Luise of Prussia (1770–1836)

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Princess Friederike Luise Dorothea Philippine of Prussia, pastel by Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun , 1801

Friederike Dorothea Luise Philippine of Prussia (* May 24, 1770 in Berlin , † December 7, 1836 in Berlin) was a Prussian princess and by marriage Princess Radziwiłł .

Life

Luise was a daughter of the youngest brother of Frederick the Great , Prince Ferdinand (1730–1813) from his marriage to Luise (1738–1820), daughter of Margrave Friedrich Wilhelm von Brandenburg-Schwedt . Luise was a sister of Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia ; various sources suggest that her biological father was more like Count Friedrich Wilhelm Carl von Schmettau .

She married on March 17, 1796 in Berlin the unequal and Catholic Polish magnate Anton Radziwiłł (1775-1833), Prince of Nieswiez and Olyka. The marriage with the composing prince, which the princess, described as energetic, prevailed, turned out to be happy. After the battle of Jena and Auerstedt , Luise fled with the Prussian court to Königsberg in 1806 and belonged here, together with Queen Luise and Princess Marianne , to the patriotic, anti-French group that was working on the rebuilding of the Prussian state. Luise cultivated friendships with Barthold Georg Niebuhr , Dorothea von Kurland , Wilhelm von Humboldt , August Neidhardt von Gneisenau , Carl von Clausewitz and Heinrich Friedrich Karl vom und zum Stein . She bitterly lamented the dismissal of the latter and played a key role in his reinstatement.

Together with her husband, she received numerous artists and scholars in her house, the Radziwiłł-Palais on Wilhelmstrasse, with whom she dealt without any court etiquette regulations and with whom she maintained a salon from 1796 to 1815 .

The later diplomat and Lieutenant General Louis von Wildenbruch , illegitimate son of her brother, grew up as her foster son.

From 1816 she lived in Poznan , where her husband was the Prussian governor of the Grand Duchy . Here she founded feeding for the poor and the Elizabethan Institute. While the sons were raised Catholic , Luise's daughters, like their mother, grew up in the Protestant faith. She particularly regretted that the connection between her daughter Elisa and the later Kaiser Wilhelm I was rejected as "not befitting".

progeny

Luise had the following children from her marriage:

  • Wilhelm (1797–1870), Prince Radziwiłł
⚭ 1. 1825 Princess Helena Radziwiłł (1805–1827)
⚭ 2. 1832 Countess Mathilde Christine von Clary and Aldringen (1806–1896)
  • Ferdinand Friedrich (1798–1827)
  • Louise ("Loulou") (1799–1809)
  • Elisa (1803-1834)
  • Boguslaw (1809–1873), Prince Radziwiłł
⚭ 1832 Countess Leontine Gabriele von Clary and Aldringen (1811–1890)
  • August Heinrich Anton (1811–1831)
  • Wanda (1813-1845)
⚭ 1832 Prince Adam Konstanty Czartoryski (1804–1880)

literature

  • Paul Bailleu:  Radziwill, Luise von . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 27, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1888, p. 155 f.
  • Luise von Preussen: Princess Anton Radziwill: forty-five years from my life (1770–1815) , Westermann, 1912
  • Joachim Kühn: Eventful days. The letters of Princess Louise of Prussia to Count Fedor Golowkin , in: Yearbook “Der Bär von Berlin”, ed. v. Association for the History of Berlin , 23rd year, Berlin 1973.
  • Joachim Kühn: A handkerchief from Queen Louise. From the memories of a Napoleonic officer , in: Yearbook “The Bear of Berlin”, ed. v. Association for the History of Berlin , 23rd year, Berlin 1974.
  • Petra Wilhelmy: The Berlin Salon in the 19th Century: 1780–1914 , Walter de Gruyter, 1989, p. 787 ff.
  • Petra Wilhelmy-Dollinger: The Berlin salons: with historical-literary walks , Walter de Gruyter, 2000, p. 86 f.

Web links

Commons : Princess Louise of Prussia (1770–1836)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Tobias Debuch: Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia (1772–1806) as a musician in the socio-cultural environment of his time . Berlin 2004, p. 9 f.
personal data
SURNAME Luise of Prussia
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Friederike Dorothea Luise Philippine of Prussia; Radziwiłł, Luise von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Princess of Prussia, by marriage to Princess Radziwiłł
DATE OF BIRTH May 24, 1770
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH December 7, 1836
Place of death Berlin