She was a niece of Frederick the Great, being the second daughter and third child of Prince Augustus Ferdinand of Prussia by his wife Margravine Elisabeth Louise of Brandenburg-Schwedt.

Louise and her husband, Prince Antoni Radziwiłł, were popular for their patronage of music, as well as their prominent positions in Berlin society.

[2] Her birth was a disappointment to her family, as at the time her elder brother Friedrich Heinrich Emil Karl, Prince of Prussia (1769–1773), was the only heir to the Hohenzollern throne of her uncle Frederick the Great.

[6] In the end however, Louise was considered too young, as Prince Max had wanted to marry her within the year; her father conversely refused to part from her until she was eighteen.

Another possible candidate was Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, the second son of George III of the United Kingdom, who traveled to Berlin in 1786 to attend military maneuvers; nothing came of this however, and it was rumored that he had instead been interested in Louise's cousin Princess Wilhelmine.

[8] By her own admission, Louise remarked of the York affair, "Lacking charm and elegance, awkward from excessive shyness, I was poorly equipped to supplant my cousin.

In April 1795, Prince Michał Hieronim Radziwiłł and his wife traveled to Berlin with their daughter Christina and son Antoni; on 1 May, they were presented at the royal court at Bellevue Palace.

[11] Her cousin Frederick William II of Prussia also gave his consent, pleased that the couple planned to settle in Berlin.

[12] As arrangements for their betrothal were underway however, Frederick William, having speedily and happily agreed to their marriage, surprisingly delayed his correspondence for several days.

[15] The Swedish Princess Hedwig Elisabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp described the couple and the contemporary view around the marriage in Berlin at the time of her visit in 1798: A witty and talented woman, a typical French "grande dame".

His children with Louise were Germanised and never returned to Poznań; however, as owners of the manor Nieborów near Warsaw and huge family estates in today's Belarus, they paid frequent visits to other parts of Poland.

The children were closely brought up alongside their Hohenzollern cousins, as they were similar in age; their eldest son became the playmate of Prince Wilhelm, future Emperor of Germany.

[20][21] To boost her suitableness, there were talks of Elisa being adopted by the childless Alexander I of Russia or by her uncle Prince Augustus of Prussia, but both plans failed to win the support of all parties involved.

Another factor was the influence of the Mecklenburg relations of the deceased Queen Louise in the German and Russian courts, who were not fond of Elisa's father and against the possible marriage.

He was sent off to the Weimar court to look for a suitable wife, where he wed Princess Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, fourteen years his junior on 11 June 1829.