Louise of Great Britain was born on 18 December 1724 as the daughter of King George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Ansbach. On 11 December 1743, she married the future King Frederick V of Denmark. King Christian VI hoped that a match with Great Britain would improve his chances to succeed as King of Sweden. This never happened. When he died in 1747, the young couple became King and Queen of Denmark.

Louise was known to be open and vivacious, and she easily socialised with others while Frederick was a chronic alcoholic who was addicted to sexual violence. Louise began to learn Danish as soon as she arrived and insisted on bringing up her children personally – and in Danish. At the time, the Danish court spoke German. This contributed to her extraordinary popularity. The couple went on to have four surviving children – their first child had died in infancy. In 1751, the Danish government opened negotiations with Sweden to marry her five-year-old daughter Sophia Magdalena to the Swedish Crown Prince. Louise protested strongly, but it was in vain.

A Swedish diplomat wrote, “She finds her pleasure in reading and in music, plays the piano quite well and likes to teach her little girl to sing. All in all, she is most pleased to live with her children.”

Louise died at the age of 27 while pregnant with her sixth child. She died after an abdominal operation. Her death was genuinely mourned by the public. Her popularity had been aided by the fact that she was not a German princess. After her death, her husband remarried to Juliana Maria of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and had a son by her.