Princess Louise of Brandenburg-Schwedt

Louise was the daughter of Margrave Frederick Henry, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt and his wife, Princess Leopoldine Marie of Anhalt-Dessau. By birth, Louise Henriette belonged to Brandenburg-Schwedt line of the House of Hohenzollern.

She was educated in Prussia, together with her sister, Friederike Charlotte of Brandenburg-Schwedt. Between 1760 and 1762, the mathematician Leonhard Euler sent her sister numerous letters in French about mathematical and philosophical subjects. These letters were published between 1769 and 1773 under the title Letters to a German Princess and were printed in Leipzig and St. Petersburg. The French edition was printed twelve times.

She was considered educated and well-read and was artistically gifted and was friends with famous artists, among them Angelica Kauffman, who painted some portraits of Louise. She traveled to England in 1775, and later to Switzerland and Italy.

She married her cousin Leopold III, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau on 25 July 1767 in Charlottenburg. By this marriage, she was Princess, and later Duchess, of Anhalt-Desau. Together, they had:

1. A stillborn daughter (b. and d. Dessau, 11 February 1768).
2. Frederick, Hereditary Prince of Anhalt-Dessau (b. Dessau, 27 December 1769 – d. Dessau, 27 May 1814).

• Johanna Geyer-Kordesch (ed.): Die Englandreise der Fürstin Louise von Anhalt-Dessau im Jahre 1775, Nicolaische Verlagsbuchhandlung, Berlin, 2006, ISBN 3-89479-341-4
• Wilhelm Haefs, Holger Zaunstöck (ed.): Hof – Geschlecht – Kultur. Luise von Anhalt-Dessau (1750–1811) und die Fürstinnen ihrer Zeit = Das achtzehnte Jahrhundert, vol. 28, issue 2, Wallstein, Göttingen 2004, ISBN 3-89244-807-8
• Simone Hübner: Luise von Anhalt-Dessau — eine aufgeklärte Fürstin? Versuch einer Lebensbeschreibung thesis, Humboldt University, Berlin, 1993
• William and Ulrike Sheldon (eds.): Im Geist der Empfindsamkeit. Freundschaftsbriefe der Mösertochter Jenny von Voigts an die Fürstin Luise von Anhalt-Dessau 1780–1808, Wenner, Osnabrück, 1971

• Literature by and about Princess Louise of Brandenburg-Schwedt in the German National Library catalogue