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| Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Princess Louis Charles of Prussia Princess Frederick William of Solms-Braunfels Duchess of Cumberland and Teviotdale | |||||
 Portrait byJohann Friedrich August Tischbein, 1796 | |||||
| Queen consort of Hanover | |||||
| Tenure | 20 June 1837 – 29 June 1841 | ||||
| Born | 3 March 1778 Electorate of Hanover,Holy Roman Empire | ||||
| Died | 29 June 1841(1841-06-29) (aged 63) Kingdom of Hanover | ||||
| Burial | Herrenhausen Gardens, Hanover | ||||
| Spouse | |||||
| Issue among others |
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| House | Mecklenburg-Strelitz | ||||
| Father | Charles II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz | ||||
| Mother | Princess Friederike of Hesse-Darmstadt | ||||
Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (German:Friederike Luise Caroline Sophie Alexandrine; 3 March 1778 – 29 June 1841) wasQueen of Hanover from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1841 as the wife ofKing Ernest Augustus. She was a German princess who married successivelyPrince Louis Charles of Prussia,Prince Frederick William of Solms-Braunfels, and her first cousin Ernest Augustus. Through her 1815 marriage to Ernest, thenDuke of Cumberland, Frederica became aBritish princess andDuchess of Cumberland. Ernest was the fifth son and eighth child ofQueen Charlotte and KingGeorge III of the United Kingdom, Frederica's paternal aunt and her husband.
Frederica was born in theAltes Palais ofHanover as the fifth daughter ofCharles II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, andPrincess Friederike of Hesse-Darmstadt.[1] Her father assumed the title ofGrand Duke of Mecklenburg on 18 June 1815.
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,Princess 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 sistersCharlotte,Therese andLouise to their maternal grandmother,Princess Maria Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt. Maria Louise'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,George andCharles, to be raised by their grandmother.
Frederica's father was anxious to arrange advantageous marriages for all his daughters, and used family connections to bring this about. QueenFrederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt, wife ofKing Frederick William II, was a first cousin of Frederica's mother. Frederica's father broached with the Prussian royal family the idea of marriage between their children, and the Prussians were not averse. On 14 March 1793, the Mecklenburg-Strelitz duchesses "coincidentally" metKing Frederick William II of Prussia at the Prussian Theatre inFrankfurt-am-Main. He was immediately captivated by the grace and charm of both sisters, Frederica and Louise. The pending marriage negotiations received traction, and within weeks, the matter was settled: Frederica's elder sister Louise would marryCrown Prince Frederick William, and Frederica would marry his younger brotherPrince Louis.[1]
The double engagement was celebrated inDarmstadt on 24 April 1793, only a few weeks after the sisters fortuitously met their future father-in-law at the theatre. On 24 December, Duchess Louise and Crown Prince Frederick William were married in the Royal Palace ofBerlin; two days later, on 26 December, Duchess Frederica and Prince Louis were also married at the same venue.[1]
Unlike her sister, Frederica did not enjoy a happy marriage. Although her husband died only three years after the wedding, Frederica did bear him three children in as many years:Frederick in 1794; a short-lived son, Charles, in 1795; and a daughter,Frederica, in 1796.
In 1795, King Frederick William II appointed Louis as Chief of the Dragoons Regiment No.1, which was stationed inSchwedt. One year later, on 23 December 1796, Prince Louis died ofdiphtheria. It was three years almost to the day since their wedding. At this time, his youngest child, Frederica, was less than three months old, and his eldest son was hardly two years old. After Louis's death, his father provided Frederica with a suitable residence near Berlin, and a sufficient income, and she moved with her three children toSchönhausen Palace near Berlin.
