March 26, 1687: Birth of Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, Queen in Prussia and Electress of Brandenburg. Part I.

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Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Elector of Hanover, House of Hanover, House of Hohenzollern, King Frederick I of Prussia, King Frederick William I of Prussia, King George I of Great Britain, Sophia Dorothea of Hanover

Sophia Dorothea of Hanover (March 26, 1687 – June 28, 1757) was Queen in Prussia and Electress of Brandenburg during the reign of her husband, King Friedrich Wilhelm I, from February 25, 1713 to May 31, 1740.

Sophia Dorothea was born on March 26, 1687 in Hanover. She was the only daughter of Georg Ludwig, Elector of Hanover, later King George I of Great Britain, and his wife and cousin, Sophia Dorothea of Celle the only surviving daughter of Georg Wilhelm, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, by his morganatic wife Eléonore Desmier d’Olbreuse (1639–1722), Lady of Harburg, a French Huguenot noblewoman.

Sophia Dorothea of Great Britain was detested by her elder brother, King George II of Great Britain.

After the divorce and imprisonment of her mother, she was raised in Hanover under the supervision of her paternal grandmother, Sophia of Hanover, and was educated by her Huguenot teacher Madame de Sacetot.

Marriage

Sophia Dorothea married her cousin, Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia, heir apparent to the Prussian throne, on November 28, 1706. He was born in Berlin to King Friedrich I in Prussia and Princess Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, the only daughter of Elector Ernst August of Hanover and his wife Sophia of the Palatinate. Her eldest brother, Georg Ludwig, succeeded to the British throne in 1714 as King George I.

They had met as children when Friedrich Wilhelm had spent some time in Hanover under the care of their grandmother, Sophia of Hanover, and though Sophia Dorothea disliked him, Friedrich Wilhelm had reportedly felt an attraction to her early on.

When a marriage was to be arranged for Friedrich Wilhelm, he was given three alternatives: Princess Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden, (later Queen of Sweden youngest child of King Carl XI and Ulrika Eleonora of Denmark); Princess Amalia of Nassau-Dietz, (the only daughter of Johan Willem Friso of Nassau-Dietz (after 1702 Prince of Orange) and his wife, Landgravine Marie Louise of Hesse-Cassel); or Sophia Dorothea of Hanover.

The Swedish match was preferred by his father, who wished to form a matrimonial alliance with Sweden, and thus the official Finck was sent to Stockholm under the pretext of an adjustment of the disputes regarding Pomerania, but in reality to observe the princess before issuing formal negotiations.

Friedrich Wilhelm, however, preferred Sophia Dorothea and successfully tasked Finck with making such a deterring report of Ulrika Eleonora to his father that he would encounter less opposition when he informed his father of his choice.

Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, Crown Princess of Prussia

A marriage alliance between Prussia and Hanover was regarded as a noncontroversial choice by both courts and the negotiations were swiftly conducted. In order for Sophia Dorothea to make as good an impression as possible in Berlin, her grandmother, Electress Sophia, commissioned her niece Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess of the Palatinate to procure her trousseau in Paris. Her bridal paraphernalia attracted great attention and was referred to as the greatest of any German Princess yet.

The wedding by proxy took place in Hanover on November 28, 1706, and she arrived in Berlin on November 27 where she was welcomed by her groom and his family outside of the city gates and before making her entrance into the capital. Thereafter followed a second wedding, the stately torch-dance, and six weeks of banquets and balls.

King Friedrich Wilhelm I in Prussia

Crown Princess in Prussia

Sophia Dorothea was described as tall, with a beautiful slender figure, graceful and dignified with big blue eyes. Though not regarded as strictly beautiful, she was seen as quite attractive at the time of her marriage and described as charming in her manners, making a good impression in Berlin. Friedrich Wilhelm often called her “Fiekchen”.

Sophia Dorothea and Friedrich Wilhelm differed from each other in every aspect and the marriage suffered as a result. Sophia Dorothea was interested in art, science, literature and fashion, while Friedrich Wilhelm was described as an unpolished, uneducated and spartan military man with rough manners.

Though he was never unfaithful to her, he was unable to win her affection. One of the most important differences between them was that Sophia Dorothea, unlike her husband, loved entertainment, something he regarded to be frivolous.

Friedrich Wilhelm contemplated divorcing her the same year they married and, judging by her letters, accused her of not wanting to be married to him. According to Morgenstern, “He had none of that astonishing complaisance by which lovers, whether husbands or friends, seek to win the favor of the beloved object.

As far as can be gathered from the words he occasionally let drop, the crossing of his first love might have been the innocent cause of this; and as the object of this passion, by the directions of her mother and grandmother, treated him with harshness, where, then, could he learn to make love?”

Queen Sophia Dorothea in Prussia

The birth of her firstborn son, Friedrich Ludwig, in 1707 was celebrated greatly in Prussia, and Sophia Dorothea successfully asked the king to liberate the imprisoned minister Eberhard von Danckelmann. In 1708, after the death of her firstborn son, the physicians declared that Sophia Dorothea was not likely to conceive again, which prompted the remarriage of her father-in-law.

Her father-in-law, Friedrich I, King in Prussia married Sophia Louise of Mecklenburg-Schwerin the fourth child of Friedrich, Duke of Mecklenburg-Grabow, and Princess Christine Wilhelmine of Hesse-Homburg. She was an aunt of Grand Duchess Anna Leopoldovna of Russia, who was herself regent and mother of Emperor Ivan VI of Russia.

However, Crown Princess Sophia Dorothea gave birth to several children in the following years, and finally to a son who survived in 1712.

Queen in Prussia

In 1713, her father-in-law King Friedrich I died and was succeeded by her spouse as Friedrich Wilhelm I, making her Queen in Prussia.

At the time of the accession, Prussia was at war with Sweden, and Sophia Dorothea accompanied Friedrich Wilhelm during the campaign of 1715, though she soon returned to Berlin to give birth to her daughter. During the war, the king left directions to his ministers to consult her and take no action without her approval in the case of an emergency.

