Louisa Ulrika of Prussia (; ; 24 July 1720 – 16 July 1782) was Queen of Sweden from 1751 to 1771. She was married to king Adolf Frederick and she was queen mother during the reign of king Gustav III.
Early life Louisa Ulrika was born in Berlin as the daughter of Frederick William I of Prussia and his wife Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, and was thus a younger sister of both Wilhelmine of Bayreuth and Frederick the Great. She was given the Swedish name Ulrika because Queen Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden had been her godmother. She exchanged letters with her godmother, and it was thought that she would marry a future son by Ulrika Eleonora, as Ulrika Eleonora herself had once been considered as a consort for Louisa Ulrika's father.Jägerskiöld, Olof (1945). Lovisa Ulrika [Louisa Ulrika] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand. SELIBR 8074766. p. 10-11 However, Ulrika Eleonora remained childless.
Louisa Ulrika was described as beautiful, intelligent, with a fierce temperament and a strong will. She was given an advanced education in accordance with the French Age of Enlightenment by the governess Marthe de Roucoulle and the governor Maturin Veyssiére la Croze, both French Huguenots. Her intellectual interests were not opposed by her father who, while disapproving in her brothers interest for learning, did not do so in the case of Louisa Ulrika, who was reportedly a favorite of her father. She and her eldest brother, the future Frederick the Great, had a reasonably good relationship, sharing their interest in science and culture. Her favorites among her siblings were her younger brother Prince Augustus William of Prussia and her sister Princess Sophia Dorothea of Prussia. At the court of her mother, she was introduced to Voltaire, with whom she engaged in a lifelong correspondence, and Maupertuis.
Marriage negotiations Several dynastic marriages were considered for her from 1732 onward, including Frederick Lewis, Prince of Wales, Charles III of Spain and Louis of Hesse-Darmstadt,Jägerskiöld, Olof (1945). Lovisa Ulrika [Louisa Ulrika] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand. SELIBR 8074766. p. 41-43 but none came to fruition. She was appointed co-adjutrix of Quedlinburg Abbey with the prospect of becoming a reigning princess-abbess in 1743, a future of which she did not approve.
In 1743, an election was held to appoint a crown prince to the Swedish throne, as Frederick I of Sweden was childless, and the French de facto regent, Cardinal Fleury, suggested a marriage between Louisa Ulrika and the French candidate: Christian IV, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken. This plans discontinued when Christian lost the election to the Russian candidate, Adolf Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp. When negotiations were made to arrange a marriage for the newly elected crown prince Adolf Frederick of Sweden, the first candidate for the match was Princess Louise of Denmark.
These plans were revoked when a decision was made to create a triple alliance between Sweden, Russia and Prussia through dynastic marriage.Jägerskiöld, Olof (1945). Lovisa Ulrika [Louisa Ulrika] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand. SELIBR 8074766. p. 40-43 The heir to the Swedish throne was therefore to marry a member of the Prussian royal house, while the heir to the Russian throne was to marry Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst (the future Catherine the Great) who had been selected by Prussia.Jägerskiöld, Olof (1945). Lovisa Ulrika [Louisa Ulrika] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand. SELIBR 8074766. p. 40-47 In accordance with this agreement, Louisa Ulrika or her sister Princess Anna Amalia of Prussia were to be selected for the Swedish match. The Swedish envoy in Berlin, Carl Rudenschöld, inspected them and recommended that the proposal be made to Louisa Ulrika.Jägerskiöld, Olof (1945). Lovisa Ulrika [Louisa Ulrika] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand. SELIBR 8074766. p. 46-47 Frederick the Great himself preferred Anna Amalia for the Swedish marriage: he described Anna Amalia for the Swedish representatives as goodhearted and more suitable for Sweden, while Louisa Ulrika was arrogant, temperamental and a plotting intriguer.Jägerskiöld, Olof (1945). Lovisa Ulrika [Louisa Ulrika] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand. SELIBR 8074766. p. 47 It has been suggested that Fredrick's judgment was given because he believed that Anna Amalia would be easier to control as a Prussian agent in Sweden than the strong willed and dominant Louisa Ulrika.Jägerskiöld, Olof (1945). Lovisa Ulrika [Louisa Ulrika] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand. SELIBR 8074766. p. 49 After having consulted Adolf Frederick, however, the Swedes chose Louisa Ulrika, and her brother gave his consent on 1 March 1744. She was given tuition about Sweden, was advised not to get involved in politics, and converted to Lutheranism on 28 June.
Crown Princess
Wedding On 17 July 1744, Louisa Ulrika and Adolf Frederick were married per procura in Berlin, with her favorite brother August Wilhelm as proxy for the absent groom. She was escorted from Berlin to Swedish Pomerania by the Swedish envoy count Carl Gustaf Tessin, his spouse Ulla Tessin and his wife's niece Charlotta Sparre, who was appointed her maid of honor. In Swedish Pomerania, the entourage was welcomed by the Swedish General Governor of the province and the court of the late queen under the leadership of her Mistress of the Robes, countess Hedvig Elisabet Strömfelt: she kept only her lady-in-waiting Wilhelmine von der Knesebeck and a couple of footmen of her Prussian entourage.
