Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Louise of Mecklenburg Strelitz

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Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Luise Auguste Wilhelmine Amalie (Luisa Augusta Wilhelmina Amelia) (March 10, 1776 – July 19, 1810) was Queen consort

Queen consort

A queen consort is the title given to the wife of a reigning Monarch. Queens consort usually share their husbands' Royal and noble ranks and hold the feminine equivalent of their husbands' monarchical titles....
of Prussia

Prussia

Prussia was, most recently, a historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. This state had for centuries substantial influence on Germany and European history....
.

Biography
Louise was born in Hanover

Hanover

Hanover or Hannover#Definitions , on the river Leine, is the capital city of the Federal states of Germany of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the House of Hanover, in their dignities as the dukes of Brunswick-L?neburg ....
, where her father, Karl of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Mecklenburg-Strelitz was a duchy and later grand duchy in northern Germany, roughly consisting of the present day district of Mecklenburg-Strelitz , bordering areas of modern-day Brandenburg with the town of F?rstenberg and the area around Ratzeburg in modern Schleswig-Holstein....
, was field marshal

Field Marshal

Field marshal is a military officer rank. Today it is the highest rank in the armies in which it is used, one step above a general or colonel-general....
of the household brigade. Her mother was princess Friederike Caroline Luise of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Her paternal grandparents were Charles Louis Frederick of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Elizabeth Albertine, Princess of Saxe-Hildburghausen.

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Encyclopedia

Luise Auguste Wilhelmine Amalie (Luisa Augusta Wilhelmina Amelia) (March 10, 1776 – July 19, 1810) was Queen consort

Queen consort

Prussia

Biography

Louise was born in Hanover

Hanover

Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Field Marshal

George III of the United Kingdom

George III was Kingdom of Great Britain and Kingdom of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death....
, was her paternal aunt.

Her maternal grandparents were Georg Wilhelm of Hessen-Darmstadt and Maria of Leiningen-Dagsburg. Georg Wilhelm was a son of Louis VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt

Louis VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt

Louis VIII was the Landgrave of Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt from 1739 - 1768. He was the son of Ernest Louis, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt and Margravine Dorothea Charlotte of Brandenburg-Ansbach....
.

In 1793, at Frankfurt

Frankfurt

is the largest city in the German States of Germany of Hesse and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants in Germany, with a 2008 population of 670,000....
, Luise met the crown prince of Prussia, afterwards King Frederick William III

Frederick William III of Prussia

Frederick William III was king of Kingdom of Prussia from 1797 to 1840....
. Deeply impressed by her beauty and nobility of character, Frederick William asked her to become his wife. They were married on December 24 of the same year. As Queen of Prussia she commanded universal respect and affection, and nothing in Prussian history is more admired than the dignity and unflinching courage with which she bore the sufferings inflicted on her and her family during the war between Prussia and France.

After the battle of Jena she went with her husband to Königsberg

Königsberg

K?nigsberg was after World War II in 1946 renamed Kaliningrad by the Soviet Union.The city was the Capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945....
, and when the battles of Eylau

Battle of Eylau

The Battle of Eylau or Battle of Preussisch-Eylau was a bloody and inconclusive battle between Napoleon I of France Grande Arm?e and a mostly Russian Empire army under Levin August, count von Bennigsen near the town of Preu?isch Eylau in East Prussia....
and Friedland

Battle of Friedland

The Battle of Friedland saw Napoleon Bonaparte's French army decisively defeat Levin August, Count von Bennigsen's Russian army about twenty-seven miles southeast of K?nigsberg....
had placed Prussia absolutely at the mercy of France, she made a personal appeal to Napoleon I of France

Napoleon I of France

Napoleon Bonaparte later known as Emperor Napoleon I, was a military and political leader of France whose actions shaped European politics in the early 19th century....
at his headquarters in Tilsit, but without success. Early in 1808 she accompanied the king from Memel

Klaipeda

Klaipeda is a city in Lithuania situated at the mouth of the Curonian Lagoon where it flows into the Baltic Sea. As Lithuania's only seaport, it has ferry terminal connections to Sweden and Germany....
to Königsberg, whence, towards the end of the year, she visited Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a types of inhabited localities in Russia and a federal subjects of Russia of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea....
, returning to Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the Capital of Germany city and one of sixteen States of Germany of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is the country's largest city....
on December 23 1809.

