Is King Charles III of the United Kingdom German? Conclusion

Tags

Act of Settlement of 1701, Act of Union of 1707, Citizenship, Ethnicity, Glorious Revolution, King Charles III of the United Kingdom, King George I of Great Britain, King George II of Great Britain, King George III of Great Britain, Sophia Naturalization Act of 1705

From The Emperor’s Desk: This entry is a bit longer than usual but instead of dividing this entry and belaboring my point i decided to post it in its entirety.

The German ancestry of the British Royal Family begins with the accession of Duke Georg Ludwig of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Imperial Elector of Hanover. But how did this German Prince come to succeed to the throne of Great Britain?

Following the Glorious Revolution of 1688 in which King James II-VII of England, Scotland and Ireland, was deposed, the line of succession to the English throne was governed by the Bill of Rights 1689, which declared that the flight of James II-VII from England to France during the revolution amounted to an abdication of the throne and that James’s daughter Queen Mary II and her husband/cousin, King William III (Willem III of Orange, who was also James’s nephew), were James’s successors.

The Bill of Rights also provided that the line of succession would go through Mary’s Protestant descendants by William and any possible future husband should she outlive him, then through Mary’s sister Anne and her Protestant descendants, and then to the Protestant descendants of William III by a possible later marriage should he outlive Mary. During the debate, the House of Lords had attempted to append Electress Sophia of Hanover and her descendants to the line of succession, but the amendment failed in the Commons.

Queen Mary II died childless in 1694, after which William III did not remarry. In 1700, Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, who was future Queen Anne’s only child to survive infancy, died of what may have been smallpox at the age of 11. Thus, Anne was left as the only person in line to the throne.

The Bill of Rights excluded Catholics from the throne, which ruled out James II and his children (as well as their descendants) sired after he converted to Catholicism in 1668. However, it did not provide for further succession after Anne. Parliament thus saw the need to settle the succession on Sophia and her descendants, and thereby guarantee the continuity of the Crown in the Protestant line.

With religion and lineage initially decided, the ascendancy of Willem of Orange in 1689 would also bring his partiality to his foreign favourites that followed. By 1701 English jealousy of foreigners was rampant, and action was considered necessary. It was considered necessary to create an Act of Parliament to settle the succession to the English throne.

The Act of Settlement

The Act of Settlement provided that the throne would pass to the Electress Sophia of Hanover – a granddaughter of James I-VI and a niece of King Charles I – and her descendants.

One the issues the Act of Settlement did not address was granting English citizenship to the Sovereign. The Act did address who can be a member of the Privy Council:

No foreigner (“no Person born out of the Kingdoms of England Scotland or Ireland or the Dominions thereunto belonging”), even if naturalised or made a denizen (unless born of English parents), can be a Privy Councillor or a member of either House of Parliament, or hold “any Office or Place of Trust, either Civill [sic] or Military, or to [sic] have any Grant of Lands, Tenements or Hereditaments from the Crown, to himself or to any other or others in Trust for him”.

Before I go further, let me define who or what is a British national. Over the many years there have been many Acts of Parliament that dealt with the subject and various related issues. I’m not going into all of them but I will mention a few of them.

Nationality is a legal identification of a person in international law, establishing the person as a subject, a national, of a sovereign state. It affords the state jurisdiction over the person and affords the person the protection of the state against other states.

The British Nationality Act 1948 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom on British nationality law which defined British nationality by creating the status of “Citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies” (CUKC) as the sole national citizenship of the United Kingdom and all of its colonies.

The British Nationality Act 1948 formed the basis of the United Kingdom’s nationality law until the British Nationality Act 1981, which came into force in 1983. Most of its provisions have been repealed or otherwise superseded by subsequent legislation, though parts remain in force.

British nationality law details the conditions by which a person is a national of the United Kingdom. The primary law governing these requirements is the British Nationality Act 1981, which came into force on January 1, 1983. Regulations apply to the British Islands (the UK itself and the Crown dependencies) as well as the 14 British Overseas Territories.

The Act of Parliament that did address the nationality of the English monarch and the English Royal Family was the Sophia Naturalization Act of 1705.

Prior to the Act of Union which United the Kingdoms of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain, each country had their own separate succession laws. Since the Sovereign of Ireland was always the Sovereign of England, Ireland followed England’s succession laws.

The Act for the Naturalization of the Most Excellent Princess Sophia, Electress and Duchess Dowager of Hanover, and the Issue of her Body was an Act of the Parliament of England (4 & 5 Ann. c. 16.) in 1705. It followed the Act of Settlement 1701, whereby Dowager Electress Sophia of Hanover and her Protestant descendants were declared to be in the line of succession to the throne (her son George I later became king).

