Louise Scheel von Plessen (née Countess Louise von Berckentin; Vienna, 26 April 1725 – Celle, 14 September 1799) was a Danish lady-in-waiting and memoir writer. She wrote the memoirs of her time at the Danish court: Mémoires de la cour de Danemark.
Life
Early life
She was the daughter of Count Christian August von Berckentin (sometimes "Berkentin"; 1694–1758), the Danish ambassador to Austria, and his spouse, Susanna Margrethe von Boineburg zu Honstein (1697–1732). She spent her childhood in Vienna and with a maternal aunt at Vallø stift Protestant convent.
From 1740 to 1744, she was maid of honour to Christian VI's queen consort, Sophie Magdalene of Brandenburg-Kulmbach. In 1744 she married politician Major Christian Sigfred Scheel von Plessen (1716, Glorup Manor – 1755).
In the chronicles of Dorothea Biehl, a personal friend of a member of the court, Anna Sofie Bülow, Louise von Plessen was described as quite intelligent, having educated herself by reading, and with great charm when she felt motivated to make herself liked, but also as haughty and domineering: proud over her learning, and with the view that her sexual virtue made her morally superior, she reportedly felt entitled to be judgmental. Reportedly, she learned from queen Sophie Magdalene how to dominate a spouse, and did so during her own marriage, but in contrast to the royal marriage, her own was described as unhappy.
She became a childless widow in 1755, with a considerable fortune from her late spouse, which was enlarged by the inheritance from her father three years later. As a widow, she wished to live a peaceful life, and retired to the countryside with her friend baroness Amalie Charlotte Schack. In 1761 she made an unsuccessful attempt to start a charity school for poor girls in Christianshavn.
Court life
In August 1766, she somewhat reluctantly accepted the appointment of head lady-in-waiting or overhofmesterinde of the court of the new queen, Princess Caroline Matilda of Great Britain. Her task as senior lady in waiting was, according to her memoirs, to provide "a certain dignity and decency at court", a task she found to be very difficult. When the ladies-in-waiting to the queen were appointed, she made sure that all were Danes with the exception of Elisabet von Eyben.
Queen Caroline Matilda became attached to her as a mother-figure after she arrived in Denmark, and she became the queen's confidante. Already during the trip toward the capital after their first meeting, the queen became so attached to von Plessen, that she reportedly felt no need for any other courtier.
Initially, it had reportedly been the plan of Louise von Plessen to make queen Caroline Matilda as influential upon Christian VII, as queen Sophie Magdalene had been on Christian VI. To make this happen she had advised Caroline Matilda already when she was on her way to meet Christian that she should not be easily accessible to him, as this would make the king lose respect for her and treat her like a mistress: but instead she should keep her distance and make the king court her; an advice to which the queen had adjusted herself. Louise von Plessen had been displeased already when the king had traveled in the same carriage with the queen on their way from their first meeting. After the royal wedding, the king used to send a message to the queen's chambers to inquire if she was alone and ready to receive him; upon this, Louise von Plessen advised the queen to answer that the time was unsuitable, and even on occasions when the king did come, the queen played cards with Louise von Plessen until the king left again. The plan to make the king court the queen and become more eager when kept at a distance did not work, however; instead, it made the king more and more reluctant to visit the queen at all, and he complained about the distance of the queen and blamed Louise von Plessen for it. When an official cautioned her for meddling in to the intimate affairs of the royal couple, Louise von Plessen refused to listen and referred to the immoral lifestyle of the king.