Prince Frederik (1797-1881), Princess Luise (1808-1870) of The Netherlands and Family

[Marengo]

Prince Frederik (1797-1881), Princess Luise (1808-1870) and descendants

This thread is about Prince Willem Frederik Karel (Berlin 28 Feb 1797 - Pauw Haus, Wassenaar 8 Sep 1881); and Princess Luise Auguste Wilhelmine Amalie of the Netherlands, nee Pss of Prussia (Berlin 1 Feb 1808 - Pauw Haus, Wassenaar 6 Dec 1870)

Parents Frederik: King Willem I of The Netherlands and Queen Anna Pavlovna of The Netherlands, nee Grand Duchess of Russia

Parents Luise: King Friedrich-Wilhelm III of Prussia and Queen Luise of Prussia, nee Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

Children Frederik and Luise: Queen Lovisa of Sweden and Norway, Prince Frederik jr, Prince Willem of The Netherlands and Princess Marie von Wied.

Siblings Frederik: King Willem II, Princess Pauline of The Netherlands and Princess Marianne of Prussia

Siblings Luise: King Friedrich-Wilhelm IV of Prussia, Emperor Wilhelm I of Germany, King of Prussia, Empress Charlotte/Alexandra of Russia, Grand Duchess Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin,Princess Friederike & Princes Karl, Ferdinand and Albrecht of Prussia

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Note: A big thanks to Thijs of the Alexanderpalace forum as he provided all the pictures

 

[Marengo]

Prince Frederik of the Netherlands (full names: Willem Frederik Karel), Prince of Orange-Nassau, (Berlin, February 28, 1797 – Wassenaar, September 8, 1881), was the second son of king William I of the Netherlands and his wife Queen Wilhelmine.

The prince grew up at the court of his grandfather Frederick William II of Prussia and uncle Frederick William III of Prussia. One of his tutors was Karl von Clausewitz. Aged 16, the prince fought in the battle of Leipzig.
The prince first entered the Netherlands in December 1813. As he spoke no Dutch, the prince was sent to the University in Leiden to get a further education. When Napoleon returned from Elba, during the Hundred Days the prince was given command of a detachment of Wellington's army which was posted in a fall back position near Braine should the battle taking place at Waterloo be lost.

Read mre about Prince Frederik in this wikipedia article

 

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The couple's eldest daughter Louise, Queen of Sweden (from wikipedia):

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 Luise of Prussia), the eighth child of King Friederich Wilhelm III of Prussia and Queen Luise of Prussia (née Duchess Luise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz).
Princess Louise married on June 19, 1850 Crown Prince Karl of Sweden and Norway. 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 a proper lineage and for the enormous dowry expected; in reality, her dowry was very small. It was an unhappy marriage, the crown prince did not like the way she looked and was unfaithful, though she quickly fell in love with him.

Read more about Queen Lovisa in this wikipedia article.

Mother & daughter:

 

[Marengo]

He was born in Stockholm and created Duke of Skåne at birth. The Crown Prince was Viceroy of Norway briefly in 1856 and 1857. He became Regent on September 25, 1857, and king on the death of his father on July 8, 1859. As son of Josephine of Leuchtenberg, he was a descendant of Gustav I of Sweden and Charles IX of Sweden, whose blood returned on the throne after being lost in 1818 when Charles XIII of Sweden died.
As Crown Prince, Charles' brusque and downright manners had led many to regard his future accession with some apprehension, yet he proved to be one of the most popular of Scandinavian kings and a constitutional ruler in the best sense of the word. His reign was remarkable for its manifold and far-reaching reforms. Sweden's existing communal law (1862), ecclesiastical law (1863) and criminal law (1864) were enacted appropriately enough under the direction of a king whose motto was: Land skall med lag byggas - "With law shall the land be built". Charles also helped Louis De Geer to carry through his memorable reform of the Riksdag in 1866. He also declared the freedom of women by passing the law of legal maturity for unmarried women in 1858 - his sister princess Eugenie became the first woman who was declared independent

