In the years between their marriage and accession, Alexandrine and Paul Frederick travelled extensively. Every January, they would go to Berlin and stay there for around two months, hosting their own balls and festivities. They then returned to Ludwigslust to see to their affairs before leaving again in the summer for Doberan and Heiligendamm. In 1828, they were unable to go because Alexandrine had given birth to a stillborn child in April, and the doctors had recommended the waters in Pyrmont instead. The months away from Ludwigslust had not been good for their relationship with Paul Frederick’s grandfather, and the July Revolution in 1830 led Europe into a state of turmoil. Time passed as they waited to succeed to the throne.
Frederick Francis I died on 1 February 1837 at the age of 80. Paul Frederick and Alexandrine were now the new Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. One of Paul Frederick’s first acts was to move the seat of government to Schwerin, a city which he preferred over Ludwigslust. Alexandrine continued her daily activity of having a morning walk with her two youngest children. Her eldest son was being educated in Dresden at that time. On 14 April 1840, it was time for Princess Louise to be confirmed. This took place in the palace church, filled to the brim with people from the town. Even her elder brother could witness it as he had come home for the Easter holidays.
A short while later, on 7 June, Alexandrine’s father, King Frederick William III of Prussia, died at the age of 69 and was succeeded by Alexandrine’s elder brother, now King Frederick William IV of Prussia. Alexandrine, Paul Frederick and their daughter Louise had travelled to Berlin and were by the King’s bedside when he died. By the time of the funeral on the 12th, Paul Frederick had returned to Schwerin, but Alexandrine and Louise stayed behind until a few days after the funeral. That summer, Alexandrine came down with flu-like symptoms, and the following pneumonia left her bedbound for two months.
She wrote to her husband, “Things are a lot better. And my good old Henneman now always puts his terrible ear trumpet on the mantelpiece for a quarter of an hour before he listens in on me. He says I’ll be perfectly healthy in the next few days. I was very afraid that God would take me away from you, because my mother was my age, only a little younger, when she went to heaven.”1 The following year passed without any noteworthy incidents. However, 1842 would be quite cruel indeed.
Paul Frederick was awakened on 24 January 1842 in the middle of the night because of a fire in the city. He jumped from his bed, rushed to the scene and took command of the fire brigade. The fire was contained after the ice of the frozen Pfaffenteich pond had been broken to allow for a good water supply. It was -19 degrees Celsius (-2 Fahrenheit) and Paul Frederick was only wearing thin clothes and no hat. He returned home at 6:00 in the morning and slept for an additional four hours. When he woke up, his heart was pounding and his ears were ringing – he had caught a chill. “Good old” Henneman arrived just one hour later to check up on the Grand Duke. The severe flu lasts for four weeks before he is struck down by typhoid. Dr Henneman could not do much for his patient, although he still tried.
The end came on 7 March 1842; Paul Frederick was still only 41 years old. Alexandrine had summoned her eldest son from Bonn, and he arrived just in time to see his father take his last breath. Alexandrine held on throughout the funeral arrangements, and Paul Frederick was interred on 19 March. Afterwards, she broke down completely. Even the company of her brothers could not comfort her. Alexandrine began writing letters to her son, even though he was in Schwerin. On 28 April, she wrote, “The buzzing in my head has completely subsided, but my legs are completely useless. I did sneak down the stairs, I think it took me a quarter of an hour to get down, and then I rode the little horses to the greenhouse. There I sat down in front of the greenhouse. The air did me good. I haven’t had any fever during the day. I’m taking a cooling medicine that’s doing me good. You don’t need to worry about your old mother…”2 As the year of mourning passed, Alexandrine urged her son to look for a bride.
After a trip to take the waters in 1843, Alexandrine resumed her travels in 1844. She spent the summer in Russia with her sister Charlotte, who was known there as Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. The following year, she travelled to Italy and never stopped writing to her son. She returned to Italy the following year and was even received in a private audience by Pope Gregory XVI. She described him in her letters as an “ancient man.”3 It was perhaps no surprise to hear of his death two months later. The year 1848 is once again filled with political turmoil.
In 1849, her two eldest children both married. Louise was the first to marry. On 20 October 1849, she married Prince Hugo Alfred Adolf Philipp of Windisch-Graetz, who would become the 2nd Prince of Windisch-Graetz after her death. On 3 November 1849, Frederick Francis married Princess Augusta Reuss of Köstritz. Her first grandchild, Princess Alexandra Maria of Windisch-Graetz, was born the following year. Many more followed.
Alexandrine withdrew from the public eye gradually. She went on to outlive all three of her children. Her eldest son died in 1883 at the age of 60. He had been married three times and widowed twice. Her daughter, Louise, died in 1859 at the age of 34, following a brief illness. Her youngest son, William, married in 1865 to his mother’s namesake, Alexandrine of Prussia, the daughter of Prince Albert of Prussia (his mother’s younger brother) and Princess Marianne of the Netherlands. He died in 1879 at the age of 52.
Alexandrine died on 21 April 1892 at the age of 89.
Her great-granddaughter, Cecilie, later wrote, “The rooms were filled with knick-knacks, colourful glass vessels, and countless porcelain pugs, which always delighted me as a child when I was able to wander through the pristine and hallowed rooms with the greatest reverence, long after her death. Until her passing, she had left her husband’s dressing room untouched: there lay his military coat, his brushes, the playbills from the day of his death, everything as if he might walk in again at any moment. My great-grandmother spent most of her life in these unpretentious rooms. How often have contemporaries seen the old lady sitting at the window with her friendly face framed by grey curls! How often did she greet the soldier returning home from their training exercises with drums and fifes from her seat, how often did she reassure the loyal Mecklenburgers; there sits a mother who welcomes you home!”4
- Alexandrine. Die Königin von Mecklenburg. Aus dem Leben einer preußischen Prinzessin by Jürgen Borchert p.130
- Alexandrine. Die Königin von Mecklenburg. Aus dem Leben einer preußischen Prinzessin by Jürgen Borchert p.141
- Alexandrine. Die Königin von Mecklenburg. Aus dem Leben einer preußischen Prinzessin by Jürgen Borchert p.151
- Alexandrine. Die Königin von Mecklenburg. Aus dem Leben einer preußischen Prinzessin by Jürgen Borchert p.147
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