The Year of Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz – The life and death of Maria Louise Albertine of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg

Maria Louise Albertine of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg was born on 16 March 1729 at Heidesheim Castle as the daughter of Count Christian Karl Reinhard of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg and Countess Katharina Polyxena of Solms-Rödelheim und Assenheim. She had an elder brother, who died at the age of six and four younger sisters. As such, she was the heiress to the barony of Broich.

Louise married Prince George William of Hesse-Darmstadt on 16 March 1748 – her 19th birthday. He was the younger brother of the reigning Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, who had married Countess Palatine Caroline of Zweibrücken in 1741. This marriage had produced one daughter thus far. After the wedding, Louise was known as “Princess George.” The couple went on to have nine children together, of whom eight survived to adulthood. Among them were Princess Friederike of Hesse-Darmstadt and Princess Charlotte of Hesse-Darmstadt – the mother and stepmother of Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of Prussia.

Both Friederike and Charlotte were married to the future Charles II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg, and both tragically died in childbirth. After Charlotte’s death, Charles refused to remarry but still needed someone to take care of his children. He chose Louise as the children’s grandmother, and she happily took in her granddaughters, while her grandsons stayed with their father. The elder Louise was described as being “light-hearted, amusing, and a master of lively conversation.” She was apparently such a chatterbox that people in Darmstadt would say, “She chatters like Princess George.”¹

Louise had not only lost both her daughters, but she also lost her husband the same year as her elder daughter’s death. Prince George died in 1782 at the age of 59. Three years after Prince George’s death, their youngest daughter, Wilhelmine Auguste, married the future King Maximilian I of Bavaria, while the second youngest daughter, yet another Louise, had already married her first cousin, the future Louis X of Hesse-Darmstadt, in 1777.

Young Louise affectionately called her grandmother, “Mabuscha.”² The two boys stayed in Hanover while the girls moved to Darmstadt. They would never have a normal family life again, despite her father’s resignation from his post in Hanover in 1787. He and the two boys moved to Darmstadt, but the family lived in separate residences. Louise raised her three granddaughters (Charlotte had already married Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen) according to the motto, “Joyfulness is the mother of all virtues.”³ The younger Louise later described her grandmother’s ideal as “All nature, but good nature, not princesses, namely proud and conceited but well-bred, gentle, modest, precisely what is needed to please.”⁴

Louise, Therese and Frederica‘s education focused on the French language, which was the language of royalty. Their teacher was Salomé de Gélieu. They also took classes in reading, writing, religion, music, art and literature.⁵ Louise and Frederica often travelled with their grandmother, such as to the Netherlands, where they saw the sea for the first time. Louise was devoted to her grandmother and later wrote to her, “I can never repay you for all the good you have done for me. You founded my earthly and spiritual happiness. I can do nothing to show you my gratitude; I will remain in your debt forever.”⁶

Therese was married to Karl Alexander, 5th Prince of Thurn and Taxis, in 1789. The siblings continued to write to each other, and they sent each other gifts. Louise and Frederica began the lessons for their confirmation in February 1792 with Pastor Lichthammer, and they were confirmed together in the City Church in Darmstadt on 15 June 1792. One month later, the family travelled to Frankfurt for the imperial coronation of Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor. They were only meant to stay one day, but they managed to prolong their stay to attend several festivities.

Troubled times were coming, and soon the French revolutionary troops were advancing towards Mainz. Frankfurt was captured in October 1792, closely followed by Darmstadt. The family initially sought refuge in Hildburghausen with Charlotte. Despite the war, Frederica and Louise travelled to Frankfurt in March 1793 with their grandmother when it became clear that the Prussian King, who was stationed there, was looking for two brides for his two sons, Crown Prince Frederick William and Prince Louis. The girls’ father was not enthusiastic about the match, but King Frederick William II of Prussia was delighted with the sisters. He wrote, “When I first saw the two angels, I was so struck by their beauty that I was completely beside myself when the grandmother presented them to me.”⁷

The King left the choice between the two princesses to his eldest son. The Crown Prince found it challenging to decide and consulted Louis, who showed no interest in either of the girls. He had a mistress in Berlin whom he intended to keep. Frederick William wrote, “I actually liked both princesses very much, without actually being in love with them. Both were quite pretty, had a pleasant tone, and, judging by their appearance, seemed to be nothing short of inferior to one another.”⁸ In the end, the Crown Prince settled on Louise, leaving Frederica for Louis. On 18 March 1793, King Frederick William II asked grandmother Louise officially for the hand of her granddaughters. The engagements were announced just a few days later.

On 21 December 1793, the two sisters arrived in Potsdam, accompanied by their grandmother and their brother, Georg. He later noted in his diary that they were “bathed in flowers.”⁹ The next day, they travelled to Berlin in a golden carriage drawn by eight horses. On 24 December, it was Louise’s turn to be married. A lady-in-waiting wrote, “Wedding day of the Crown Princess. She dined with her grandmother and us ladies; then she dressed and went to the Queen at 6 o’clock to have her diadem fastened. The ceremony was in the White Hall, followed by the traditional festivities, the torchlit dance, etc.”¹⁰ Two days later, Frederica married Prince Louis.

Shortly after her granddaughters had left home, Louise moved to Neustrelitz with her son-in-law and her two grandsons. Her son-in-law had succeeded his elder childless brother as Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz on 2 June 1794. The family corresponded through many letters and remained very close. Nevertheless, Louise was not informed of the scandal in Berlin concerning her granddaughter, Frederica. She was only told the official version – Frederica had secretly remarried after the death of her first husband, which was true, but the wedding only happened after Frederica became pregnant. During the Napoleonic threat, Louise once again became a safe haven – this time she took care of several of her great-grandchildren. She continued to write with her granddaughters, who sometimes complained that their grandmother had tried a bit too hard to encrypt her letters, and they could no longer understand them.

After young Louise’s unexpected death in 1810, her husband wrote to her grandmother, “If she had been the wife of some other man, she would have lived, but since she was my wife, she had to die.”¹¹ By then, Louise was 80 years old, but she lived on for another eight years.

The formidable lady died on 11 March 1818 at the age of 88. She was interred in the princely crypt in the Johanniterkirche in Mirow, where her two daughters also rest.

1. Herzoghaus Mecklenburg-Strelitz by Helmut Borth p.126
2. Luise, die Königin and ihre geschwister by Carolin Philipps p.28
3. Luise, die Königin and ihre geschwister by Carolin Philipps p.22
4. Luise, die Königin and ihre geschwister by Carolin Philipps p.30
5. Friederike von Preußen by Carolin Philipps p.27
6. Luise, die Königin and ihre geschwister by Carolin Philipps p.32
7. Friederike von Preußen by Carolin Philipps p.33
8. Luise, die Königin and ihre geschwister by Carolin Philipps p.139
9. Friederike von Preußen by Carolin Philipps p.44
10. Friederike von Preußen by Carolin Philipps p.46
11. Louise, Queen of Prussia by Constance Wright p.231