Louise of the Netherlands

Infobox Swedish Royalty|majesty|consort
name =Louise of the Netherlands
title =Queen consort of Sweden and Norway

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caption =
reign =July 8, 1859 - March 30, 1871
spouse =Charles XV
issue =Louise, Queen of Denmark
Prince Carl Oscar, Duke of Södermanland
royal house =House of Bernadotte
House of Orange-Nassau
titles ="HM" The Queen of Sweden & Norway
"HRH" The Crown Princess of Sweden and Norway
"HRH" Princess Louise of the Netherlands
father =Prince Frederick of the Netherlands
mother =Princess Louise of Prussia
date of birth =birth date|1828|8|5|mf=y
place of birth =
date of death =death date and age|1871|3|30|1828|8|5|mf=y
place of death =
place of burial =Riddarholmen Church, Stockholm|

Princess Louise of the Netherlands (Wilhelmina Frederika Alexandrine Anna Louise) (August 5, 1828 – March 30, 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 August 5, 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 June 19, 1850 Crown Prince Karl 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. 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. 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 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.

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. 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.

Children

Together, Princess Lovisa and Prince Karl had two children:
# Princess Lovisa of Sweden (October 31, 1851 – March 20, 1926), later Queen Louise of Denmark.
# Prince Carl Oscar, Duke of Södermanland (December 14, 1852 – March 13, 1854), who died in infancy.

Coronation

She became Queen of Sweden at her father-in-law's death on July 8, 1859. Karl became the new king as "Karl XV" in Sweden and as "Karl IV" in Norway. Princess Lovisa then became Queen Lovisa.

Death

Queen Lovisa died on March 30, 1871 in Stockholm.

tyles

* 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

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1= 1. Princess Louise of the Netherlands (1828-1871)
2= 2. Prince Frederik of the Netherlands (1797-1881)
3= 3. Princess Louise of Prussia (1808-1870)
4= 4. King William I of the Netherlands (1772-1843)
5= 5. Queen Wilhelmine (1774-1837)
6= 6. King Frederick William III of PrussiaLouise 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.] (1770-1840)
7= 7. Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1776-1810)
8= 8. William V, Prince of Orange (1748-1806)
9= 9. Wilhelmina of Prussia (1751-1820)
10= 10. King Frederick William II of PrussiaBoth 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.] (1744-1797)
11= 11. Queen Frederica Louisa (1751-1805)
12= 12. King Frederick William II of Prussia (1744-1797)
13= 13. Queen Frederica Louisa (1751-1805)
14= 14. Charles II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1741-1816)
15= 15. Princess Friederike Caroline Luise of Hesse-Darmstadt (1752-1782)Citation | last = Lundy | first = Darryl | title = thePeerage
url=http://www.thepeerage.com/p10585.htm#i105848
accessdate = 2007-10-23]
16= 16. William IV, Prince of Orange (1711-1751)
17= 17. Anne, Princess Royal (1709-1759)
18= 18. Prince Augustus William of Prussia (1722-1758)
19= 19. Louise Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1722-1780)
20= 20. Prince Augustus William of Prussia (1722-1758)
21= 21. Louise Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1722-1780)
22= 22. Ludwig IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (1719-1790)
23= 23. Caroline of Zweibrücken (1721-1774)
24= 24. Prince Augustus William of Prussia (1722-1758)
25= 25. Louise Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1722-1780)
26= 26. Ludwig IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (1719-1790)
27= 27. Caroline of Zweibrücken (1721-1774)
28= 28. Prince Charles I Ludwig Frederick of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1708-1752)
29= 29. Elisabeth Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen (1713-1761)
30= 30. Georg Wilhelm of Hesse-Darmstadt (1722-1782)
31= 31. Marie Luise Gräfin zu Leiningen-Dagsburg-Heidesheim (1729-1818)Citation | last = Lundy | first = Darryl | title = thePeerage | url=http://www.thepeerage.com/p10115.htm#i101141|accessdate=2007-10-23]

Notes and References

* Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon (1906), Lovisa. [http://www.lysator.liu.se/runeberg/sbh/b0095.html]
* Nationalencyklopedin, Lovisa [http://www.ne.se/jsp/search/article.jsp?i_art_id=244858]
* Christer Engstrand and Ingmar Andersson. [http://historiska-personer.nu/min-s/p2c518b2b.html 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)

Succession