Queen
Frederica Louisa became queen of Prussia upon the accession of Frederick William to the throne in 1786, and she left Potsdam for Berlin, where she was to perform the ceremonial role of queen and regularly host drawing room-receptions for the royal court, the nobility and foreign envoys. She unintentionally provoked a diplomatic incident on her first court reception: unaware of the custom that the queen should only play with her subjects, she asked the Austrian and Russian ministers to join her at her gambling table, which caused the French minister to take offence on behalf of his nation for his exclusion.
The court of Frederick William was described as disorganized and ill-managed, and this was regarded to be the case of the household of Frederica Louisa as well. She was given an allowance of fifty-one thousand crowns per annum as queen, which was not sufficient to cover her expenses as she was "generous in her tastes and somewhat profuse in her habits", and Mirabeau relates how she was at one occasion unable to pay for the wood to supply the fires in her apartments, while her husband spent thirty thousand thalers annually on his mistress.
While the favorites and lovers of the king often participated in the affairs of state, she was allowed no political influence whatsoever, and Mirabeau said that "no Queen of Prussia of all Queens the least influential was ever so uninfluential" as the consort of Frederick William II. Wraxall remarks however, that although the queen "had not captivated the affections, or secured the constancy of her husband, she possessed at least his esteem, and received from him every proof of respect."
In 1787, she was asked to consent to the bigamy of her husband the king to her lady-in-waiting Julie von Voß. Her brother-in-law Duke Karl August of Saxe-Weimar was appointed ambassador in the negotiations between the king and queen, and Frederica Louisa was eventually obliged to agree. Reportedly, she laughed and exclaimed: "Oh, yes! I will give my consent, but it shall be dearly paid for!" She finally consented to the king's bigamy on condition that he pay her debts, which amounted to one hundred thousand crowns. During this affair, the German theatre gave the play "Inez de Castro" several nights in a row, it attracted great attention that the queen always retired during the performance of the fourth act, where the prince makes vows of passionate love to the maid of honour, and it was speculated whether this was a demonstration or not. Mirabeau commented: "It is difficult to determine, on account of the turbulent and versatile, but not particularly weak, character of this princess, whether she acted thus intentionally or not."
In 1790, she was obliged to consent to a second bigamy of her husband to another one of her ladies-in-waiting, Sophie von Dönhoff, who reportedly insulted the queen by demanding a queen's precedence at court.
When Wilhelmine, Gräfin von Lichtenau was finally given the title of countess, Frederica Louisa was obliged to receive her officially at court and present her with her portrait set in brilliants upon the advice of her own favorites, her Oberhofmeister Wittgenstein and her gentlewoman of the chamber.
When the king fell ill in 1796, he was tended by von Lichtenau, who after his temporary recovery in the spring of 1797 hosted the opera La Morte di Cleopatra by Nasolini in her garded, to which the queen was commanded to attend, an occasion which attracted a lot of attention and was described by
Dampmartin:
"that the Queen, the crown Prince and his consort, as well as the other royal Princes and Princesses, trembled with indignation at the humiliating constraint which made them the guests of a woman, whose very neighbourhood they felt to be an insult. The King bore upon his pallid countenance the tokens of mortal disease. The kindhearted Queen writhed her lips into a sickly smile. The crown Prince could not conceal his violent agitation; he cast stolen glances alternately at his tenderly-loved mother, and his adored wife, as if he could not take in the possibility of beholding them in the apartments of the mistress of his father [...] At some strophes of the opera, in which Octavia laments the infidelity of Mark Antony, all eyes involuntarily turned upon the Queen, and she concealed her face in her handkerchief." During the following public celebrations of the king's recovery, the queen avoided to attend by claiming to be sick while Lichtenau presided at the king's side.
On his deathbed, the king was attended by Wilhelmine Lichtenau in Potsdam, while the queen stayed in Berlin and visited him once a week. When he died, he asked her to conduct his wife and son to the ante-chamber, and asked her to tell them his farewell. Frederica Louisa was touched and embraced Lichtenau and thanked her for her devoted care of her husband, but the crown prince was judgmental. When the king asked Lichtenau "What did my son say to you?", and was answered "Not a word", he replied: "Not a word of thanks? Then I will see no one else," which the royal family blamed Lichtenau for, thinking it was her decision rather than his.
