QUEEN LOUISE OF PRUSSIA 249 QUEEN LOUISE OF PRUSSIA By Mrs. Francis G. Faithfull (i 776-1810) There is at Paretz, near Potsdam, a flower- bordered walk leading from a grotto over- looking the Havel to an iron gate, above which is inscribed " May 20, 18 10" and the letter " L." Within the grotto an iron table bears in golden characters, " Remember the Absent." These words were engraved by order of Friedrich Wilhelm III. of Prussia; and the "absent" he would have remembered "the star of his life, who had lighted him so truly on his darkened way " was the wife who died of a broken heart before reaching middle age. Louise Augusta Wilhelmina, third daughter of Duke Charles of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, was born on March 10, 1776, in the city of Hanover. Her mother died when she was six years old, and henceforth she and her sister Frederica lived with their grandmother, the Landgravine of Darmstadt, sometimes at the Burgfrei- heit Palace, sometimes at a chateau in the Herrengarten, surrounded by formal gardens and orangeries. The girls were brought up simply, making their own clothes, and going much among the poor. Now and then they made expeditions to Strasburg or the Vosges Mountains ; and, when the Emperor Leopold was crowned at Frankfort, the Frau von Goethe housed them hospitably, and was highly entertained by the glee with which they worked a quaint sculptured pump in her courtyard. Two years later the advance of French troops compelled them to seek refuge with their eldest sister, the reigning Duchess of Hildburghausen ; and on their homeward way they visited the Prussian headquarters, that the Landgravine might present them to the king. His sons were with him, and long afterward the Grown Prince told a friend, "I felt when I -saw her, 'tis she or none on earth." The wooing was short. On April 24, 1793, he exchanged betrothal rings with Louise, and then rejoined his regiment. Soon after, the Princesses of Meck- lenburg went over to the camp, Louise appearing " a heavenly vision " in the eyes of Goethe, who saw her there. In the December of that same year Berlin, gay with flags and ablaze with colored lamps, welcomed Duke Charles and his daughters ; and on Christmas Eve the diamond crown of the Hohenzollerns was placed on her fair head, and in her
