Birth of Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz – The Royal Black Widow
Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz wanted one thing – to marry her way to the Hanoverian throne.
In her quest, she left a trail of corpses in her wake.
Needless to say, she also made some powerful enemies along the way.
Frederica was of the highest European pedigree, even if she didn’t always act like it.
Her royally scandalous behavior knew no borders.
Frederica’s royal lineage connected her to the thrones of the United Kingdom, Prussia and beyond.
Frederica was born in the Altes Palais Hanover, on 3rd March 1778, she was the fifth daughter of the future Grand Duke of Mecklenburg and Princess Friederike of Hesse-Darmstadt.
Sadly, her mother passed away when she was still very young, while giving birth to Frederica’s ninth and final sibling.
Her father was, of course, heartbroken, but he soon found a suitable replacement…one that was rather close to home.
Her father took for his second wife, Princess Charlotte of Hesse-Darmstadt – Frederica’s deceased mother’s younger sister!
About a year after Frederica’s aunt married her father, she too passed away during childbirth. Fortunately, her new half sibling survived.
Frederica’s father completely gave up on the idea of maintaining a happy family.
He handed the care of Frederica and her siblings over to their maternal grandmother, Princess Maria Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt.
It’s not clear where or when Frederica picked up her bad girl streak, but it certainly wasn’t from her grandmother.
Princess Maria Louise ensured that Frederica and her sisters received a strict Swiss education.
They learned French, attended various courts across Europe, and received a strong religious education.
Which Frederica then promptly disregarded….
Frederica’s father was impressed with the education that his daughters had received.
He knew immediately that he had to get them married off, as quickly as possible.
Frederica’s mother had a first cousin who was, at the time, married to King Frederick William II of Prussia.
The King of Prussia two sons….
Frederica, it seemed, was going to marry a prince.
Frederica found herself engaged to Prince Louis Charles of Prussia.
Her father was so eager to get her married off that they wasted no time in the wedding planning.
On 26th December 1793, Frederica married her prince.
But he was far from princely.
Frederica began to suspect that her father had set her up.
The minute their honeymoon ended, Frederica’s nightmare began.
She immediately began complaining that her princely husband was not interested in having anything to do with her.
She accused Prince Louis of preferring the “company of his mistresses” and said he utterly neglected her.
If Frederica’s claim that Prince Louis rarely, if ever, touched her then she would have had a hard time explaining some key details.
In the three tumultuous years of their marriage, she gave birth to as many children.
Certainly, it couldn’t have been immaculate conception.
And there was a much more plausible and ready explanation….
While Prince Louis Charles was running around with his mistresses, Frederica was running around with someone of her own.
Throughout her marriage to Prince Louis Charles, Frederica carried on an open affair with her husband’s own uncle, Prince Louis Ferdinand.
As you can imagine, this did not end well.
Three days before their third anniversary, Prince Louis Charles passed away of diphtheria.
And Frederica was now a free agent.
At just 18 years of age, Frederica found herself a widow…and free to do whatever she wanted.
Her father-in-law, the King of Prussia, wanted to make sure that she didn’t get into too much trouble.
To keep an eye on her, he provided Frederica with a modest income and moved her and her children to Schönhausen Palace, near Berlin.
Of course, nothing could stop Frederica from getting into trouble….
Frederica decided that at her young age and with her natural charm, she wasn’t going to stay widowed forever.
She knew that she had to find a way to get out from under her father-in-law’s watchful eye.
And the only way for her to do that was to find a new husband, but she wasn’t going to stop there.
She wanted a better husband.
With a bigger kingdom than the Kingdom of Prussia.
Enter Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge.
He was the seventh son of King George III of Great Britain and, most importantly, he was her first cousin by way of his father’s sister, Queen Charlotte.
Not everyone approved of the match, however.
Frederica’s uncle, King George III, instructed the young couple to wait for a more opportune time to make their love official.
But that time would never come.
Frederica’s engagement to Prince Adolphus came to an abrupt end, under a cloud of suspicion and a swirling hurricane of rumors.
As it turns out, Fredrica had been a little too naughty, while waiting for Adolphus hand in marriage.
In 1798, instead of walking down the aisle to the wedding march, Frederica did a walk of shame.
Instead of sitting prettily and twiddling her thumbs waiting for her pending nuptials with Prince Adolphus, Frederica occupied her time with another prince.
Prince Frederick William of Solms-Braunfels.
Frederica soon became pregnant with her lover’s child, and Europe was scandalised.
Incensed with Frederica’s infidelity, her aunt and would-be mother-in-law, Queen Charlotte, claimed that her son had released Frederica from the engagement in disgrace.
To make matters worse, Prince Frederick William wasn’t exactly Europe’s most eligible royal.
In fact, his reputation was far worse than Frederica’s!
According to sources of the time, he lived a “dissipated” lifestyle, he was something of a philanderer and spendthrift.