In 1717, she hosted Emperor Peter I the Great of Russia on his visit to Berlin at her own palace Monbijou, as per the king’s request, which was vandalized as a result. Sophia Dorothea’s first favorite was her maid of honor, von Wagnitz, who was dismissed after an intrigue in which Kreutz and her mother tried to make her the king’s mistress, as well as being a spy of the French ambassador Rothenburg.

Queen Sophia Dorothea was admired for her gracious manners and nicknamed “Olympia” for her regal bearing, but scarred by smallpox and overweight with time, she was not called a beauty. She was known as extremely haughty, proud, and ambitious, but Friedrich Wilhelm greatly disliked her interference in politics, as it was his belief that women should be kept only for breeding, and kept submissive as they would otherwise dominate their husbands.

The king was known for his parsimony and dislike of idleness to such a degree that he would beat people in the street as well as in the palace if he viewed them as lazy. The queen complained about the “horrible avarice” he pressed upon the household and as a result, according to Pollnitz, the queen’s table was often so sparingly supplied that he had often given her money so that she could be able to have an omelette for supper.

Friedrich Wilhelm viewed her interests in theater, dancing, jewelry and music as frivolous and resented any sign of her living a life independently from his authority: he particularly disliked her interest in gambling, and it is reported that she and her partners would have coffee beans ready on the table during gambling, so that if the king appeared, they could pretend to be playing with them rather than money.

She also abhorred his cruelty towards their son and heir Friedrich, the future King Friedrich II the Great of Prussia (with whom she was close), although rather than trying to mend the relationship between father and son she frequently spurred Friedrich on in his defiance.

December 28, 1757: Death of Princess Caroline of Great Britain

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Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Elector of Hanover, King George I of Great Britain, King George II of Great Britain, Lord H, Lord Hervey, Princess Caroline of Great Britain and Hanover

Princess Caroline Elizabeth of Great Britain (June 10, 1713 – December 28, 1757) was the fourth child and third daughter of King George II of Great Britain and his wife Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach.

Early life

Princess Caroline was born at Herrenhausen Palace in Hanover, Germany, on June 10, 1713. Her father was George Augustus, Hereditary Prince of Hanover, the eldest son of George Louis, Elector of Hanover. Her mother was Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach, daughter of Johann Friedrich, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach.

As a granddaughter of the Elector of Hanover, she was styled Princess Caroline of Hanover at birth. Under the Act of Settlement 1701, she was seventh in the line of succession to the British throne. She was baptised the day after her birth at Herrenhausen Palace.

Princess Caroline of Great Britain and Hanover

Great Britain

In 1714, Queen Anne died, and Caroline’s grandfather became George I of Great Britain and Ireland and her father Prince of Wales. At the age of one year, Caroline accompanied her mother and elder sisters, the Princesses Anne and Amelia, to Great Britain, and the family resided at St James’s Palace, London.

She was then styled as a Princess of Great Britain. A newly attributed list from January–February 1728 documents her personal expenses, including charitable contributions to several Protestant groups in London.

In 1722, at the direction of her mother, she was inoculated against smallpox by variolation, an early type of immunisation popularised by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and Charles Maitland.

Princess Caroline was her mother’s favourite, and became known as “the truth-telling Caroline Elizabeth” (or “the truth-loving”). When any disagreement took place among the royal children, her parents would say, “Send for Caroline, and then we shall know the truth!”

According to Dr. John Doran, “The truth-loving Caroline Elizabeth was unreservedly beloved by her parents, was worthy of the affection, and repaid it by an ardent attachment. She was fair, good, accomplished, and unhappy.”

Later life

Lord Hervey

According to popular belief, Caroline’s unhappiness was due to her love for the married courtier Lord Hervey. Hervey, who was bisexual, may have had an affair with Caroline’s elder brother, Prince Frederick Louis, Duke of Edinburgh and later Prince of Wales and was romantically linked with several ladies of the court as well.

When Hervey died in 1743, Caroline retired to St. James’s Palace for many years prior to her own death, accessible to only her family and closest friends. She gave generously to charity.

Princess Caroline died, unmarried and childless, on December 28, 1757, aged 44, at St James’s Palace. She was buried at Westminster Abbey.

Horace Walpole, of the death of Princess Caroline, wrote: “Though her state of health had been so dangerous for years, and her absolute confinement for many of them, her disorder was, in a manner, new and sudden, and her death unexpected by herself, though earnestly her wish. Her goodness was constant and uniform, her generosity immense, her charities most extensive; in short, I, no royalist, could be lavish in her praise.”

July 22, Birth of Caroline Matilda of Great Britain, Queen of Denmark and Norway. Part I.

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Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, Dowager Princess of Wales, Elector of Hanover, Frederick-Louis, King Christian VII of Denmark and Norway, King George II of Great Britain, King George III of Great Britain, Prince of Wales, Princess Caroline Matilda of Great Britain, Princess Louise Anne of Great Britain

Caroline Matilda of Great Britain (July 22, 1751 – May 10, 1775) was Queen of Denmark and Norway from 1766 to 1772 by marriage to King Christian VII.

Caroline Matilda was born in on July 22, 1751 as the ninth and youngest child of Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales, and Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, daughter of Friedrich II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1676–1732) and Magdalena Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst (1679–1740).

Princess Louise Anne (seated) and Princess Caroline Matilda of Great Britain

Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales, was the eldest son and heir apparent of King George II of Great Britain, Elector of Hanover and Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach, the daughter of Johann Friedrich, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, and his second wife, Princess Eleonore Erdmuthe of Saxe-Eisenach. Her father was a member of the House of Hohenzollern and the ruler of one of the smallest German states. Frederick Louis was the father of King George III.

Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales father died suddenly on March 31, 1751 about three months before Caroline Matilda’ birth; thus she was a posthumous child. She was born at Leicester House, London, a large aristocratic townhouse in Westminster, where her parents had lived, since the King had banished his son from court in 1737.

At birth, she was given the style and title Her Royal Highness Princess Caroline Matilda, as daughter of the Prince of Wales, though by the time of her birth that title had passed to her brother George (who became King George III in 1760).

Caroline Matilda grew up in the large group of siblings, and during the remaining years of the reign of her grandfather, King George II, her mother, Augusta, Dowager Princess of Wales, chose to live in seclusion with her children, devoting herself to their care, and bringing them up away from the English court.