Electress Sophia of Hanover, a granddaughter of James VI of Scotland and I of England, was not considered to be an Englishwoman as she had not been born in England. This Act naturalized her and “the issue of her body”, provided they were not Catholic, as English subjects. Any person born to a descendant of Sophia could also claim to be an English Subject (citizen) by being her descent of Sophia and to be the “issue of her body”.

In 1947, Prince Friedrich of Prussia succeeded in a claim to British citizenship under the Act, having renounced his German citizenship.

The Act was repealed by the British Nationality Act 1948. However, any non-Catholic descendant of the Electress born before the repealing statute was enacted had already automatically acquired the status of a British subject, so there are still people alive who can claim British nationality under the Sophia Naturalization Act.

Therefore, despite being born in Germany, technically the Holy Roman Empire at the time, King George I, King George II and Prince Frederick Louis, the Prince of Wales were all naturalized British Subjects.

However, for the sake of argument, let me say that these first three heads of the House of Hanover were ethnically German.

Now let me define ethnicity. An ethnicity or ethnic group is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, society, nation, religion, or social treatment within their residing area. The term ethnicity is often used interchangeably with the term nation, particularly in cases of ethnic nationalism.

Ethnicity may be construed as an inherited or as a societally imposed construct. Ethnic membership tends to be defined by a shared cultural heritage, ancestry, origin myth, history, homeland, language, dialect, religion, mythology, folklore, ritual, cuisine, dressing style, art, or physical appearance. Ethnic groups may share a narrow or broad spectrum of genetic ancestry, depending on group identification, with many groups having mixed genetic ancestry. Ethnic groups often continue to speak related languages.

As previously mentioned the first three heads of the House of Hanover were ethnic Germans:

King George I of Great Britain: George was born on May 28, 1660 in the city of Hanover in the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire.

King George II of Great Britain: George was born November 9, 1683 in the city of Hanover in the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire.

Prince Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales and Duke of Edinburgh: Prince Frederick Louis was born on January 31, 1707 in the city of Hanover, in the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire as Duke Friedrich Ludwig of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

However, the next monarch of Great Britain was different. He was born in the Kingdom of Great Britain.

King George III of Great Britain: George was born on June 4, 1738 at Norfolk House in St James’s Square, London, England in the Kingdom of Great Britain.

George III was the first monarch of the House of Hanover who—unlike his two predecessors, and his father—was born in Great Britain, spoke English as his first language, and never visited Hanover.

In my eyes and the legal definition of citizenship and ethnicity he meets the criteria for being British.

Again, I have to ask a question at what point does an individual, or a family, need to live in a certain country to be considered a national of that country and ethnically from that country?

Legally those born in a certain country are a citizen of that country. Forgetting for a moment that King George I, King George II and Prince Frederick Louis, the Prince of Wales were all naturalized British Subjects (citizens); but beginning with King George III he and all subsequent British Monarchs have been born and bread in the United Kingdom.

That’s seven generations of British monarchs born and raised in the United Kingdom. Certainly right now they can be considered British and not German both by the definition of legal citizenship and by the definition of ethnicity.

This is why I consider King Charles III as being 100% British. At least seven generations of his ancestors were born in the United Kingdom.

The closest ancestor that King Charles had that was born a German citizen was his paternal Great-great grandfather, Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and by Rhine. Ludwig was born on September 12th, 1837 at the Prinz-Karl-Palais in Darmstadt, the capital of the Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine in the German Confederation.

Charles’ great grandmother, Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, (Victoria Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven) was born in Windsor Castle. Her husband, and cousin once removed, Prince Louis of Battenberg (Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven) was born in Austria.

Also remember the King’s maternal grandmother was Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon the daughter Claude Bowes-Lyon, the 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne in the Peerage of Scotland, and his wife, Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck. Her mother was descended from British prime minister William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, and Governor-General of India Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, who was the elder brother of another prime minister, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington.

This also gives Charles a considerable amount of Scottish and English ancestry.

In the future the German ancestry of the British Royal Family becomes even more distant and diluted. The Prince of Wales is the son of Lady Diana Spencer the daughter of John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer. The Spencer family is an aristocratic family in the United Kingdom. From the 16th century, its members have held numerous titles including the dukedom of Marlborough, the earldoms of Sunderland and Spencer, and the Churchill barony. Prime Minister Winston Churchill was a member of the Spencer family.

The mother of the future King George VII, Catherine Middleton, brings a great deal of English blood into the Royal Family. The Princess of Wales is the eldest of three children born to Michael Middleton (b. 1949) and his wife, Carole (née Goldsmith; b. 1955). Tracing their origins back to the Tudor era, the Middleton family of Yorkshire of the late 18th century were recorded as owning property of the Rectory Manor of Wakefield. The land passed down to solicitor William Middleton who established the family law firm in Leeds which spanned five generations.

