Princess Louise of Prussia (1808–1870)

Princess Louise of Prussia (Luise Auguste Wilhelmine Amalie; 1 February 1808 – 6 December 1870) was Princess of the Netherlands as the wife of Prince Frederick. She was born the penultimate child of King Frederick William III of Prussia and Queen Louise. Although Princess Louise played a minor role in royal society, she helped establish the ''Luisestiftelsen''—a charity organisation built for orphans—and pitched ideas for the construction of a residential home in Passow.

Biography

Born on 1 February 1808, Princess Louise was the eighth child and youngest daughter of King Frederick William III of Prussia and Queen Louise. Her siblings included King Frederick William IV of Prussia, Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany, Empress Charlotte of Russia (wife of Czar Nicholas I) and Alexandrine, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Louise's grand-aunt was Charlotte, Queen of Great Britain, and two of Louise's aunts were married to two sons of the British monarch: her father's sister was Frederica, Duchess of York and her mother's sister was Frederica, Queen of Hanover.

Marriage

Since a young age, it was decided that Princess Louise would marry her first cousin, Prince Frederick of the Netherlands, who was her father's sister's son. Similarly, it had also been decided that Louise's brother Albert would marry Frederick's sister Marianne.Frans Willem Lantink, Louise Augusta Wilhelmina Amalia van Pruisen , in: Digitaal Vrouwenlexicon van Nederland. URL: http://resources.huygens.knaw.nl/vrouwenlexicon/lemmata/data/LouiseAugusta 3/01/2014/ref>

Louise and Frederick had known each other since childhood because they were first cousins, and Frederick used to make frequent and prolonged visits to his uncle's court in Berlin. The pair quickly became engaged in 1823, and were married on 21 May 1825 in Berlin. For their honeymoon, they traveled to Brussels. They were blessed with four children:
* Wilhelmina Frederika Alexandrine Anna ''Louise'' (5 August 1828 – 30 March 1871), married to Charles XV of Sweden
* ''Willem'' Frederik Nicolaas Karel (6 July 1833 in The Hague – 1 November 1834 in The Hague), died in infancy
* Willem ''Frederik'' Nicolaas Albert (22 August 1836 in The Hague – 23 January 1846 in The Hague), died in childhood
* Wilhelmina Frederika Alexandrine Anna Louise ''Marie'' (5 July 1841 in Pauw Haus, Wassenaar - 22 June 1910 in Neuwied), married in Wassenaar on 18 July 1871 to William, Prince of Wied (1845–1907). They were the parents of William, Prince of Albania.

Later life

Louise and Frederick lived in The Hague, first at Korte Voorhout, and from 1838 onward, in Wassenaar. Louise played no dominant public role but shared her husband's spotless reputation in the eyes of the public. She is described as having had a strong closeness to her extended family, with whom she corresponded, and often visited her relatives and eventually also her children abroad, when they left the Netherlands after their marriages. Her correspondence with her children and relatives is considered a valuable source of contemporary court life in the Netherlands, Sweden and Russia. While there is no information as to whether she tried to participate in politics or not, she was strongly Pro-Prussian, and her views caused a conflict between her and queen Sophie during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870.

Louise and her husband both contributed ideas for the construction of their residence in Passow, in collaboration with the architects Eduard Petzold and Jan David Zocher. In 1869, Louise founded a charity foundation for orphans, the Luisestiftelsen ('Louise Foundation').

Princess Louise died in Pauw Haus, Wassenaar, aged 62.

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Louise Of Prussia, Princess
1808 births
1870 deaths
House of Hohenzollern
Nobility from Königsberg
Prussian princesses
Dutch princesses
Burials in the Royal Crypt at Nieuwe Kerk, Delft
Daughters of kings