Frederica knew that she couldn’t give birth to a child outside of wedlock.
So, rather than further embarrass her family and cause a greater scandal, she made sure that Prince Frederick William did the honorable thing.
Under the cover of secrecy, and with an enormous pregnant belly, Frederica eloped with Prince Frederick William.
The hush-hush marriage took place in Berlin in December of 1798 but, instead of restoring Frederica’s honour, it absolutely enraged her relatives.
The marriage created a rift in the family that would never truly heal.
It didn’t take long for Frederica’s second marriage to fall apart.
After the couple’s first child passed away, Prince Frederick William resumed his “dissipated” lifestyle and took up heavy drinking.
His behavior got to be so bad that, for once, people took pity on poor Frederica.
As long as Prince Frederick William supported her, it seems like Frederica didn’t mind his abhorrent behavior.
But, in 1805, he abandoned Frederica.
All of a sudden, Frederica found herself in a new and strange position; she was flat broke.
In her new found poverty, Frederica turned to her former brother-in-law, Frederick William III, her sister Louise’s husband.
As the widow of a Prussian prince, she believed that she was still entitled to an annual pension from the crown, however they declined her request.
Frederica’s brother-in-law, William Christian, Prince of Solms-Braunfels, made the offer to support Frederica in divorcing his rapscallion brother.
However, Frederica decided to stay in her marriage.
It’s possible that Frederica wanted to avoid the scandal a divorce would have caused.
Or, she may have been afraid that, as a once-widowed, once-divorced bachelorette, she would never find another husband.
In 1813, Frederica’s father, the Duke of Mecklenburg, resumed his surreptitious matchmaking schemes in order to save his daughter from her terrible marriage.
This time, he set his sights on his nephew, Prince Ernest Augustus, another one of Frederica’s first-cousins.
When Frederica met Prince Ernest Augustus the two immediately hit it off.
The Duke let Frederica know that he expected her to divorce her husband, and take up with Prince Ernest Augustus.
Fortunately for Frederica, everyone including her husband, wanted the disastrous marriage to end.
With all parties agreed, it was just a matter of signing the papers, but fate had another twist in store.
Unexpectedly and rather conveniently, Prince Frederick William dropped down dead.
All eyes turned to Frederica.
Many believed that Prince Frederick William’s death was a little too convenient for Frederica.
There was speculation that she had poisoned her late-husband.
The rumors weren’t enough to scupper her new engagement plans.
Less than five months after becoming a widow for the second time, Frederica became engaged.
And Queen Charlotte was ready for her this time.
Frederica’s new fiancé Prince Ernest Augustus also happened to be the son of Queen Charlotte.
Not to be had twice by her niece, Queen Charlotte openly voiced her opposition to the marriage even as the King gave his royal consent.
Queen Charlotte, however, would have her say.
Upon Frederica’s arrival in England, Queen Charlotte refused to receive her.
Considering the fact that Frederica was not just her soon-to-be daughter-in-law but also her niece, the snub had the same shocking effect as a slap across the face.
Frederica’s behaviour when she was engaged to Prince Adolphus, was bad enough, but her reputation as a royal rebel had reached Queen Charlotte’s ears.
Allegedly, the Queen had received information from many respectable quarters, that led her to believe that Frederica was not a good match for her son.
Whatever information she had, she shared with Prince Ernest Augustus.
But it wasn’t enough to break Frederica’s hold over him.
Queen Charlotte, Frederica’s all-powerful aunt, refused to attend the marriage in May of 1815.
To add insult to the injury of getting snubbed on her wedding day, Queen Charlotte practically banished Frederica and Prince Ernest Augustus from England.
Unfortunately for Frederica, Queen Charlotte was just getting warmed up.
On numerous occasions after their marriage, Prince Ernest Augustus asked his mother for an increase to his royal allowance, likely at the behest of Frederica.
Each time his request was turned down.
In 1818, Frederica managed to escape Queen Charlotte’s wrath.
The vengeful queen went to her grave.
With her mother-in-law out of the way and after the birth of their son George V of Hanover, the couple sought, and received, an increase to their allowance.
Frederica’s brother-in-law King William IV, passed away without any children of his own.
Because of the laws of succession, his British crown passed to his niece, Queen Victoria, while the Hanoverian crown passed to, of all people…her husband!
Somehow, after all of her marriages and affairs, Frederica became the regent of her homeland, Queen of Hanover.
Sadly, her reign was short-lived.
In 1841, at the age of 63, Frederica became ill and, after a long life of scandal and grudges, she succumbed to her illness.
There is, perhaps, some comfort in the idea that she drew her last breath in the same place in which she drew her first – the Altes Palais.
Ernest Augustus ordered a mausoleum built for his wife and himself in the garden of the chapel at Herrenhausen Palace.
Portrait of Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
By Johann Friedrich August Tischbein, 1796
