Over time, queens have come and gone, but we could say that
they all had a history and were known in the day.
The same cant be said of the king's announcement to his subjects
on 8 July 1761.
George III had chosen his new consort, yet the waiting audience was stunned
into silence, there was no reaction, and perhaps it was one of surprise.
No one had heard of this lady, let alone ever heard of her family home.
One witty person wrote that lord Harcourt, the British ambassador,
was to be sent to her homeland, that's if he could find it!
Yet this was the lady George was set to marry, a young,
naive 17 year old from the duchy of Mecklenburg Strelitz in Germany.
we now look at the life of queen Charlotte.
Due to her age,
Charlotte tiptoed into court;
back home in Germany,
her father was quite strict in his upbringing of his daughters.
Charlotte, along with her sisters, were kept in quiet seclusion
away from the adult dinner parties of the day.
At weekends she was allowed to dress up for a weekly treat,
a trip in their carriage out into the countryside.
Charlotte knew nothing of the marriage to George.
It was her brother George who broke the news and told her to behave
as the British ambassador wanted to speak with her.
She was laid upon a couch; the ambassador
then placed his foot upon her and claimed her for George.
She was returned to the nursery while the adults discussed the role
and business in finer detail.
The big question is, how on earth did George come to this decision?
Most in the upper echelons of the court knew his true love was lady Sarah Lennox,
with whom he had seen for at least a couple of years.
George did want to ask Sarah to marry him, but eventually, family disapproval
won over, and they told him, that he should only wed
someone of the same social standing as himself.
George was given a list of suitable ladies, all with a German background.
after going through his potential suitors, he finally settled on Charlotte in 1761.
His words at the time suggest that although she was by far
everything he could wish for in a woman, the pressure
he was under made her the best choice, in his opinion.
It was a strange time at court; men preferred larger
ladies; big and buxom was the order of the day, yet
Charlotte was slim with pale skin and described as having a huge mouth.
The contrast between Sarah and Charlotte was like chalk and cheese;
Sarah was stately dressed beautifully
in the latest fashions of the day and incredibly gracious.
However, the choice was now signed, sealed and delivered.
and Charlotte was now bound for Harwich.
Upon arrival, she was met by ladies of the English court to escort her to London.
Some were said to be horrified at her appearance.
Although they attempted to advise Charlotte that she should do something
about her clothes and especially her hair, Charlotte would have none of it.
Saying, "let the king dress as he wants, and I shall dress how I please."
Horace Walpole made
a memorable account of the ceremony and day at her coronation.
He said she was swamped entirely in purple velvet
fastened to her shoulders, and there hung a great bunch of pearls.
The outfit was so heavy it was dragging her clothing off
underneath, and spectators knew as much about the queen's
upper body as the king himself.
The couple then entertained at St.
James Palace, singing and dancing and chatting to her new husband
until the early hours of the morning.
There were simply no issues in the bedroom for the newlyweds.
By the time Charlotte had reached 40, she had given birth to 15
children; 12 lived to adulthood, of which 9 were boys.
It was a fantastic collection, and for the first time
in centuries, England had more heirs than titles to give each one.
Although the British public still found Charlotte a bit of a joke, especially
in her looks and attire, for George, she was pretty much all
he ever wanted, and the couple enjoyed a perfect time together.
Their love of music was a wonderful attraction.
George would play the flute, and Charlotte accompanied him on the Harpsichord.
Horse racing was another pleasure, along with hunting, the staple
hobby of any monarch.
The one downside was their stingy nature; they would buy little food and clothing
and spend even less on their children's allowances.
The arrangements just didnt work out and brought quite
a bit of hardship to close family and servants alike.
Many who worked for the couple complained it was more like a prison
sentence on rations than one of serving such a high profile duet.
Although they were kind and considerate, the people closest found the
whole experience dull and considered it a very unattractive place to be.
The biggest
problem George and Charlotte had was their total lack of education.
Charlotte didn't care about this; she had her music.
As for George, he had lots of ideas, but so lacking
was he in diplomatic ignorance they were usually the wrong ideas.
England was left to run itself by their ministers, who provided the royal
couple with funds and enough distractions to keep them out of sight and mind.
In 1765 George suffered his first breakdown,
it looked on the surface as though it was nothing more than a cold
with feverish symptoms, but something far more deadly underlined his condition.
he began to ramble, then became manic.
It was, of course, a disturbing time for all concerned.
He remarked about his times with Sarah
and made passes at other ladies of the court.
It was all out of context, and people struggled with his mood swings.
Eventually, his doctors realised George
was having a mental breakdown, not a biological virus.
