Caroline of Brunswick
Caroline of Brunswick | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Holy Roman Empire | |||||
Died | 7 August 1821 Hammersmith, Middlesex, England | (aged 53)||||
Burial | 25 August 1821 | ||||
Spouse | |||||
Issue | Princess Charlotte of Wales | ||||
| |||||
House | Brunswick-Bevern | ||||
Father | Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick | ||||
Mother | Princess Augusta of Great Britain | ||||
Signature |
Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (Caroline Amelia Elizabeth; 17 May 1768 – 7 August 1821) was
The daughter of Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, and Princess Augusta of Great Britain, Caroline was engaged in 1794 to her cousin George, Prince of Wales, whom she had never met. He was already illegally married to Maria Fitzherbert. George and Caroline married the following year but separated shortly after the birth of their only child, Princess Charlotte, in 1796. By 1806, rumours that Caroline had taken lovers and had an illegitimate child led to an investigation into her private life. The dignitaries who led the investigation concluded that there was "no foundation" to the rumours, but Caroline's access to her daughter was still restricted. In 1814, Caroline moved to Italy, where she employed Bartolomeo Pergami as a servant. Pergami soon became Caroline's closest companion, and it was widely assumed that they were lovers. In 1817, Caroline was devastated when Charlotte died in childbirth. She heard the news from a passing courier as George had refused to write and tell her. He was determined to divorce Caroline and set up a second investigation to collect evidence of her adultery.
In January 1820, George became
Early life
Caroline was born a princess of
Caroline was brought up in a difficult family situation. Her mother resented her father's open adultery with Baroness Luise von
She was educated by governesses, but the only subject in which she was given a higher education was music.[2] From 1783 until 1791, Countess Eleonore von Münster was her governess, and won her affection, but never managed to teach her to spell correctly, as Caroline preferred to dictate to a secretary.[2] Caroline could understand English and French, but her father admitted that she was lacking in education.[3]
According to Caroline's mother, who was British, all German princesses learned English in the hope that they would be chosen to marry
John Stanley, later 1st Baron Stanley of Alderley, saw her in 1781, and noted that she was an attractive girl with curly, fair hair.[5] In 1784, she was described as a beauty, and two years later, Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau described her as "most amiable, lively, playful, witty and handsome".[2]
Caroline was brought up with extremely limited contact with the opposite sex even by the standards of her own time.[2] She was reportedly constantly supervised by her governess and elder ladies, restricted to her room when the family was entertaining and ordered to keep away from the windows.[2] She was normally refused permission to attend balls and court functions, and when allowed, she was forbidden to dance. Abbé Baron commented during the winter of 1789–90: "She is supervised with the greatest severity, as they claim she is already aware of what she is missing. I doubt if the torches of Hymen will illuminate for her. Although always attired with style and elegance, she is never allowed to dance", and that as soon as the first dance began, she was forced to sit down at the whist table with three old ladies.[2]
A rare occasion was the wedding of her elder brother Charles, when she was finally allowed to dance, though only with the groom and his new brother-in-law, the Prince of Orange – she was, however, still forbidden to dine alone with her brother.[2]
Her secluded isolation tormented her, which was demonstrated when she was later again banned from attending a ball. She simulated an illness so severe that her parents left the ball to see her. When they arrived, she claimed to be in labour and forced them to send for a midwife. When the midwife arrived, she stopped her simulation and asked her mother: "Now, Madam, will you keep me another time from a ball?"[2]
Her mother early favoured a match between one of her children and a member of her English family, and when her nephew Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany visited Brunswick in June 1781, she lamented the fact that Caroline, because of her age, could not be present very often.[2] Caroline was given a number of proposals from 1782 onward. Marriage with the Prince of Orange, Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt, Charles, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, and the second son of the Margrave of Baden were all suggested, while her mother and father supported an English and a Prussian Prince respectively, but none came to fruition.[2] Caroline was later to state that her father had forbidden her to marry a man she had fallen in love with because of his low status. The identity of this man is not clear, but contemporaries point out an officer who was referred to at the time as the "Handsome Irishman" who lived in Brunswick, and with whom Caroline was said to have been in love.[2] There was also a rumour that Caroline had given birth at the age of fifteen.[2]
Though she was not allowed to socialise with men, she was allowed to ride, and during riding, she visited the cottages of the peasantry.[2] She had done this already as a child, during which she had met children to play with, and as an adult, one of these visits allegedly led to a pregnancy.[2] There is no confirmation of this rumour, but it was well known during her life, and referred to as a reason for why she married at an older age than was usual, despite being regarded as good-looking and having been given so many proposals.[2]
Engagement
In 1794, Caroline and the Prince of Wales were engaged. They had never met—George had agreed to marry her because he was heavily in debt, and if he contracted a marriage with an eligible princess, Parliament would increase his allowance.
