March 14, 2023 • 45 mins
In recent years, Queen Charlotte has recieved new attention for being the only primary character on Bridgerton with a real historical counterpart. But despite the love in her marriage, the real Queen Charlotte's life was far more tragic than any romance novel.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim
and Mild from Aaron Mankie. Listener discretion advised. If you've
learned anything about the princesses and queens of history, particularly
(00:24):
from this podcast, you know that, regardless of where they're from,
their stories are almost always leaps and bounds away from
the lives we imagine of princesses and queens in fairy tales,
if a woman isn't in line for the throne of
her own country, her origin story typically follows a format
(00:48):
we hear time and time again. A girl is chosen
as a suitable marriage candidate at a young age. She
is promptly separated from her family and her country and
shipped to the court of another nation. She is expected
to adapt to their customs, perhaps even their language, under
(01:10):
the scrutiny of not only the court but the country
at large. I think of Marie Antoinette in the Sophia
Coppola film. There's a scene pulled directly from history. In
the forest at the edge of the Austrian French border.
Marie Antoinette's beloved pug is taken from her arms as
(01:31):
she's told that when she gets to Versailles. She can
have as many French dogs as she likes. If you
found that movie scene as heartbreaking as I did, take
comfort in the fact that in real life Marie Antoinette
did eventually get her beloved Mops to meet her in
France after the ceremonial aspect was complete. But the scene
(01:56):
is dramatic and emblematic of the practice of all but
shipping princesses abroad to marry strangers for diplomatic purposes. That
was common that princesses would arrive in a foreign land
for a wedding, but most didn't marry their husbands six
hours after their arrival. That is a situation almost unique
(02:22):
to the then seventeen year old Sophia Charlotte or Charlotte
of Mecklenburg Strelitz, or the soon to be Queen Charlotte
of Great Britain and Ireland. As a friend of the
real life Marie Antoinette, I imagine that scenario was something
that the pair could have bonded over if they were
(02:43):
ever to have let their minds wander back to what
it must have been like to have been a young
and terrified bride to be. Charlotte had begun her journey
from her native Germany to England an August seventeenth, seventeen
sixty one, and arrived on September eighth, after a grueling
(03:03):
sea voyage, during which the crew encountered three storms. As
I'm sure we're all in agreement on, nothing screams romance
like still being seasick during your vows, especially when they're
being given in a language you don't understand. Charlotte spoke
no English upon her arrival, and naturally, due to the timing,
(03:27):
she would not learn it until after her marriage was official.
You may be surprised, then, to learn that Charlotte and
her husband George ended up in what is potentially as
happy a marriage as is possible for the British monarchy.
It was not a relationship without its trials, almost certainly
(03:48):
due to the King's battles later in life with mental
and physical illness. But it is because of those struggles
that we know just how deeply Charlotte cared or and
loved her husband. The couple have remained important cultural figures
to this day, in part because of an ongoing fascination
(04:09):
we have with the Regency period, and recently, in larger
part due to Netflix's Bridgerton, in which Charlotte is the
only major character with a real life historical counterpart. In May,
Netflix will release the prequel series Queen Charlotte, a Bridgerton
story portraying the origin story of the Ton's beloved Queen,
(04:34):
seemingly focused on her courtship with George. One thing that
makes the real Queen Charlotte such an interesting character to
have included in the television show is that the Bridgerton
imagination of an integrated regency society cleverly aligns with a
real long standing theory that Queen Charlotte was of mixed race.
(04:58):
The reality behind that theory, as we will see, is
in fact a bit more complicated, but it is interesting
and it was an interesting nod for the show. Much
of what we know of the real Charlotte's life provides
the material for the case of her as a romantic heroine,
but the knowledge we have of her outside of her
(05:19):
relationship to George is more complex, that of a woman
who was sheltered but intellectually curious, a patron of the arts,
devoted to her husband and her children, and almost England's regent.
I'm Danis Schwartz. And this is noble blood. Before we
(05:46):
speak about Charlotte, we have to speak a little more
broadly about the Hanovers. When Queen Anne died without any heirs.
The Germanic House of Hanover began their monarchic rain when
George the First was crown in seventeen fourteen, and their
reign would end with the death of Queen Victoria in
nineteen o one. The Hanover Royal House had its origins
(06:10):
in Germany, and they remained very much a German dynasty
throughout their rule. Even Victoria spoke with a German accent.