So you can see in the future of the British Monarchy, both short term and long term, the German ancestry of the British Royal Family will fade into the background.

To conclude though King Charles does have German ancestry (as well as Danish and Russian and Greek ancestry) but he is both legally and ethnically a quintessential British person.

April 6, 1889: Death of Princess Augusta of Hesse-Cassel, Duchess of Cambridge

Tags

Adolphus of the United Kingdom, Augusta of Hesse-Cassel, Duke of Cambridge, Elector Wilhelm I of Hesse, George of Cambridge, Kew Palace, King George II of Great Britain, King George III of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, King George V of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Landgrave Friedrich II of Hesse-Cassel, Mary of Teck

Princess Augusta of Hesse-Cassel (July 25, 1797 – April 6, 1889) was the wife of Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, the tenth-born child, and seventh son, of George III of the United Kingdom and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The longest-lived daughter-in-law of George III, she was the maternal grandmother of Mary of Teck, wife of George V of the United Kingdom.

Princess and Landgravine Augusta of Hesse-Cassel, third daughter of Prince Friedrich of Hesse-Cassel, and his wife, Princess Caroline of Nassau-Usingen, was born at Rumpenheim Castle Offenbach am Main, Hesse. Through her father, she was a great-granddaughter of King George II of Great Britain, her grandmother being George II’s daughter Mary.

Her father’s older brother was the Landgrave Wilhelm VIII of Hesse-Cassel. In 1803, her uncle’s title was raised to Elector of Hesse—whereby the entire Cassel branch of the Hesse dynasty gained an upward notch in hierarchy.

William I, Elector of Hesse (1743 – 1821) was the eldest surviving son of Friedrich II, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel and Princess Mary of Great Britain, the daughter of King George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach.

Friedrich II’s marriage with the British princess was not a happy one, and Friedrich II abandoned the family in 1747 and converted to Catholicism in 1749. In 1755 he formally annulled his marriage.

Marriage

After the death of Princess Charlotte of Wales in 1817, Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge was set the task of finding a bride for his eldest unmarried brother, the Duke of Clarence (later William IV), in the hope of securing heirs to the throne—Charlotte had been the only legitimate grandchild of George III, despite the fact that the King had twelve surviving children.

After several false starts, the Duke of Clarence settled on Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen. The way was cleared for the Duke of Cambridge to find a bride for himself.

On May 7, in Cassel, and then, again, on June 1, 1818 at Buckingham Palace, Princess Augusta married her second cousin, Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, when she was 20 and he 44. Upon their marriage, Augusta became Duchess of Cambridge. They had three children.

From 1818 until the accession of Queen Victoria, and the separation of the British and Hanoverian crowns in 1837, the Duchess of Cambridge lived in Hanover, where the Duke served as viceroy on behalf of his brothers, George IV and William IV.

In 1827 Augusta allowed that a new village, founded on May 3, 1827 and to be settled in the course of the cultivation and colonisation of the moorlands in the south of Bremervörde, would bear her name. On June 19 the administration of the Hanoveran High-Bailiwick of Stade informed the villagers that she had approved the chosen name Augustendorf for their municipality (since 1974 it is a component locality of Gnarrenburg). The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge returned to Great Britain, where they lived at Cambridge Cottage, Kew, and later at St. James’s Palace.

Prince Adolphus, the Duke of Cambridge died on July 8, 1850 at Cambridge House, Piccadilly, London, and was buried at St Anne’s Church, Kew. His remains were removed to St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle in 1930. His only son, Prince George, succeeded to his peerages.

Death

The Duchess of Cambridge survived her husband by thirty-nine years, dying on April 6, 1889, at the age of ninety-one, at their home at Cambridge Cottage on Kew Green. Queen Victoria wrote of her aunt’s death: “Very sad, though not for her. But she is the last of her generation, & I have no longer anyone above me.”

She was buried at St Anne’s Church, Kew, but her remains were transferred to St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle in 1930.

April 5, 1691: Birth of Landgrave Ludwig VIII of Hesse-Darmstadt

Tags

Count Johann Reinhard III of Hanau, Countess Charlotte Christine of Hanau-Lichtenberg, Emperor Franz I Sefan, Empress Maria Theresa, King George II of Great Britain, Landgrave Ludwig VIII of Hesse-Darmstadt, Margrave Albrecht II of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Seven Years War

Ludwig VIII (April 5, 1691 – October 17, 1768) was the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt from 1739 to 1768. He was the son of Ernst Ludwig Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt and Margravine Dorothea Charlotte of Brandenburg-Ansbach, a daughter of Margrave Albrecht II of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1620–1667), from his second marriage to Sophia Margaret of Oettingen-Oettingen (1634–1664), daughter of Joachim Ernest of Oettingen-Oettingen.