Princess Caroline Matilda of Great Britain

As a consequence, Augusta was to be criticised for her manner of raising her children, as she isolated them from the outside world into a secluded family environment, seldom meeting people outside the family.

Marriage

In 1764, four years into the reign of her brother as King George III of Great Britain and Ireland, Elector of Hanover; a marriage was suggested between the Danish House of Oldenburg and the British House of Hanover, specifically between Christian, Crown Prince of Denmark, and a British princess.

The Danish Crown Prince was the oldest surviving son of King Frederik V and his first wife Princess Louise of Great Britain sister to King George III and in consequence, the Danish Crown Prince and Caroline Matilda were first cousins.

The marriage was considered suitable because the British and Danish royal families were both Protestant and of the same rank, and thus had the same status as well as religion. Additionally, the deceased Queen Louise had been very popular in Denmark.

Princess Louise Anne of Great Britain

Initially, the marriage negotiations were intended for, Princess Louise Anne, eldest unmarried daughter of the former Prince of Wales; but after the Danish representative in London, Count von Bothmer, was informed of her weak constitution, her younger sister Caroline Matilda was chosen for the match instead. The official betrothal was announced on 10 January 1765.

On January 14, 1766, in the middle of preparations for the wedding, King Frederik V died and his 17-year-old son became King Christian VII of Denmark and Norway.

Christian VII, King of Denmark and Norway

On October 1 of that year in the royal chapel of St James’s Palace (or according to other sources, in Carlton House) the marriage was celebrated by proxy, the groom being represented by the bride’s brother Prince Edward, Duke of York and Albany.

Two days later, Caroline Matilda departed from Harwich for Rotterdam, and three weeks later she crossed the River Elbe and arrived in Altona, in the then Danish Duchy of Holstein. There she left her British entourage and was welcomed by her appointed Danish courtiers.

Twelve days later, Caroline Matilda arrived in Roskilde, where she met her future husband for the first time. She held her official entry into the Danish capital on November 8 to great cheers from the population.

Already the same day a second wedding ceremony with the groom present took place in the Royal Chapel at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen. Marriage celebrations and balls lasted for another month. On May 1, 1767, Christian VII and Caroline Matilda were crowned King and Queen of Denmark and Norway in the chapel of Christiansborg Palace.

The young Queen at the Danish court was described as particularly temperamental, vivid and charming. She was thought too plump to be described as a beauty, but she was considered attractive: it was said of her that “her appearance allowed her to avoid criticism of women, but still captivate the male eye.”

However, her natural and unaffected personality was not popular at the strict Danish court, despite the fact that originally she was warmly received in Copenhagen. The weak-willed, self-centred, and mentally ill Christian VII was cold to his wife and not in a hurry to consummate the marriage.

The reason for this attitude towards his wife could be that the King was actually forced to marry by the court, who believed that marriage would lead to improvement in his mental problems; in addition, part of the court felt that Christian VII preferred the company of men to women.

Despite rumours of homosexuality, the King had a mistress with whom he began a relationship in Holstein in the summer of 1766, and often visited courtesans in Copenhagen, of which the most famous was Anna Katrina Bentgagen, nicknamed Støvlet-Cathrine.

June 10, 1713: Birth of Princess Caroline Elizabeth of Great Britain

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Caroline Elizabeth of Great Britain, Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Elector of Hanover, Horace Walpole, King George II of Great Britain, Prince of Wales

Princess Caroline Elizabeth of Great Britain (June 10, 1713 – December 28, 1757) was the fourth child and third daughter of King George II of Great Britain and his wife Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach.

Early life

Princess Caroline was born at Herrenhausen Palace in Hanover, Germany, on June 10, 1713. Her father was Georg August, Hereditary Prince of Hanover, the eldest son of Georg Ludwig, Elector of Hanover. Her mother was Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach, daughter of Johann Friedrich, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, and his second wife, Princess Eleonore Erdmuthe of Saxe-Eisenach. Johann Friedrich of Brandenburg-Ansbach, was a member of the House of Hohenzollern.

As a granddaughter of the Elector of Hanover, she was styled Princess Caroline of Hanover at birth. Under the Act of Settlement 1701, she was seventh in the line of succession to the British throne. She was baptised the day after her birth at Herrenhausen Palace.

In 1714, Queen Anne died, and Caroline’s grandfather became George I and her father the Prince of Wales. At the age of one year, Caroline accompanied her mother and elder sisters, the Princesses Anne and Amelia, to Great Britain, and the family resided at St James’s Palace, London.

She was then styled as a Princess of Great Britain. A newly attributed list from January–February 1728 documents her personal expenses, including charitable contributions to several Protestant groups in London.

In 1722, at the direction of her mother, she was inoculated against smallpox by variolation, an early type of immunisation popularised by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and Charles Maitland.

Princess Caroline was her mother’s favourite, and became known as “the truth-telling Caroline Elizabeth” (or “the truth-loving”). When any disagreement took place among the royal children, her parents would say, “Send for Caroline, and then we shall know the truth!”

According to Dr. John Doran, “The truth-loving Caroline Elizabeth was unreservedly beloved by her parents, was worthy of the affection, and repaid it by an ardent attachment. She was fair, good, accomplished, and unhappy.”

Later life

According to popular belief, Caroline’s unhappiness was due to her love for the married courtier Lord Hervey. Hervey, who was bisexual, may have had an affair with Caroline’s elder brother, Prince Frederick, and was romantically linked with several ladies of the court as well.

When Hervey died in 1743, Caroline retired to St. James’s Palace for many years prior to her own death, accessible to only her family and closest friends. She gave generously to charity.

Princess Caroline died, unmarried and childless, on December 28, 1757, aged 44, at St James’s Palace. She was buried at Westminster Abbey.

Horace Walpole, of the death of Princess Caroline, wrote: “Though her state of health had been so dangerous for years, and her absolute confinement for many of them, her disorder was, in a manner, new and sudden, and her death unexpected by herself, though earnestly her wish. Her goodness was constant and uniform, her generosity immense, her charities most extensive; in short, I, no royalist, could be lavish in her praise.”