During the war Napoleon attempted to destroy the queen's reputation, but the only effect of his charges in Prussia was to make her more deeply beloved. On July 19, 1810 she died in her husband's arms, while visiting her father in Strelitz. She was buried in the garden of the palace at Charlottenburg

Charlottenburg

Charlottenburg is a locality of Berlin within the Boroughs of Berlin of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, named after Queen Sophia Charlotte of Hanover ....
, where a mausoleum, containing a fine recumbent statue by Rauch

Christian Daniel Rauch

Christian Daniel Rauch was a Germany sculpture.Rauch was born at Arolsen in the Principality of Waldeck . His parents were poor and unable to place him under efficient masters....
, was built over her grave. In 1840 her husband was buried by her side.

Issue

Posthumous honors

The Louise Foundation (Luisenstift) for the education of girls was established in her honour in Radebeul
Radebeul

Radebeul is a town in the Elbe valley in the district of Mei?en in Saxony, Germany, a suburb of Dresden. It is well-known for its viticulture, a museum dedicated to writer Karl May and a narrow gauge railway Radebeul-Radeburg line connecting Radebeul with the castle of Moritzburg and the town of Radeburg....
, Germany.
In 1814 king Frederick William III of Prussia
Frederick William III of Prussia

Frederick William III was king of Kingdom of Prussia from 1797 to 1840....
instituted the Order of Louise
Order of Louise

The Order of Louise was founded in 1814 by Frederick William III of Prussia to honor his late wife, the much beloved Luise von Mecklenburg-Strelitz ....
(Luisenorden).
In 1880 a statue of Queen Louise was erected in the Tiergarten
Tiergarten

Tiergarten is the name of both a large park in the centre of Berlin and a locality within the Boroughs of Berlin of Mitte. Before German reunification, it was a part of West Berlin....
in Berlin
Berlin

Berlin is the Capital of Germany city and one of sixteen States of Germany of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is the country's largest city....
.
Queen Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz inspired the establishment of a conservative women's organization known as Königin-Luise-Bund, often shortened to Luisenbund ("Queen Louise League
Queen Louise League

The "Queen Louise League" or K?nigin-Luise-Bund, often shortened to Luisenbund, was a Germany pro-monarchic women's organization. It was established in 1923 during the time of the Weimar Republic and lasted until the first years of the Third Reich....
") in which her person achieved an almost cult
Cult

This article does not discuss "cult" in the original sense of "veneration" or "religious practice"; for that usage see Cult . See Cult for more meanings of the term "cult"....
-like status. The Königin-Luise-Bund was active during the time of the Weimar Republic
Weimar Republic

The Weimar Republic was the democracy and republican period of Germany from 1919 to 1933. Following World War I, the republic emerged from the German Revolution in November 1918....
and the first years of the Third Reich. Despite having actively supported the National Socialist
National Socialism

National Socialism typically refers to Nazism, which was the ideology of the Nazi Party led by Adolf Hitler.National Socialism typically promotes uniting the working class of a specific ethnic, national, or racial group into a proletarian nation while socialism the industry, providing an extensive welfare state and opposing capitalism, com...
movement since its early stages all through their accession to power
Machtergreifung

Machtergreifung is a German language word meaning "seizure of power". It is normally used specifically to refer to the Nazism takeover of power in Weimar Germany on January 30 1933....
in 1933, the Queen Louise League was disbanded all the same by the Nazis in 1934.

External links

, from the Laurence Hutton
Laurence Hutton

Laurence Hutton was an United States essayist and critic, born in New York City and educated privately there. He was an inveterate traveler and for about 20 years spent his summers abroad....
Collection