Their germanness was preserved through the sports draft that was
royal matchmaking. Every Hanover heir married German princes or princesses,
(06:30):
and George the Third was no exception. When it came
time for that match to be arranged, however, George was
being rather stubborn. As the then Prince of Wales, he
told Lord Bute, a favorite of the Prince and his
future Prime Minister, that he would never marry whilst this
old man lives. The old man in question was his grandfather,
(06:55):
also known as George the Second. George the First and
George the Second did not care for each other, and
George the Third did not care for either of them.
Number three's are towards his grandfather and great grandfather was
largely in part due to behavior he considered immoral. George
(07:16):
the First famously divorced his wife for adultery and then
locked her in a castle for the rest of her life.
George the Second had a better relationship with his wife
than that, but kept a number of mistresses in rotation openly.
He stayed true to his word and didn't marry While
his grandfather reigned, but the youngest George's rebellion was forced
(07:40):
to come to an end when George the Second died
unexpectedly in October of seventeen sixty at twenty two years old.
George the Third assumed the throne and was no longer
in a position to avoid choosing a queen. The first
Hanover king born in England, George was also arguably the
(08:02):
first Hanover sovereign to be widely well liked, so even
the public got involved in the search, although their lack
of knowledge on the subject of minor German princesses meant
that they weren't much help. Fortunately, the extended Hanover family
had been preparing for this for as long as their
dynasty had reigned, and so a number of names were
(08:23):
being thrown around among the royal court. One name eventually
stood out, Princess Sophia Charlotte of Mecklenburg Strelitz, a small
North German duchy. She was the eighth child and second
surviving daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Mecklenburg Strelitz.
Her older sister, Princess Christianne, was a spinsterly twenty five
(08:47):
and thus obviously out of the marriage market for George.
Christianne was actually about to make a match with an
English peer, but the King's intentions toward her sister ultimately
forbade her from marrying one of his subjects. The buzz
in court was that Charlotte, the younger daughter, had an
admirable character and was well raised by her mother, But
(09:10):
George's advisers worried that since she was from such a
small duchy, she wouldn't have been able to receive the
kind of education that she would require to thrive in
British court life. Mecklenburgh was small and overgrown. The Scottish
essayist Thomas Carlyle once described it as a view of
(09:32):
quote serene highness fallen into sleepy hollow. And it was
true that by royal standards her education was lacking, but
she received one comparable to that of the daughter of
a country lord. She was competent in French, excellent in music,
and she was educated in botany and natural sciences. The priority, however,
(09:57):
in her education, had been religion household management. Still we
know she was passionate about literature from an early age.
A surviving letter from when she was around fifteen tells
us she had been recently reading the memoirs of an
unnamed man of quality, but would not be continuing with
(10:18):
the works of Voltaire, whom she did not consider such
an homme de quality. Emissaries were dispatched to Germany to
look into accounts of Charlotte and her two strongest rivals
in the race to be English queen. The report returned
finding that one of the rivals was quote stubborn and
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ill tempered to the greatest degree, which eliminated her, and
the other had a father who had seemingly fallen victim
to a classic scam from visionnaire who claimed to put
him in contact with the spirit world. All in all,
embarrassing and a bad look for the family. Reports on Charlotte, however,
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came back positive. These informants did not find her beautiful,
but argued that she had quote enough charms for plane
and quote the best heart in the world. With his
candidate essentially chosen, George told Lord Bute that quote a
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little England's heir will soon give her the deportment necessary
for a British queen end quote. And at the beginning
of June seventeen sixty one, one Colonel Graham of the
Scottish Brigade was dispatched to Germany at the behest of
Lord Bute to meet with Charlotte's family, carrying a letter
to Charlotte's mother. The Dowager Duchess could not actively join
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in the discussions, as she was afflicted with quote violent cramps,
which have sometimes deprived her of speech but without affecting
her judgment end quote. She had recently had a particular
early violent bout and was confined to bed her husband.
Charlotte's father had died almost ten years earlier, which meant
(12:09):
Charlotte's brother, Adolphus Frederick was the new Duke. Charlotte had
not yet been told that the colonel was there because
the decision had been made. Her family had decided that quote,
having no disturbance in her mind, she would converse more
freely end quote. So after dinner with the Colonel and
(12:31):
her siblings, Charlotte was called to the Duchess's bedside, where
her mother informed her of her matrimonial destiny. With that,
the Duchess signed her reply to George historians today, noting
that it must have been done with a very feeble hand.