On 28 March 1795, Caroline and Malmesbury left Cuxhaven on the Jupiter. Delayed by poor weather, they landed a week later, on Easter Sunday, 5 April, at Greenwich. There, she met Frances Villiers, Countess of Jersey, George's mistress, who had been appointed Caroline's Lady of the Bedchamber.[11] Smith concludes that:
- She was chosen as the intended bride of George, Prince of Wales partly because her mother was a favourite sister of George III, partly through the favourable reports of her given by his brothers the Dukes of York and Clarence when they visited Germany, and partly for lack of a suitable alternative German Protestant princess.[12]
On meeting his future wife for the first time, George called for a glass of brandy. He was evidently disappointed. Similarly, Caroline told Malmesbury, "[the Prince is] very fat and he's nothing like as handsome as his portrait."[13] At dinner that evening, the Prince was appalled by Caroline's garrulous nature and her jibes at the expense of Lady Jersey.[14] She was upset and disappointed by George's obvious partiality for Lady Jersey over her.[15]
Troubled marriage
Caroline and George were married on 8 April 1795 at the
In a letter to a friend, the prince claimed that the couple only had sexual intercourse three times: twice the first night of the marriage, and once the second night.[19] He wrote, "it required no small [effort] to conquer my aversion and overcome the disgust of her person."[20] Caroline claimed George was so drunk that he "passed the greatest part of his bridal night under the grate, where he fell, and where I left him".[21]
Nine months after the wedding, Caroline gave birth to Princess Charlotte, George's only legitimate child, at Carlton House on 7 January 1796. Charlotte was second in the line of succession to the British throne after her father. Just three days after Charlotte's birth, George made out a new will. He left all his property to "Maria Fitzherbert, my wife", while to Caroline he left one shilling.[22]
Gossip about Caroline and George's troubled marriage was already circulating.[23] The newspapers claimed that Lady Jersey opened, read and distributed the contents of Caroline's private letters.[24] She despised Lady Jersey and could not visit or travel anywhere without George's permission.[25] The press vilified George for his extravagance and luxury at a time of war and portrayed Caroline as a wronged wife.[26] She was cheered in public and gained plaudits for her "winning familiarity" and easy, open nature.[20] George was dismayed at her popularity and his own unpopularity, and felt trapped in a loveless marriage with a woman he loathed. He wanted a separation.[27]
In April 1796, George wrote to Caroline, "We have unfortunately been oblig'd to acknowledge to each other that we cannot find happiness in our union. ... Let me therefore beg you to make the best of a situation unfortunate for us both."
Delicate Investigation
Charlotte was placed in the care of a governess, in a mansion near Montagu House in the summers, and Caroline visited her often.[33] It seems that a single daughter was not sufficient to sate Caroline's maternal instincts, and she adopted eight or nine poor children who were fostered out to people in the district.[34] In 1802, she adopted a three-month-old boy, William Austin, and took him into her home. By 1805, Caroline had fallen out with her near neighbours, Sir John and Lady Douglas, who claimed that Caroline had sent them obscene and harassing letters. Lady Douglas accused Caroline of infidelity, and alleged that William Austin was Caroline's illegitimate son.[35]
In 1806, a secret commission was set up, known as the "Delicate Investigation", to examine Lady Douglas's claims. The commission comprised four of the most eminent men in the country: Prime Minister
The commissioners decided that there was "no foundation" for the allegations, but despite being a supposedly secret investigation, it proved impossible to prevent gossip from spreading, and news of the investigation leaked to the press.
