napoleon refused to make any concessions, writing back to his wife Empress Joséphine that Louise "is really charming and full of coquettishness toward me. But don't be jealous...it would cost me too dearly to play the gallant."[2][47][49] Napoleon's attempts to destroy Louise's reputation failed however, and they only made her more beloved in Prussia.[2]
Queen Louise's efforts to protect her adopted country from French aggression secured for her the admiration of future generations.

Queen Louise in a riding habit, c. 1810, by Wilhelm Ternite

Remaining years

Harsh restrictions were imposed on Prussia, such as a massive indemnity of one hundred and twenty million

francs and the quartering of troops. At the time, one hundred and twenty million francs was equivalent to the entire yearly budget of Prussia. As the perceived symbol of Prussia's former grandeur and pride, the French occupation of Prussia had a particularly devastating effect upon Louise, as the queen endured personal insults – Napoleon himself gave her a backhanded compliment when he called her "the only real man in Prussia".[37] The queen recognized that her adopted country depended on her for moral strength, and as a consequence Louise regained her old sense of optimism, often taking time to prepare their eldest son for his future role as king.[17] In the following few years Louise supported the reforming efforts of government carried out by Stein and Hardenberg, as well as those of Gerhard von Scharnhorst and August Neidhardt von Gneisenau, to reorganize the army.[8][50] After the disaster at Tilsit, Louise was instrumental in Stein's reappointment (the king had previously dismissed him), telling Frederick William "[Stein] is my last hope. A great heart, an encompassing mind, perhaps he knows remedies that are hidden to us."[51]

By 1808 it was still considered unsafe to return to Berlin, and the royal family consequently spent the summer near

Alexandrine and younger son Charles, and was greeted by her father at Charlottenburg Palace – the residence was ransacked however, as Napoleon and his commanders had stripped its rooms of paintings, statues, manuscripts, and antiquities.[8][54] Returning to a much different Prussia than she left, a preacher observed that "our dear queen is far from joyful, but her seriousness has a quiet serenity... her eyes have lost their former sparkle, and one sees that they have wept much, and still weep".[55]

Charlottenburg Palace

On 19 July 1810, while visiting her father in Strelitz, the queen died in her husband's arms from an unidentified illness.[2][17] Lieutenant-General Baron Marcellin Marbot, in his memoirs, records that the queen in later life always wore a thick wrapping around her neck. It was to conceal a botched operation for goitre, which left an open sore, which eventually killed her. The queen's subjects attributed the French occupation as the cause of her early death.[37] "Our saint is in heaven", exclaimed Prussian general Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher.[56] Louise's untimely death left her husband alone during a period of great difficulty, as the Napoleonic Wars and need for reform continued.[50] Louise was buried in the garden of

Charlottenburg Palace, where a mausoleum, containing a fine recumbent statue by Christian Daniel Rauch, was built over her grave.[2][56] Frederick William did not remarry until 1824, when he entered into a morganatic marriage with his mistress Auguste von Harrach, explaining "Womanly companionship and sympathy have become necessary to me, therefore I must marry again."[57]
After his death on 7 June 1840, Frederick William was buried by her side.

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Legacy

A statue of Queen Louise in the park of Charlottenburg, Berlin
A bust of Queen Louise in the Queen Louise Memorial Temple on the Pfaueninsel in Wannsee, Berlin

Queen Louise was revered by her subjects as the "soul of national virtue",[37] and some historians have written that Louise was "Prussian nationalism personified."[17] According to Christopher Clark, Louise was "a female celebrity who in the mind of the public combined virtue, modesty, and sovereign grace with kindness and sex appeal, and whose early death in 1810 at the age of only thirty-four preserved her youth in the memory of posterity."[5] Her reputation as a loving and loyal supporter of her husband became crucial to her enduring legacy; the cult that eventually surrounded Louise became associated with the "ideal" feminine attributes: prettiness, sweet nature, maternal kindness, and wifely virtue.[51]

The Order of Louise, First Class

On the anniversary of her birth, in 1814, the widowed King Frederick William instituted the

Queen Sophia of Greece. In 1880 a statue of Queen Louise was erected in the Tiergarten in Berlin.[2]

Louise inspired the establishment of a conservative women's organization known as Königin-Luise-Bund, often shortened to Luisenbund ("

accession to power in 1933, the Queen Louise League was nonetheless disbanded by the Nazis in 1934, as they viewed it as a hostile organization.[62]

Popular culture

The character of Queen Louise was the popular subject of countless films released in German cinema. These included Der Film von der Königin Luise (1913), Die elf schillschen Offiziere (1926), and Vivat – Königin Luise im Fichtelgebirge (2005), Luise – Königin der Herzen (2010

documentary). She was played by Mady Christians in the 1927 silent film Queen Louise, by Henny Porten in Louise, Queen of Prussia (1931) and by Ruth Leuwerik in the 1957 film Queen Louise
.

She was also briefly portrayed in an extremely reverential manner in the 1945 propaganda film Kolberg. The 1951 film The African Queen involves a British covert mission to sink the Königin Luise ("Queen Louise"), a German warship patrolling Lake Victoria at the start of World War I.

Louise became the subject of a series of novels by 19th century German historical fiction writer Luise Mühlbach, which included Louisa of Prussia and her Times and Napoleon and the Queen of Prussia.

Issue

By Frederick William III of Prussia (3 August 1770 – 7 June 1840); married on 24 December 1793.