Twelve days later she would be dead. With the Duchess's reply,
(12:56):
the Colonel sent his own description of Charlotte back to England,
the most detailed one we had yet to see. She
was quote delicate and fine, with an abundance of red,
not to be called a high bloom, but sufficient to
relevate the luster of a very fine white. He goes
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on to describe the size and shape of her features
in detail, such as her nose being quote good and
not flat emphasis his. And if you were wondering if
he would give his opinion on her body, you are,
of course in luck. As he remarks, it was quote
not quite that of a woman fully formed, though the
(13:39):
bosom full enough for her age In the same vein
as earlier reports. He decides that she's not a great beauty,
but her face quote rather agreeable than otherwise end quote.
I note these descriptions because they're earlier indicators of what
would become a long obsession with Charlotte's features. For a
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variety of reasons. Take Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities,
which lets us know very early on that quote there
was a king with a large jaw and a queen
with a plain face on the throne of England end quote.
But we see that before she was even in the country,
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this was the prevailing opinion for every detail shared about her.
We know very little of Charlotte's in her life at
this point. How she felt about her mother's death, her marriage,
her move to England practically lost to time. According to
the colonel, she confided in him quote with flowing tears,
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that her mother's last words were a wish for her happiness,
and that even during her grief, she was ready to
quote render herself worthy of the station designed for her
end quote. Was a good thing. She had apparently steeled
herself because wedding plans were already under way. Her departure
(15:08):
was to be delayed for a few weeks, the minimum
propriety required for her mourning, but the court in England
had already been buzzing for some time with preparations. The
Colonel passed on Charlotte inquiry as to whether she would
be allowed to quote carry with her any of the
women who had been hithrow about her, and the King
(15:30):
made it clear that England did not employ foreigners in
service of their queen, and that the most she could
bring was one or two women, if they were of
the quiet sort. George the Third was a distrustful man,
stemming from the behaviors of his grandfather and great grandfather.
(15:50):
The clothing and jewels of the new Queen were all
to be sourced in England, so very little of Charlotte's
familiar life would be making the trip with her. On
July twenty third, George held a ceremony to rename the
Royal Caroline yacht as the Royal Charlotte, and it would
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be this charlotte duty to carry the human Charlotte to England.
Two months after Colonel Graham's arrival, the Royal Charlotte docked
on the coast of Stade and its company set off
for Strellette to pick up a future queen. The group
was led by the first Earl of Harcourt, who carried
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with him a gift for Charlotte from the King, his
own picture quote richly and prettily set round with diamonds
and a diamond rose. George was already in possession of
a portrait of his future queen and was said to
be quote mighty fond of it, but won't let any
(16:53):
mortal look at it. Charlotte was not used to finery.
She had no sin to be, but she would have
to adjust quickly for the voyage. She provided the outerwear
of a heron plume and capassine or hooded cape lined
with ermine for the queen. She was to travel with
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the party sent by the King, along with her brother,
the Duke, and Colonel Graham, who was appointed secretary to
the new Queen and with whom she seemed to have
formed a bond. Every step of their journey, the almost
queen would be met with parades and celebrations. When she
made her first stop, not too far from her home,
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twelve young girls in white dresses and floral wreaths presented
her with wreaths of Myrtle, which would incidentally later become
the Royal bouquet flower of choice after the wedding of
Victoria and Albert. At Charlotte's next stop, she would bid
her final farewell to her childhood country. Boarding the boat
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as it sailed to England, the Princess met Duchesses, who
would be her travel companion to the rest of the way,
but was warned by the colonel to quote not attach
herself strongly to any of the ladies, as was the
King's decree. As mentioned earlier, the trip was not smooth sailing,
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strong gale's hail, thunder lightning, pouring rain, the kind of
tempest that would land you on an island with Caliban.
But Charlotte, thankfully was not to suffer the same fate
as Miranda. The naval correspondent for Scott's magazine Imagine what
a position reported that quote the Queen was not at
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all affected with the storm and bore the sea like
a truly British queen. Almost a month after her initial departure,
on September seventh, the truly British Queen to be would
finally step foot on British oil. She spent one night
in Essex before the royal procession carried her from the
(19:05):
coast to London, as crowds gathered to catch a glance
of their future queen in her carriage. As crowds gathered
to catch a glimpse of their future queen in her carriage.