Charlotte tried in vain to keep away ministers and others while attempting
to give her husband some respite, and maybe a quieter state of affairs
would help him ease away the tensions that continued.
George recovered enough to be classed as better, but
this was not the end; it was just the beginning.
Much has been said about the madness of King
George; even today, debate continues how his health deteriorated.
For years after the initial outbreak, George looked strong and capable again,
and he gave a clear sign he was back to his best
and stable enough to continue his duties.
In 1772 George's mother died, she had been a dominant figure
in his life, but both George and Charlotte would visit her daily until the end.
Then George received news that his sister Caroline
had been imprisoned in Denmark and her lover the danish prime minister
had been executed after Carolines husband Christian VII
the king of Denmark had found them an uncompromising situation.
Yet neither of these events unsettled the king enough
to place him under a further threat of depression.
Politically George struggled, as he always had.
The wars in America with the colonies brought him back to the ground
with a bump, and his sons, who were by now grown men, had moved away from the times
of need to times of extravagance, something George had never allowed.
Although father and sons reconciled to a point,
it was once again in 1787 that George crumbled.
Charlotte continued to keep a watchful eye on him
and keep him away from potential distractions and strains.
But George's illness started to take over once again;
his continuous babbling and agitation swamped the palace.
He fantasied and assaulted people at will.
It was a sorrowful sight.
Charlotte bore the
brunt of his actions, and one can only imagine how stressful
this must have been for the queen who by now had been married to George for 27 years.
He was not the man she married and had lived so happily
with for many years. George's inappropriate
behaviour continued, and he was becoming out of control.
He would expose himself in corridors and assault ladies passing by.
Charlotte cried continuously throughout this shocking period,
but she supported her husband and saved much embarrassment
by not allowing any word to escape court about the ongoing situation.
In one telling and lucid moment, the king said of his queen,
"she is my physician, and no man can have better;
she is my friend." George now worsened;
he became violent, attacking anyone.
He even attempted to strangle his son.
The prince was scared, and rather than keep it secret
as Charlotte wanted, word spread everywhere.
Maybe his reasons were so that his father could be moved
to one side so he could take on the role.
George's health went further downhill; even Charlotte was now not safe with him.
She had to be escorted by two guards to ensure nothing happened
when she saw her husband.
On one terrifying occasion, George managed to slip past his guard; he entered
Charlotte's bedroom pulled apart the curtains and stared as if to kill her.
It was 30 minutes of pure terror for Charlotte before his fit passed,
and he slowly turned and walked away out of her room.
All these events would, of course, cause Charlotte
to become exhausted; her nerves were now in bits.
What could the queen do?
She summoned George's sons and told them she knew what they were attempting to do.
She admonished their behaviour and asked them to stop.
But after all the furore being spread about the king,
Charlotte decided to take George out publicly to attempt to stop the gossip.
The plan worked; however, George was far from being on the mend.
The king had many mood swings,
sometimes madness, then clarity; it was a curious case.
But the country seemed to warm to George for some time, especially after Charlotte
had taken him out to meet the public, but once back within the safe
confines of the palace, people would again begin to ridicule and poke fun.
Charlotte continued to keep a brave face publicly on the situation.
Then in 1810, one of their daughter's
Amelia died at the age of just 28; once again, George became unhinged,
and he fell back into a state of complete obscurity.
The following year her son became regent, enough was enough,
and both Charlotte and George were placed into the shadows of court.
In some
ways, this must have brought relief to Charlotte.
So stressful was the whole situation it seemed that this decision
was the right and correct one for all concerned.
Charlotte attempted to get some semblance of normality back to her
life in her final years by taking trips out and entertaining.
Her dignity was always high, unlike her sons,
whose court had fallen into disarray and filled with scandal.
In 1817 she presided over her daughter's wedding Elizabeth.
It was the last public occasion for Charlotte,
and it's as though that time had caught up with her.
she had done what she could in life, but the endless battle
to keep her husband George from doing harm had utterly worn her out.
Charlotte died the following year.
So bad was George by then; he never knew that his wife of 50 years had passed.
George himself died two years later.
Charlotte, who came to England to marry a king,
would never have thought how demoralising her life would end.
She was limited in what she could say with no involvement
in significant events that changed the shape of the world.
The American Revolution, Napoleonic Wars, and major
reforms in England never entered her head.
She was a domestic lady who nurtured and controlled a domestic habitat.
Her problems in breaking more substantial ladies than herself were prevalent.
but she mastered other skills far more important
then every day trivia it was her enduring caring
and gracious ways that proved to be her greatest strength, if so,
then indeed, history has to give her the credit she so much deserves.