The Year of Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz – The life and death of Charles II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Part two)

Read part one here.

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 first¹ mother died in 1782, a loss that will always remain etched in my heart – may heaven reward her as she deserves.”²

Two years later, Charles remarried to Friederike’s younger sister, Princess Charlotte of Hesse-Darmstadt. She was described as “excellent, well-built, of noble bearing, blond and fair, with large blue eyes, very pleasant to be around, endowed with a good sense and the invaluable quality of a noble heart.”³

She became pregnant quite quickly and gave birth to a son named Charles on 30 November 1785. Charlotte had a very difficult childbirth and died two weeks later on 12 December.⁴ The elder children’s governess wrote, “Her poor husband is more dead than alive. I feel sorry for him with all my heart. Two wives dying in childbirth…”⁵ Her stepdaughter, Louise, later wrote, “A very sad for my heart… May God give me a heart like hers!”⁶

Charles did not attempt to find a third wife, but he 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 in Hanover with their father. Charles took a long leave of absence from the military and spent some time travelling.⁷ After a few years, Charles took a position as president of an Imperial Credit Commission, and he also bought a house in Darmstadt, bringing the siblings closer together again.⁸ Back in Darmstadt, Charles was known to be an enthusiastic theatre performer.⁹

Charles’s eldest daughter, Charlotte, had married Frederick, future Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen, in 1785, making him a grandfather for the first time the following year. Therese married Karl Alexander, future 5th Prince of Thurn and Taxis, in 1789. Louise married the future King Frederick William III of Prussia in 1793, within days of her sister Frederica marrying Prince Louis Charles of Prussia. Georg married Princess Marie of Hesse-Kassel in 1817, while his youngest son remained unmarried. Louise’s husband would end up calling Charles “Papa” while his own father remained “the King.”¹⁰

On 2 June 1794, Charles’s elder brother died without leaving any issue, meaning that Charles succeeded him as Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Charles immediately set out for Neustrelitz and began the first years of his reign in peace. In 1806, Mecklenburg-Strelitz was invaded by Napoleon, and eventually it joined the Confederation of the Rhine. Charles’s children were also affected by Napoleon’s machinations. Louise wrote to him, “This is a time of trial… but God, perhaps, will give us better days.”¹¹ When Louise and her family were able to return to Berlin at the end of 1809, Charles was there to embrace his daughter.¹²

Charles housed his daughter Frederica when her second marriage to Prince Frederick William of Solms-Braunfels was in trouble. In 1810, he arranged for a house to be built in Neustrelitz for her and her children.¹³ But while she lived in the same residence as her father, they often dined together.¹⁴

Louise was not well when she returned to Berlin, and she wanted to go to Mecklenburg for her health. She did so at the end of June, writing a short note to her father upon arrival, “My dear father, I am very happy today as your daughter and the wife of the best of husbands. — Louisa. Neu Strelitz, 28th June, 1810.”¹⁵ Two days later, she went to Charles’s country seat at Hohenzieritz, where she began to feel feverish. Charles was there as Louise’s health deteriorated, according to Louise’s lady-in-waiting, who mentioned on 9 July that “the Duke is impatient and irritable about everything.”¹⁶ Two days later, Louise’s physician dined with Charles before leaving the following day.¹⁷ Louise died on 19 July 1810.

At the Congress of Vienna, Mecklenburg-Strelitz was elevated to the status of a Grand Duchy. Charles had travelled with Frederica to Vienna in the autumn of 1814 to be part of the negotiations.¹⁸ They returned home in December 1814 while one of Charles’s ministers continued to represent Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Charles received official reports as they awaited the outcome.¹⁹ Frederica complained, “Papa remained silent, for he does not accept advice from a woman, and especially not from someone who is not privileged enough to be in the council on Wednesdays.”²⁰

In the summer of 1816, Charles fell ill. Frederica was not in Neustrelitz at the time and begged her father to let his doctor send her regular updates. He was supposed to take the cure at Rehburg, but Charles died on 6 November 1816 before he could go. Frederica received the news on 17 November, “an eternal, unforgettable Sunday”, and was in such a state of shock that doctors feared she would lose her unborn child.²¹ Georg, the new Grand Duke, sent Frederica “hair from the holy grey head.”²²

The Hamburgh Correspondent gave the following account of Charles’s death. “Our respected Grand Duke was in good health during the whole of his tour last summer, to Rehburg, Schwalbach, and Hildburghhausen, and returned amongst us in the same state. Some days after his return, he was attacked by an inflammation of the lungs, from which, however, he seemed to have recovered in three days, and was quite well on the 5th of November. But on the 6th, about 5 in the morning, he was attacked by a fit of apoplexy so severe that he lost his faculties; and in that state remained till 4 in the afternoon, when he expired. Of his children, the second son, Duke Charles, was alone present, as the Hereditary Prince had not returned from a journey which he set out upon in autumn.”²³

The Gentleman’s Magazine added, “To his subjects this Prince was a true father, who endeavoured to mitigate the distresses of the times with prudence, fidelity, and affection, and by the sacrifice of his own personal interests. Germany also will not forget that he was amongst the first of the minor powers to declare against the oppressor, and support the common cause with all his vigour. The Prussians will respect in him the father of their late venerated Queen; and the English, the brother of their excellent Queen. Charles Louis Frederick was born Oct, 10, 1741, lived long in the Hanoverian service, and in 1794 succeeded his brother in the government of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The sovereignty, which the extorted Rhenish Confederation guaranteed to him, he did not exercise to the oppression of his own subjects; and upon the liberation of Germany he received an extension of territory and the dignity of Grand Duke. He was twice married, and to two sisters of the House of Darmstadt. By the first marriage he left four children; the present Grand Duke George Frederick Charles, born in 1779, and the wives of the Duke of Hildburghausen, the Prince of Tour [Thurn] and Taxis, and the Duke of Cumberland. By the second marriage, he had left Duke Charles Frederick Augustus.”²⁴

1. Her second mother would be her father’s second wife, her mother’s younger sister, who also died in childbirth
2. Luise, Die Königin und ihre Geschwister by Carolin Philipps p.25
3. Luise, die Königin und ihre Geschwister by Carolin Philipps p.25
4. Politisches journal: nebst Anzeige von gelehrten und andern Sachen, Volume 2 p.1274
5. Luise, die Königin und ihre Geschwister by Carolin Philipps p.26
6. Luise, die Königin und ihre Geschwister by Carolin Philipps p.26
7. Louise, Queen of Prussia by Constance Wright p.8
8. Louise, Queen of Prussia by Constance Wright p.9
9. Louise, Queen of Prussia by Constance Wright p.9
10. Louise, Queen of Prussia by Constance Wright p.22
11. Louise, Queen of Prussia by Constance Wright p.140
12. Louise, Queen of Prussia by Constance Wright p.218
13. Friederike von Preußen by Carolin Philipps p.211
14. Friederike von Preußen by Carolin Philipps p.213
15. Queen Louisa of Prussia by Mary Maxwell Moffat p.295
16. Sixty-nine years at the Court of Prussia, from the recollections of the mistress of the household by Countess Voss p.196
17. Sixty-nine years at the Court of Prussia, from the recollections of the mistress of the household by Countess Voss p.198
18. Friederike von Preußen by Carolin Philipps p.234
19. Friederike von Preußen by Carolin Philipps p.235
20. Friederike von Preußen by Carolin Philipps p.236
21. Friederike von Preußen by Carolin Philipps p.276
22. Friederike von Preußen by Carolin Philipps p.276
23. The Gentleman’s Magazine
24. The Gentleman’s Magazine