At three thirty pm the next day, she arrived at
Saint James's Palace, where the king was waiting. An eyewitness
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described their meeting as as plain as possible, but it
appears that through a telephone a game like series of
accounts we end up with this recorded breakdown. The King
himself opened the gate and Charlotte was presented by her brother,
upon which she threw herself at the King's feet. He
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raised her up and led her through the garden up
the steps into the palace. Charlotte's first order of business
was to meet her future family, but the time for
introductions would be brief. The king had already put the
plans in motion to be married that very night. He
(20:11):
led Charlotte to the apartments where his wedding gifts a
set of jewels, including a fairylike crown, were waiting, along
with her wedding dress, her wedding rings, were also waiting
for her. There three in total, including one to be
worn on her little finger, featuring a likeness of the king.
(20:32):
A full report of her wedding attire details that she
was dressed in quote a silver tissued, stiffened bodied gown,
embroidered and trimmed with silver. On her head, a little
cap of purple velvet, quite covered with diamonds, a diamond
ai jette in the form of a crown, three dropped
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diamond ear rings, diamond necklace, diamond sprigs of flowers on
her sleep, and to clasp back her robe, a diamond stomacher.
Her purple velvet mantle was laid with gold and lined
with ermine. It was fastened on the shoulders with large
tussles of pearls end quote for a girl not used
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to finery, this was an exceptionally heavy outfit, and the
night was the hottest of the year. According to a
poet in London, on that point, I can actually relate
exactly two hundred and sixty one years and one day later.
I got married on a day where temperatures in Los
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Angeles hovered around a hundred and ten degrees, which, of course,
given that I was also wearing a velvet robe and
velvet hat and diamonds and ermine. It was frankly quite
a challenge, but we persevere. The Duke of York was
set to escort Charlotte to the chapel, and as Charlotte
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began to feel constricted by the weight of her clothes
and no doubt that temperature, he held her trembling hands
and repeated courage. Princess. Mon Dieu was apparently the princess's
first remark upon seeing the bridesmaid assembled, her first glimpse
of the ceremony to come. At ten o'clock in the evening,
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those bridesmaids carried her purple train down the aisle, her
diamond eggret sparkling as she walked. Moments later, she was
married to George the Third by the Archbishop, officially beginning
her life as Queen of England, only hours after she
had arrived in the country for the very first time.
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The marriage of George and Charlotte was nearly instantly a
happy one. Quote every hour more and more convinces me
of the treasure I have got, George said to Lord
Bute in the day's following. The next step was the coronation.
While George had already been king for all intents and
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purposes for some time, the official deal wasn't to be
sealed until after the marriage. On September twenty second, rosebuds
and autumn bloods were tossed from baskets and Charlotte walked
upon them as she made her way to Westminster Abbey.
She wore her hair in curls without adornment, as was
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custom for the coronation, waiting for the crown to be
placed upon her head. The abbey it was packed to
capacity with spectators eager to see their new elegant queen
and favorable king. With that business out of the way,
it was finally time for the queen to adjust to
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life at Saint James's. This included learning English, which she
said to have quickly picked up, though she would speak
with a strong German accent. For life, still she struggled
for a time. Even with her understanding French, which was
spoken in court, she became the subject of some unfavorable gossip.
(24:16):
She was also able to continue her musical studies, taking
singing lessons three times a week from John Christian Bach,
the son of the composer You might have heard of.
Every Wednesday, the Queen performed for the family, playing the
harpsichord and singing. The King would not join her in
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performing on these occasions, but when the couple was alone,
he was known to accompany her on the German flute.
Their married life was comfortable, but the Queen was not
forming social connections outside of her husband, but that was
his design. She later wrote that she followed her quote
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dear Great King's strictness at my arrival in England to
prevent my making acquaintances. You might have suspected as much
when he didn't allow her to bring her own lady's
maids from Germany his reasoning, Charlotte remarked that he was
constantly reminding her to know quote there never could be
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kept up a society without party, which was always dangerous
for any woman to take part in, but particularly so
for the royal family. This was a reflection of the
King's distrustfulness and hints of paranoia, behavior encouraged by his mother,
the Princess of Wales. George's brother, Prince William, once stated
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that George was quote raised to have a bad opinion
of the world and dread human honor, and upon the
queen's arrival, he was quote delighted with having entirely under
his own training, a young innocent girl of seventeen determined
she would be wholly devoted to him alone and should
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have no other friend in society. End quote wooh, there
is certainly, let's say allah to unpack there. But the
King's warnings that socializing and frivolity could and badly for
the royals, while taken to a far extreme with his wife,
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weren't without merit. Court politics were a messy, petty game
that Charlotte was completely innocent too. While the King's possessiveness
was isolating, Charlotte soon learned she did need to be
careful as to who she could place her trust into.