During the Delicate Investigation, Caroline was not permitted to see her daughter, and afterwards her visits were essentially restricted to once a week and only in the presence of Caroline's own mother, the Dowager Duchess of Brunswick.[43] Meetings took place at either Blackheath or an apartment in Kensington Palace designated for Caroline's use.[44]
Social isolation
By the end of 1811, King George III had become permanently insane, and the Prince of Wales was appointed
In 1814, after
Caroline, unhappy at her situation and treatment in Britain, negotiated a deal with the
Exile
After a two-week visit to Brunswick, Caroline headed for Italy through Switzerland. Along the way, possibly in Milan, she hired Bartolomeo Pergami as a servant.[56] Pergami soon rose to the head of Caroline's household, and managed to get his sister, Angelica, Countess of Oldi, appointed as Caroline's lady-in-waiting.[57] In mid-1815, Caroline bought a house, Villa d'Este, on the shores of Lake Como, even though her finances were stretched.[58]
From early 1816, she and Pergami went on a cruise around the Mediterranean, visiting Napoleon's former palace on
By this time, gossip about Caroline was everywhere.
The previous year, Caroline's daughter, Princess Charlotte, had married
George was determined to press ahead with a divorce and set up a commission chaired by the Vice-Chancellor John Leach to gather evidence of Caroline's adultery. Leach sent three commissioners to Milan to interrogate Caroline's former servants, including Theodore Majocchi and Caroline's maid, Louise Demont.[72] In London, Brougham was still acting as Caroline's agent. Concerned that the "Milan commission" might threaten Caroline, he sent his brother James to Caroline's villa in the hope of establishing whether George had any grounds for divorce. James wrote back to his brother of Caroline and Pergami, "they are to all appearances man and wife, never was anything so obvious."[73] The Milan commission was assembling more and more evidence, and by 1819 Caroline was worried. She informed James Brougham that she would agree to a divorce in exchange for money.[74] However, at this time in England divorce by mutual consent was illegal; it was only possible to divorce if one of the partners admitted or was found guilty of adultery. Caroline said it was "impossible" for her to admit that, so the Broughams advised that only formal separation was possible.[75] Both keen to avoid publicity, the Broughams and the Government discussed a deal where Caroline would be called by a lesser title, such as "Duchess of Cornwall" rather than "Princess of Wales".[75] As the negotiations continued at the end of 1819, Caroline travelled to France, which gave rise to speculation that she was on her way back to England. In January 1820, however, she made plans to return to Italy, but then on 29 January 1820 George III died. Caroline's husband became king and, at least nominally, she was queen of the United Kingdom.[76]
Queen consort
Instead of being treated like a queen, Caroline found that her estranged husband's accession paradoxically made her position worse. On visiting Rome,
By the beginning of June 1820, Caroline had travelled north from Italy, and was at
Even during the trial, the Queen remained immensely popular, as witnessed by over 800 petitions and nearly a million signatures that favoured her cause.[88] As a figurehead of the opposition movement demanding reform, many revolutionary pronouncements were made in Caroline's name.[89]
All classes will ever find in me a sincere friend to their liberties, and a zealous advocate of their rights.
— Queen Caroline, September 1820, quoted in Robins, p. 240
A government cannot stop the
march of intellectany more than they can arrest the motion of the tides or the course of the planets.— Queen Caroline quoted in The Times, 7 October 1820
But with the end of the trial, her alliance with the radicals came to an end.[90] The government again extended the offer of £50,000 a year, this time without preconditions, and Caroline accepted.[91]
On 5 May 1821, Napoleon died on St Helena. Sir Edmund Nagle informed George, "Sir, your bitterest enemy is dead". He replied, "Is she, by God!".[92]
Despite the King's best attempts, Caroline retained a strong popularity among the masses, and pressed ahead with plans to attend the
Death
The night following Caroline's failed attempt to attend her husband's coronation, she fell ill and took a large dose of
Afraid that a procession of the funeral
The final route (in heavy rain) took the following course: Hammersmith, Kensington (blocked), Kensington Gore (blocked), Hyde Park, Park Lane (blocked), return to Hyde Park where soldiers forced the gates open, Cumberland Gate (blocked), Edgware Road, Tottenham Court Road, Drury Lane, the Strand, and from there through the City of London, then by way of Romford and Chelmsford to Colchester. The coffin was kept overnight at St Peter's Church, Colchester, where Caroline's executors tried unsuccessfully to replace the official inscription plate with one including the phrase "Injured Queen of England".[103] The next day, the coffin was taken to the seaport of Harwich,[104] and placed on a ship bound for Germany. Brunswick Cathedral is Caroline's final resting place.
