Princess Louise | |||||
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Princess Radziwiłł | |||||
A painting of Louise of Prussia, c. 1801. Painted by Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun.
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Born |
Berlin |
24 May 1770||||
Died | 7 December 1836 Berlin |
(aged 66)||||
Spouse | Antoni Radziwiłł | ||||
Issue | Wilhelm Paweł Radziwiłł Ferdynant Fryderyk Radziwiłł Bogusław Fryderyk Radziwiłł Władysław Radziwiłł Eliza Fryderyka Radziwiłł Wanda Augusta Wilhelmina Radziwiłł |
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House |
House of Hohenzollern (by birth) House of Radziwiłł (by marriage) |
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Father | Prince Augustus Ferdinand of Prussia | ||||
Mother | Margravine Elisabeth Louise of Brandenburg-Schwedt | ||||
Religion | Calvinism |
Full name | |
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German: Friederike Dorothea Luise Philippine von Preußen |
Princess Frederica Dorothea Louise Philippine of Prussia (24 May 1770 - 7 December 1836) was a member of the House of Hohenzollern. She was a niece of Frederick the Great, being the second daughter and third child of Prince Augustus Ferdinand of Prussia by his wife Margravine Elisabeth Louise of Brandenburg-Schwedt.
Louise and her husband Prince Antoni Radziwiłł were popular for their patronage of music, as well as their prominent positions in Berlin society. Louise is also notable for being the mother of Elisabeth Radziwill, the childhood love of future German Emperor Wilhelm I, whose strong desire to marry her was thwarted out of considerations for Elisabeth's inequality of rank.
Princess Louise was born on May 24, 1770, in the Ordenspalais (the Palace of the Order of Saint John, of which her father was head) at Berlin to Prince Augustus Ferdinand and Princess Elisabeth Louise of Prussia; her biological father may actually have been Count Friedrich Wilhelm Carl von Schmettau. Her birth was a disappointment to her family, as at the time her elder brother Friedrich Heinrich Emil Karl, Prince of Prussia (1769–1773), was the only heir to the Hohenzollern throne of her uncle Frederick the Great. Despite this, her father was devoted to her, lavishing attention, while her mother showed little affection for her. Her family would eventually come to hold seven siblings, two girls and five boys. They lived at the Friedrichsfelde estate in Berlin.