Friederike Luise of Hessen-Darmstadt
Princess Friederike Luise von Hessen-Darmstadt (born October 16, 1751 in Prenzlau , † February 25, 1805 in Berlin in Monbijou Castle ) was Queen of Prussia by marriage .
Life
Childhood and youth
Friederike was a daughter of Landgrave Ludwig IX. von Hessen-Darmstadt (1719–1790) and his wife Henriette Karoline (1721–1774), daughter of the Count Palatine and Duke Christian III. from Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld . The princess was born in Prenzlau, where her father was stationed in Prussian services. The princess with an inconspicuous appearance was considered quiet, not very gifted and reserved.
Friederike was raised above all by her mother, who became known as the Great Landgrave . Frederick the Great , who thought a lot of Friederike's mother and was Friederike's godfather, had sought the marriage of his nephew and heir to the throne with Friederike himself.
Queen of Prussia
On July 14, 1769, Friederike married the future King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia in the Charlottenburg Palace Chapel , from whom she was called the Hessian Lieschen . For the prince it was the second marriage after divorcing his first wife Elisabeth von Braunschweig because of their extramarital affairs. At the time of the marriage, his connection with Wilhelmine Enke - the later Countess von Lichtenau - was already known.
The marriage between the unattractive Friederike and the sensual prince, who became king in 1786, was not a happy one. Friedrich Wilhelm had many loves and spent most of the time with his mistress Wilhelmine von Lichtenau . The Queen often sought advice from her wise mother, who tried to influence her increasingly bizarre daughter in a positive way. After the death of Friederike's mother, Friedrich Wilhelm II married the Countess von Ingenheim and Countess Dönhoff twice on the left . The queen, who suffered from financial difficulties all her life, was able to negotiate funds when it came to approving the king's two morganatic marriages .
From 1788 the queen spent her summer stays in Freienwalde , which led to the city's economic and cultural boom. Especially after the death of her husband in 1797, public facilities and buildings were erected that were reserved for the queen and her court. In 1799 a summer palace was completed for them by David Gilly .
Friederike took little time to bring up her children, who grew up with her in Monbijou Castle . In old age she was considered more and more strange. She neglected her appearance and allegedly saw ghosts and spirits, slept during the day and woke up at night because she was afraid. In the public perception of her time as well as in the writing of history she left hardly any traces.
The Queen chose the city of Freienwalde with the Kurfürstenquelle from 1797 as a retirement home. She died of a stroke on her widow's residence in Monbijou and rests in the Berlin Cathedral .
progeny
Friederike Luise had the following children from their marriage:
- Friedrich Wilhelm III. (1770–1840), King of Prussia
- ⚭ 1. 1793 Princess Luise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1776–1810)
- ⚭ 2. 1824 Countess Auguste von Harrach (1800–1873), "Princess of Liegnitz"
- Christine (1772–1773)
- Ludwig (1773–1796)
- ⚭ 1793 Princess Friederike of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1778–1841)
- Wilhelmine (1774-1837)
- ⚭ 1791 King Wilhelm I of the Netherlands (1772–1843)
- Auguste (1780-1841)
- ⚭ 1797 Elector Wilhelm II of Hessen-Kassel (1777–1847)
- ⚭ 1804 Princess Maria Anna of Hessen-Homburg (1785–1846)
ancestors
| Ernst Ludwig Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (1667–1739) | |||||||||||||
| Ludwig VIII Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (1691–1768) | |||||||||||||
| Dorothea Charlotte of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1661–1705) | |||||||||||||
| Louis IX Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (1719–1790) | |||||||||||||
| Johann Reinhard III. von Hanau (1665–1736) | |||||||||||||
| Charlotte von Hanau-Lichtenberg (1700–1726) | |||||||||||||
| Dorothea Friederike of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1676–1731) | |||||||||||||
| Friederike Luise of Hessen-Darmstadt | |||||||||||||
| Christian II of Pfalz-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld (1637–1717) | |||||||||||||
| Christian III of Pfalz-Zweibrücken (1674–1735) | |||||||||||||
| Katharina Agathe von Rappoltstein (1648–1683) | |||||||||||||
| Caroline of Pfalz-Zweibrücken (1721–1774) | |||||||||||||
| Ludwig Kraft of Nassau-Saarbrücken (1663–1713) | |||||||||||||
| Caroline of Nassau-Saarbrücken (1704–1774) | |||||||||||||
| Philippine Henriette zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1679–1751) | |||||||||||||
swell
- Ernst Lehndorff, Wieland Giebel (ed.): The diaries of Count Lehndorff. P. 536 f.
literature
- Christine von Brühl : Grace in the Brandenburg sand. The women of the Hohenzollern. Structure, Berlin 2015, ISBN 978-3-351-03597-6 , pp. 212–232.
- Karin Feuerstein-Praßer: The Prussian queens. Piper, Munich / Zurich 2008, ISBN 978-3-492-25295-9 , pp. 226–243.
Web links
- preussen.de
- Prussia, Friederike Luise Queen of. Hessian biography. (As of February 28, 2020). In: Landesgeschichtliches Informationssystem Hessen (LAGIS).
| predecessor | Office | Successor |
|---|---|---|
| Elisabeth Christine |
Queen of Prussia 1786–1797 |
Luise |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Friederike Luise of Hessen-Darmstadt |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Friederike of Hessen-Darmstadt |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | by marriage Queen of Prussia |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 16, 1751 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Prenzlau |
| DATE OF DEATH | February 25, 1805 |
| Place of death | Berlin in Monbijou Castle |