Her father was Frederick, Prince of Wales, eldest son of George II and Caroline of Ansbach.

Her godparents were her paternal uncle Prince Frederick of Hesse-Kassel and aunts the Queen of Denmark and the Princess of Orange, all of whom were represented by proxies.

The preferred choice for a bride was initially Princess Louisa, but after the Danish representative in London, Count Hans Caspar von Bothmer (1727-1787), was informed of her weak constitution, her younger sister Caroline Matilda was chosen for the match instead.

[4] The same year, 1764, she received a proposal from her brother's brother-in-law, Adolf Frederick of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, but negotiations were again deterred due to concerns regarding her health.

[5] Reportedly, by the time her sister Caroline Matilda left Great Britain for Denmark in 1766, Louisa was succumbing to a more and more deteriorating state of health due to an advancing tuberculosis, which eventually turned her into an invalid.