Legacy
The American historian Thomas W. Laqueur emphasises that the sordid royal squabble captivated all Britons:
- During much of 1820 the "queen's business" captivated the nation. "It was the only question I have ever known," wrote the radical critic William Hazlitt, "that excited a thorough popular feeling. It struck its roots into the heart of the nation; it took possession of every house or cottage in the kingdom."[105]
In 1822, the publishers of the newspaper John Bull were found guilty over a series of libels published in the Queen's lifetime, including one that alluded to her as "a shameless woman". It was alleged the libels had embittered the Queen and shortened her life.[106]
The story of Caroline's marriage to George and her battle to be recognised as queen served as the basis for the 1996 BBC docudrama A Royal Scandal with Susan Lynch as Caroline and Richard E. Grant as George IV. The 2008 radio play The People's Princess, with Alex Jennings as George IV and Rebecca Saire as Caroline, drew parallels with the marriage and divorce of Charles, Prince of Wales (later Charles III), and Diana, Princess of Wales. Caroline was also the subject of Richard Condon's 1977 novel The Abandoned Woman.
Arms
The
As Princess of Wales she used the arms of her husband (the royal arms with a label of three points Argent) impaled with those of her father, the whole surmounted by a coronet of the heir apparent.
Ancestry
Ancestors of Caroline of Brunswick Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg | | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
15. Princess Magdalena Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst | |||||||||||||
References
- doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/4722. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Fraser, Flora: The Unruly Queen: The Life of Queen Caroline
- ^ Plowden, p. 44
- ^ Plowden, p. 6
- ^ Plowden, pp. 5–6
- ^ Plowden, p. 3
- ^ Plowden, p. 5; Robins, p. 5
- ^ Malmesbury's diary quoted in Plowden, pp. 9–18 and Robins, pp. 6–9
- ^ Quoted in Plowden, p. 16
- ^ Malmesbury's diary quoted in Plowden, p. 15 and Robins, pp. 9–10
- ^ Plowden, pp. 20–22; Robins, pp. 11–12
- ^ Smith 2004
- ^ Malmesbury's diary quoted in Robins, p. 16 (and in the original French le Prince est ... très gros, et nullement aussi beau que son portrait in Plowden, p. 23)
- ^ Plowden, p. 25; Robins, p. 16
- ^ Robins, p. 16
- ^ Plowden, p. 26; Robins, p. 17
- ^ Robins, p. 17
- ^ Plowden, p. 27
- ^ a b c Shingleton, Hugh M (November–December 2006). "The Tumultuous Marriage of The Prince and The Princess of Wales". ACOG Clinical Review. 11 (6): 13–16.
- ^ a b Robins, p. 18
- ^ Plowden, p. 28
- ^ Plowden, pp. 39–40; Robins, p. 20
- ^ Plowden, pp. 42–43
- ^ Plowden, p. 44; Robins, pp. 20–21
- ^ Robins, p. 22
- ^ Plowden, p. 48; Robins, pp. 19, 21
- ^ Robins, pp. 22–23
- ^ Plowden, p. 45
- ^ Plowden, p. 50
- ^ Plowden, p. 55; Robins, p. 25
- ^ Plowden, pp. 62–65; Robins, p. 25
- ^ Robins, pp. 26–27
- ^ Plowden, p. 60; Robins, p. 27
- ^ Robins, pp. 27–28
- ^ Plowden, pp. 75–78; Robins, p. 29
- ^ Plowden, p. 79; Robins, pp. 29–30
- ^ Plowden, pp. 69–71; Robins, pp. 29–30
- ^ Plowden, p. 78; Robins, pp. 29–30
- ^ Plowden, pp. 79–82; Robins, p. 31
- ^ Robins, pp. 31–32
- ^ Robins, p. 31
- ^ Robins, p. 32
- ^ Plowden, pp. 109, 128
- ^ Plowden, p. 109
- ^ Plowden, pp. 122, 133; Robins, p. 36
- ^ Plowden, p. 175
- ^ Robins, pp. 37–41
- ^ Robins, p. 42
- Martha Lloyd, 16 February 1813, quoted in Robins, p. 42
- ^ Plowden, pp. 184–185; Robins, p. 46
- ^ Plowden, pp. 194–195
- ^ Plowden, pp. 195–196
- ^ Plowden, pp. 201–202
- ^ Robins, pp. 47–50
- ^ Robins, p. 49
- ^ Robins, pp. 62–63
- ^ Robins, p. 66
- ^ Robins, p. 67
- ^ Robins, p. 69
- ^ e.g. Letter of Lord Sligo quoted in Robins, p. 62
- ^ Robins, pp. 69–72
- ^ "British Royal History: Queen Be". The Economist.
