Louisa Ulrika of Prussia - Queen

Queen

In 1751, Louisa Ulrika became queen. Louisa Ulrika revitalized the royal court, which had been neglected during the reign of King Frederick I, and founded a theater at Drottningholm Palace. Her interest for theater was, however, entirely French-influenced, and she interrupted the development of a native Swedish national theatre at Bollhuset by replacing it with a French Theatre, the Du Londel Troupe, which was only a benefit for those who could speak French, the aristocratic language of various European courts at that time (Berlin, Saint Petersburg, Dresden, Madrid, etc.).

In 1753, she founded the Witterhetsakademin, an academy which counted Carl von Linné among its members. She was a great patron of science and art, a protector of the work of scientists such as Carl von Linné and artists such as the painter Ulrika Pasch and the poet Hedvig Charlotta Nordenflycht. Nordenflycht was given a pension of $600 until she was given the same pension from the state in 1752. Her "adoption" of Gustav Badin in 1757 was intended as a form of scientific experiment.

The year 1754 was the year of the alienation of Count Tessin. In 1751, Tessin seemed to have fallen from grace and he wrote that she no longer discussed politics with him and "claimed that she took no part in politics". The year before, he had convinced her to agree to the engagement between her eldest son and a Danish princess, when she herself had preferred another bride. At this point, count Tessin was reported to no longer be in control of his infatuation of her, and it was noted in court that the king had "taken against" Tessin. Crown prince Gustav wrote in 1769, that Tessin had made Louisa Ulrika "suggestions far from the reverence one is expected towards a sovereign" Louisa Ulrika informed the king, who had surprised Tessin on his knees before the queen, after which the count and the countess Tessin lost their positions. The queen only remarked that she missed countess Tessin. Her favourite was her lady-in-waiting Ulrika Eleonora von Düben, who replaced Henrika von Liewen in 1748 and was appointed first lady-in-waiting in 1756 after Ulrika Strömfelt. Düben was the niece of Emerentia von Düben, who had been the favorite lady-in-waiting of queen Ulrika Eleonora, and her critics in the court described her as a typical representative of an ingratiating court-noble.

As soon as she became queen in 1751, she made preparations to overthrow the parliament. The vow to respect the constitution which her husband made upon his accession to the throne was a great sorrow for her. Her attempt of a royalistic revolution was prevented in 1756. The same year, Sweden entered the Seven Years war on the side against Prussia, a step she opposed. In 1763, the Swedish government asked her to issue negotiations with her brother, the King of Prussia, in order to prevent the Swedish province of Pomerania in Germany from being annexed by Prussia. She agreed after great persuasion and handled the negotiations successfully, which has been described as a form of triumph for her over the parliament. As a sign of gratitude for this act, the government paid her debts, which made it possible for her to use her money to affect the voting in the parliament through bribes. Her plan was now to change the constitution through this method.

After the 1766 election, her attempts had failed, and her political power position was over The last years of her husband's reign, the anti-parliamentaristic opposition looked to her son Crown Prince Gustav instead of her. Her relationship with her son became tense after this. Louisa Ulrika had the wished for Gustav to marry her niece Philippine of Brandenburg-Schwedt, and was forced to agree to the engagement to Sophia Magdalena of Denmark against her will. She was therefore much displeased when Gustav himself agreed to go through with the Danish marriage in 1766. During the 1768 conflict between the monarchy and the parliament, when the king threatened to abdicate if he was not granted more power and the country was on the verge of a coup, the royalists turned to her son for leadership instead of her

Her arrogance, her political views and her conflicts with the parliament made her less and less liked during her husband's reign. Carl Gustaf Tessin once said about her: "Our queen would have been the most staunch republican if she had been born a subject", but she was born within a class which fought to keep their privileges and power