Princess Louise of Prussia

With this short biography blog post, we are going to Germany, in particular to the royal court of Prussia, and their capital Berlin. 

Princess Louise Marie Elisabeth of Prussia was born on 3 December 1838 to Prince Wilhelm of Prussia and his wife Princess Augusta of Saxe- Weimar-Eisenach.  Louise was named after her grandmothers, Louise, Queen of Prussia and Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia and was known as "Vivi" in her family. 

Her parents were a happy but tense couple, and Louise had only one other sibling, Prince Frederick William, who was seven years older. Upon her birth, Augusta declared that her duty in perpetuating the Hohenzollern dynasty was complete.

While Wilhelm showed some outward affection to his only son, he lavished attention on Louise, and often his unexpected visits to her schoolroom resulted in them playing together on the floor. Mother and
daughter however were not close.

A lovely portrait of Winterhalter Source picture: Wikipedia

Love and Marriage

Louise was betrothed to Frederick, Prince Regent of Baden, in 1854, and they married 20 September 1856 at Neues Palais in Potsdam. Frederick became regent because of the insanity of his brother Louis II, Grand Duke of Baden. Frederick himself was proclaimed Grand Duke when doctors declared that there was no chance of recovery.

As the only daughter of the Prussian crown prince (and later emperor), their marriage caused Baden to gain a great deal of importance, and even more so once the German Empire was founded.

Within a few weeks of their marriage, the new grand duchess was already pregnant with their first child, Hereditary Grand Duke Frederick. 

Louise was a happy wife and mother, writing to a friend that "since we last met, my life has become so much more beautiful, more precious, to me, my happiness is so much richer and deeper than before".

Louise and Frederick disliked the stiffness of the Karlsruhe court, and gladly escaped to their castle on the island of Mainau. They were popular in Baden, and everyone spoke with affectionate pride of their grand duke and duchess in Constance, where the couple had a summer residence.

Friends & Family

Louise was a great friend of Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse, hersister-in-law's younger sister. The two often visited each other. In Queen Victoria's letters, she and Frederick were always referred to with
pleasure or sympathy as good Fritz and Louise of Baden.

Though friends as young girls, Louise and her sister-in-law Victoria, Princess Royal ("Vicky") always had a "none-too-friendly rivalry", particularly when comparing their children. 

The Austro-Prussian War caused a degree of friction between Baden and Prussia, as the former, despite their close familial connections to Berlin, chose to support the Austrians. As the daughter of the
Prussian king, Baden was not included in the list of states forced to pay excessive indemnities to Prussia.  

Duty

Because of her status as Grand Duchess, Louise was very involved in her duchy's charitable organizations, particularly issues concerning women. She helped found a welfare charity for women called the Baden Frauenverein, which focused on providing hospitals and homes to children.

With the support of the Women's Association, Louise founded the first Badenese housewifery school in Karlsruhe, carrying on Theodor Gottlieb von Hippel the Elder's goal of women receiving special domestic training.

Louise maintained a correspondence with Florence Nightingale, who believed the grand duchess' letters could have been written by "any administrator in the Crimean War".

The grand duchess also had a lifelong friendship with Clara Barton, whom she met during the Franco-Prussian War. 

They organized military hospitals, and helped found sewing factories for women to aid the war effort; at Louise's suggestion, Barton was awarded the Iron Cross of Merit after the war by recently crowned Emperor Wilhelm.

Frederick & Louise Source picture: Wikipedia

Elder years

Within two years, four of Louise's closest family members died- her father, brother, younger son and mother. Vicky, now  Dowager Empress Frederick, took sympathy on Louise and persuaded her mother to confer Royal Order of Victoria and Albert, First Class, on her.

 

Frederick died on 28 September 1907, and their eldest son succeeded as Frederick II. That same year, their only daughter Victoria succeeded as Queen consort of Sweden.

Louise, now Dowager Grand Duchess of Baden, lived to see her duchy become absorbed into the new state of Germany under the Revolution of 1918-19 that took place at the end of World War I. 

At the time of the revolution, her daughter, Queen Victoria of Sweden, was visiting her. After the abdication of the German emperor, riots spread in Karlsruhe on 11 November. 

The son of a courtier led a group of soldiers up to the front of the palace, followed by a great crowd of people, where a few shots were fired.

Louise, as well as the rest of the family, left the palace the backway and left for the Zwingenberg palace in the Neckar valley. By permission of the new government, they were allowed to stay at the Langenstein Palace, which belonged to a Swedish count, Douglas.

During these events, Louise was said to have kept her calm and never uttered a word of complaint. The government gave the order that the former Grand Ducal family was to be protected, and that Langenstein be excepted from housing the returning soldiers, because Louise's daughter, the Queen of Sweden, was in their company and Baden should not do anything to offend Sweden. 

In 1919, the family requested permission from the government to reside in Mainau, and was met with the answer that they were now private citizens and could do as they wished.

The new republican government gave her permission to live out the rest of her life in retirement at Baden-Baden, where  she died on 24 April 1923. 

Some Musings 

Did you enjoy the portrait of Franz Xaver Winterhalter very much?  I liked it! His work always is so beautiful and recognizable!  Reading and reworking the small biography of Princess Louise of Prussia  always sets me thinking about her family ties, her duty and the time she lived in.

How must she really have felt about the revolutions in Germany? Nevertheless I think she had an exceptional life! 

Source pictures: Wikipedia