Name Birth Death Notes
Unnamed daughter 1 October 1794 1 October 1794
Stillborn
.
Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, later Friedrich Wilhelm IV 15 October 1795 2 January 1861 married Princess Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria (1801–1873), no issue
Prince Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig, later Wilhelm I 22 March 1797 9 March 1888 married
Princess Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
(1811–1890), had issue
Princess Friederike Luise Charlotte Wilhelmine
 13 July 1798 1 November 1860 married
Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, had issue including the future Alexander II of Russia
Princess Friederike 14 October 1799 30 March 1800 died in childhood
Prince Friedrich Karl Alexander 29 June 1801 21 January 1883 married Princess Marie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and had issue.
Princess Friederike Wilhelmine Alexandrine Marie Helene
 23 February 1803 21 April 1892 married
Paul Friedrich, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
and had issue.
Prince Friedrich Jules Ferdinand Leopold 13 December 1804 1 April 1806 died of diphtheria in childhood.
Princess Luise Auguste Wilhelmine Amalie 1 February 1808 6 December 1870 married Prince Frederick of the Netherlands, had issue.
Prince Friedrich Heinrich Albrecht 4 October 1809 14 October 1872 married Princess Marianne of the Netherlands and had issue. Married secondly to Rosalie von Rauch, Countess of Hohenau, daughter of Gustav von Rauch, had issue.

Ancestry

Notes

  1. ^ The same residence where the lover of Sophia Dorothea of Celle (wife of George I of Great Britain) was murdered and entombed.[1]
  2. ^ Initially after Jena, Napoleon was ready to offer peace terms, but Frederick William ignored the majority of his counselors and decided to continue the war. The Battle of Eylau (February 1807) was a small victory against the French, but again the king refused to enter peace negotiations, incorrectly believing that incoming Russian troops would stop the French. The Battle of Friedland led to separate French negotiations with Russia and Prussia.[45]

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b Maxwell Moffat, p. 16.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Chisholm (1911a) (ed).
  3. ^ a b Maxwell Moffat, p. 17
  4. ^ a b Hudson (2005a), p. 156.
  5. ^ a b c d e Clark, p. 316.
  6. ^ a b c Maxwell Moffat, p. 19.
  7. ^ a b Kluckhohn, p. 4.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g Faithfull, Francis G. "Queen Louise of Prussia (1776–1810)". Archived from the original on 29 January 2018. Retrieved 28 December 2010.
  9. ^ a b Kluckhohn, p. 5.
  10. ^ Maxwell Moffat, p. 28.
  11. ^ Maxwell Moffat, p. 25.
  12. ^ Maxwell Moffat, p. 24.
  13. ^ Maxwell Moffat, p. 21.
  14. ^ Knowles Bolton, pp. 19–20.
  15. ^ Kluckhohn, p. 7.
  16. ^ Knowles Bolton, p. 15.
  17. ^ a b c d e f Drumin, Dawn. "Queen Louise of Prussia". King's College. Retrieved 28 December 2010.
  18. ^ Kluckhohn, p. 11.
  19. ^ Kluckhohn, p. 8.
  20. ^ a b Kluckhohn, p. 9.
  21. ^ Kluckhohn, p. 10.
  22. ^ Knowles Bolton, p. 18.
  23. ^ Kluckhohn, p. 10, 12.
  24. ^ Knowles Bolton, p. 19.
  25. ^ Kluckhohn, pp. 12–13.
  26. ^ Quoted in Kluckhohn, p. 13.
  27. ^ Hudson (2005b), p. 1.
  28. ^ Clark, pp. 317–18.
  29. ^ Clark, p. 317.
  30. ^ Clark, pp. 299, 317.
  31. ^ Clark, p. 217.
  32. ^ a b Clark, pp. 298–99.
  33. ^ a b Clark, p. 299.
  34. ^ Clark, pp. 301–02.
  35. ^ a b Clark, p. 303.
  36. ^ Simms, p. 332.
  37. ^ a b c d e Fisher, p. 254.
  38. ^ Herold, p. 177.
  39. ^ Clark, p. 304.
  40. ^ Simms, p. 222, 332.
  41. ^ Herold, p. 179.
  42. ^ Herold, p. 180.
  43. ^ Clark, p. 307.
  44. ^ Clark, p. 312.
  45. ^ Clark, pp. 308–09.
  46. ^ Clark, p. 309.
  47. ^ a b c Herold, p. 187.
  48. ^ Herold, p. 188.
  49. ^ Clark, p. 310.
  50. ^ a b Chisholm (1911b) (ed).
  51. ^ a b Clark, p. 318.
  52. ^ Knowles Bolton, p. 52.
  53. ^ Kluckhohn, p. 64.
  54. ^ Knowles Bolton, p. 53.
  55. ^ Knowles Bolton, p. 54.
  56. ^ a b Knowles Bolton, p. 57.
  57. ^ Knowles Bolton, p. 59.
  58. ^ Knowles Bolton, p. 58.
  59. ^ Clark, p. 376.
  60. ^ Reagin, p. 235.
  61. ^ Reagin, pp. 235–244.
  62. ^ Fischer, p. 186.

Sources

In German

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Luise von Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Louise of Prussia".
Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Born: 10 March 1776 Died: 19 July 1810
Royal titles
Preceded by
Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt
Queen consort of Prussia

16 November 1797 – 19 July 1810 		Vacant
Title next held by
Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria
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