The Year of Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz – The meeting with Napoleon

Prussia had entered the war against France and was disastrously beaten at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt in October 1806. Louise and her family were forced to flee while Napoleon occupied Berlin.

She had been waiting at Memel and wrote to her husband, “Your letter, my dear one, fell from my hands as I read it, so startled was I by the news it contained. It was enough to bring despair to the strongest, most perfectly tempered mind. Are we indeed reduced to this after the loss of so many brave lives sacrificed to stupidity, incapacity and ill-will to our cause? What a stipulation is that which is to serve as the basis of the armistice! And if the truce is to prove so costly, what are we to expect of the peace? Furthermore, we have to face the probability of your having to interview that monster. That is too much to ask. Fancy your having to meet the originator of all our woes, the scourge of the earth, the quintessence of everything infamous and wicked, and to be obliged to dissemble, to appear cheerful and even friendly! Will heaven never cease to punish us?”¹

On 25 June 1807, he wrote to Louise, “My messenger reached him just before he got into his boat. In the distance, I caught sight of the being who seems to exist merely to carry death and destruction everywhere. Would to heaven that I need never see him nearer. I cannot tell you how strangely his aspect affected me.”² He was then told that he was to meet Napoleon the following day. Queen Louise wrote, “My gloomy forebodings have not deceived me. By this time, one of the most terrible hours of your life has struck, and you have seen the monster. My only consolation is that the Emperor of Russia was with you. Thus, the affair would be less objectionable than if you had to meet Napoleon alone…”³

The idea of Louise coming to Tilsit appears to have been floated at the end of June. Although she was willing to do whatever, she did not like the idea. Eventually, Napoleon called for peace terms and during the negotiations, Queen Louise was called by her husband to beg for a better settlement for Prussia. He wrote, “Everybody here is perfectly certain that your coming will be attended by the happiest results. Hardenberg also takes this view and begs me to request you to hasten your arrival. That which yet be done must be done quickly. […] Arm yourself with courage and think no more of possibilities which will never be realised. Think only of the dire necessity of Prussia now that Russia has taken her stand on the side of Napoleon.”⁴

As she received the letter, Louise said, “If any mortal believed that by taking this step, I could save one solitary village for the Fatherland, that alone would determine me to go.”⁵ She added, “I feel as if I were going to my death. I have lived for thirty years and wonder now if I have lived too long.”⁶ To her husband, she wrote, “I can give you no greater proof of my love, no greater proof of devotion to my country than by coming to Tilsit.”⁷ She left Memel in the early hours of 4 July.

The negotiations for the Peace of Tilsit took place among the three monarchs: King Frederick William of Prussia, Emperor Napoleon, and Emperor Alexander of Russia. Louise arrived on the 5th and was taken to Tilsil on 6 July.

Louise met the Emperor and did everything she could. Napoleon later wrote to his wife Joséphine, “The Queen of Prussia is really charming and full of coquettishness toward me. But don’t be jealous, I am made of oilcloth, and all this just slides off. It would cost me too dearly to play the gallant.”⁸ Louise stated her wishes for the peace treaty, but his silence made her say, “You are not answering my questions, and yet it would cost you but a word to make the terms of the peace acceptable.”⁹ He ended the conversation with, “I will think over what you have said. We will see about it.”¹⁰ He later commented, “If he [Louise’s husband] had left me with the Queen for another quarter of an hour, I would have promised her anything she asked.”¹¹

The terms for Prussia remained brutal, and Louise’s husband stood to lose half his kingdom. The peace was signed on 9 July 1807. Nevertheless, Louise became even more popular than she had been, and this continued after her death.

Afterwards, Louise wrote to her brother, George, “Filled only with the thought of my sacred duty, I hastened to Tilsit and spoke as God gave me utterance. Yet I did not speak to a man but to a being with no human heart in his breast. The outcome, therefore, was such utter inhumanity that Prussia must surely stand justified to the world.”¹²

1. Queen Louise of Prussia by Mary Maxwell Moffat p.176-177
2. Queen Louise of Prussia by Mary Maxwell Moffat p.176-181
3. Queen Louise of Prussia by Mary Maxwell Moffat p.183
4. Queen Louise of Prussia by Mary Maxwell Moffat p.194-195
5. Queen Louise of Prussia by Mary Maxwell Moffat p.195
6. Beautiful enemy: a biography of Queen Louise of Prussia by Constance Wright p.168
7. Beautiful enemy: a biography of Queen Louise of Prussia by Constance Wright p.168
8. The age of Napoleon by Christopher J. Herold p.185
9. Queen Louise of Prussia by Mary Maxwell Moffat p.202
10. Queen Louise of Prussia by Mary Maxwell Moffat p.202
11. Queen Louise of Prussia by Mary Maxwell Moffat p.203
12. Queen Louise of Prussia by Mary Maxwell Moffat p.212