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Nearly thirty years after her rival, she still wrote that
she avoided quote meddling in politics, which I abore equal
to sin. Charlotte and George grew closer over shared passions,
particularly the arts. He threw balls so they could dance.
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Other attendees would remark how much enjoyment she took in
dancing and in snuff boxes, a love that would persist.
He made sure that his queen would regularly attend the
theater much ado about Nothing, being the first show they
attended together, and in Charlotte's private life she became known
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as an extensive patron of local arts. About a month
shy of their first wedding anniversary, Charlotte gave birth to
the couple's first child, George, Prince of Wales. It was
reported that the Queen quote had had a very good time,
which may be the only time in history that phrase
(27:54):
was associated with giving birth, particularly giving birth in the
eighteenth century and all of the medical technology at their
disposal at that time. Young George would be the first
birth out of fifteen, so maybe Charlotte actually did enjoy it.
She was only eighteen years old at this point, but
(28:17):
in a year of her life, Charlotte was married, became
the Queen, and gave the nation its future king check
check check. Earlier in the year, George had acquired a
new property, a little place known as Buckingham House, which
they called the Queen's House, intended as a private residence
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for Charlotte before the birth of her second child, Frederick
a year later in seventeen sixty three. Charlotte wished to
spend the pregnancy there for its open air and relative privacy.
It wouldn't be long before the family transitioned the space
to their full time residence. Year. She would build an
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extensive library over the years, mainly curated by the Queen herself.
Books on law, natural sciences, theology, history, and geography all
expressed the Queen's desire to learn across subjects. Voltaire, however,
was notably absent from her shelves beyond books for her
(29:24):
own literary tastes. She would over the years acquire a
number of educational treatises and works of children's literature in
an effort to pass on her love of reading to
her children. She wasn't only interested in the success of
her own children. Around the time of Frederick's birth, she
also began to support an eight year old pianist by
(29:48):
the name of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The story goes that
he sat at the palace's organ and accompanied the Queen
when she sang in aria. She also began her lifelong
investment in charity around this time. In eighteen o nine,
she would fund the General Lying In Hospital for Expecting Mothers,
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which was subsequently renamed the Queen's Lying In Hospital and
operates today as Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital, one of
the country's oldest maternity hospitals. While Charlotte kept out of politics,
she began a royal precedent for exercising power in monetarily
supporting women and children's welfare. It was in seventeen sixty
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five that George experienced the first episode of the mental
illness that would come to define his life and reputation.
While he was indisposed, George's mother attempted to hide the
illness from Charlotte. Charlotte's closest confidante, Madame Schwellenberg, one of
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the two bedchamber women she was permitted to employ from Germany,
challenged the dowager Princess on this decision. When George recovered,
he shared the same opinion as his mother in regards
to meddling women. He threatened to send Madame Schwellenberg back
to Germany. We don't know exactly how aware Charlotte was
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of her husband's condition, but we do know that behind
her back, talks of regency were being put into motion.
The king had already publicly declared that in the case
of his death, he wished for the Queen to be
appointed as regent. Until his successor was eighteen. The Minority
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of Heir to the Crown Act of seventeen sixty five
was passed in Parliament and Charlotte became the Regent elect.
The king soon recovered this bout of madness was temporary,
and Charlotte's time as regent did not come. One year later,
seventeen sixty six, Queen Charlotte gave to her first daughter,
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Charlotte in a classic Loralai Gilmore, naming her daughter Loralai
Gilmore move George and Frederick were now old enough that
they were in care of governors for their education, but
the education of the young daughter, Charlotte and the Queen's
other future daughters would be a responsibility she took on herself.