Read more about King Carl XV in this wikipedia link

 

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His granddaughter Queen Louise of Denmark:

Louise Josephine Eugenie of the House of Bernadotte was born Princess Lovisa of Sweden in Stockholm. She was the only daughter of King Charles XV (1826-1872) and Queen Lovisa of Sweden (1828-1871).
Lovisa had a happy childhood; after her brother's death, her father treated her like a boy and let her grow up as one, and she was therefore allowed to develop much less restrained than most girls of her time and became an unrestrained, natural and happy girl with confidence, which somewhat worried her mother, Queen Lovisa, herself very eager to behave according to the feminine ideal of the time; her father lovingly said about her "She's an ugly devil, but she's funny!", and treated her with the same ruff afectionate manners as he would with a son. They where several discussions about making her the heri to the throne of Sweden and Norway, as her mother could not have anymore children and she was the only child, but although Sweden hav had female monarchs and female succession was declared in 1604, this had not ben included in the new constitution of 1809, and would therefore require a law chance, as would be necessary regarding the sucesion of Norway, who never had female succession. This was all put aside when her father's brother had sons.

Read more about Queen Louise of Denmark in this wikipedia article

 

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Prince Willem and Prince Frederik jr:

Frederik and Marie

Frederik

 

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Princess Marie of Wied:The couples youngest daughter was Princess Marie. Queen Victoria tried to get one of her sons to marry her, as she was to enherit half of her fathers foretune but sadly 3 generations of Prussian-Dutch invbreeding had its effect on her looks and both Alfred as Edward preferred another bride. In the end she married the Fuerst von Wied. She stayed close to her Dutch relatives and corresponded frequently with the younbg Wilhelmina and Emma.

 

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Prince Wilhelm

Their wedding in Wassenaar:

 

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The Wied-family:

 

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Marie's daughter-in-law, Princess Pauline of Wurttemberg, daughter of King Wilhelm II of Wurttemberg and Queen Pauline, born Princess of Waldeck-Pyrmont (sister of Queen Emma)

At her wedding:

 

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A picture of Prince Frederik and his Wied-grandsons:

 

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Some more of Princess Louise of The Netherlands, nee Pss of Prussia:

with her daughter Louise:

 

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And here some more of her daughter Fuerstin Marie of Wied and family:

 

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Note that Princess Luise was the second in a long line of 7 Luise's:

Starting with: Queen Luise of Prussia, nee Dss of Mecklenburg-Strelitz -> Princess Luise of The Netherlands, nee Pss of Prussia -> Queen louise of Sweden and Norway, nee Pss of The Netherlands -> Queen Louise of Denmark, nee Pss of Sweden, -> Princess Louise of Schaumburg-Lippe, nee Pss of Denmark, -> Princess (Marie-)Luise of Prussia, nee Pss of Schaumburg-Lippe -> Princess Luise of Prussia, former Mrs. Reinhold. Sadly she only had one son, so the line of Louise's will end with her.

 

[lucien]

Princess Louise was not an easy person to deal with,aware of her status by birth,she had the typical german "Dominanz & himmelhoch jauchzend,zum Tode betrübt,and schwärmerisches" genes in her,a drama queen at her best,and poor Marie was very much affected by
that attitude of her mother,a quiet,sweet almost docile and often insecure woman,and by her looks,a typical product of generations of inbreeding.Prince Frederik must have been one very patient man to the one,and a wonderfull father to the other,as he acknowledged the
latters state.

 

[Marengo]

I have actually seldom read anything about Louise (the mother). I can only recall some snipy remarks from Queen Sophie, but she didn't have a high opinion about most of her in-laws or about any of the Hohenzollerns. As Louise was both I assumed that Sophie's opinion was a bit tainted .

As you said in another thread, dutch education isn't what it used to be, which gives me the perfect excuse to ask what 'schwärmerisches' means...

