2-715-179 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Queen Louise on the flight to Memel, 5 January 1807, (1936). 'Königin Luise Auf Der Flucht Nach Memel, 5 Januar 1807'. During the Napoleonic Wars, Napoleon himself occupied Berlin, causing Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz of Prussia and the rest of the royal family to flee in the dead of winter. Louise was ill, and they suffered hardships on the way to Memel in the easternmost part of the kingdom. According to one witness, there was no food or clean water, and the king and queen were forced to share the same sleeping arrangements in 'one of the wretched barns they call houses'. From "Bilder Deutscher Geschichte", (Pictures of German History), No.12, cigarette card album. [Cigaretten-Bilderdienst, Altona-Bahrenfeld, Hamburg, Germany, 1936]