Robert Walpole, Prime Minister of Great Britain. Conclusion

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Battle of Cartagena de Indias, Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Cornwall, Earl of Orford, Elector of Hanover, First Lord of the Treasury, Frederick-Louis, House of Commons, King George II of Great Britain and Ireland, Prince of Wales, Robert Walpole

Walpole secured the support of the people and of the House of Commons with a policy of avoiding war. He used his influence to prevent George II from entering the War of the Polish Succession in 1733, because it was a dispute between the Bourbons and the Habsburgs. He boasted, “There are 50,000 men slain in Europe this year, and not one Englishman.” By avoiding wars, Walpole could lower taxes.

After the general elections of 1734, Walpole’s supporters still formed a majority in the House of Commons although they were less numerous than before. He maintained both his parliamentary supremacy and his popularity in Norfolk, his home county.

In 1736 an increase in the tax on gin inspired riots in London. The even more serious Porteous riots broke out in Edinburgh after the King pardoned a captain of the guard (John Porteous) who had commanded his troops to shoot a group of protesters. Though these events diminished Walpole’s popularity, they failed to shake his majority in Parliament.

Queen Caroline of Great Britain

The year 1737 saw the death of Walpole’s close friend Queen Caroline. Though her death did not end his personal influence with George II, who had grown loyal to the Prime Minister during the preceding years, Walpole’s domination of government continued to decline.

His opponents acquired a vocal leader in the Frederick Louis, the Prince of Wales who was estranged from his father, the King. Several young politicians including William Pitt the Elder and George Grenville formed a faction known as the “Patriot Boys” and joined the Prince of Wales in opposition.

Robert Walpole, First Lord of the Treasury, Prime Minister of Great Britain

Walpole’s failure to maintain a policy of avoiding military conflict eventually led to his fall from power. Under the Treaty of Seville (1729), Great Britain agreed not to trade with the Spanish colonies in North America. Spain claimed the right to board and search British vessels to ensure compliance with this provision. Disputes, however, broke out over trade with the West Indies.

Walpole attempted to prevent war but was opposed by the King, the House of Commons, and by a faction in his own Cabinet. In 1739 Walpole abandoned all efforts to stop the conflict and commenced the War of Jenkins’ Ear (so called because Robert Jenkins, a Welsh mariner, claimed that a Spaniard inspecting his vessel had severed his ear).

Walpole’s influence continued to dramatically decline even after the war began. In the 1741 general election his supporters secured an increase in votes in constituencies that were decided by mass electorates but failed to win in many pocket boroughs (constituencies subject to the informal but strong influence of patrons).

In general the government made gains in England and Wales but this was not enough to overturn the reverses of the 1734 election and further losses in Cornwall where many constituencies were obedient to the will of the Prince of Wales (who was also Duke of Cornwall). These constituencies returned members of parliament hostile to the Prime Minister.

George II, King of Great Britain and Ireland, Elector of Hanover

In the new Parliament, many Whigs thought the aging Prime Minister incapable of leading the military campaign. Moreover, his majority was not as strong as it had formerly been, his detractors—such as William Pulteney, earl of Bath, and Lord Perceval—being approximately as numerous as his supporters. Behind these political enemies were opposition Whigs, Tories and Jacobites.

Walpole was alleged to have presided over an immense increase in corruption and to have enriched himself enormously whilst in office. Parliamentary committees were formed to investigate these charges. In 1742 when the House of Commons was prepared to determine the validity of a by-election in Chippenham, Walpole and others agreed to treat the issue as a motion of no confidence.

As Walpole was defeated on the vote, he agreed to resign from the Government. The news of the naval disaster against Spain in the Battle of Cartagena de Indias also prompted the end of his political career. King George II wept on his resignation and begged to see him frequently.

Frederick Louis, the Prince of Wales

As part of his resignation the King agreed to elevate him to the House of Lords as the Earl of Orford, Viscount Walpole and Baron Walpole of Houghton in the County of Norfolk, this occurred on 6 February 1742. Five days later he formally relinquished the seals of office.

Although no longer First Lord of the Treasury, Walpole remained politically involved as an advisor. His former colleagues were still pleased to see him, perhaps in part because he retained the king’s favour. After his resignation, his main political roles were to support the government by means of advice, to dole out some patronage and to speak on the ministry’s behalf in the Lords.

Later life

Lord Orford was succeeded as Prime Minister by Lord Wilmington in an administration whose true head was Lord Carteret. A committee was created to inquire into Walpole’s ministry but no substantial evidence of wrongdoing or corruption was discovered.

Though no longer a member of the Cabinet, Orford continued to maintain personal influence with George II and was often dubbed the “Minister behind the Curtain” for this advice and influence. In 1744 he managed to secure the dismissal of Carteret and the appointment of Henry Pelham whom he regarded as a political protégé. He advised Pelham to make use of his seat in the Commons to serve as a bridge between the King and Parliament, just as Walpole had done.

During this time, Walpole also made two interventions in the Lords. The first was in January 1744 in the debate on Hanoverian troops being kept in British pay. Walpole prevented them from losing the troops. In his second intervention, Walpole, with fear of a Jacobite-inspired invasion in February 1744, made a speech on the situation.

Frederick, Prince of Wales, usually hostile to Walpole, warmly received him at his court the next day, most likely because his father’s throne, and the future of the whole Hanoverian dynasty, was at risk from the Stuart Pretender.

Along with his political interests in his last years, Walpole enjoyed the pleasures of the hunt. Back at his recently rebuilt country seat in Houghton, Norfolk, such pastimes were denied him due to “dismal weather”. He also enjoyed the beauties of the countryside. His art collection gave him particular pleasure. He had spent much money in the 1720s and 1730s in building up a collection of Old Masters from all over Europe. Walpole also concerned himself with estate matters.

His health, never good, deteriorated rapidly toward the end of 1744; Orford died in London in 1745, aged 68 years; he was buried in the parish church of St Martin in Houghton, Norfolk.

His earldom passed to his eldest son Robert who was in turn succeeded by his only son George. Upon the death of the third Earl, the earldom was inherited by the first Earl’s younger son Horace Walpole, who is now remembered for his many thousands of insightful letters, published in 48 volumes by Yale University Press.

