| Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) Queen Louise in ariding habit, c. 1810, byWilhelm Ternite | |||||
| Queen consort of Prussia | |||||
| Tenure | 16 November 1797 – 19 July 1810 | ||||
| Electress consort of Brandenburg | |||||
| Tenure | 16 November 1797 – 6 August 1806 | ||||
| Born | (1776-03-10)10 March 1776 Hanover,Electorate of Hanover,Holy Roman Empire | ||||
| Died | 19 July 1810(1810-07-19) (aged 34) Schloss Hohenzieritz,Kingdom of Prussia | ||||
| Burial | Mausoleum atCharlottenburg Palace | ||||
| Spouse | |||||
| Issue | |||||
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| House | Mecklenburg-Strelitz | ||||
| Father | Charles II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz | ||||
| Mother | Princess Friederike of Hesse-Darmstadt | ||||
| Signature |  | ||||
Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Luise Auguste Wilhelmine Amalie; 10 March 1776 – 19 July 1810) wasQueen of Prussia as the wife of KingFrederick William III. The couple's happy, though short-lived, marriage produced nine children, including the future monarchsFrederick William IV of Prussia andWilliam I, German Emperor.
Her legacy became cemented after her extraordinary 1807 meeting with French EmperorNapoleon I atTilsit – she met with him to plead unsuccessfully for favorable terms afterPrussia's disastrous losses in theWar 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". TheOrder of Louise was founded by her grieving husband four years later as a female counterpart to theIron Cross. In the 1920s, conservative and nationalist German women founded theQueen Louise League.
Duchess Luise Auguste Wilhelmine Amalie of Mecklenburg-Strelitz ("Louise" inEnglish) was born on 10 March 1776 in a one-storey villa,[note 1] just outside the capital inHanover.[1][2] She was the fourth daughter and sixth child of DukeCharles of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and his wifePrincess Friederike of Hesse-Darmstadt. Her father Charles was a brother of QueenCharlotte and her mother Frederike was a granddaughter ofLouis VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt. Her maternal grandmother, PrincessMaria Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt, and her paternal first-cousinPrincess 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 ofMecklenburg-Strelitz (he would not succeed his brother as duke until 1794), and consequently she was not born in a court, but rather in a less formal home.[3] Charles wasfield marshal of thehousehold brigade inHanover, and soon after Louise's birth he was madeGovernor-General of that territory by his brother-in-lawGeorge III, Elector of Hanover (husband of his sister, Queen Charlotte).[2][4] The family subsequently moved toLeineschloss, the residence of Hanoverian kings, though during the summer they usually lived atHerrenhausen.[4]
Louise was particularly close to her sisterFrederica, who was two years younger, as well as with their only brotherGeorge. Louise and her siblings were under the care of their governess Fräulein vonWolzogen.[6] The poetJohann Wolfgang von Goethe described Luise and Friederike of Mecklenburg-Strelitz as “heavenly visions, whose impression upon me will never be effaced”.[7] When Louise was only six years old, her mother died in childbirth, leaving a permanent mark on the young duchess. She would often give away pocket change to other children who experienced similar losses, stating "she is like me, she has no mother".[6] After Duchess Friederike's death, the family left Leineschloss for Herrenhausen, sometimes called a "miniatureVersailles".[6] Duke Charles remarried two years later to his first wife's younger sisterCharlotte, 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.[8] The twice widowed and grieving duke went toDarmstadt, where he gave the children into the care of his mother-in-law and Louise's grandmother, the widowedPrincess Maria Louise.[8]
Marie Louise preferred to raise her grandchildren simply, and they made their own clothes.[9] A new governess fromSwitzerland, Madame Gelieux, was appointed, giving the children lessons inFrench; as was common for royal and aristocratic children of the time, Louise became fluent and literate in the language, while neglecting her own nativeGerman.[10] She received religious instruction from a clergyman of theLutheran Church.[11] Complementary to her lessons was an emphasis on charitable acts, and Louise would often accompany her governess when visiting the houses of the poor and needy.[10] Louise was encouraged to give out as much as was in her means, although she often got into trouble with her grandmother for donating too much for charity.[12] From the age of ten until her marriage at 17, Louise spent most of her time in the presence of her grandmother and governess, both well-educated and refined.[13] When only nine years old, Louise was present when the poetFriedrich Schiller read from the first act of "Don Carlos" for the entertainment of the assembled court, thus sparking her love for German as a literary language, especially works of Schiller.[14] Louise loved history and poetry, and not only enjoyed reading Schiller, but also came to like the works ofGoethe,Paul,Herder andShakespeare, as well asancient Greek tragedies.[15]