In 1717, he was married to his cousin Countess Charlotte Christine of Hanau-Lichtenberg the only surviving child of Count Johann Reinhard III of Hanau, and the Countess Dorothea Friederike of Brandenburg-Ansbach the daughter of Margrave John Frederick of Brandenburg-Ansbach (1654–1686) and his first wife, Margravine Johanna Elisabeth of Baden-Durlach (1651–1680). Countess Dorothea Friederike of Brandenburg-Ansbach was a half-sister of Queen Caroline of Great Britain, the wife of King George II of Great Britain.

Count Johann Reinhard III was the last Count of Hanau, thus, Countess Charlotte Christine was the sole heir of the County of Hanau.

As a result of the marriage Landgrave Ludwig VIII received Hanau-Lichtenberg as an addition to his dominions. Because of his passion for hunting, he is known as the “Hunting Landgrave” (German: Jagdlandgraf). During the Seven Years’ War he stood on the side of the Emperor Franz I Stefan and received the rank of General Field Marshal.

The Seven Years’ War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European great powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Some historians have labeled the Seven Years War as World War 0.

Like his father, Ludwig VIII was not a gifted economist and only his good relationship with Empress Maria Theresa and her intervention at the Imperial Court Council kept the Landgraviate from bankruptcy. However, his caring for his country is documented by the establishment of a textile house in 1742 and a state orphanage in the 1746.

Issue

Children:

1. Landgrave Ludwig IX, married in 1741 Countess Palatine Caroline of Zweibrücken, had issue
2. Prince Georg Wilhelm, married in 1748 Countess Maria Louise Albertine of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Falkenburg, had issue
3. Princess Caroline Louise; married in 1751 Charles Friedrich, Margrave of Baden, later first Grand Duke of Baden, had issue

The Life of Langrave Friedrich II of Hesse-Cassel

Tags

Archbishop-Elector of Cologne, Clemens August of Bavaria, Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle, Frederick I of Sweden, Friedrich II of Hesse-Cassel, King George II of Great Britain, Margravine Philippine Brandenburg-Schwedt, Princess Mary of Great Britain

Friedrich II of Hesse-Cassel (August 14, 1720 – October 31, 1785) was Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel from 1760 to 1785. He ruled as an enlightened despot, and raised money by renting soldiers (called “Hessians”) to Great Britain to help fight the American Revolutionary War. He combined Enlightenment ideas with Christian values, cameralist plans for central control of the economy, and a militaristic approach toward international diplomacy.

Early life

Friedrich was born at Cassel in Hesse, the son of Wilhelm VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel and his wife Dorothea Wilhelmine of Saxe-Zeitz. His paternal grandfather was Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, and his paternal uncle was King Frederick I of Sweden (Friedrich I, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel). His education was initially entrusted to Colonel August Moritz von Donop and then from 1726 to 1733 to the Swiss theologian and philosopher, Jean-Pierre de Crousaz.

Marriages and Children

On May 8, 1740, by proxy in London, and on June 28, 1740 in person in Cassel, Friedrich married Princess Mary, fourth daughter of King George II of Great Britain, Elector of Hanover and Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach, daughter of Johann Friedrich, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, and his second wife, Princess Eleonore Erdmuthe of Saxe-Eisenach.

They had four sons:

1. Wilhelm (December 25, 1741 – July 1, 1742)
2. William I, Elector of Hesse (June 3, 1743 – February 27, 1821)
3. Charles (December 19, 1744 – August 1836), father of Princess Louise Caroline of Hesse-Cassel and grandfather of King Christian IX of Denmark.
4. Friedrich (September 11, 1747 – May 20, 1837), father of Prince Wilhelm of Hesse-Cassel and grandfather of Louise of Hesse-Cassel, Queen of Denmark as the wife of King Christian IX of Denmark.

In December 1745, Friedrich landed in Scotland with 6000 Hessian troops to support his father-in-law, George II of Great Britain, in dealing with the Jacobite rising. Although he supported the “Protestant succession” in Great Britain on this occasion, Friedrich later converted from Calvinism to Catholicism.

In February 1749, Friedrich and his father visited the Archbishop-Elector of Cologne, Prince Clemens August of Bavaria, who received Friedrich into the Catholic Church.

Despite his exertions in support of her father, Friedrich’s marriage with the British princess was not a happy one. The couple were living apart from each other by 1747, and were formally separated in 1755. Mary moved to Denmark the following year to care for the children of her late sister Louise of Great Britain, who had died in 1751.

All three of the couple’s surviving sons moved with Mary to Denmark. Two of them, including Friedrich’s heir Wilhelm, later married Danish princesses, their first cousins. The younger sons lived permanently in Denmark, rising to high office in the court of their cousin; only Wilhelm returned to the Holy Roman Empire upon inheriting the principality of Hanau. He also later succeeded Friedrich II as Landgrave Wilhelm VIII of Hesse-Cassel.