Robert Walpole, Prime Minister of Great Britain. Part II

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Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Elector of Hanover, First Lord of the Treasury, King George I of Great Britain and Ireland, King George II of Great Britain, Prime Minister of Great Britain, Robert Walpole, South Sea Bubble

Rise to power

Soon after Walpole returned to the Cabinet, Britain was swept by a wave of over-enthusiastic speculation which led to the South Sea Bubble. The Government had established a plan whereby the South Sea Company would assume the national debt of Great Britain in exchange for lucrative bonds. It was widely believed that the company would eventually reap an enormous profit through international trade in cloth, agricultural goods, and slaves.

Many in the country, including Walpole himself (who sold at the top of the market and made 1,000 per cent profit), frenziedly invested in the company. By the latter part of 1720, however, the company had begun to collapse as the price of its shares plunged.In 1721 a committee investigated the scandal, finding that there was corruption on the part of many in the Cabinet.

Among those implicated were John Aislabie (the Chancellor of the Exchequer), James Craggs the Elder (the Postmaster General), James Craggs the Younger (the Southern Secretary), and even Lords Stanhope and Sunderland (the heads of the Ministry).

Both Craggs the Elder and Craggs the Younger died in disgrace; the remainder were impeached for their corruption. Aislabie was found guilty and imprisoned, but the personal influence of Walpole saved both Stanhope and Sunderland. For his role in preventing these individuals and others from being punished, Walpole gained the nickname of “The Screen”, or “Screenmaster-General”.

Premiership under George I

Under the guidance of Walpole, Parliament attempted to deal with the financial crisis brought on by the South Sea Bubble. The estates of the directors of the South Sea Company were used to relieve the suffering of the victims, and the stock of the company was divided between the Bank of England and East India Company. The crisis had gravely damaged the credibility of the King and of the Whig Party, but Walpole defended both with skilful oratory in the House of Commons.

Walpole’s first year as prime minister was also marked by the discovery of a plot formed by Francis Atterbury, the bishop of Rochester. The exposure of the scheme crushed the hopes of the Jacobites whose previous attempts at rebellion (most notably the risings of 1715 and 1719) had also failed. The Tory Party was equally unfortunate even though Lord Bolingbroke, a Tory leader who fled to France to avoid punishment for his Jacobite sympathies, was permitted to return to Britain in 1723.

During the remainder of George I’s reign, Walpole’s ascendancy continued; the political power of the monarch was gradually diminishing and that of his ministers gradually increasing.

In 1724 the primary political rival of Walpole and Townshend in the Cabinet, Lord Carteret, was dismissed from the post of Southern Secretary and once again appointed to the lesser office of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

In Ireland, Lord Carteret used his power to secretly aid in the controversy over Wood’s Halfpence and support Drapier’s Letters behind the scenes and cause harm to Walpole’s power. Walpole was able to recover from these events by removing the patent. However, Irish sentiment was situated against the English control.Townshend, working with the king, helped keep Great Britain at peace, especially by negotiating a treaty with France and Prussia in 1725.

Walpole was not consulted and stated that Townshend was “too precipitate” in his actions. Great Britain, free from Jacobite threats, from war, and from financial crises, grew prosperous, and Robert Walpole acquired the favour of George I.

In 1725 he persuaded the king to revive the Knighthood of the Bath and was himself invested with the order, and in 1726 was made a Knight of the Garter, earning him the nickname “Sir Bluestring”. His eldest son was granted a barony.

Premiership under George II

Walpole’s position was threatened in 1727 when George I died and was succeeded by George II. For a few days it seemed that Walpole would be dismissed but, on the advice of Queen Caroline, the King agreed to keep him in office.

Although the King disliked Townshend, he retained him as well. Over the next years Walpole continued to share power with Townshend but the two clashed over British foreign affairs, especially over policy regarding Austria. Gradually Walpole became the clearly dominant partner in government. His colleague retired on May 15, 1730 and this date is sometimes given as the beginning of Walpole’s unofficial tenure as prime minister.

Townshend’s departure enabled Walpole to conclude the Treaty of Vienna, creating the Anglo-Austrian alliance.OppositionWalpole, a polarising figure, had many opponents, the most important of whom were in the Country Party, such as Lord Bolingbroke (who had been his political enemy since the days of Queen Anne) and William Pulteney (a capable Whig statesman who felt snubbed when Walpole failed to include him in the Cabinet).Bolingbroke and Pulteney ran a periodical called The Craftsman in which they incessantly denounced the Prime Minister’s policies. Walpole was also satirised and parodied extensively; he was often compared to the criminal Jonathan Wild as, for example, John Gay did in his farcical Beggar’s Opera.

March 31, 1717: The Bangorian Controversy.

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and the Nature and Consequences of Schism, Benjamin Hoadly, Constitution of the Catholic Church, Elector of Hanover, King George I of Great Britain and Ireland, Parliament, Tories, Whigs

A sermon on “The Nature of the Kingdom of Christ” by Benjamin Hoadly, the Bishop of Bangor, preached in the presence of King George I of Great Britain, provokes the Bangorian Controversy.

The Bangorian Controversy was a theological argument within the Church of England in the early 18th century, with strong political overtones. The origins of the controversy lay in the 1716 posthumous publication of George Hickes’s Constitution of the Catholic Church, and the Nature and Consequences of Schism.

Portrait of Benjamin Hoadly by Sarah Hoadly

The controversy itself began very visibly and vocally when Hoadly delivered a sermon on March 31, 1717 to George I of Great Britain on The Nature of the Kingdom of Christ.

His text was John 18:36, “My kingdom is not of this world” and from that, Hoadly deduced, supposedly at the request of the king himself, that there is no Biblical justification for any church government of any sort. He identified the church with the Kingdom of Heaven. It was therefore not of this world, and Christ had not delegated His authority to any representatives.

Background

Two competing visions of government were in play. On the one hand, there was a vision of God appointing the king and the bishops to be leaders, selecting them from all others and imbuing them with special characters, either through grace or in creation. That view held that the king, as the head of the Established Church, was not only a secular leader of a state but also a religious primate.

Power and regulation flowed downward from God to the people. That was the aristocratic model that was favoured by the Tory party and had been used to propose the divine right of kings.