The entourage left from Rügen and arrived in Sweden in Karlskrona, where she was officially welcomed by her spouse, Crown Prince Adolf Frederick of Sweden. On 18 August 1744, they were welcomed by King Frederick I at Drottningholm Palace, where their second wedding ceremony was performed the same day, followed by a ball, a court reception and the consummation of the marriage. Louisa Ulrika and Adolf Frederick reportedly had a mutually good impression of each other at their first meeting, and their personal relationship is described as mutually happy and harmonious.Jägerskiöld, Olof (1945). Lovisa Ulrika [Louisa Ulrika] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand. SELIBR 8074766. p. 79 Adolf Frederick is described as introverted, gentle, and submissive. Reportedly, Louisa Ulrika was pleased with him because she immediately felt secure in the fact that she was his superior. Already during their first day together, she informed him that her brother Frederick the Great had plans for the alliance between Sweden, Russia and Prussia, and asked him to raise the subject with the Prussian envoy, which he also agreed to.
Cultural activity Louisa Ulrika was received with enthusiasm in Sweden as the hope for the salvation of succession crisis. At the birth of her first child in 1745, no children had been born in the Swedish royal house in over 50 years and she gained initial popularity with her beauty, wit and interest in science and culture. Carl Gustaf Tessin described her as "the wisdom of a god in the image of an angel",. Despite French being her native language, she was tutored in Swedish by Carl Jesper Benzelius and mastered it well after only two years. She studied Swedish literature and gathered a Swedish language library, she corresponded with the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and created a nature scientific collection. Her arrogant and haughty demeanor, however, eventually made her less popular outside of the royal court.
Upon her arrival, she was granted Drottningholm Palace as her summer residence, where the "Young Court", as it was called, amused themselves with picnics, masquerades and French language amateur theater. The Crown Prince's court was dominated by Carl Gustaf Tessin, who escorted Louisa Ulrika to Sweden and remained an influential favorite during her years as Crown Princess. Adolf Frederick never cared much for Tessin, but Louisa Ulrika had him appointed marshal at court and eventually royal governor of her son Prince Gustav. Tessin was behind many amusements in the circle of the Crown Princess, and it was said that he was only too eager to please Louisa Ulrika in any way possible. There were unconfirmed rumors that Tessin was the lover of Louisa Ulrika during her tenure as Crown Princess. Her son Gustav III later addressed these rumors, that although Count Tessin had been in love with her, his feelings were one-sided and not answered by his mother, as a love affair with a noble contradicted the "natural contempt" which Louisa Ulrika herself as a royal felt for every subject, noble or not. Her circle at court included Henrika Juliana von Liewen, who immediately became her favorite among her ladies-in-waiting; the intellectual Cathérine Charlotte De la Gardie, the scientist Eva Ekeblad, and the witty Anders Johan von Höpken.
Political activity From the moment she arrived in Sweden, Louisa Ulrika engaged in political activity. Her political ideal was absolute monarchy, and she disliked the Swedish constitutional monarchy from the moment it was explained to her. She also disliked the system of legal justice. When she, at one point, thought herself exposed to a plot, she wrote: "The laws are so strange, and one does not dare to arrest someone on mere suspicion without proof, which benefit the individual more than the Kingdom."Jägerskiöld, Olof (1945). Lovisa Ulrika [Louisa Ulrika] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand. SELIBR 8074766. p. 121 She respected the political ability of Carl Gustaf Tessin, and identified him as an ally in her wish to increase royal power. At Christmas 1744, she visited Tessin and gave him a lantern in the guise of the goddess Diana with the inscription: "Made only to shed light on the political system of the day".Jägerskiöld, Olof (1945). Lovisa Ulrika [Louisa Ulrika] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand. SELIBR 8074766. p. 87
In the circle of her own court, she was surrounded by sympathizers of the Hats. Her favorite Henrika Juliana von Liewen was a prominent sympathizer of the Hats, as was Claes Ekeblad, Hans Henrik von Liewen, Anders Johan von Höpken and other members of her personal circle of friends, and through her court connections, she made an alliance with the Hats (party). Her strategy was to affect the votes in the parliament of the Riksdag through bribes. After the birth of her eldest son in 1746, she accompanied the Crown Prince on an official tour through the country, during which she gathered agents among members of the Caps through bribes. At the visit of the Cap's parliamentary Kalsenius, she described him as: "The biggest villain in the world, but I will not leave until I have bribed him. That is the only means by which one can reach the goal one has in mind."Jägerskiöld, Olof (1945). Lovisa Ulrika [Louisa Ulrika] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand. SELIBR 8074766. p. 115 Kalsenius is also confirmed to have voted with the Hats party in the exactly the issues interesting to Louisa Ulrika during the votes in the Riksdag. Her goal was to overthrow the constitution and reintroduce the system of absolute monarchy with enlightened absolutism in Sweden. Her plans were internationally noted already by her creation of the L'Ordre de l'Harmonie, with the motto of unity. Her plans were opposed by Russia and Great Britain, who in 1746, allied with the Caps (party), attempted to stage a coup through their agents in Sweden against the royal house.