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| Queen Louise of Sweden. Image: Wikimedia Commons |
Queen Louise of Sweden was born on July 13, 1889, the second
daughter and child of Prince Louis of Battenberg and Princess Victoria of
Hesse-Darmstadt . Her older sister, Alice, married Prince Andrew of Greece,
whose only son, Philip, married the future Queen Elizabeth II. The Earl Mountbatten of Burma was also a younger brother.
In 1917, at the height of World War I and amidst raging anti-German
sentiments, King George V, her mother's cousin, renounced for himself, his
family and his relatives their German titles and anglicized their names. The House of Battenberg, thus, was renamed the House of Mountbatten and Prince Louis was ennobled as Marquess of
Milford Haven.
During World War I, Louise actively served with the Soldiers
and Sailors Families Association and the Smokes for Soldiers and Sailors. She later
joined the Red Cross, working as a nurse in France. Her work was later commended
with the the British War- and Victory Medals, a medal from the British Red
Cross, as well as the Médaille de la Reconnaissance française.
Louise' beauty and charm attracted several royal suitors,
but it was to a commoner, Alexander Stuart-Hill, a Scottish artist living in
Paris, whom she first fell in love with. They initially kept their relationship
a secret for fear her parents would go against it. In fact, her family took
a liking to Stuart-Hill and they found him
"eccentric" and "affected". However, Louise decided that a marriage with
him was impossible.
In 1923, Louise met her future husband, Crown Prince Gustaf
Adolf of Sweden, in London. The crown prince was a widower. Her wife and Louise’s
cousin, Princess Margaret of Connaught, died in 1920. Crown Prince Adolf
immediately started courting her the moment he placed her eyes upon her. As a
young woman, Louise was adamant that she would never marry a king or a widower,
but she relented. The couple's impending marriage initially triggered public
discussion regarding Lady Louise' position.
The British government, eventually confirmed with the British Government
that the crown prince's choice for a future wife was in compliance with the
succession law, thereby concluding debate on the imminent nuptials. The "Treaty
between Great Britain and Sweden for the Marriage of Lady Louise Mountbatten
with His Royal Highness Prince Gustaf Adolf, Crown Prince of Sweden" was signed
shortly before their marriage.
Their marriage took place on
November 3, 1923, at the Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace, before King
George V and members of the British and Swedish royal families. Their marriage was London’s
biggest social event of the year.
While the couple did not have a child of their own, Louise raised
Adolf’s children as if they were her own.
At the outbreak of World War II, Louise leaped to service
once again, joining the Red Cross and organizing a relief brigade that sourced candles
and other non-electric light sources for the needy during the campaign. Since Sweden
was a neutral country, she used it as an opportunity to act as a messenger to
her relatives and friends across warring borders.
In 1950, Louise became queen after her husband succeeded as king of Sweden. She immediately reformed
the court, relaxing the somewhat stiff customs observed by her mother-in-law.
In 1962, she abolished the court presentations and replaced them, instead, with "democratic
ladies' lunches", where career women were invited. She also renovated and
redecorated the interior of the Royal Palace in Stockholm.
Louise’s good heart, sense of humour, and sense of
self-irony made her popular among the Swedes. She ably distinguished herself from
her royal role and her sympathy was taken as a form of her honesty.
Queen Louise died on March 7, 1965 at Saint Göran Hospital,
in Stockholm, Sweden, after six hours of emergency surgery following a period
of ill health. She was buried beside husband at the Royal Cemetery in Solna
north of Stockholm.
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