Mary died in 1772, and Friedrich lost little time in marrying again. On January 10, 1773, at Berlin, he married Margravine Philippine Brandenburg-Schwedt daughter of Friedrich Wilhelm, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt and Sophia Dorothea of Prussia. No children were born of this marriage.

Ruler

After being formally separated from his wife in 1755, Friedrich entered active service in the Prussian military. In 1760, he succeeded his father as Landgrave Friedrich II of Hesse-Cassel. Despite Friedrich’s Catholicism, the principality remained Calvinist, and Friedrich’s children were raised as Protestants in Denmark.

During the 17th and 18th centuries, it was a fairly widespread practice for smaller principalities to rent out troops to other princes. However, the practise was carried to excess in Hesse-Cassel, which maintained 7% of its entire population under arms throughout the eighteenth century.

Landgrave Friedrich II hired out so many troops to his nephew, King George III of Great Britain, for use in the American War of Independence, that “Hessian” has become an American term for all German soldiers deployed by the British in the War. Friedrich used the revenue to finance his patronage of the arts and his opulent lifestyle. The architect Simon Louis du Ry transformed for Friedrich II the town of Cassel into a modern capital.

Landgrave Friedrich II died in 1785 at Castle Weißenstein, Cassel. He was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, Wilhelm who became Wilhelm IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel. He was said to have inherited one of the largest fortunes in Europe at the time.

In 1803, Landgrave Wilhelm IX was created The Prince-Elector of Hesse. After the Napoleonic Wars Several other prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire had been recognized as kings at the Congress of Vienna (1815), such as Bavaria, Württemberg and Saxony, Wilhelm attempted to join them by declaring himself King of the Chatti.

However, the European powers refused to recognize this title at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle (1818) and instead granted him the title Grand Duke of Hesse and the style of “Royal Highness.” Deeming the title of Prince-Elector to be superior in dignity to that of Grand Duke, Wilhelm chose to remain an Elector, even though there was no longer a Holy Roman Emperor to elect. Hesse-Cassel would remain an Electorate until it was annexed by Prussia in 1866.

March 15, 1792: Assassination of King Gustaf III of Sweden

Tags

Adolph Ribbing, Carl Fredrik Pechlin., Carl Pontus Lilliehorn, Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Christiansborg Palace, Claes Fredrik Horn, Jacob Johan Anckarström, King Carl XII of Sweden, King Frederik V of Denmark, King George II of Great Britain, King Gustaf III of Sweden, Princess Louise of Great Britain

Gustaf III (January 24, 1746 – March 29, 1792) was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of Adolf Frederick of Sweden and Queen Louisa Ulrika of Prussia.

King Gustaf III was a vocal opponent of what he saw as the abuse of political privileges seized by the nobility since the death of King Carl XII. Seizing power from the government in a coup d’état, called the Swedish Revolution, in 1772 that ended the Age of Liberty, he initiated a campaign to restore a measure of Royal autocracy, which was completed by the Union and Security Act of 1789, which swept away most of the powers exercised by the Swedish Riksdag (parliament) during the Age of Liberty, but at the same time it opened up the government for all citizens, thereby breaking the privileges of the nobility.

A believer in enlightened absolutism, Gustaf spent considerable public funds on cultural ventures, which were controversial among his critics, as well as military attempts to seize Norway with Russian aid, then a series of attempts to re-capture the Swedish Baltic dominions lost during the Great Northern War through the failed war with Russia. Nonetheless, his successful leadership in the Battle of Svensksund averted a complete military defeat and signified that Swedish military might was to be countenanced.

Gustaf married Princess Sophia Magdalena, daughter of King Frederik V of Denmark and his first consort, the former Princess Louise of Great Britain, the youngest surviving daughter of King George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach.

The by proxy marriage occurred in Christiansborg Palace, Copenhagen, on October 1, 1766 and in person in Stockholm on November 4, 1766. Gustaf was first impressed by Sophia Magdalena’s beauty, but her silent nature made her a disappointment in court life. The match was not a happy one, owing partly to an incompatibility of temperament, but still more to the interference of Gustav’s jealous mother, Queen Louisa Ulrika.

The marriage produced two children: Crown Prince Gustaf Adolph (1778–1837), future King Gustaf IV Adolph and Prince Carl Gustaf, Duke of Småland (1782–1783). For the consummation of the marriage, the king and queen requested actual physical instruction by Count Adolf Munck, reportedly because of anatomical problems of both spouses. There were also rumors that the queen was made pregnant by Munck, who would then be the true father of the heir Prince Gustav Adolph.