In 1793, Marie Louise took the two youngest duchesses with her toFrankfurt, where she paid her respects to her nephew KingFrederick William II of Prussia.[16] Louise had grown up into a beautiful young woman, possessing "an exquisite complexion" and "large blue eyes," and was naturally graceful.[17] Louise's uncle, theDuke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, hoped to strengthen ties between his house and Prussia.[18] Consequently, on one evening carefully planned by the duke, seventeen-year-old Louise met the king's son and heir, Crown PrinceFrederick William.[2][18] The crown prince was twenty-three, serious-minded, and religious.[19] She made such a charming impression on Frederick William that he immediately made his choice, desiring to marry her.[20] Frederica caught the eye of his younger brother PrinceLouis 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.[citation needed]
In the events leading up to her marriage, Louise's arrival inBerlin, the Prussian capital, caused quite a sensation, and she was greeted with a grand reception by the city's joyful citizens.[5][21] When she broke protocol and stopped to pick up and kiss a child, Prussian writerFriedrich 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][21] 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."[22]
Louise'sfather-in-law KingFrederick William II gave the coupleCharlottenburg Palace, but the crown prince and his new wife preferred to live atParetz Palace, just outsidePotsdam, where Louise kept herself busy with household affairs.[9][23] Paretz was far from the bustle of court, as the couple were most content in the "rural retirement" of a country life.[24] The marriage was happy, and Louise was well-beloved by the king, who called her "the princess of princesses" and gave herOranienburg Palace.[25] The crown princess saw it as her duty to support her husband in all his pursuits, and the couple enjoyed singing together and reading from Shakespeare and Goethe.[9][18] Louise soon became pregnant, giving birth to astillborn girl on 1 October 1794 at the age of eighteen. Nine healthy children would follow in quick succession, though two died in childhood: Crown PrinceFrederick William (1795), PrinceWilliam (1797), PrincessCharlotte (1798), Princess Frederica (1799), PrinceCharles (1801), PrincessAlexandrine (1803), Prince Ferdinand (1804), PrincessLouise (1808), and PrinceAlbert (1809). The couple also used theCrown Prince's Palace in the capital.[citation needed]
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.[26]
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."[27] The couple had to abandon their solitude at Paretz and begin living under the restraints of a royal court.[9] They began a tour of the country's eastern provinces for two purposes: the king wanted to acquaint himself with their new subjects, and despite the unusualness of a consort accompanying the king further than the capital, Frederick William wanted to introduce the queen as well to their people.[28] Louise was received everywhere with festivities. For the first time in Prussian history, the queen emerged as a celebrated public personality in her own right, as she occupied a much more prominent role than herpredecessors.[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 formidableintelligence and skill for her husband's sole advantage.[29] She also became a fashion icon, for instance starting a trend by wearing aneckerchief to keep from getting ill.[30]
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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][31] 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.[32] 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".[33] In keeping with thelater foreign policy of his father's, Frederick William favored neutrality during the early years of the conflict with the revolutionaryFrench First Republic, which evolved into theNapoleonic Wars (1803–15); he refused the various pressures to pick a side in theWar of the Second Coalition.[33] Louise supported this view, warning that if Prussia were to side with the coalition powers ofAustria,Great Britain, andRussia, it would lead to dependence on the latter power for military support.[34] 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.[34] 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 theBattle of Austerlitz (1805).[35]
