Фредерика Мекленбург-Стрелицкая: Королева и три брака.

other people called Princess Frederica

Queen of Hanover from 1837 to 1841

Frederica of Mecklenburg Strelitz (Friederike Louise Caroline Sophie Alexandrine; 3 March 1778 – 29 June 1841) was Queen of Hanover from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1841 as the wife of King Ernest Augustus. She was a German princess who married successively Prince Louis Charles of Prussia, Prince Frederick William of Solms Braunfels, and her first cousin Ernest Augustus. Through her 1815 marriage to Ernest, then Duke of Cumberland, Frederica became a British princess and Duchess of Cumberland. Ernest was the fifth son and eighth child of Queen Charlotte and King George III of the United Kingdom, Frederica's paternal aunt and her husband. Frederica was born in the Altes Palais of Hanover as the fifth daughter of Charles II, Duke of Mecklenburg Strelitz, and Princess Friederike of Hesse Darmstadt. Her father assumed the title of Grand Duke of Mecklenburg on 18 June 1815.

Frederica's mother died on 22 May 1782 after giving birth to her tenth child. Two years later (28 September 1784), her father remarried the younger sister of his deceased wife, Princess Charlotte of Hesse Darmstadt, but this union ended just one year later, when Charlotte died of complications resulting from childbirth on 12 December 1785. The twice widowed Duke Charles considered himself unable to give his daughters proper rearing and education, so he sent Frederica and her elder sisters Charlotte, Therese and Louise to their maternal grandmother, Princess Maria Louise of Hesse Darmstadt. Maria Louise's choice of a Swiss teacher for the girls, Salomé de Gélieu, proved to be a good one. Some time later, Duke Charles also sent his two surviving sons, George and Charles, to be raised by their grandmother.

Frederica's father was anxious to arrange advantageous marriages for all his daughters, and used family connections to bring this about. Queen Frederika Louisa of Hesse Darmstadt, wife of King Frederick William II, was a first cousin of Frederica's mother. Frederica's father broached with the Prussian royal family the idea of marriage between their children, and the Prussians were not averse. On 14 March 1793, the Mecklenburg Strelitz duchesses "coincidentally" met King Frederick William II of Prussia at the Prussian Theatre in Frankfurt am Main. He was immediately captivated by the grace and charm of both sisters, Frederica and Louise. The pending marriage negotiations received traction, and within weeks, the matter was settled: Frederica's elder sister Louise would marry Crown Prince Frederick William, and Frederica would marry his younger brother Prince Louis.]] The double engagement was celebrated in Darmstadt on 24 April 1793, only a few weeks after the sisters fortuitously met their future father in law at the theatre. On 24 December Duchess Louise and Crown Prince Frederick William were married in the Royal Palace of Berlin; two days later, on 26 December, Duchess Frederica and Prince Louis were also married at the same venue.

In 1798 Frederica became pregnant. The father was Prince Frederick William of Solms Braunfels. The prince recognized his paternity and requested her hand in marriage, a proposal that was quickly granted in order to avoid scandal. On 10 December that year the couple was married in Berlin and immediately moved to Ansbach. Duke Charles made it clear to his daughter that her separation from the Prince of Solms Braunfels was absolutely logical, and that he saw a marriage with an English prince as a great opportunity for her. During the next months Frederica considered the intentions of Ernest and the possible effects on her own situation. When, after the victory of the allies in the Battle of Leipzig, Ernest spent some days in Neustrelitz, he was greeted enthusiastically. Some time later Frederica asked the Prussian king for approval for her divorce from Prince Frederick William of Solms Braunfels. All parties agreed, including the Prince of Solms Braunfels, but Frederick William's sudden death on 13 April 1814 precluded the need for a divorce. The prince's demise was considered by some as a little too convenient, and some suspected that Frederica had poisoned him. In August, the engagement with Ernest was officially announced. After Ernest's eldest brother, George, Prince Regent, gave his consent to the wedding, Frederica and Ernest were married on 29 May 1815 at the parish church of Neustrelitz. Some time later, the couple traveled to Great Britain and married again on 29 August 1815 at Carlton House, London. Queen Charlotte bitterly opposed the marriage, even though her future daughter in law was also her niece. She refused to attend the wedding and advised her son to live outside England with his wife. Frederica never obtained the favour of the Queen, who died unreconciled with her in 1818. During her marriage to Ernest she gave birth three times, but only a son survived, who would eventually become King George V of Hanover.

On 20 June 1837 King William IV of the United Kingdom and Hanover died without surviving legitimate issue. His heir was his niece Princess Victoria, but because Hanover had been ruled under semi Salic Law since the times of the Holy Roman Empire, Victoria could not inherit the Hanoverian throne. The next male heir was Ernest Augustus, King William's brother, who then became King of Hanover, with Frederica as his queen consort. After a short illness, Queen Frederica of Hanover died in 1841 at Hanover. The Court master builder Georg Ludwig Friedrich Laves was instructed by the King to build a mausoleum for his wife and himself in the garden of the chapel at Herrenhausen Palace. He also gave royal orders for the transformation of a central square near the Leineschloss and renamed it Friederikenplatz in her honour.