Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Louise Auguste Wilhelmine Amalie became Queen of Prussia through marriage to Frederick William III, a union that was both happy and fertile: nine children, including two future monarchs. The turning point came in 1807, after Prussia's crushing losses in the War of the Fourth Coalition, when she traveled to Tilsit to negotiate directly with Napoleon for better terms. She got nothing, but the gesture itself elevated her from beloved queen to national icon. She died at thirty-four on 19 July 1810. Napoleon is said to have remarked that the king "has lost his best minister." Four years later her husband founded the Order of Louise in her name; over a century later, conservative German women built the Queen Louise League around her memory.