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The children's library mentioned earlier was likely designed with the
girls in mind. The Queen was making sure their education
would go beyond what was typically required of young ladies,
what her childhood education had been. The Queen was building
a life for herself in England, but she was undoubtedly
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lonely and homesick. After a visit from her brother and
did in seventeen seventy one, she solemnly wrote to him
that quote her pleasures are over for the year, and
that she dreaded the upcoming departure of one of her
other brothers. By this point, she had been nearly constantly
pregnant since seventeen sixty two, Eight of her fifteen children
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already born, and the births of her later children would
come to be associated with tragedy. The seventeen eighties would
be a difficult period for the Queen. During her pregnancy
with Prince Albert, her oldest son, the Prince of Wales
was engaging in bouts of public headenism that would send
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her into a depression. This was followed by the loss
of her musical tutor, John Christian Bach, who had been
with the Queen since her earliest days at the palace.
She paid for his funeral costs and provided a sum
for his widow. The next death the Queen would face
would possibly be the most devastating she could imagine. Prince Alfred,
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her son, had been sickly since his birth, and the
Queen tried a number of remedies, but it was evident
that he was not going to survive past infancy. In
seventeen eighty two, aged only one year old, Prince Alfred
died due to complications with his small pox inoculation. He
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was not the first child the King and queen would lose.
Only a year later, Alfred's elder brother, Prince Octavius, would
die due to the same complications at age four. The
queen would mourn her sons for a long time, her
quote two dear little angels, as she called them. We
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don't have much in the way of the Queen's own
writing at this time, beyond an instruction to her brother
on the subject of Octavius's death quote, do not mention it.
It is likely that Octavius's death would also contribute to
triggering a spiral that the king would not recover from.
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At the time of Octavius's death, Charlotte was pregnant for
the final time, and her depression persisted. She complained to
her brother that all she had was her children and
that life outside them was monotonous and burdensome. The birth
of her final child seemed to have eased the queen
(35:23):
of some of her pain, and she began to reinvest
in her patronage and passion for Botany. Her relationship with
her husband George had remained strong over the years. There's
an anecdote from seventeen eighty six from a woman in
the Queen's service that reads quote, the Queen endeavored to
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kiss his the King's hand as he held them. He
would not let her, but made an effort to kiss hers.
I saw instantly in her eyes a forgetfulness that anyone
was present. While drawing her hand away, she presented him
her cheek. He accepted her kindness with the same frank
(36:05):
affection that she offered it end quote. Very sweet. Tragic
days for the couple were soon to return, though. Seventeen
eighty eight marked a major decline in the King's mental
and physiological health. One afternoon, attending a sermon with the
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Queen and their daughters, the king quote started up, seemed
to have lost all power over himself, embraced the Queen
and princesses, and then burst into tears. He asked the princess, Elizabeth,
you know what it is to be nervous, but was
you ever so bad as this? She responded yes, and
(36:47):
he fell quiet. The King's control over his own mind
would only deteriorate from here. He soon became delusional and
hostile towards Charlotte. He would accuse her of adultery, while
simultaneously believing he himself was in fact in love with
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one of her ladies of the bedchamber, even though the
King had never, in their long marriage ever taken a mistress.
We understand today that the King was suffering from paranoid delusions,
likely the effect of the metabolic disorder porphyria, but Charlotte
had no such reassurances at the time. Over the course
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of the king's decline, Charlotte's own mental health suffered and
her hair turned prematurely gray. The same lady's maid who
once recounted the scene of Charlotte and George's little love
kiss exchange later wrote that quote, the Queen is almost
overpowered with some secret terror today. As she gave up
(37:53):
the conflict when I was alone with her and burst
into a violent fit of tears. It was very, very
terrible to see and quote. It was assumed that the
King's illness was grave. He was not going to regain
his capacities as he once did. In seventeen sixty five,
(38:13):
Parliament was once again forced to assemble to discuss the
inevitable regency and decide who would be appointed the regent,
Charlotte or the Prince of Wales. Charlotte was weary of
her son's ambitions, and, unlike others, held out hope that
(38:33):
her husband would recover. The Prince was ultimately declared the
Regent elect, but the resulting bill was designed to limit
his ability to consolidate power around him and gave Charlotte
control over the king's person and household. Charlotte's hope was
ultimately fruitful. The King did recover to a degree. That
(38:57):
same year. He assured his wife that his delusions were
nothing more than that, and they were able to reconcile.
Charlotte and her eldest son's relationship, however, was permanently altered.
Charlotte herself was permanently altered. Reports say she became angry,
even toward her beloved daughters, who she relied on increasingly
(39:20):
in her later years. The King's recovery was also only brief.