The other view was that power flowed up from the people to the leaders, that leaders were no more intrinsically better than those led, and God gives out revelation freely. That Whig view was also the view of the Puritans and the “Independents” (the various Congregational and Baptist churches, Quakers etc.).

George I favoured the Whigs in Parliament and favoured a latitudinarian ecclesiastical policy in general. That was probably not by any desire to give up royal prerogative but to break the power of the aristocracy and the House of Lords. A significant obstacle to all kings of England had been the presence of bishops in the Lords. While a king could create peers, it was much more difficult for him to move bishops into and out of the Lords.

Portrait painting of George I of Great Britain by Godfrey Kneller

Sermon and aftermath

The sermon was immediately published and instantly drew counterattacks. William Law (Three Letters to the Bishop of Bangor) and Thomas Sherlock (dean of Chichester), in particular, gave vigorous defences of church polity. Hoadly himself wrote A Reply to the Representations of Convocation to answer Sherlock, Andrew Snape, provost of Eton, and Francis Hare, then dean of Worcester. The three men, and another opponent, Robert Moss, dean of Ely, were deprived of their royal chaplaincies by the king.

Hoadly did not, however, attempt to answer William Law. It has been claimed that in all, over 200 pamphlets linked to the controversy were published by 53 writers. Of those, 74 were published in July 1717. In May 1717, the Convocation appointed a committee to study the sermon. When the report was ready for synodal sanction against Hoadly, the king dismissed the convocation, which did not meet again for over 130 years.

March 14, 1757: Execution of Admiral John Byng

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Admiral John Byng, Battle of Minorca, court-martial, Elector of Hanover, King George II of Great Britain and Ireland, Prime Minister, Ships-of-the-Line, Sir William Pitt the Elder

From The Emperor’s Desk: I find this a fascinating and sad story. Although not directly royalty related it does feature King George II of Great Britain as playing a role in the story.

Admiral John Byng (baptised 29 October 1704 – 14 March 1757) was a British Royal Navy officer who was court-martialled and executed by firing squad. John Byng was born at Southill Park in the parish of Southhill in Bedfordshire, England, the fourth son of Rear-Admiral George Byng, 1st Viscount Torrington (later Admiral of the Fleet).

His father George Byng had supported King William III in his successful bid to be crowned King of England in 1689 and had seen his own stature and fortune grow.

Admiral John Byng

George Byng was a highly skilled naval commander, had won distinction in a series of battles, and was held in esteem by the monarchs whom he served. In 1721, he was rewarded by King George I of Great Britain with a viscountcy, being created Viscount Torrington.

After joining the navy at the age of thirteen, he participated at the Battle of Cape Passaro in 1718. Over the next thirty years he built up a reputation as a solid naval officer and received promotion to vice-admiral in 1747. He also served as Commodore-Governor of Newfoundland Colony in 1742, Commander-in-Chief, Leith, 1745 to 1746 and was a member of Parliament from 1751 until his death.

The island of Minorca had been a British possession since 1708, when it was captured during the War of the Spanish Succession. On the approach of the Seven Years’ War, numerous British diplomats based in the Mediterranean raised the alarm that Minorca was threatened by a French naval attack from Toulon. Since 1748, British downsizing of the Royal Navy meant that only three ships-of-the-line were assigned to protect trading interests in the Mediterranean by 1755.

Byng failed to relieve a besieged British garrison during the Battle of Minorca at the beginning of the Seven Years’ War. He had sailed for Minorca at the head of a hastily assembled fleet of vessels, some of which were in poor condition. He fought an inconclusive engagement with a French fleet off the Minorcan coast and then elected to return to Gibraltar to repair his ships.

On arrival in England, Byng was placed in custody. The garrison resisted the Siege of Fort St Philip until June 29, 1756 when it was forced to capitulate.

Byng’s court-martial was convened on December 28, 1756 aboard the elderly 96-gun vessel HMS St George, which was anchored in Portsmouth Harbour. The presiding officer was Admiral Thomas Smith, supported by rear admirals Francis Holburne, Harry Norris and Thomas Broderick, and a panel of nine captains. The verdict was delivered four weeks later on January 27, 1757, in the form of a series of resolutions describing the course of Byng’s expedition to Minorca and an interpretation of his actions.

The court acquitted Byng of personal cowardice. However, its principal findings were that Byng had failed to keep his fleet together while engaging the French; that his flagship had opened fire at too great a distance to have any effect; and that he should have proceeded to the immediate relief of Minorca rather than returning to Gibraltar. As a consequence of these actions, the court held that Byng had “not done his utmost” to engage or destroy the enemy, thereby breaching the 12th Article of War.

Once the court determined that Byng had “failed to do his utmost”, it had no discretion over punishment under the Articles of War. In accordance with those Articles the court condemned Byng to death, but unanimously recommended that the Lords of the Admiralty ask King George II to exercise his royal prerogative of mercy.

It fell to Admiral John Forbes, in his role as Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty, to sign Byng’s death warrant. This he refused to do, believing the sentence to be illegal, instead attaching to the warrant a document explaining his refusal.

George II, King of Great Britain and Ireland, Elector of Hanover

First Lord of the Admiralty Richard Grenville-Temple was granted an audience with King George II, to request clemency, but this was refused in an angry exchange. Four members of the board of the court-martial petitioned Parliament, seeking to be relieved from their oath of secrecy to speak on Byng’s behalf. The Commons passed a measure allowing this, but the Lords rejected the proposal.

Prime Minister William Pitt the Elder was aware that the Admiralty was at least partly to blame for the loss at Minorca due to the poor manning and repair of the fleet. The Duke of Newcastle, the politician responsible, had by now joined the Prime Minister in an uneasy political coalition and this made it difficult for Pitt to contest the court-martial’s verdict as strongly as he would have liked.

He did, however, petition the King to commute the death sentence. The appeal was refused; Pitt and the king were political opponents, with Pitt having pressed for George II to relinquish his hereditary position of Elector of Hanover as being a conflict of interest with the government’s policies in Europe.

The severity of the penalty, combined with suspicion that the Admiralty had sought to protect themselves from public anger over the defeat by throwing all the blame on the admiral, led to a reaction in favour of Byng in both the Navy and the country, which had previously demanded retribution.

