Princess Friederike Luise Of Prussia

Princess Friederike Luise of Prussia (German: Friederike Luise von Preußen) was born on 29 August 1714 and died on 4 February 1784. She was a member of the Prussian royal family, the daughter of King Frederick William I of Prussia and Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, and a margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach through her marriage.

Family Background:

Friederike Luise was the sixth child and third daughter of Frederick William I of Prussia and Sophia Dorothea of Hanover. Her siblings included Frederick II of Prussia, Queen Louisa Ulrika of Sweden, and Philippine Charlotte, Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Through her mother, she was a granddaughter of George I of Great Britain. Her grandfather became king of Great Britain in 1714, the year of her birth. She was a niece of King George II of Great Britain, who reigned from 1727 to 1760, and a cousin to Frederick, Prince of Wales; Anne, Princess of Orange; and Queen Louise of Denmark and Norway.

Marriage and Children:

On 30 May 1729, in Berlin, Friederike Luise married Karl Wilhelm Friedrich, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, who was born on 12 May 1712 and died on 3 August 1757. The marriage was arranged by her mother-in-law, the regent of Ansbach, and influenced by her father, who sought to expand Prussian influence in the region. The union produced two sons:

- Charles Frederick Augustus, born on 7 April 1733, who died on 9 May 1737.

- Charles Alexander, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, born on 24 February 1736 and died on 5 January 1806. He was married twice, first to Princess Frederica Caroline of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and after her death, to Lady Elizabeth Craven.

Biography:

Following the death of her older sister Charlotte Albertine in 1714, Friederike Luise was granted a degree of personal freedom during childhood. Her sister Wilhelmine of Bayreuth described her as having a "capricious and petty nature" but also acknowledged her talent and beauty.

Her marriage was reportedly unhappy; her husband was known as "The wild margrave" and is said to have expressed to King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia that he felt deceived by the marriage. At the time of her wedding, in June 1729, she exhibited symptoms of porphyria, a metabolic disease, including nausea, vomiting, and fainting. Her husband initially refused to sleep with her, claiming she was lame and had poor teeth. A contemporary, Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia, remarked in February 1732 that Friederike Luise and her husband "hate each other like fire." Personal inscriptions reveal her suffering, with one scratched into a window glass stating: « Je souffre sans oser le dire » (“I suffer without daring to say it”).

After the birth of her first son, she was granted the Hofmark Unterschwaningen as a residence. Her son, Hereditary Prince Carl Friedrich August, died on 9 May 1737, leading to blame directed at her by her husband and court. She separated from her husband and lived primarily in seclusion at Unterschwaningen, where she engaged in artistic pursuits. She did not return to Ansbach after her husband's death in 1757. Her relationship with her surviving son was strained; he refused to acknowledge her, further deepening her seclusion until her death in 1784.

Ancestry:

Her paternal lineage traces back to the House of Hohenzollern, and her maternal lineage connects her to the royal houses of Britain and Hanover.

References:

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External Links:

Media related to Frederica Louise of Prussia is available on Wikimedia Commons.