The illness would return in eighteen oh one, and then
again in eighteen o four. The next bout of illness
in eighteen eleven marked the beginning of George's true and
final decline, and in the last years of her life,
(39:43):
Charlotte would live effectively as a widow. Her husband confined
to separate apartments. The Regency Act of eighteen eleven followed
similar conditions to the one designed years earlier, only now
her son was officially the acting Prince Regent. Charlotte devoted
(40:05):
the last years of her life to aiding the Prince
in his rule as much as he would allow her.
Her joy in later years was greatly derived from planning
royal marriages, first of her eldest daughter, Elizabeth, with whom
she was the closest, and that of the only granddaughter
she lived to meet, Princess Charlotte. If you've listened to
(40:29):
this podcast since its beginning, you might remember an episode
on the poor, beloved, Doomed Princess Charlotte. This Princess Charlotte
also happens to be a major character in my newest novel, Immortality,
a Love Story. In eighteen seventeen, the Queen developed hydropaxy
or dropsy of the chest, which affected her in bouts.
(40:53):
Her last public appearance was April twenty ninth, eighteen eighteen,
a visit to the Egyptian Hall, the Mansion House in
London for a prize ceremony for children taught by the
National Society for Promoting Education of the poor. In November
that same year, Charlotte died at q Palace, survived by
(41:15):
her husband, who likely never knew of her death. Charlotte
was subjected to a number of tragedies throughout her life,
but beyond those, all surviving records painted the portrait of
a woman who found passion beyond it all in her studies,
her hobbies, her children, and in love. That's the story
(41:46):
of Queen Charlotte. But stick around to hear a bit
more on the theory of her possible Black ancestry. As
I noted earlier, England maintained a fervent obsession with the
(42:10):
looks of Queen Charlotte. One report from her physician in
her later years is notable for a particular description quote
small and crooked, with a true mulatto face. Apologies for
that word, but I think in this context it's important
to understand that descriptions like these spurred interest, and a
(42:33):
historian by the name of Mario de Valdes Equcombe is
known for formulating the theory that Charlotte was of African ancestry,
a theory that gave us the Bridgerton Charlotte we know today.
The grounds for the theory are questionable. Based on a
portrait of the seventeen year old Charlotte by the official
(42:54):
royal painter Alan Ramsay, the historian argues that the queen possesses,
which he perceives as quote, subtleties in coloring and facial
bone structure of individuals of African descent and quote. This
is supported by his argument that the queen was, as
described in the Guardian quote, directly descended from a black
(43:18):
branch of the Portuguese royal family related to Margherita de
Castro a Susa, a fifteenth century Portuguese noble woman nine
generations removed whose ancestry she traces from the thirteenth century
ruler Alphonso the Third and his lover Madragana, whom Val
takes to have been a more and thus a black
(43:41):
African end quote. Historians today note that such an ancestral
connection would be incredibly far removed on top of already
thin evidence that Madragana was even black in the thirteenth century.
With the theories roots in a racist comment from a
(44:03):
nineteenth century physician, perceived African features in a portrait, and
an incredibly distant ancestral connection that cannot be proven. Most
historians share the consensus that when it comes to the
question of Queen Charlotte being black, the answer is maybe,
very very distantly possible, but incredibly unlikely. Noble Blood is
(44:47):
a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manky.
Noble Blood is hosted by me Danish Swartz. Additional writing
and researching done by Hannah Johnston, hannah's Wick, Mira Hayward,
Courtney Sunder, and Laurie Goodman. The show is produced by
rema Il Kaali, with supervising producer Josh Thaine and executive
(45:09):
producers Aaron Manky, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. For more
podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim
and Mild from Aaron Mankie. Listener discretion advised. If you've
learned anything about the princesses and queens of history, particularly
(00:24):
from this podcast, you know that, regardless of where they're from,
their stories are almost always leaps and bounds away from
the lives we imagine of princesses and queens in fairy tales,
if a woman isn't in line for the throne of
her own country, her origin story typically follows a format
(00:48):
we hear time and time again. A girl is chosen
as a suitable marriage candidate at a young age. She
is promptly separated from her family and her country and
shipped to the court of another nation. She is expected
to adapt to their customs, perhaps even their language, under
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the scrutiny of not only the court but the country
at large. I think of Marie Antoinette in the Sophia
Coppola film. There's a scene pulled directly from history. In
the forest at the edge of the Austrian French border.