Baron vom Stein, a member of the bureaucracy, having abhorred the country's former neutrality, sought toreform the organization of the government from favor-basedcronyism into a responsible ministerial government.[36] 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 GeneralErnst 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.[36][37]
Among the king's advisers, members of his family, such as the queen (an open advocate of war)[38] and PrinceLouis Ferdinand, led the militaristic faction in favor of war against France; those against neutrality but in favor of reform were led by Baron vom Stein andKarl August von Hardenberg.[39][40] Knowing the temperament of the king, Hardenberg appealed directly to the queen for desired reform – wisely as it turned out, as Frederick William viewed the demands to remove his trusted advisers in theKabinett as a "mutiny" similar to theFronde.[41]
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.[42] ThePrussian Army began mobilizing, culminating in the October 1806Battle 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 atJena (with Louise apparently dressed "like anAmazon"), but had to flee from French troops.[43]
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 toMemel in the easternmost part of the kingdom.[2][44] 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.[45]
After various events took place,[note 2] Napoleon demanded, from a highly superior position, peace terms in what was to be called thePeace of Tilsit (1807).[47] In the midst of these negotiations, the emperor agreed to keep half of Prussia intact. The men were joined by Queen Louise; Frederick William had sent for his wife, then pregnant with her daughter Princess Louise, to beg for a better settlement for Prussia, with Louise advising her husband, "For God's sake no shameful peace...[Prussia] should at least not go down without honor."[48] As the king felt that her presence might put Napoleon in a "more relaxed mood"; Louise reluctantly agreed to meet the emperor atTilsit, 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.[48] Formerly Louise had regularly referred to him as "the Monster",[38] but nevertheless made a request for a private interview with the emperor, whereon she threw herself at his feet;[49] though he was impressed by her grace and determination, Napoleon refused to make any concessions, writing back to his wife EmpressJoséphine 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][48][50] 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.[citation needed]
Harsh restrictions were imposed on Prussia, such as a massive indemnity of one hundred and twenty millionfrancs 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".[38] 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.[18] In the following few years Louise supported the reforming efforts of government carried out by Stein and Hardenberg, as well as those ofGerhard von Scharnhorst andAugust Neidhardt von Gneisenau, to reorganize the army.[9][51] 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."[52]
By 1808 it was still considered unsafe to return to Berlin, and the royal family consequently spent the summer nearKönigsberg; Louise believed that the hard trials of her children's early lives would be good for them: "If they had been reared in luxury and prosperity they might think that so it must always be."[9] In the winter of 1808, TsarAlexander I invited the king and queen toSt. Petersburg, where she was treated to sumptuously decorated rooms; "Nothing dazzles me anymore", she exclaimed on her return to Germany.[53] Near the birth of her youngest child Princess Louise in 1809, Louise wrote to her father, "Gladly...the calamities which have befallen us have not forced their way into our wedded and home life, rather have strengthened the same, and made it even more precious to us."[54] Louise was sick for much of that year, but returned with the king to Berlin near the end of it after an absence of three years; the queen arrived in a carriage accompanied by her two daughtersCharlotte andAlexandrine and younger sonCharles, 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.[9][55] 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".[56]
On 19 July 1810, while visiting her father inStrelitz, the queen died in her husband's arms from an unidentified illness.[2][18] The queen's subjects attributed the French occupation as the cause of her early death.[38] "Our saint is in heaven", exclaimed Prussian generalGebhard Leberecht von Blücher.[57] Louise's untimely death left her husband alone during a period of great difficulty, as the Napoleonic Wars and need for reform continued.[51]Louise was buried in the garden ofCharlottenburg Palace, where a mausoleum, containing a fine recumbent statue byChristian Daniel Rauch, was built over her grave.[2][57] Frederick William did not remarry until 1824, when he entered into amorganatic marriage withCountess Auguste von Harrach, explaining "Womanly companionship and sympathy have become necessary to me, therefore I must marry again."[58] After his death on 7 June 1840, Frederick William was buried by her side.[59]
