Queen of Hearts
The beautiful and courageous Queen Louise of Prussia, commanded universal respect and affection, and nothing in Prussian history is more admired than the dignity and unflinching courage with which she bore the sufferings inflicted on her and her family during the war between Prussia and France.
Queen Louise influenced her contemporaries and modern Germany probably more than any other woman. She was often called the “Queen of Hearts” because she impressed those around her with her charm, charisma and cheerful, friendly nature. The royal couple’s comparatively simple, down-to-earth way of life and their caring relationships as spouses and parents were the reason for the Queen’s popularity, particularly among the middle class. This popularity and Louise’s premature death in 1810 at the age of 34 soon led to cult-like adulation of the Queen that continues to the present day.
The French court painter Elisabeth Louise Vigee Lebrun painted Queen Louise in the early 1800s and was charmed by her. She wrote "But here my pen must remain powerless for it cannot convey the impression that my first meeting with the Princess made upon me. Her charming and heavenly face shone with an expression of gentle virtue and she possessed the finest and most regular features. The beauty of her figure, her neck, her arms, the dazzling freshness of her complexion, everything about her surpassed the most perfect ideal. She was in deep mourning and wore a crown made with spikes of jet which, far from unbecoming, gave her palid cheeks a certain radiance."Indeed, she was beautiful and had an amazing personality for her times. "The Queen of Prussia is really very charming," remarked Napoleon Bonaparte to Tsar Alexander I. "One would like to lay a crown at her feet instead of taking it away from her!"
Queen Louise influenced her contemporaries and modern Germany probably more than any other woman. She was often called the “Queen of Hearts” because she impressed those around her with her charm, charisma and cheerful, friendly nature. The royal couple’s comparatively simple, down-to-earth way of life and their caring relationships as spouses and parents were the reason for the Queen’s popularity, particularly among the middle class. This popularity and Louise’s premature death in 1810 at the age of 34 soon led to cult-like adulation of the Queen that continues to the present day.
The French court painter Elisabeth Louise Vigee Lebrun painted Queen Louise in the early 1800s and was charmed by her. She wrote "But here my pen must remain powerless for it cannot convey the impression that my first meeting with the Princess made upon me. Her charming and heavenly face shone with an expression of gentle virtue and she possessed the finest and most regular features. The beauty of her figure, her neck, her arms, the dazzling freshness of her complexion, everything about her surpassed the most perfect ideal. She was in deep mourning and wore a crown made with spikes of jet which, far from unbecoming, gave her palid cheeks a certain radiance."Indeed, she was beautiful and had an amazing personality for her times. "The Queen of Prussia is really very charming," remarked Napoleon Bonaparte to Tsar Alexander I. "One would like to lay a crown at her feet instead of taking it away from her!"
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