Gustaf’s mother supported rumors that he was not the father of his first son and heir. It was rumored at the time that Gustaf III was homosexual, a possibility asserted by some writers. The close personal relationships that he formed with two of his courtiers, Count Axel von Fersen and Baron Gustav Armfelt, were alluded to in that regard. His sister-in-law Charlotte implied as much in her famous diary.

Assassination

Gustaf III’s war against Russia and his implementation of the Union and Security Act of 1789 helped increase hatred against the king which had been growing among the nobility ever since the coup d’état of 1772. A conspiracy to have the king assassinated and reform the constitution was created within the nobility in the winter of 1791–92. Among those involved were Jacob Johan Anckarström, Adolph Ribbing, Claes Fredrik Horn, Carl Pontus Lilliehorn and Carl Fredrik Pechlin. Anckarström was chosen to carry out the murder with pistols and knives, but there has also been evidence suggesting that Ribbing was the one who actually shot Gustav.

The assassination of the king was enacted at a masked ball at the Royal Opera House in Stockholm at midnight on March 16, 1792. Gustaf III had arrived earlier that evening to enjoy a dinner in the company of friends. During dinner, he received an anonymous letter that described a threat to his life (written by the colonel of the Life guards Carl Pontus Lilliehorn), but, as the king had received numerous threatening letters in the past, he chose to ignore it.

To dare any possible assassins, the King went out into an open box facing the opera stage. And after roughly ten minutes he said “this would have been an opportunity to shoot. Come, let us go down. The ball seems to be merry and bright.” The King with Baron Hans Henrik von Essen by his right arm went around the theatre once and then into the foyer where they met Captain Carl Fredrik Pollet.

The King, von Essen and Pollet continued through a corridor leading from the foyer towards the opera stage where the dancing took place. On the stage several masked men – some witnesses talked of 20 or 30 men – made it impossible for the king to proceed. Due to the crowd, Pollet receded behind the King, who bent backwards to talk to Pollet.

Anckarström stood with Ribbing next to him at the entrance to the corridor holding a knife in his left hand and carrying one pistol in his left inner pocket and another pistol in his right back pocket. They edged themselves behind the King, Anckarström took out the pistol from his left inner pocket and Ribbing or he pulled the trigger with the gun in Anckarström’s hand. Because of the King turning backwards the shot went in at an angle from the third lumbar vertebra towards the hip region.

The King twitched and said “aee” without falling. Anckarström then lost courage, dropped the pistol and knife and shouted fire. People from the King’s lifeguard stood some meters away. When they reached the King, they heard him say in French “Aï, je suis blessé” (Ouch, I am wounded).

The king was carried back to his quarters, and the exits of the Opera were sealed. Anckarström was arrested the following morning and immediately confessed to the murder, although he denied a conspiracy until informed that Horn and Ribbing had also been arrested and had confessed in full.

The king had not been shot dead; he was alive and continued to function as head of state. The coup was a failure in the short run. However, the wound became infected, and on March 29, the king finally died with these last words:

Jag känner mig sömnig, några ögonblicks vila skulle göra mig gott (“I feel sleepy, a few moments’ rest would do me good”)

Gustaf III’s gunshot wound was not initially considered life-threatening; reexamined evidence allows that the sudden serious infection that killed him almost immediately, 13 days into his convalescence, may have been caused chemically by attending surgeon Daniel Théel [sv] who was his known adversary.

Ulrica Arfvidsson, the famous medium of the Gustavian era, had told him something that could be interpreted as a prediction of his assassination in 1786, when he visited her anonymously – a coincidence – but she was known to have a large network of informers all over town to help her with her predictions, and she was in fact interrogated about the murder.

January 5, 1757: Attempted Assassination of King Louis XV of France and Navarre

Tags

Assassination Attempt, Drawn añd Quartered, Empress Maria Theresa, French Parlement, Grand Trianon, King George II of Great Britain, King Louis XV of France and Navarre, Pope Benedict XIV, Robért-François Damiens, Versailles

On January 5, 1757, as King Louis XV of France and Navarre was getting into his carriage in the courtyard of the Grand Trianon Versailles, a demented man, Robért-François Damiens rushed past the King’s bodyguards and stabbed him with a penknife, inflicting only a slight wound. He made no attempt to escape and was apprehended at once.

Damiens was arrested on the spot and taken away to be tortured to force him to divulge the identity of any accomplices or those who had sent him. This effort was unsuccessful.

King Louis XV of France and Navarre

The King’s guards seized Damien, and the King ordered them to hold him but not harm him. The King walked up the steps to his rooms at the Trianon, where he found he was bleeding profusely. He summoned his doctor and then fainted. Louis was saved from greater harm by the thickness of the winter clothing he was wearing.

Before King Louis XV passed out he also called for a confessor to be brought to him, as he feared he might die. When the Queen ran to Louis’s side, he asked forgiveness for his numerous affairs.