Queen Louise was revered by her subjects as the "soul of national virtue",[38] and some historians have written that Louise was "Prussian nationalism personified."[18] According toChristopher 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.[52]
On the anniversary of her birth, in 1814, the widowed King Frederick William instituted theOrder of Louise (Luisenorden) as a complementary decoration for theIron Cross.[2][60] Its purpose was to be given to those women who had made a significant contribution to the war effort against Napoleon,[61] though it was subsequently awarded to future members of theHouse of Hohenzollern unrelated to the French emperor, such as hergranddaughter-in-law, EmpressVictoria of Germany, and her great-granddaughter,Queen Sophia of Greece. In 1880 a statue of Queen Louise was erected in theTiergarten inBerlin.[2]
Louise inspired the establishment of a conservative women's organization known asKönigin-Luise-Bund, often shortened toLuisenbund ("Queen Louise League") in which her person achieved an almostcult-like status. The group's main purpose was to promote patriotic feelings among German women, and it emphasized the family and German morality.[62] The Königin-Luise-Bund was active during the time of theWeimar Republic and the first years ofNazi Germany.[63] Despite having actively supported theNational Socialist movement since its early stages all through theiraccession to power in 1933, the Queen Louise League was nonetheless disbanded by theNazis in 1934, as they viewed it as a hostile organization.[64]
Luisenhospital inAachen is named after Queen Louise.
The character of Queen Louise was the popular subject of a number of films released in German cinema. These includedDer Film von der Königin Luise (1913),Die elf schillschen Offiziere (1926), andVivat – Königin Luise im Fichtelgebirge (2005),Luise – Königin der Herzen (2010documentary). She was played byMady Christians in the 1927 silent filmQueen Louise, byHenny Porten inLouise, Queen of Prussia (1931) and byRuth Leuwerik in the 1957 filmQueen Louise.[citation needed]
She was also briefly portrayed in an extremely reverential manner in the 1945 propaganda filmKolberg.[65][66]
Louise became the subject of a series of novels by 19th century Germanhistorical fiction writerLuise Mühlbach, which includedLouisa of Prussia and her Times andNapoleon and the Queen of Prussia.[citation needed]
ByFrederick William III of Prussia (3 August 1770 – 7 June 1840); married on 24 December 1793.[citation needed]
| 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 | marriedPrincess Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria (1801–1873), no issue |
| Prince Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig, later Wilhelm I | 22 March 1797 | 9 March 1888 | marriedPrincess Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1811–1890), had issue |
| Princess Friederike Luise Charlotte Wilhelmine | 13 July 1798 | 1 November 1860 | marriedTsar Nicholas I of Russia, had issue including the futureAlexander II of Russia |
| Princess Friederike | 14 October 1799 | 30 March 1800 | died in childhood |
| Prince Friedrich Karl Alexander | 29 June 1801 | 21 January 1883 | marriedPrincess Marie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and had issue. |
| Princess Friederike Wilhelmine Alexandrine Marie Helene | 23 February 1803 | 21 April 1892 | marriedPaul Friedrich, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and had issue. |
| Prince Friedrich Jules Ferdinand Leopold | 13 December 1804 | 1 April 1806 | died ofdiphtheria in childhood. |
| Princess Luise Auguste Wilhelmine Amalie | 1 February 1808 | 6 December 1870 | marriedPrince Frederick of the Netherlands, had issue. |
| Prince Friedrich Heinrich Albrecht | 4 October 1809 | 14 October 1872 | marriedPrincess Marianne of the Netherlands and had issue. Married secondly toRosalie von Rauch, Countess of Hohenau, daughter ofGustav von Rauch, had issue. |
queen louise of prussia.
queen of prussia louise.
Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz Born: 10 March 1776 Died: 19 July 1810 | ||
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| Preceded by | Queen consort of Prussia 16 November 1797 – 19 July 1810 | Vacant Title next held by Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria |
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