Princess Louise was born on August 5, 1828 in The Hague and was the elder sister of princess Marie zu Wied. Their father was Prince Frederik of the Netherlands, the second child of King Willem I of the Netherlands and Wilhelmina of Prussia. Her mother was Princess Louise of the Netherlands (née Princess Louise of Prussia), the eighth child of King Friederich Wilhelm III of Prussia and Queen Luise of Prussia (née Duchess Luise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz).
Princess Louise married on June 19, 1850 Crown Prince Karl of Sweden and Norway, the son of King Oscar I of Sweden and Norway and Queen Josefina of Sweden and Norway (née Princess Josephine of Leuchtenberg). Princess Wilhelmina Frederika Alexandrine Anna Louise then became Princess Vilhelmina Fredrika Alexandrine Anna Lovisa.
Lovisa was not a successful crown-princess, and was not to be a successful queen, having a shy and quiet personality, the opposite of the king's, though the fact that she never had anything whatsoever to do with politics was considered to be a good contrast to the previous queen-consorts who had, such as her predecessor, Josephine of Leuchtenberg. She spent her life attending to domestic duties and the family's finances, trying to please her husband by becoming the ideal woman of the time and wearing the "Ornament of silence". Her personality did represent this ideal, but it did not improve her relationship with the king, who treated her with condescending kindness but largely neglected her. Eventually, her health deteriorated.
