Louise of The Netherlands - Queen

Queen

She became Queen of Sweden at her father-in-law's death on 8 July 1859.

She was crowned both in Sweden and Norway; Norway had refused to crown the two previous queens because they were Roman Catholics, and Louise became the first queen to be crowned in Norway since the Middle Ages. She was very popular during her visit to Norway.

Louise was not a successful crown-princess and was not to be a successful queen, having a shy and quiet personality, the complete opposite of the king's. It was said that she lacked the ability to converse. However, the fact that she never had anything whatsoever to do with politics was considered to be a good contrast compared to the previous queens consort, such as her predecessor Josephine. She was expected to do charity and founded several institutions, such as Kronprinsessan Lovisas vårdanstalt för sjuka barn (Crown Princess Louise's asylum for sick children), Drottning Lovisas understödsförening (Queen Louise's support organisation) and Dronning Lovisas asylum (Queen Louise's asylum) in Norway, she translated religious works and gave the income to charity.

She spent her life attending to domestic duties and the family's finances, trying to please her husband by becoming the ideal woman of the time and wearing the "Ornament of Silence". Her personality did represent this ideal, but it did not improve her relationship with the king, who treated her with condescending kindness and largely neglected her. Eventually, her health deteriorated. In 1854, her son died; the birth had made her infertile, and she offered her husband a divorce, but he declined.

On at least one occasion, during a picnic, she suffered some kind of a fit (possibly an epileptic seizure from contemporary descriptions), which was thought to have been a hysterical reaction to her husband's neglect. The court struggled to conceal her from the public until the fit was over. In this issue, it was noted that: Lovisa could at any time faint and in connection to this, she could have what is called nerv- or cramp-attacks. At one occasion, she had an attack during a boat trip on Mälaren; the king was present, and quickly took her below deck.

Louise did not care for ceremonial duties and preferred a quiet family life, although she was interested in fashion and often dressed very elegantly. She often avoided ceremonial duties by claiming to be sick, but was occasionally forced by her husband. He did not like to show himself without her at formal occasions, and once said that she would have to attend: The old women might think there is something wrong with you! In 1866, the king forced her to open the Stockholm exhibition in his place. Her husband was very fond of their daughter, so they did share some of the family life Louisa longed for. However, she was worried by his treatment of their daughter "as a son", which allowed her a very "unrestrained" childhood.

Together with her daughter, she was a student of Nancy Edberg, the pioneer of swimming for women (1862); the art of swimming was initially not regarded as being entirely proper for women, but when the Queen and her daughter Princess Louise supported it by attending the lessons, swimming was quickly made fashionable and became accepted for women. Louise employed Sweden's first female dentist, Rosalie Fougelberg, as her personal dentist in 1867.

In 1870, she visited her mother in Holland, who died the same year. On her return, her husband was sick, and she nursed him. She liked to take "walks by carriage", and on one of these, she caught pneumonia. Queen Louise died on 30 March 1871 in Stockholm. Her husband and his mother were unable to attend the funeral in the church because of their illnesses. Her father, Prince Frederick of the Netherlands, survived her by ten years.