The Year of Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz – The birth of a stillborn daughter

On 24 December 1793, Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz married the future King Frederick William III of Prussia.

By mid-May, Frederick William left for the army, but Louise wrote to him often. By then, she was already pregnant with their first child. Frederick William returned home in September, just in time for Louise’s confinement. Louise wrote happily to her brother, “And thou, dear Brother Georg, wilt thou rejoice and be merry at the thought of Louise having a baby?”¹

However, joy would soon turn to sorrow. On 7 October, servants admitted a stranger to see the palace, believing that Crown Princess Louise was out. Louise met the strange man unexpectedly on the stairs, leading to a fright and a fall. Later that day, she gave birth to a stillborn girl.²

Just three weeks later, Louise’s sister, Frederica, gave birth to a healthy son. Louise wrote to her brother, “Dearest Georg, You would have received a few lines from me long ago if I hadn’t been prevented by eye pain; and although it still lingers, I cannot help telling you that, thank God, I am well, and that I love you, good boy, still terribly good. I can also give you the best news about Frederica. Though she suffered greatly, she has received great compensation for her suffering, for she has given birth to a living, healthy child who already makes her unspeakably happy. Oh, dear Georg, who better than you could share my joy, my bliss, my happiness? If only I could write to you about my child, but alas, I can only tell you: it was beautiful. My tears choke me. I do not grumble; I bear with resignation the will of God, who in all his providences has our happiness and our best interests before him. Tears are not grumbling, but feelings of melancholy, which a mother’s heart cannot resist. […] My husband sends his regards to you and the Colonel. He makes me the happiest woman on earth. He is a rare man.”³

To her grandmother, she wrote that “the loss would soon be made right.”⁴

Frederick William was also affected by the stillbirth. Louise wrote that he needed “comfort because of the fear that my bedridden condition after the birth of a stillborn child could become dangerous. Oh my dear friend, she was a wonderful child, my poor little one. Oh, why was she taken from me?”⁵

After a visit to the church where the little girl was buried, she wrote to her sister, “The day was heartbreaking for me because I went to the church where my little angel is buried. You, angelic Therese, surely understand what I had to suffer.”⁶

In April 1795, she wrote, “Not a day goes by that I do not remember the angel with the deepest sorrow.”⁷

The nameless girl was buried in the Berliner Dom, where she still rests today.

1. Queen Louise of Prussia 1776-1810 by Ruth Putnam p.58
2. Queen Louise of Prussia 1776-1810 by Ruth Putnam p.59
3. Königin Luise Briefe edited by Sabine Anders p.46
4. Königin Luise. Ein Lebensbild by Paul Bailleu p.73
5. Luise von Preußen by Daniel Schönpflug p.121
6. Luise von Preußen by Daniel Schönpflug p.121
7. Luise von Preußen by Daniel Schönpflug p.121