The Year of Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz – The life and death of Louise of Prussia (Part one)

On 1 February 1808, Queen Louise gave birth to her penultimate child, a daughter who would be her namesake – Louise. It was Louise’s ninth pregnancy, but little Louise was her sixth surviving child.

Queen Louise had been dreading childbirth as she had been stuck in Memel, where the house was too small and there was a lack of privacy. Napoleon had caused Prussia to lose substantial territories. He suggested to Louise that she would perhaps be more comfortable giving birth in Königsberg, and she moved there shortly after the New Year. Louise received a warm welcome, and she was given a gift in the form of a chaise longue upholstered in green velvet, accompanied by a matching cradle. It was Louise’s husband, King Frederick William III of Prussia, who insisted on the name Louise for the newborn, as he had a premonition that the baby would be most like her mother.¹

The city of Königsberg was invited to be little Louise’s collective godparent, and the baptism took place on 28 February. On 4 May 1808, Louise wrote, “My Louise is a true angel. She is calm and well.”² At the end of the year, the elder Louise and her husband travelled to St. Petersburg at the invitation of Emperor Alexander I of Russia. They remained there until early 1809. On 4 October 1809, Louise gave birth to her final child, Prince Albert. She was still in Königsberg, and her recovery was slow.

At the end of the year, the family could finally return to Berlin. A grand entrance was made into Berlin on 23 December 1809, which was also the 16th anniversary of Louise’s first appearance as Frederick William’s bride. In addition to the Prussian royal family, Louise’s family from Mecklenburg was also there to welcome her to Berlin. Louise’s health had been severely affected, but her normal cure – a visit to the spas at Pyrmont was not possible. So she suggested a visit to Mecklenburg, which was approved. She left first, shortly followed by her husband a few days later.

Louise soon became feverish, and she was bled by the doctors. The news became increasingly urgent, and Frederick William decided to go to her at once, taking their two eldest sons with him. Louise died on 19 July 1810 at the age of 34, leaving behind her husband and seven young children. Charlotte and Charles, her third and fourth eldest children, arrived shortly after 9 p.m., but they were met by their father, who uttered, “You no longer have a mother!”³ The day after her death, the children were shown the place in the garden where Louise had enjoyed her last bit of fresh air.⁴

Little Louise would never get to know her mother, and Louise and her siblings were placed in the care of Princess Maria Anna of Hesse-Homburg, who was married to their uncle, Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, and who became the senior lady of the Prussian court after their mother’s death. Maria Anna, also known as Marianne, was affectionately called Aunt Minnetrost. She had lost two of her daughters, Fredika and Irene, while fleeing from Napoleon.

Louise knew her future husband from a young age, as his family were in exile in Prussia. Prince Frederick of the Netherlands was born in Berlin in 1797 as the second son of the future King William I of the Netherlands and Wilhelmina of Prussia. Wilhelmina was Louise’s aunt, and Frederick was thus her first cousin. Frederick had been a playmate of Louise’s elder brothers, Frederick William and William. He was especially close to the latter as they both had one main interest – the army. Frederick grew up to be a true Prussian.⁵ The three princes had a private class at the military academy where they followed a curriculum set up by Queen Louise.⁶ It wasn’t until 1815 that Frederick’s father became the first King of the Netherlands.

Frederick settled on Louise as his bride during the wedding of his former playmate, Frederick William, and Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria. She was 15 years old at the time, while he was 26. It was, apparently, not an arranged marriage. On 21 May 1825, Louise and Frederick were married in the royal Palace in Berlin. The Palace where Frederick’s mother and sister were staying had been decorated with hyacinths and tulips.⁷

For their honeymoon, they travelled to Brussels, where they stayed in an estate adjoining the Palace of Laeken. In the autumn of 1825, the couple returned to The Hague, and after the birth of their first daughter, also named Louise, they moved into the Palace at the Korte Voorhout. Little Louise, nicknamed Poutje, was followed by Frederick junior, nicknamed Fritzi, in 1836 and Marie, nicknamed Mené, in 1841.

Another son, named Nicolaas Karel (Nicolas Charles)⁸, born in 1833, died before his second birthday. Newspapers reported that the young prince died because of “teething and an additional ‘stikzinking.'”⁹ Louise was not at home when her son passed away, and an officer was sent to Berlin to break the news to her.¹⁰

From 1840 on, the family almost constantly lived at Huize de Paauw in Wassenaar. The Korte Voorhout Palace remained their official residence, where they held receptions and balls. Anna Pavlovna, the wife of King William II, wrote that she always found their balls “especially charming.”¹¹

However, Louise never felt quite at home in the Netherlands, and their home in Wassenaar almost became a Prussian enclave. Even most of the staff were Prussians. The couple wrote and spoke to each other in German.

Read part two here. 

1. Queen Louise of Prussia by Constance Wright p. 188
2. Königin Luise – Briefe p.154
3. Queen Louise of Prussia by Constance Wright p. 231
4. Die Preußin Auf Dem Zarenthron by Marianna Butenschön p.3p
5. Prins Frederik der Nederlanden 1797-1881. Gentleman naast de troon by Anton van de Sande p.38
6. Prins Frederik der Nederlanden 1797-1881. Gentleman naast de troon by Anton van de Sande p.38
7. Prins Frederik der Nederlanden 1797-1881. Gentleman naast de troon by Anton van de Sande p.38
8. Delpher
9. This appears to be some kind of problem with the lungs.
10. Delpher
11. Prins Frederik der Nederlanden 1797-1881. Gentleman naast de troon by Anton van de Sande p.50