Queen Louise

The queen who pleaded with Napoleon in person in her country's hour of need and was regarded by Prussians as a national symbol.

Life

Crown Princess

Louise was the daughter of the Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. In 1793 she married the Prussian crown prince, the future Frederick William III, and was loved by the people for her beauty, her common touch and the warmth of her family life.

Tilsit

After Prussia's crushing defeat in 1806, she fled with the royal family to East Prussia. During the negotiations for the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807, she met Napoleon in person to plead for milder territorial terms for Prussia, but without success. She supported reformers such as Stein.

Died young

In 1810 she died of illness at the age of thirty-four, and the whole nation mourned. Her son later became German Emperor William I.

Legacy

Queen Louise became the spiritual symbol of Prussian resistance to Napoleon, and later Prussia and Germany cast her as an almost saintly figure.

Did you know? Napoleon is said to have called her "the only man" in Prussia, though the source of the remark is uncertain.

Key dates

• 1793Married the Prussian crown prince
• 1806Fled to East Prussia with the royal family
• 1807Met Napoleon at Tilsit
• 1810Died of illness