When the news reached Paris, anxious crowds gathered in the streets. Pope Benedict XIV, the Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa, and King George II of Great Britain, with whom France was at war, sent messages hoping for his swift recovery.

Damien was tried before the Parlement of Paris, which had been the most vocal critic of the King. The Parlement demonstrated its loyalty to the King by sentencing Damiens to the most severe possible penalty.

Grand Trianon at the Palace of Versailles

Damiens’s motivation has always been debated, with some historians considering him to have been mentally unstable. From his answers under interrogation, Damiens seems to have been put into a state of agitation by the uproar that followed the refusal of the French Catholic clergy to grant the holy sacraments to members of the Jansenist sect. He appears to have laid the ultimate blame for this on the King, and so formed a plan to punish him.

Fetched from his prison cell on the morning of March 28, 1757, Damiens allegedly said “La journée sera rude” (“The day will be hard”). He was first subjected to a torture in which his legs were painfully compressed by devices called “boots”.

He was then tortured with red-hot pincers; the hand with which he had held the knife during the attempted assassination was burned using sulphur; molten wax, molten lead, and boiling oil were poured into his wounds.

He was then remanded to the royal executioner Charles Henri Sanson who, after emasculating Damiens, harnessed horses to his arms and legs to be dismembered. But Damiens’s limbs did not separate easily: the officiants ordered Sanson to cut Damiens’s tendons, and once that was done the horses were able to perform the dismemberment.

Once Damiens was dismembered, to the applause of the crowd, his reportedly still-living torso was burnt at the stake. (Some accounts say he died when his last remaining arm was removed.)

Execution of Damiens

Damiens’s final words are uncertain. Some sources attribute to him “O death, why art thou so long in coming?”; others claim Damiens’ last words consisted mainly of various effusions for mercy from God.

Aftermath

After his death, the remains of Damiens’s corpse were reduced to ashes and scattered in the wind. His house was razed, his brothers and sisters were forced to change their names, and his father, wife, and daughter were banished from France.

The King recovered physically very quickly, but the attack had a depressive effect on his spirits. One of his chief courtiers, Duford de Cheverny, wrote afterwards: “it was easy to see that when members of the court congratulated him on his recovery, he replied, ‘yes, the body is going well’, but touched his head and said, ‘but this goes badly, and this is impossible to heal.’

After the assassination attempt, the King invited his heir, the Dauphin, to attend all of the Royal Council meetings, and quietly closed down the chateau at Versailles where he had met with his short-term mistresses.”

Damiens was the last person to be executed in France by dismemberment, the traditional form of death penalty reserved for regicides.

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

Tags

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.”

December 18, 1724: Birth of Louise of Great Britain, Queen of Denmark and Norway. Part I.

Tags

King Christian VI of Denmark of Norway, King Frederik V of Denmark and Norway, King George II of Great Britain, Princess Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Princess Louise of Great Britain, Queen of Denmark and Norway

From the Emperor’s Desk: The anniversary of the birth of Princess Louise of Great Britain is today and I will cover her birth and marriage. Tomorrow December 19 is the anniversary of her death and I will cover her time as Queen Consort of Denmark and Norway.

Louise of Great Britain (originally Louisa; December 18, 1724 – December 19, 1751) was Queen of Denmark and Norway from 1746 until her death, as the first wife of King Frederik V. She was the youngest surviving daughter of King George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach.

Princess Louise was born as the fifth daughter and youngest child of the then Prince and Princess of Wales, on December 18, 1724, at Leicester House, Westminster, London. She was born ten years after her paternal grandfather, Elector George Louis (Georg Ludwig) of Hanover, had succeeded to the thrones of Great Britain and Ireland in 1714 as George I, and her father had become Prince of Wales and moved to London with his family.

Louise’s father had a strained relationship with his own father, and in 1717, after a quarrel, the King had banished his son from court. He had subsequently lived at Leicester House, a large aristocratic townhouse in Westminster, where a rival court grew up, and which became a frequent meeting place for his father’s political opponents. It was here that Louise was born.

She was baptised “Louisa” at Leicester House on December 22. Her godparents were her elder sister and two cousins: Princess Amelia of Great Britain, Princess Louisa Ulrika of Prussia (for whom Sarah Lennox, Duchess of Richmond and Lennox, stood proxy), and Frederick, Prince Royal of Prussia, later Frederick the Great (for whom Henry de Nassau d’Auverquerque, 1st Earl of Grantham, stood proxy).

Princess Louise had six older siblings who lived to adulthood. Of these, Louise lived only with the two youngest, Prince William and Princess Mary and their parents in Leicester House.

They constituted the ‘younger set’, born in London, in contrast to the ‘older set’, born in Hanover, whom King George I had cruelly separated from their parents in 1717. Her favorite sister was Princess Mary, who later married Friedrich II, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel; The future marriages of the two sisters would become a basis for the many dynastic marriages between the Danish royal family and the House of Hesse-Cassel in the following generations.

