These are the three queens Peter took pictures of at the ‘Welcome Center’ of the ‘Palais of the three Queens’ at Mirow.
Pincess Sophie Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was born in 1744 in Mirow. In 1761 she married King George III of Great Britain and became Queen. When she died in London in 1818 a huge number of people followed her casket.
One of Charlotte’s brothers was Carl of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Carl was the father of Louise and Friederike. Carl’s first wife died when Louise was only six and Friederike four and their brother George three. Carl then married his first wife’s sister, who was a very good mother to his children. But after only one year the second wife died too. Carl then gave the children to their grandmother. The children had a very good upbringing at the grandmother’s place.
Ernst August Duke of Cumberland (1771-1851) married Princess Friederike of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1778-1841). When he became King of Hannover in 1837, she became Queen of Hannover.
When Princess Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1776-1810) married the crown prince of Prussia, she was only 17. Two days after their marriage, Ludwig (L0uis), a brother of the crown prince, married the fifteen year old Princess Friederike of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. After only a few years Friederike became a war widow, she married again and then was widowed again. When she married the Duke of Cumberland this was her third marriage. She was 36 at the time and the Duke was 43. She had a long and happy marriage with the Duke who became King of Hannover. Friederike died aged 63 whereas Louise died when she was 34. She had born ten children. Of these only seven did survive.
About Louise’s marriage to the crown prince of Prussia who became Friedrich Wilhelm III and about her early death I am going to write a bit more in my next post.
AuntyUta 
Thanks for the history and the intriguing pictures.
Thanks for your interest, Robert.
Beautiful my friend.
Thank you, dear IT.
Must have been hard for Louise to have gone through three husbands before she finally had one who she could have a happy married life with.
Thanks for commenting, Mary-Ann. Well, Friederike’s first two husbands died. She must have been quite an attractive widow because the 43 year old Duke of Cumberland seems to have been very keen on marrying her after she became widowed again. She was 36 when she married the third time. When she married the first time she was only 15. This was at the same time as when the marriage of her 17 year old sister Louise to the 23 year old Friedrich Wilhelm, the crownprince of Prussia, took place.
Friederike was married to the 19 year old younger brother of the crownprince , who I think died a few years later during a battle fighting the enemy. Being married at age 15 would be regarded as too early nowadays, I think; whereas being married at 36 was probably regarded as being a bit old already. These days 36 would for sure not be seen as being rather old!
I am not sure how many children Friederike has had. But her sister Louise had had 10 pregnancies within 17 years of marriage. It is said she had a good marriage with Friedrich Wilhelm. It seems to have been a love marriage right from the start, never mind a few disagreements because they were of very different temperament. Also their upbringing had been very different. Friedrich Wilhelm loved Louise very much and she was adored by the people when she became queen. People thought she was a very lovable queen. Her early death distressed people a lot. Friedrich Wilhelm, has had a rather loveless childhood. He apparently was never very close to his parents and had a very strict upbringing, whereas Louise and her siblings had a splendid carefree upbringing with their grandmother where they had a lot of fun and were able to enjoy their growing up years. (Their mother had died when Louise was only 6 , Frederike 4 and one of their brothers 3. The mother’s sister became their very much loved stepmother who sadly died just one year later. It distressed their father immensely. Apparently a lot of the children had died in infancy. In one of my following posts I show a memorial to his two wives and all his children. The dates show that a number of these children must have died at a very, very young age.
Louise had been married only once and died aged 34. Her health had greatly suffered because of the war years. The frequent pregnancies probably weakened her body too. Friederike was the one who had been married three times.