In 1797, Frederica became unofficially engaged to her cousinPrince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, seventh son ofKing George III of Great Britain andQueen Charlotte (Frederica's paternal aunt). The Duke of Cambridge asked the consent of his father to the marriage. The King did not refuse his consent but asked his son to wait until the ongoing war with France was over. The relationship eventually ended, with rumors circulating that either Adolphus had offered to release Frederica from the engagement, or – as Queen Charlotte believed – Frederica had jilted him for another man.[3]
In 1798, Frederica became pregnant. The father wasPrince Frederick William of Solms-Braunfels. 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 that year, the couple were married in Berlin and immediately moved toAnsbach.[1] Two months later, in February 1799, Frederica gave birth to a daughter who only lived eight months. Prince Frederick William, disappointed and embittered, resumed his old dissipated lifestyle and became an alcoholic.[citation needed] In 1805, he resigned his military posts for "health reasons". Frederica had to maintain her family with her own resources after her former brother-in-law Frederick William III refused to restore her annual pension as a dowager princess of Prussia.William Christian, Prince of Solms-Braunfels, Frederica's brother-in-law and head of the family, advised her to get a divorce, with his full approval. She and her husband nonetheless refused.[citation needed]
In May 1813, during a visit to his uncle Duke Charles inNeustrelitz,Prince Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale, the fifth son of King George III, met and fell in love with Frederica, who was his first cousin.[4] Duke Charles made it clear to his daughter that her separation from the Prince ofSolms-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 and the possible effects on her own situation. When, after the victory of the allies in theBattle of Leipzig, Ernest spent some days in Neustrelitz, he was greeted enthusiastically. Some time later Frederica asked the Prussian king for approval for her divorce from Prince Frederick William of Solms-Braunfels. All parties agreed, including the Prince ofSolms-Braunfels, but Frederick William's 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.[5] In August, the engagement with Ernest was officially announced. After Ernest's eldest brother,George, Prince Regent, gave his consent to the wedding, Frederica and Ernest were married on 29 May 1815 at the parish church ofNeustrelitz.[1] Some time later, the couple traveled to Great Britain and married again on 29 August atCarlton House, London.[1]
Queen Charlotte bitterly opposed the marriage, even though her future daughter-in-law was also her niece.[4] She refused to attend the wedding and advised her son to live outside England with his wife. Frederica never obtained the favour of the Queen, who died unreconciled with her in 1818. During her marriage to Ernest she gave birth three times, but only a son survived, who would eventually become KingGeorge V of Hanover.[1]
On 20 June 1837, KingWilliam IV of the United Kingdom andHanover died without surviving legitimate issue. His heir was his niecePrincess Victoria, but because Hanover had been ruled undersemi-Salic Law since the times of theHoly Roman Empire, Victoria could not inherit the Hanoverian throne. The next male heir was Ernest Augustus, King William's brother, who then became King of Hanover, with Frederica as his queen consort.[1]
After a short illness, Queen Frederica died on 29 June 1841 at Hanover.[1] The Court master builderGeorg Ludwig Friedrich Laves was instructed by the King to build a mausoleum for his wife and himself in the garden of the chapel atHerrenhausen Palace. He also gave royal orders for the transformation of a central square near theLeineschloss and renamed itFriederikenplatz in her honour.
| Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| ByPrince Louis Charles of Prussia (married 29 December 1793; he died 23 December 1796) | |||
| Prince Frederick of Prussia | 30 October 1794 | 27 July 1863 | married, 1817,Princess Louise of Anhalt-Bernburg |
| Prince Charles of Prussia | 26 September 1795 | 6 April 1798 | |
| Princess Frederica of Prussia | 30 September 1796 | 1 January 1850 | married, 1818,Leopold IV, Duke of Anhalt-Dessau |
| ByPrince Frederick William 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 of Solms-Braunfels | 11 September 1800 | 14 September 1800 | |
| Prince Wilhelm of Solms-Braunfels | 13 December 1801 | 12 September 1868 | married, 1831, Countess MariaKinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau |
| Princess Augusta of Solms-Braunfels | 25 July 1804 | 8 October 1865 | married, 1827,Albert, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt |
| Stillborn daughter | 1805 | stillborn | |
| Prince Alexander of Solms-Braunfels | 12 March 1807 | 20 February 1867 | married, 1863, Baroness Louise ofLandsberg-Velen; had issue |
| Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels | 27 July 1812 | 13 November 1875 | married, 1845, Princess Sophie ofLöwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg |
| ByErnest Augustus, King of Hanover (married 29 May 1815) | |||
| Princess Frederica of Cumberland | 27 January 1817 | stillborn | |
| Stillborn daughter | April 1818 | ||
| George V of Hanover | 27 May 1819 | 12 June 1878 | married, 1843,Princess Marie of Saxe-Altenburg; had issue, includingErnest Augustus, Crown Prince of Hanover |
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Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz Born: 3 March 1778 Died: 29 June 1841 | ||
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| Preceded by | Queen consort of Hanover 20 June 1837 – 29 June 1841 | Vacant Title next held by Marie of Saxe-Altenburg |
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