- ^ Robins, p. 72
- John Murray, January 1817, quoted in Robins, p. 73
- ISBN 978-1-78326-917-4.
- ^ "Sir Francis Ronalds' Travel Journal: Switzerland and Germany". Sir Francis Ronalds and his Family. Retrieved 22 February 2018.
- ^ Robins, pp. 72–73
- ^ Robins, p. 74
- ^ Plowden, pp. 260–263; Robins, pp. 53–54
- ^ Robins, pp. 74–75
- ^ Robins, p. 55
- ^ Robins, pp. 76–77
- ^ Letter from James Brougham to his brother Henry, quoted in Robins, p. 79
- ^ Robins, p. 79
- ^ a b Robins, p. 80
- ^ Robins, p. 82
- ^ Robins, p. 85
- ^ Robins, pp. 96–100
- ^ Robins, p. 100
- ^ Robins, p. 123
- ^ Robins, pp. 116–117
- ^ Plowden, p. 269; Robins, pp. 93–94
- ^ Robins, pp. 93–94
- ^ Robins, pp. 126–127
- ^ Robins, pp. 132–143
- ^ Robins, pp. 193–202
- ^ Thomas Moore's Memoirs, (London, 1853) vol. III, p. 149 quoted in Robins, p. 176
- ^ Robins, p. 237
- ^ Robins, pp. 159–164, 240–242
- ^ Robins, p. 300
- ^ Robins, pp. 305–306
- ^ Journal of Henry Edward Fox, afterwards 4th and Last Lord Holland 1818-1830 (25 August 1821); in The New Yale Book of Quotations, p. 318
- ^ Plowden, p. 276; Robins, pp. 308–309
- ^ Robins, p. 309
- ^ Miss Elizabeth Robertson quoted in Robins, pp. 310–311
- ^ Robins, p. 311
- Creevey Papers edited by Sir Herbert Maxwell, 7th Baronet(1903). London: John Murray. pp. 361–362, quoted in Robins, p. 312
- ^ Robins, p. 312
- ^ a b Robins, p. 313
- ^ Plowden, p. 276; Robins, p. 313
- ^ "Grave of Richard Honey and George Francis, St Paul's Hammersmith". Flickr. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
- ^ Robins, pp. 314–317
- ^ "Rumpus – St Peter's, Colchester".
- ^ Robert Chambers, Book of Days
- ^ Laquer (1982) p 417
- ^ 'Libel On The Late Queen In 'John Bull', Town Talk, 6 January 1822, p3.[1]
- ISBN 0-900455-25-X.
- ISBN 1-85605-469-1.
- ^ Genealogie ascendante jusqu'au quatrieme degre inclusivement de tous les Rois et Princes de maisons souveraines de l'Europe actuellement vivans [Genealogy up to the fourth degree inclusive of all the kings and princes of sovereign houses of Europe currently living] (in French). Bourdeaux: Frederic Guillaume Birnstiel. 1768. p. 53.
Bibliography
- Gardner, John. Poetry and Popular Protest: Peterloo, Cato Street and the Queen Caroline Controversy (2011)
- Halevy, Elie. The Liberal Awakening 1815-1930 [A History of the English People In The Nineteenth Century - vol II] (1949) pp 84–106; brief narrative
- Laqueur, Thomas W. "The Queen Caroline Affair: Politics as Art in the Reign of George IV," Journal of Modern History (1982) 54#3 pp. 417–466 in JSTOR
- ISBN 0-7509-4173-1.
- Richardson, Joanna (1960). The Disastrous Marriage: A Study of George IV and Caroline of Brunswick. London: Jonathan Cape.
- Robins, Jane (2006). Rebel Queen: The Trial of Queen Caroline. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-74324-862-4.
- Smith, E. A. "Caroline (1768–1821)". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/4722. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
External links
- "Archival material relating to Caroline of Brunswick". UK National Archives.
- Portraits of Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel at the National Portrait Gallery, London
- Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.