Frederica Of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (German: Friederike Luise Caroline Sophie Alexandrine), born on 3 March 1778 and deceased on 29 June 1841, was Queen of Hanover from 1837 until her death. She was married to King Ernest Augustus of Hanover, who reigned as king from 1837 to 1840. Frederica was a German princess who entered into three marriages during her lifetime. Her marriage to Ernest Augustus in 1815 elevated her status to that of a British princess and Duchess of Cumberland.

She was born at the Altes Palais in Hanover as the fifth daughter of Charles II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, and Princess Friederike of Hesse-Darmstadt. Her father assumed the title of Grand Duke of Mecklenburg on 18 June 1815. Her mother died on 22 May 1782, following the birth of her tenth child. In 1784, her father remarried Princess Charlotte of Hesse-Darmstadt, the younger sister of his deceased wife; this marriage ended in 1785 due to complications from childbirth, with Charlotte dying shortly after.

Following her mother's death, Frederica and her sisters Charlotte, Therese, and Louise were sent to reside with their maternal grandmother, Princess Maria Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt. They were educated under the tutelage of Salomé de Gélieu, a Swiss teacher.

Her first marriage was to Prince Louis Charles of Prussia. The marriage was arranged through family connections, and the double engagement was celebrated in Darmstadt on 24 April 1793. Frederica married Prince Louis Charles of Prussia at the Royal Palace of Berlin on 26 December 1793. She bore three children with him: Frederick in 1794, a short-lived son Charles in 1795, and a daughter Frederica in 1796. Her husband died of diphtheria in December 1796, less than three years after their marriage. Following his death, she moved to Schönhausen Palace near Berlin with her children.

In 1797, she became unofficially engaged to Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, son of King George III, but the engagement was eventually broken off.

Her second marriage was to Prince Frederick William of Solms-Braunfels on 10 December 1798 in Berlin. They had one daughter who lived for eight months. The marriage was marked by disappointment, and her husband became alcohol-dependent. Her former brother-in-law, King Frederick William III of Prussia, refused to restore her pension as a dowager princess.

Her third marriage was to Prince Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, in 1815. The couple married at Neustrelitz on 29 May 1815 and later in London on 29 August 1815. Ernest Augustus was a son of King George III, and Frederica was his first cousin. This marriage followed her divorce from Prince Frederick William of Solms-Braunfels. The marriage produced three children, with one son surviving to become King George V of Hanover.

Following the death of King William IV of the United Kingdom and Hanover in 1837, Frederica became Queen of Hanover as her husband ascended the throne. She died after a short illness in 1841 at Hanover. A mausoleum was constructed in her honor at Herrenhausen Palace, and the square near the Leineschloss was renamed Friederikenplatz in her memory.

Frederica's ancestry includes the Mecklenburg-Strelitz ducal family and the Hesse-Darmstadt royal family.