The book “Princess of Prussia. Real Life Story of Queen Louise” was written for children by German journalists Magdalena and Gunnar Schupelius and published by Berlin Story Ferlag in 2010. The book was illustrated by Beate Bittner. On the cover of “Princess of Prussia…” is a portrait of Queen Louise by the artist Marie-Elisabeth-Louise Vigée-Lebrunn, famous for her portraits of high society.
The book traces the transformation of little Louise into a young, charming princess. Princess Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was born on March 10, 1776. She and her three sisters, Charlotte, Therese, and Fredericka, were raised by their grandmother after their mother’s death. The girls lived happily under the tutelage of their loving grandmother and the governess Salomé de Gélieu hired by her. During her school years, the future queen Louise was considered lively, feisty and naughty; she studied rather poorly, but her natural intelligence was impressive. Louise enthusiastically followed religious instructions, but throughout her life she never learned to write flawlessly, either in French or in her native tongue.
When Louise was 16 years old, she was introduced to society. A ball was held in Frankfurt on the occasion of the coronation of Emperor Franz II. At the ball, Louise met Crown Prince Friedrich William, and the young people took a liking to each other. Six months later, their friendship turned into great love. Prince Friedrich William and Louise were married on December 24, 1793. Just two days later, Friedrich William’s brother Ludwig married Louise’s sister Friederike. Thus, the sisters joined the Prussian court simultaneously.
After becoming queen, Louise quickly won the hearts of her subjects with her open character. The people of Prussia were pleasantly surprised when the prince and his wife began to be seen among the common people. They strolled unaccompanied in the park, attended the Christmas market and the annual opening parade of the fishing season, and even invited peasants to their summer cottage for the harvest festival. The royal couple established a new benchmark for family life at the turn of the 19th century. They were gentle with children and played with them constantly, uncommon at the time when royal children were in the care of governesses and nannies. The queen’s stunning outfits, some of which have survived to this day, have gone down in history and still excites the imagination.
The mother of first German
Kaiser William I and Princess Charlotte, who ascended the Russian throne as the
wife of Nicholas I under the name Alexandra Feodorovna, Louise was one of the
most brilliant women of her era.
