The Year of Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz – The life and death of Friederike of Hesse-Darmstadt

The future Queen Louise of Prussia was just six years old when her mother died following childbirth with her tenth child.

Princess Friederike of Hesse-Darmstadt was born on 20 August 1752 as the eldest daughter of Prince George William of Hesse-Darmstadt, who was the second son of Louis VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, and Countess Maria Louise Albertine of Leiningen-Falkenburg-Dagsburg. Friederike had an elder surviving brother, three younger brothers and three younger sisters.

She grew up in a close-knit family, and this was often mentioned and observed by others. One observer wrote, “Every day I am delighted by the unity that prevails in this large family. I rejoice in the friendly interactions between parents and their children, and between children and their parents. It is truly quite edifying… Prince George and his wife… loving and kind… There is a happy atmosphere of courtesy that is never a nuisance and satisfies everyone.”¹

According to her aunt, Countess Palatine Caroline of Zweibrücken, Landgravine of Hesse-Darmstadt, she was endowed with the “kindest heart and the best character.”²

On 18 September 1768, she married the future Charles II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Friederike was just 16 years old. The wedding took place in the state rooms of Darmstadt Palace. Upon their engagement, Queen Charlotte wrote to her brother, “My happiness exists only in yours.”³ After their wedding, she wrote to congratulate her brother on finding “an object worthy of you.”⁴

Friederike’s husband, Charles, had written in a poem, “From her modest mother, she inherited grace, the eyes full of secrets…”⁵ He had written the poem as a wedding present and described their first encounter. They had become engaged just three months after that first meeting in May 1768. The poem survived to this day because Friederike copied it into a letter to her husband on the first anniversary of their wedding.⁶

The newlyweds settled into the Old Palace in Hanover because Charles’s sister, Charlotte, was married to King George III of the United Kingdom, who was also Elector and later King of Hanover. Charles had entered Hanover’s military service and would be appointed governor-general of Hanover in 1776. Queen Charlotte and King George often spoke of wanting to visit Hanover, and Charlotte wanted to meet Friederike, but they were never able to travel to Hanover. Charlotte settled for sending presents and messages for Friederike and her daughters.⁷

Friederike did not enjoy life in Hanover and seized every opportunity to escape the city. She spent a lot of time with her parents in Darmstadt.⁸

At the time of her first wedding anniversary, Friederike was seven months pregnant with her first child. She and Charles exchanged letters daily, as the couple had separate bedrooms in their Hanover residence. If Charles was away for a longer time, she wrote him letters with hearts drawn on them.⁹ On one occasion, she wrote, “I dream of you and spent all day thinking of nothing but you.”¹⁰ Charles’s letters to Friederike have not survived.¹¹

On 17 November 1769, Friederike gave birth to her first child. It was a daughter who was named Charlotte. Queen Charlotte was asked to be the godmother of “la petite Lolo.”¹² When their second child proved to be another daughter, the short-lived Karoline, instead of the long-awaited male heir, Queen Charlotte shared St Thomas à Kempis’s words of wisdom with her brother, “Man proposes, and God disposes.”¹³ Upon the birth of Louise in 1776, Charlotte wrote, “I had hoped that it might be a son, but God directs in all things, and that pleasure is reserved for another time.”¹⁴

When Friederike gave birth to a son in 1779, Charlotte wrote, “Nothing in the world could give me such pleasure and cause me such joy.”¹⁵ She hoped Charles would find in his son “all the joy and satisfaction I find in mine.”¹⁶

Friederike went on to have 10 children, of whom only 5 survived to adulthood. Her eighth child, Georg, would be her only surviving son and her husband’s eventual successor as Grand Duke.

In 1771, Charles wanted to visit his sister in England, but Charlotte told him that Friederike could not come too. She wrote, “Our etiquette here is not the most favourable for princesses.”¹⁷ Charles went regardless, and he was painted with Charlotte by Johann Zoffany.

Friederike gave her children the basis of an excellent education, together with the accomplished Mademoiselle von Wollzogen. Friederike was known to be a careful and affectionate mother.¹⁸

Friederike would not survive her tenth childbirth. She gave birth to a girl on 19 May 1782, and the little girl died the following day. Friederike died three days after the birth on 22 May 1782; she was still only 29 years old. Her daughter, Louise, later wrote, “My dear first¹⁹ mother died in 1782, a loss that will always remain etched in my heart – may heaven reward her as she deserves.”²⁰

Friederike was buried in the Princely Crypt in the Church of St. John in Mirow. Her husband and his second wife (her sister) were later also interred there.

Many years after her death, Friederike’s namesake daughter, Frederica, became Queen of Hanover and moved into the Old Palace in Hanover. She wrote, “I live in the house of my beloved parents, where they too once experienced and shared happiness and sorrow; my bed stands on the spot where my siblings and I were born and where my dear mother – 29 years old – died.”²¹ Frederica and her brother, Georg, would start wearing a black ring in memory of their mother.²²

1. Luise, Die Königin und ihre Geschwister by Carolin Philipps p.21
2. Luise, Die Königin und ihre Geschwister by Carolin Philipps p.19
3. Queen Charlotte by Natalee Garret p.82
4. Queen Charlotte by Olwen Gedley p.110
5. Luise, Die Königin und ihre Geschwister by Carolin Philipps p.17
6. Luise, Die Königin und ihre Geschwister by Carolin Philipps p.17
7. Queen Charlotte by Olwen Gedley p.120
8. Luise, Die Königin und ihre Geschwister by Carolin Philipps p.24
9. Luise, Die Königin und ihre Geschwister by Carolin Philipps p.17
10. Luise, Die Königin und ihre Geschwister by Carolin Philipps p.17-18
11. Luise, Die Königin und ihre Geschwister by Carolin Philipps p.18
12. Queen Charlotte by Olwen Gedley p.110
13. Queen Charlotte by Olwen Gedley p.110
14. The strangest family by Janice Hadlow p.189
15. The strangest family by Janice Hadlow p.189
16. The strangest family by Janice Hadlow p.189
17. Queen Charlotte by Olwen Gedley p.110
18. Memoirs of the Private Life and Opinions of Louisa, Queen of Prussia by Constance Richardson p.2
19. Her second mother would be her father’s second wife, her mother’s younger sister, who also died in childbirth
20. Luise, Die Königin und ihre Geschwister by Carolin Philipps p.25
21. Luise, Die Königin und ihre Geschwister by Carolin Philipps p.191
22. Luise, Die Königin und ihre Geschwister by Carolin Philipps p.411