Louise of the Netherlands
Template:Infobox Swedish Royalty
Princess Louise of the Netherlands (Wilhelmina Frederika Alexandrine Anna Louisa) (5 August, 1828 – 30 March, 1871), later Queen Lovisa of Sweden and Norway, was a member of the Dutch Royal Family, who became the Queen Consort of King Charles XV of Sweden (King Charles IV of Norway).
Birth
Princess Louise was born on 5 August, 1828 in The Hague. Her father was Prince Frederik of the Netherlands, the second child of King Willem I of the Netherlands and Wilhelmina of Prussia. Her mother was Princess Louise of the Netherlands (née Princess Louise of Prussia), the eighth child of King Friederich Wilhelm III of Prussia and Luise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
Marriage
Princess Louise married in Stockholm on 19 June, 1850 Crown Prince Carl of Sweden and Norway, the son of King Oscar I of Sweden and Norway and Queen Josefina of Sweden and Norway (née Princess Josephine of Leuchtenberg). Princess Wilhelmina Frederika Alexandrine Anna Louise then became Princess Vilhelmina Fredrika Alexandrine Anna Lovisa.
The marriage was arranged to provide the new Bernadotte dynasty with heirs and for the enormous dowry expected; although in reality, the dowry was very small. It was an unhappy union, since the crown prince found Lovisa unattractive and was unfaithful, although she quickly fell in love with him. The first decade of their marriage her husband had a relationship with her lady-in-wating Josphiine Sparre. Among her husband's many mistresses were the actresses Hanna Styrell and Elise Hwasser, the latter being the most celebrated Swedish actress of the era.
Lovisa was not a successful crown-princess and was not to be a successful queen, having a shy and quiet personality, the complete opposite of the king's. It was said that she lacked the ability to converse. However, the fact that she never had anything whatsoever to do with politics was considered to be a good contrast compared to the previous queen-consorts, such as her predecessor Josephine of Leuchtenberg. She was expected to do charity and founded several institutions, such as Kronprinsessan Lovisas vårdanstalt för sjuka barn (Crown princess Lovias's asylym for sick children), Drottning Lovisas understödsförening (Queen Lovisa's supportorganisation) and Dronning Lovisas asyl (Queen Lovisa's asylym) in Norway, she translated religious works and gave the income to charity.
She spent her life attending to domestic duties and the family's finances, trying to please her husband by becoming the ideal woman of the time and wearing the "Ornament of Silence". Her personality did represent this ideal, but it did not improve her relationship with the king, who treated her with condescending kindness and largely neglected her. Eventually, her health deteriorated. In 1854, her son died; the birth had made her infertile, and she offerred him a divorce, but he declined.
On at least one occasion, during a picnic, she suffered some kind of a fit (possibly an epileptic seizure from contemporary descriptions), which was thought to have been a hysterical reaction to her husband's neglect. The court struggled to conceal her from the public until the fit was over.
Lovisa did not care for ceremonial duties and preferred a quiet family life, although she was interested in fashion and often dressed very elegantly. She often avoided ceremonial duties by claiming to be sick, but was occasionally forced by her husband. In 1866, the king forced her to open the Stockholm exhibition in his place. Her husband was very fond of their daughter, so they did share some of the family life Lovisa longed for. However, she was worried by his treatment of their daughter "as a son", which allowed her a very "unrestrained" childhood.
She employed Sweden's first female dentist, Rosalie Fougelberg, as her personal dentist in 1867.
In 1870, she visited her mother in Holland. On her return, her husband was sick, and she nursed him. She liked to take "walks by carriage", and on one of these, she got pnemonia. She died from this in 1871.
Children
Together, Princess Lovisa and Prince Karl had two children:
- Princess Lovisa of Sweden (31 October, 1851 – 20 March, 1926), later Queen Louise of Denmark.
- Prince Carl Oscar, Duke of Södermanland (14 December, 1852 – 13 March, 1854), who died in infancy.
Coronation
She became Queen of Sweden at her father-in-law's death on 8 July, 1859. Carl became the new king as Carl XV in Sweden and as Carl IV in Norway. Princess Lovisa then became Queen Lovisa.
Death
Queen Lovisa died on 30 March, 1871 in Stockholm.
Styles
- Her Royal Highness Princess Louise of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau (1828 – 1850)
- Her Royal Highness The Crown Princess of Sweden and Norway (1850 – 1859)
- Her Majesty The Queen of Sweden and Norway (1859 – 1871)
Ancestors
Notes and References
- ^ a b Louise of the Netherlands' paternal grandmother, Queen Wilhelmine, and maternal grandfather, Frederick William III of Prussia, are siblings. They are both children of Frederick William II of Prussia and Queen Frederica Louisa.
- ^ a b Both paternal great-grandmother, Wilhelmina of Prussia, and paternal great-grandfather, Frederick William II of Prussia, are siblings. They are both children of Prince Augustus William of Prussia and Louise Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg.
- ^ Lundy, Darryl, thePeerage, retrieved 2007-10-23
- ^ Lundy, Darryl, thePeerage, retrieved 2007-10-23
- Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon (1906), Lovisa. [1]
- Nationalencyklopedin, Lovisa [2]
- Christer Engstrand and Ingmar Andersson. Historiska Personer: Lovisa av Nederländerna. Retrieved October 3, 2004.
- Herman Lindquist, "Sveriges Drottningar", (Queens of Sweden).
- Österberg, Carin et al., Svenska kvinnor: föregångare, nyskapare. Lund: Signum 1990. (ISBN 91-87896-03-6) ("Swedish Women; predecessors, pioneers") (source for Rosalie Fougelberg)
- Lars Elgklou (1995). Familjen Bernadotte, en kunglig släktkrönika (in Swedish). Skogs boktryckeri Trelleborg. ISBN 91 7054 755 6.
- Lars O. Lagerqvist (1979). Bernadotternas drottningar (in Swedish). Albert Bonniers Förlag AB. ISBN 91-0-042916-3.
External links
- Royal House of the Netherlands and Grand-Ducal House of Luxembourg
- Royal House of Sweden and Royal House of Norway