Luise zu Stolberg-Gedern (1752–1824)

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François-Xavier Fabre : Portrait of Louise Maximiliane Caroline Countess of Albany

L (o) uise Maximiliane Caroline Princess zu Stolberg-Gedern (born September 21, 1752 in Mons ; † January 29, 1824 in Florence ) was the wife of the Jacobite pretender Charles Edward Stuart ("Bonnie Prince Charlie") and lover of the Italian poet and Playwright Count Vittorio Alfieri .

Life

Louise zu Stolberg-Gedern came from a wealthy branch of the Counts of Stolberg in the Wetterau ( Hesse ) and was the eldest daughter of Prince Gustav Adolf zu Stolberg-Gedern, who died as an imperial officer in the Battle of Leuthen in 1757 and his wife and children were destitute left behind. Louise was born in Mons in what was then the Austrian Netherlands (now Belgium ), where she was educated in the St. Wandru women's monastery and accepted as a canon in 1766 through Maria Theresa . Since, unlike a nun, she had not taken a binding vow , there was an option to leave the pen if a suitable opportunity for a marriage arose.

After Louise's younger sister an illegitimate son of King exiled descendants of James II of England. From Stuart - Dynasty had married and in contact with Jacobite created circles, there were negotiations for a marriage between Louise and Charles Edward Stuart ( "Bonnie Prince Charlie ”), the Jacobite pretender to the throne. These negotiations were encouraged by France , although Louis XV. had recognized the claim of the House of Hanover to the British throne in order to have leverage against Great Britain with a possible Stuart heir to the throne.

Louise was married in Paris on March 28, 1772 in absentia to Charles Edward, 32 years her senior; April 14, the couple renewed their vows at his first meeting in Macerata ( Italy ). Despite the great age difference, the marriage seems to have been quite happy at first; the couple acted as king and queen of Great Britain and tried to build some kind of court. However, the hopes attached to the marriage by both sides were not fulfilled - Charles neither received the heir to the throne, nor was Charles and Louise officially recognized as the rightful royal couple of Great Britain, as even the Pope, who was closely associated with the House of Stuart, did not take this step . This meant that Louise also had to forego the royal honors promised to her at the time of marriage.

In 1774 Charles and Louise moved to Florence , where they performed as Duke and Duchess of Albany. During this time the relationship between the two deteriorated; Charles fell back into alcoholism , under the influence of which his negative traits intensified, while the confident, educated and praised for her beauty Louise was hardly ready to put up with her husband's whims. The deterioration in their relationship can be seen in the couple's correspondence. Louise's letters to her husband are, according to his biographer Fitzroy MacLean, ironic “masterpieces of wickedness”, which, however, are quite understandable in view of Charles' caprice and abuse. In 1778 at the latest, Louise began a love affair with the poet Count Vittorio Alfieri , who in a way represented the opposite of her husband with his educated, elegant demeanor; In 1780 she fled from Charles, who had allegedly become violent towards her, to Rome to a convent. Louise's claims, while not provable, are plausible in the light of his behavior towards his former lover, Clementina Walkinshaw . Louise was initially also supported by her brother-in-law, Cardinal Henry Benedict Stuart , but then had to leave Rome after her affair with Alfieri became known. Louise lived with Alfieri, who dedicated some of his works to her, in various places in Germany and France , and later in Florence. The marriage with Charles was in 1784 through the mediation of King Gustav III. divorced from Sweden amicably. After the death of her partner, Louise managed Alfieri's literary estate and spent the last years of her life with the painter François-Xavier Fabre , who also designed her tomb in the church of S. Croce in Florence.

Louise's character image has been distorted by the mostly hostile portrayals of her husband's biographers; Again and again she was portrayed by them as arrogant, greedy and selfish, although older authors occasionally seem to have anti-German motives - (alleged) negative traits of Louise were portrayed as “typically German” characteristics (for example Eva Scott). But Louise can hardly be blamed for escaping from marriage to a violent alcoholic. The accusation of greed often raised against her can be refuted by the fact that she was prepared to make substantial financial sacrifices in order to be able to end her marriage to Charles amicably.

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personal data
SURNAME Stolberg-Gedern, Luise too
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Countess of Albany
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German wife of the Jacobite pretender to the throne Charles Edward Stuart
DATE OF BIRTH September 21, 1752
PLACE OF BIRTH Mons
DATE OF DEATH January 29, 1824
Place of death Florence