Louise of Great Britain, Queen of Denmark and Norway

On June 11, 1727, when Louise was two years old, her grandfather, King George I, died, and her father ascended the throne as King George II of Great Britain and Ireland, Imperial Elector of Hanover. The family subsequently moved to St James’s Palace, the London residence of the British monarch. Here Louise grew up, spending holidays at her parents’ summer residence, Richmond Lodge, located near the River Thames in Richmond.

In 1737, when Louise was almost 13 years old, her mother, Queen Caroline, died, and she was then raised mainly by her older sister, Princess Caroline.

In 1743, a dynastic marriage was negotiated between Louise and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Norway. The marriage was proposed by Great Britain from political reasons. At the time of the marriage, both France and Great Britain wished to make an alliance with Denmark-Norway, and being protestant Great Britain had the advantage of being able to make a marriage alliance.

The Danish government was in favor of the proposal, while Crown Prince Frederik’s father, King Christian VI, was initially reluctant. But he was convinced, as he hoped the marriage would lead to British support for his or his son’s claim to the throne of Sweden.

On a more personal level, there were hopes that marriage would suppress the frequent drinking and debauched behaviour of the Crown Prince. As for the Crown Prince, after having been presented with a portrait of the princess and finding her exterior appealing, and having been told of her amiability, he declared himself willing to marry Louise, all the more so as he too could see that the political circumstances made the marriage desirable.

Thus, the marriage negotiations began during the year of 1743, and were successfully concluded within a few months on September 14. On October 19, the 18 year old Princess Louise left London and began her journey towards Copenhagen.

The Lord Chamberlain ordered the provision of supplies for the Princess, including “sets of royal bedding, portmanteaus, a travelling tea equipage, and items for Mrs. Dives and the “Fubbs” yacht: all to an estimate of £503″.

King Christian VI with his family Queen Sophie Magdalene, Crown Prince Frederik (V), and Crown Princess Louise. Hirschholm Palace can be seen as a backdrop. Painting by Carl Marcus Tuscher, c. 1744 (Rosenborg Castle).

She first sailed aboard the royal yacht HMY Fubbs to her father’s German possession, the Electorate of Hanover, where on November 10, a proxy wedding ceremony was conducted in Hanover with her favorite brother, Prince William, the Duke of Cumberland, as the representative of the groom.

Prince William, the Duke of Cumberland, is best remembered for his role in putting down the Jacobite Rising at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, which made him immensely popular throughout parts of Britain.

After this, the entourages of Louise and Crown Prince Frederik met in the border city of Altona in the then Danish Duchy of Holstein, where Louise met her husband for the first time a week after the wedding.

There her English retinue was exchanged for a Danish one, headed by her new chamberlain Carl Juel and her Chief Court Mistress Christiane Henriette Louise Juel. Louise and Frederik then travelled together to Copenhagen, where they held their official entry into the Danish capital on December 11, to great cheers from the population. Already the same day a second wedding ceremony with the groom present was held in the chapel of Christiansborg Palace, the recently completed principal residence of the Danish Monarchy in central Copenhagen.

King Frederik V of Denmark and Norway

After the wedding, the newlyweds initially took up residence at Charlottenborg Palace, a Baroque style minor residence of the Danish royal family located at Copenhagen’s largest square, Kongens Nytorv. Here, their home quickly became the setting for a lively and entertaining court which differed greatly from the rigid and heavy etiquette that prevailed at the court of Louise’s in-laws at Christiansborg Palace. They lived there until, in 1745, they could move into the completed Prince’s Mansion, a city mansion remodeled for them by the Danish architect and royal building master Nicolai Eigtved in Rococo style, and located just across the Frederiksholm’s Canal from Christiansborg Palace.

Although the marriage was arranged, the couple got along quite well, and at least during the first years, their relationship was apparently amicable. The couple had five children, of whom the eldest son, the heir to the throne, Crown Prince Christian, did not survive infancy.

Although Frederik came to feel high regard for her and always treated her with kindness, he reportedly was not in love with her and continued his debauched lifestyle. However Frederik was comfortable with her, and Louise pretended not to notice his adultery and random liaisons with others, notably with his favorite mistress Else Hansen.

Louise quickly made herself popular in the Danish court, and her father-in-law remarked that she seemed to him to be kind and agreeable. She was also met with great enthusiasm from the citizens of Copenhagen, due to her natural and straightforward behavior. Unlike her mother-in-law, Queen Sophie Magdalene, she made an effort to learn Danish, and studied the Danish language right from her arrival under the court priest Erik Pontoppidan. She also hired teachers so that her children could learn to speak their country’s language.

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

Tags

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

Tags

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.”