 

[lucien]

I have actually seldom read anything about Louise (the mother). I can only recall some snipy remarks from Queen Sophie, but she didn't have a high opinion about most of her in-laws or about any of the Hohenzollerns. As Louise was both I assumed that Sophie's opinion was a bit tainted .

As you said in another thread, dutch education isn't what it used to be, which gives me the perfect excuse to ask what 'schwärmerisches' means...

LOL!
Schwärmen means dwepend/ziekelijk dwepend/sterk overdrijvend/overdreven/idolaat/mutserig,allthough I admit you find the latter expression in the "Dikke van Dale" too these days,...

And,no no,I wasn't "quoting" Queen Sophie.Have it from another source,but can't find/think which it really was now,maybe in "Royal Array",I'll be back on it.

 

[Marengo]

Wasn´t Prince Frederik approached to become King of Greece or Roumenia once? I forgot the particulars but he wasn´t very interested in the position and declined.

 

[Helena]

I think it was Greece, he declined and Otto of Bavaria later accepted.

Does anybody know the stories about the death of his sons? One died during a gym exersise.

 

[CyrilVladisla]

In 1829 Prince Frederik was a candidate for the throne of Greece.
He did not accept to be the King of Greece.
He did not want to be king because he did not know the language.
He was not familiar with the country's traditions.
​

 

[Lee-Z]

I think it was Greece, he declined and Otto of Bavaria later accepted.

Does anybody know the stories about the death of his sons? One died during a gym exersise.

(info from publication "Alle Oranjes" episode 11 "Family tragedies due to accidents and illness" chapter 6)
The older son Willem Frederik died before his first birthday, the younger son was born a year after that, also named Willem Frederik.
Indeed the younger son at age nine suffered a very bad fall during gym exercize and died shortly after that.
Their parents Frederik and Louise were very distraught by this, Princes Louise (or Princes Frederik, as she was called) was so devastated that people fear that she will die too...
The children's room of the younger son remains as it was when he died for 35 years, until Prince Frederik (the father) himself dies...

Regarding the Greek throne (from "alle oranjes" episode 6 "dutch princesses on foreign thrones" chapter 5):
apparently P.Frederik was reasonably surprised when the throne was offered, considered it but eventually turned it down stating "I feel i'm needed in my own country. We have difficulties with the belgians at this time and i don't want to turn away from that"
(ironically the Greek throne was then offered to P.Leopold of Saxe-Coburg who declined it too, but 5 months later did accept the throne from the new independant country Belgium)

 

[Marengo]

Anton van de Sane, emeritus teacher in Freemasonry at the University of Leiden, wrote a biography of prince Frederik called 'Prins Frederik der Nederlanden (1797-1881)
Gentleman naast de troon'.

He says it is too much to say that he was the only decent member of the house of Orange in the 19th century, but he does say that the prince was more able than the three kings, his father, his brother and his nephew. Van de Sande compares him to Beatrix who also knew the symbolic value of the monarchy and how to pass it on unharmed to the next generation.

He was the richest member of the house of Orange, due to the compensation he received for Luxembourg. He often mediated between all the troublesome family members. His status within the family rose after the death of his brother, when he was involved in settling the debts of Willem II, making sure that WIllem III accepted the throne and preventing a divorce for Willem III and Sophie of Wurttemberg.


'Prins Frederik was beter dan onze eerste koningen' | NOS

The book can be ordered online:
http://www.vantilt.nl/boeken/prinsfrederik/

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What a treat! I ordered the book immediately.

 

[CyrilVladisla]

In 1816 Prince Frederik was accepted as a Freemason in a Berlin lodge of the German Grand Lodge "Zu den Drei Weltkugeln".
In 1816 he was appointed as Grand Master National of the Grand East of the Netherlands and for the Chapter of the High Degrees.

 

[Blog Real]

Princess Louise painted by Karl Wilhelm Wach.