- The life of Luise de Mecklenburg-Strelitz, wife of Frederick Wilhelm II of Prussia, and her opposition to Napoleon during the Napoleonic Wars.
- Queen Luise of Prussia celebrates her 30th birthday at Schloss Paretz with her closest family. As a special gift, she receives her last work, a waltz dedicated to her, from her cousin Prince Louis Ferdinand, who is not only an enthusiastic officer but also a talented composer. On the fringe of the birthday celebrations, Luises consort, King Friedrich Wilhelm is worried, which he also discusses with Luise's father. Prussia stands between Napoleon and Tsar Alexander - both France and Russia want to pull the king on their side. The king, however, wants to stay out of the way and postpones his decision.
Shortly afterwards, there is a big court ball at Charlottenburg Palace. The French Foreign Minister Talleyrand demands that the king form an alliance between Prussia and Napoleon against Russia. Grand Duke Constantine, brother of the Tsar, is also present as an uninvited guest and asks Friedrich Wilhelm to side with Russia and against France. The King of Prussia does not know this yet and later crosses the stormy night. On his return, he asks the advice of the only person he trusts unconditionally, his wife Luise. He speaks of abdication so as not to have to make a decision against him. Luise advises him to meet Tsar Alexander. You meet at Memel and Luise is very taken with the charming rule. Negotiations are slow. Constantine's cunning leads to an alliance with Russia. Napoleon's reaction followed immediately, his armies marched against Prussia. Friedrich Wilhelm hesitated to give the order to mobilize. Luise hears how Louis Ferdinand describes the king as a coward and urges the beloved man to make a decision in a nightly conversation. In the morning, the mobilization is signed under drum rolls.
After the double battle of Jena and Auerstedt, during which the Prussian army was crushed, Tsar Alexander quickly agreed with Napoleon that the loser was Prussia. Napoleon's conditions of peace were devastating for the country. Minister Hardenberg asks the Queen to meet Napoleon in Tilsit to find out that only she is in a position to negotiate better conditions. Luise, who feels complicit in advising Friedrich Wilhelm to ally himself with Alexander, takes the humiliation of facing Napoleon alone as the defeated one. When he, surprised by her royal attitude, intelligence and warmth, agrees to make concessions, Friedrich Wilhelm enters the room, after which Napoleon ends the conversation with Luise without result.
When the queen, who had been in Memel with her children, returns to Berlin, which has since been occupied by the French, she is already terminal. She greets her people one last time before retiring to her beloved Schloss Paretz with Friedrich Wilhelm and the children. She doesn't have much time left and when her confidant, Countess Voss, stuttered that the whole country would cry, she still shows her strength and answers: "You shouldn't cry - you should learn!" No country has ever cried so much for its Queen.
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