Pitt, then Leader of the House of Commons, told the King: “the House of Commons, Sir, is inclined to mercy”, to which King George II responded: “You have taught me to look for the sense of my people elsewhere than in the House of Commons.”

The King did not exercise his prerogative to grant clemency. Following the court-martial and pronouncement of sentence, Admiral Byng was detained aboard HMS Monarch in the Solent and, on 14 March 14, 1757, he was taken to the quarterdeck for execution in the presence of all hands and men from other ships of the fleet in boats surrounding Monarch. The admiral knelt on a cushion and signified his readiness by dropping his handkerchief, whereupon a squad of Royal Marines shot him dead.

He is buried in the Byng Mausoleum in All Saints’ Church in Southill, Bedfordshire, built for the burial of his father. He died unmarried, so having left no children he bequeathed his estates, including Wrotham Park, to one of his younger nephews, George Byng (c.1735–1789), the eldest son of his next elder brother Robert Byng (1703–1740), Governor of Barbados, who had died 17 years before the admiral’s death.

Byng was the last of his rank to be executed in this fashion and, 22 years after the event, the Articles of War were amended to allow “such other punishment as the nature and degree of the offence shall be found to deserve” as an alternative to capital punishment.

In 2007, some of Byng’s descendants petitioned the government for a posthumous pardon. The Ministry of Defence refused. Members of his family continue to seek a pardon, along with a group at Southill in Bedfordshire where the Byng family lived.

Byng’s execution has been called “the worst legalistic crime in the nation’s annals”.

January 26, 1624: Birth of Georg Wilhelm, Duke of Brunswick-Lauenburg

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Elector of Hanover, Georg Wilhelm of Brunswick-Luneburg, George I of Great Britain, House of Brunswick, House of Hanover, Sophia Dorothea of Brunswick-Celle, Welf

Georg Wilhelm (January 26, 1624 – August 28, 1705) was the first Welf Duke of Lauenburg after its occupation in 1689. From 1648 to 1665, he was the ruler of the Principality of Calenberg as an appanage from his eldest brother, Christian Ludwig, Prince of Luneburg. When he inherited Luneburg on the latter’s death in 1665, he gave Calenberg to his younger brother, Johann Friedrich.

Nevertheless, he only kept the sub-division of Celle, giving the rest of Luneburg to their youngest brother Ernst August, whose son, George Ludwig (future King of Great Britain), inherited Saxe-Lauenburg and Celle from Georg Wilhelm. His only daughter, Sophia Dorothea of Celle, was George Ludwig’s wife.

Georg Wilhelm of Brunswick-Luneburg

Georg Wilhelm was born in Herzberg am Harz, the second son of Georg, Prince of Calenberg and Anne Eleonore of Hesse-Darmstadt, daughter of Ludwig V, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt and Magdalene of Brandenburg

Georg Wilhelm had an elder brother, two younger brothers, and several sisters, including Queen Sophia Amalie of Denmark and Norway, consort of the King Frederik III of Denmark and Norway.

Succession

In 1648, when Georg Wilhelm’s elder brother, Christian Ludwig, Prince of Calenberg, inherited the Principality of Lüneburg from their paternal uncle, Friedrich IV, he gave Calenberg to Georg Wilhelm in appanage.

Seventeen years later, in 1665, Christian Ludwig himself died childless, and Georg Wilhelm inherited Luneburg as well. He then gave Calenberg to his next brother, Johann Friedrich.

The renunciation of claim to Luneburg had in fact happened seven years previously, in 1658. In exchange for being freed from the obligation to marry Princess Sophia of the Palatinate, Georg Wilhelm ceded his claim on inheriting Lüneburg to his youngest brother Ernst August, settling for the smaller duchy of Celle and promising to remain unmarried so that he would produce no legitimate heir who might pose a challenge to his brother’s claim to Luneburg.

The absence of heirs would also mean that Celle would lapse back into Luneburg; Celle was only supposed to give Georg Wilhelm an income for his lifetime. After reaching this agreement, Georg Wilhelm’s youngest brother, Ernst August, married Sophia of the Palatinate
and became the Duke of Hanover.

Sophia of the Palatinate was the daughter of Elector Friedrich V of the Palatinate, a member of the House of Wittelsbach, and Elizabeth (Stuart) of England and Scotland, daughter of King James I-VI of England and Scotland.

Marriage and issue

This renunciation left Georg Wilhelm free to marry whoever he wished, and indulge his desires to travel and socialize, without being encumbered by considerations of state.

In 1665, Georg Wilhelm entered into a morganatic marriage with his long-time mistress, Eleanor, Countess of Wilhelmsburg. In 1666, their only child and daughter, Sophia Dorothea, was born.

By 1676, it had become quite clear that among the four brothers (Georg Wilhelm and three others), only the youngest, Ernst August had produced any heirs male, and that the entire duchy of Luneburg was likely to be united under Ernst August’s eldest son Georg Ludwig.

Georg Wilhelm therefore wanted Georg Ludwig to marry his daughter Sophia, whose marriage prospects were otherwise not bright, given the circumstances of her birth. To Georg Wilhelm’s annoyance, Georg Ludwig and his parents refused the proposal on the grounds of status.

Sophia of the Palatinate

At this point (in 1676), to improve the status of Eleonore and their daughter, and in open violation of his promise, Georg Wilhelm legitimized his daughter and declared that his marriage to Eleonore, Countess of Wilhelmsburg was not morganatic but valid to both church and state.

This development greatly alarmed his relatives, as it threatened to hinder the contemplated union of the Lüneburg territories. Indeed, if Georg Wilhelm had had a son, a serious succession crisis could have arisen.

No son however was born, and in 1682, Georg Ludwig’s parents finally agreed to the proposed marriage as a way of avoiding uncertainty and dispute. Sophia Dorothea married Georg Ludwig in 1682. They had a son and heir the following year, named Georg August after his father and maternal grandfather: the future George II of Great Britain.

Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg

In 1689, Julius Franz, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg, died leaving no son and no accepted heir male, but only two daughters, Anna Maria and Sibylle. The duchy had followed the Salic law since time immemorial, but Duke Julius Franz decided to nominate his elder daughter as his heir and proclaimed laws permitting female succession in his duchy. This self-serving innovation was not accepted by senior members of his dynasty (the other potential successors) and a succession crisis ensued.

