Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria

Princess Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria (13 November 1801 – 14 December 1873) was queen of Prussia as the wife of King Frederick William IV. By birth, she was a Bavarian princess from the House of Wittelsbach; she was related to the ruling houses of Austria and Saxony through the marriages of her sisters. She supported her husband's interests in art and made charitable donations.

Biography

Early life Elisabeth was born in Munich, the daughter of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and his Queen Friederike Karoline Wilhelmine Margravine of Baden. She was the identical twin sister of Queen Amalie of Saxony, consort of King John I of Saxony, and sister of Archduchess Sophie of Austria, mother of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico; as well as Ludovika, Duchess in Bavaria, mother of Franz Josef's consort, Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Sisi), who was Elisabeth's godchild and namesake. She was known within her family as Elise.

Silk pictures with the portraits of Frederick William IV and his consort Elisabeth. The board frame bears the legend: "The first pictures woven in silk / made in the year 1847 in the silk weaving factory of / Wilhelm and Carl Dieckmann in Elbersfeld / and presented by the manufacturer to King Frederick William IV / in a special audience."

Crown Princess

On 29 November 1823, she married the future King Frederick William IV of Prussia It was on 5 May 1830, seven years after her marriage, that Elisabeth formally converted to Protestantism. Her union was reportedly happy, but remained childless: after a single miscarriage in 1828, Elisabeth was unable to have any offspring.

Queen Becoming Queen consort of Prussia in 1840, she was never without influence in Prussian politics, where she was active in preserving the close friendship between Prussia and the Austrian Empire.

To Frederick William IV, she was an exemplary wife and, during his long illness, a dedicated nurse. She was initially hostile to her nephew's British wife, Victoria, Princess Royal, known within the family as Vicky, but their relationship thawed when Vicky took care of Elisabeth and comforted her during the early painful days of her widowhood. Elisabeth never forgot Vicky's kindness and in her will broke with tradition by leaving Vicky her jewels. According to tradition, these jewels were normally meant to have been bequeathed to the current Queen, (Augusta of Saxe-Weimar, Elisabeth's sister-in-law, who was by then Prussian Queen and German Empress); Augusta felt insulted by this, and never forgave Vicky.

Queen Dowager After her husband's death on 2 January 1861, Elisabeth lived quietly at her seats at Sanssouci, Charlottenburg, and Stolzenfels and dedicated herself to charity work in memory of her late husband. Her brother-in-law, William I, German Emperor, held her in high regard as a true friend.

In 1865, Elisabeth would cross paths with the future Field Marshal and President Paul von Hindenburg, who served as her page. For his service, she gifted the young man a pocket watch, a cherished possession he would carry with him for the rest of his life. According to von Hindenburg's memoirs, it served as his "companion" throughout his service in the Austro-Prussian War, the Franco-Prussian War, and World War I.

Elisabeth died in 1873 in Dresden during a visit to her sister, Queen Amalie of Saxony. She was buried next to her husband on 21 December at the Friedenskirche in Potsdam.

Ancestry