Tags
King Christian VI of Denmark of Norway, King Frederik V of Denmark and Norway, King George II of Great Britain, Princess Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Princess Louise of Great Britain, Queen of Denmark and Norway
From the Emperor’s Desk: The anniversary of the birth of Princess Louise of Great Britain is today and I will cover her birth and marriage. Tomorrow December 19 is the anniversary of her death and I will cover her time as Queen Consort of Denmark and Norway.
Louise of Great Britain (originally Louisa; December 18, 1724 – December 19, 1751) was Queen of Denmark and Norway from 1746 until her death, as the first wife of King Frederik V. She was the youngest surviving daughter of King George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach.
Princess Louise was born as the fifth daughter and youngest child of the then Prince and Princess of Wales, on December 18, 1724, at Leicester House, Westminster, London. She was born ten years after her paternal grandfather, Elector George Louis (Georg Ludwig) of Hanover, had succeeded to the thrones of Great Britain and Ireland in 1714 as George I, and her father had become Prince of Wales and moved to London with his family.
Louise’s father had a strained relationship with his own father, and in 1717, after a quarrel, the King had banished his son from court. He had subsequently lived at Leicester House, a large aristocratic townhouse in Westminster, where a rival court grew up, and which became a frequent meeting place for his father’s political opponents. It was here that Louise was born.
She was baptised “Louisa” at Leicester House on December 22. Her godparents were her elder sister and two cousins: Princess Amelia of Great Britain, Princess Louisa Ulrika of Prussia (for whom Sarah Lennox, Duchess of Richmond and Lennox, stood proxy), and Frederick, Prince Royal of Prussia, later Frederick the Great (for whom Henry de Nassau d’Auverquerque, 1st Earl of Grantham, stood proxy).
Princess Louise had six older siblings who lived to adulthood. Of these, Louise lived only with the two youngest, Prince William and Princess Mary and their parents in Leicester House.
They constituted the ‘younger set’, born in London, in contrast to the ‘older set’, born in Hanover, whom King George I had cruelly separated from their parents in 1717. Her favorite sister was Princess Mary, who later married Friedrich II, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel; The future marriages of the two sisters would become a basis for the many dynastic marriages between the Danish royal family and the House of Hesse-Cassel in the following generations.
Louise of Great Britain, Queen of Denmark and Norway
On June 11, 1727, when Louise was two years old, her grandfather, King George I, died, and her father ascended the throne as King George II of Great Britain and Ireland, Imperial Elector of Hanover. The family subsequently moved to St James’s Palace, the London residence of the British monarch. Here Louise grew up, spending holidays at her parents’ summer residence, Richmond Lodge, located near the River Thames in Richmond.
In 1737, when Louise was almost 13 years old, her mother, Queen Caroline, died, and she was then raised mainly by her older sister, Princess Caroline.
In 1743, a dynastic marriage was negotiated between Louise and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Norway. The marriage was proposed by Great Britain from political reasons. At the time of the marriage, both France and Great Britain wished to make an alliance with Denmark-Norway, and being protestant Great Britain had the advantage of being able to make a marriage alliance.
The Danish government was in favor of the proposal, while Crown Prince Frederik’s father, King Christian VI, was initially reluctant. But he was convinced, as he hoped the marriage would lead to British support for his or his son’s claim to the throne of Sweden.
On a more personal level, there were hopes that marriage would suppress the frequent drinking and debauched behaviour of the Crown Prince. As for the Crown Prince, after having been presented with a portrait of the princess and finding her exterior appealing, and having been told of her amiability, he declared himself willing to marry Louise, all the more so as he too could see that the political circumstances made the marriage desirable.
Thus, the marriage negotiations began during the year of 1743, and were successfully concluded within a few months on September 14. On October 19, the 18 year old Princess Louise left London and began her journey towards Copenhagen.
The Lord Chamberlain ordered the provision of supplies for the Princess, including “sets of royal bedding, portmanteaus, a travelling tea equipage, and items for Mrs. Dives and the “Fubbs” yacht: all to an estimate of £503″.
King Christian VI with his family Queen Sophie Magdalene, Crown Prince Frederik (V), and Crown Princess Louise. Hirschholm Palace can be seen as a backdrop. Painting by Carl Marcus Tuscher, c. 1744 (Rosenborg Castle).
She first sailed aboard the royal yacht HMY Fubbs to her father’s German possession, the Electorate of Hanover, where on November 10, a proxy wedding ceremony was conducted in Hanover with her favorite brother, Prince William, the Duke of Cumberland, as the representative of the groom.
Prince William, the Duke of Cumberland, is best remembered for his role in putting down the Jacobite Rising at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, which made him immensely popular throughout parts of Britain.
After this, the entourages of Louise and Crown Prince Frederik met in the border city of Altona in the then Danish Duchy of Holstein, where Louise met her husband for the first time a week after the wedding.
There her English retinue was exchanged for a Danish one, headed by her new chamberlain Carl Juel and her Chief Court Mistress Christiane Henriette Louise Juel. Louise and Frederik then travelled together to Copenhagen, where they held their official entry into the Danish capital on December 11, to great cheers from the population. Already the same day a second wedding ceremony with the groom present was held in the chapel of Christiansborg Palace, the recently completed principal residence of the Danish Monarchy in central Copenhagen.
King Frederik V of Denmark and Norway
After the wedding, the newlyweds initially took up residence at Charlottenborg Palace, a Baroque style minor residence of the Danish royal family located at Copenhagen’s largest square, Kongens Nytorv. Here, their home quickly became the setting for a lively and entertaining court which differed greatly from the rigid and heavy etiquette that prevailed at the court of Louise’s in-laws at Christiansborg Palace. They lived there until, in 1745, they could move into the completed Prince’s Mansion, a city mansion remodeled for them by the Danish architect and royal building master Nicolai Eigtved in Rococo style, and located just across the Frederiksholm’s Canal from Christiansborg Palace.
Although the marriage was arranged, the couple got along quite well, and at least during the first years, their relationship was apparently amicable. The couple had five children, of whom the eldest son, the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Christian, did not survive infancy.
Although Frederik came to feel high regard for her and always treated her with kindness, he reportedly was not in love with her and continued his debauched lifestyle. However Frederik was comfortable with her, and Louise pretended not to notice his adultery and random liaisons with others, notably with his favorite mistress Else Hansen.
Louise quickly made herself popular in the Danish court, and her father-in-law remarked that she seemed to him to be kind and agreeable. She was also met with great enthusiasm from the citizens of Copenhagen, due to her natural and straightforward behavior. Unlike her mother-in-law, Queen Sophie Magdalene, she made an effort to learn Danish, and studied the Danish language right from her arrival under the court priest Erik Pontoppidan. She also hired teachers so that her children could learn to speak their country’s language.
European Royal History 