Georg Wilhelm was one of the nearest and senior-most male-line claimants to the succession. Shortly after the death of the duke, Georg Wilhelm invaded the duchy with his troops and occupied it. The other claimants included the five Ascanian-ruled Principalities of Anhalt, Saxony, Saxe-Wittenberg, Sweden and Brandenburg, and also the neighbouring Mecklenburg-Schwerin and the Danish duchy of Holstein, whose ruler was the King Christian V of Denmark.

However, only Georg Wilhelm and Christian V of Denmark (whose mother, Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Calenberg, was Georg Wilhelm’s own sister) engaged militarily on this question. An accord was soon reached between them, and on 9 October 1693 they agreed (in the Hamburg Comparison, or Hamburger Vergleich) that Georg Wilhelm – who now de facto held most of Saxe-Lauenburg – would retain the duchy in a personal union.

Meanwhile, the Emperor Leopold I, who had no direct claim on the duchy, occupied the Land of Hadeln, a Saxe-Lauenburgian exclave, and held it in imperial custody. Apart from that, Leopold did not attempt to use force in Saxe-Lauenburg.

In 1728, his son the Emperor Charles VI finally legitimised the de facto takeover and enfeoffed Georg Wilhelm’s grandson and second successor, George II of Great Britain (who was also Elector of Hanover) with the duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg, but Hadeln remained in imperial custody until 1731, when it was also ceded to Georg II August. Georg Wilhelm died in Wienhausen, aged 81.

November 30, 1719: Birth of Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, Princess of Wales. Part I

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Elector of Hanover, Frederick Louis of Great Britain, Frederick the Great of Prussia, Frederick William I of Prussia, George II, King of Great Britain, Lady Diana Spencer, Prince of Wales, Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, Princess of Wales

Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (November 30, 1719 – 8 February 8, 1772) was Princess of Wales by marriage to Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales, son and heir of King George II of Great Britain. She never became queen consort, as Frederick Louis predeceased his father in 1751. Augusta’s eldest son succeeded her father-in-law as King George III in 1760. After her spouse died, Augusta was presumptive regent of Great Britain in the event of a regency until her son reached majority in 1756.

Early life

Princess Augusta was born in Gotha to Friedrich II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1676–1732) and Magdalena Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst (1679–1740). Her paternal grandfather was Friedrich I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, eldest surviving son of Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg.

In 1736, it was proposed that she marry 29-year-old Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales, eldest son of George II of Great Britain and his queen consort Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach. Originally, Frederick Louis intended to marry the eldest daughter of the King Friedrich Wilhelm I in Prussia.

A marriage alliance between Great Britain and Prussia had been an ambition for many years. However, when George II suggested that his eldest son would marry Louisa Ulrika of Prussia the eldest (unmarried) daughter of the King Friedrich Wilhelm I in Prussia, while George II’s second (unmarried) daughter, Amelia, would marry the eldest son of the Prussian king, future Friedrich II the Great, and King Friedrich Wilhelm I in Prussia demanded that his eldest son should likewise marry the eldest (unmarried) daughter, Anne, of the King of Great Britain, and George II refused to agree to this demand.

Princess Louisa Ulrika of Prussia ended up marying Adolf Fredrik, King of Sweden. Princess Amelia of Great Britain remained unmarried, while her sister Princess Anne married Willem IV, Prince of Orange. Friedrich II the Great of Prussia marriage Duchess Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel-Bevern, daughter of Duke Ferdinand Albert II Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and his cousin Duchess Antoinette of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel in 1733. Elisabeth was the niece of Empress Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, wife of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI.

Around the time the Prussian plan was cancelled, there were rumours that Frederick Louis might marry Lady Diana Spencer, granddaughter of the Duchess of Marlborough, and that such a marriage had been proposed when he visited the duchess’s lodge at Richmond. Queen Caroline felt a need to arrange a marriage for her son quickly, in order to preempt any possibility of such a mésalliance. She therefore suggested to the king that, when he next visited Hanover, he should also visit Saxe-Gotha and view the princesses there.

The king did so, and informed the queen that he considered Augusta suitable. When the matter was broached with Frederick, he simply replied that he would accept any bride his father decided was suitable for him. His attitude arose from a desire to obtain an additional allowance from Parliament to be financially independent of his father.

Augusta did not speak French or English, and it was suggested that she be given lessons before the wedding, but her mother did not consider it necessary as the British royal family were from Germany. She arrived in Britain, speaking virtually no English, for a wedding ceremony which took place almost immediately, on May 8, 1736, at the Chapel Royal in St James’s Palace, London.

Princess of Wales

Augusta of Saxe-Gotha left Hellevoetsluis April 17, 1736 and arrived at Greenwich on the royal yacht William and Mary on the 25th, where she was welcomed by her groom. On April 27, 1736, she was escorted to St James’s Palace, London, where she met the rest of the royal family, followed by the wedding ceremony at the Royal Chapel. When she was introduced to the royal family, she made a favorable impression on the king and queen by throwing herself on the floor before them in a gesture of submission.

During the first year of marriage, Augusta could be seen playing with her doll in the windows of her residence, until her sister-in-law, Princess Caroline, told her to stop. Frederick Louis took advantage of her inexperience when he had his then lover, Lady Archibald Hamilton, employed as her lady of the bedchamber after convincing her that there was no truth in the rumour of his affair. Augusta and Frederick Louis had nine children, the last born after Frederick Louis’s death.

Frederick Louis once stated that he would never allow himself to be influenced by his consort as his father was, and he thus never made Augusta his confidante. He did, however, instruct her to act in accordance with his wishes in his feud with his parents, and on several occasions, Frederick Louis reportedly instructed her to snub them.

When she attended the service of the German Lutheran Chapel, for example, which was also attended by the queen, Frederick instructed Augusta to make sure she always arrived after the queen, so that she would be forced to push in front of the queen to reach her place. This eventually made the queen insist that Augusta should be directed to her place by another entrance, which in turn caused Frederick Louis to instruct Augusta to refuse to enter the Chapel if the queen had arrived before her.