Marie Antoinette's beloved pug is taken from her arms as
(01:31):
she's told that when she gets to Versailles. She can
have as many French dogs as she likes. If you
found that movie scene as heartbreaking as I did, take
comfort in the fact that in real life Marie Antoinette
did eventually get her beloved Mops to meet her in
France after the ceremonial aspect was complete. But the scene
(01:56):
is dramatic and emblematic of the practice of all but
shipping princesses abroad to marry strangers for diplomatic purposes. That
was common that princesses would arrive in a foreign land
for a wedding, but most didn't marry their husbands six
hours after their arrival. That is a situation almost unique
(02:22):
to the then seventeen year old Sophia Charlotte or Charlotte
of Mecklenburg Strelitz, or the soon to be Queen Charlotte
of Great Britain and Ireland. As a friend of the
real life Marie Antoinette, I imagine that scenario was something
that the pair could have bonded over if they were
(02:43):
ever to have let their minds wander back to what
it must have been like to have been a young
and terrified bride to be. Charlotte had begun her journey
from her native Germany to England an August seventeenth, seventeen
sixty one, and arrived on September eighth, after a grueling
(03:03):
sea voyage, during which the crew encountered three storms. As
I'm sure we're all in agreement on, nothing screams romance
like still being seasick during your vows, especially when they're
being given in a language you don't understand. Charlotte spoke
no English upon her arrival, and naturally, due to the timing,
(03:27):
she would not learn it until after her marriage was official.
You may be surprised, then, to learn that Charlotte and
her husband George ended up in what is potentially as
happy a marriage as is possible for the British monarchy.
It was not a relationship without its trials, almost certainly
(03:48):
due to the King's battles later in life with mental
and physical illness. But it is because of those struggles
that we know just how deeply Charlotte cared or and
loved her husband. The couple have remained important cultural figures
to this day, in part because of an ongoing fascination
(04:09):
we have with the Regency period, and recently, in larger
part due to Netflix's Bridgerton, in which Charlotte is the
only major character with a real life historical counterpart. In May,
Netflix will release the prequel series Queen Charlotte, a Bridgerton
story portraying the origin story of the Ton's beloved Queen,
(04:34):
seemingly focused on her courtship with George. One thing that
makes the real Queen Charlotte such an interesting character to
have included in the television show is that the Bridgerton
imagination of an integrated regency society cleverly aligns with a
real long standing theory that Queen Charlotte was of mixed race.
(04:58):
The reality behind that theory, as we will see, is
in fact a bit more complicated, but it is interesting
and it was an interesting nod for the show. Much
of what we know of the real Charlotte's life provides
the material for the case of her as a romantic heroine,
but the knowledge we have of her outside of her
(05:19):
relationship to George is more complex, that of a woman
who was sheltered but intellectually curious, a patron of the arts,
devoted to her husband and her children, and almost England's regent.
I'm Danis Schwartz. And this is noble blood. Before we
(05:46):
speak about Charlotte, we have to speak a little more
broadly about the Hanovers. When Queen Anne died without any heirs.
The Germanic House of Hanover began their monarchic rain when
George the First was crown in seventeen fourteen, and their
reign would end with the death of Queen Victoria in
nineteen o one. The Hanover Royal House had its origins
(06:10):
in Germany, and they remained very much a German dynasty
throughout their rule. Even Victoria spoke with a German accent.
Their germanness was preserved through the sports draft that was
royal matchmaking. Every Hanover heir married German princes or princesses,
(06:30):
and George the Third was no exception. When it came
time for that match to be arranged, however, George was
being rather stubborn. As the then Prince of Wales, he
told Lord Bute, a favorite of the Prince and his
future Prime Minister, that he would never marry whilst this
old man lives. The old man in question was his grandfather,
(06:55):
also known as George the Second. George the First and
George the Second did not care for each other, and
George the Third did not care for either of them.
Number three's are towards his grandfather and great grandfather was
largely in part due to behavior he considered immoral. George
(07:16):
the First famously divorced his wife for adultery and then
locked her in a castle for the rest of her life.
George the Second had a better relationship with his wife
than that, but kept a number of mistresses in rotation openly.
He stayed true to his word and didn't marry While
his grandfather reigned, but the youngest George's rebellion was forced
(07:40):
to come to an end when George the Second died
unexpectedly in October of seventeen sixty at twenty two years old.
George the Third assumed the throne and was no longer
in a position to avoid choosing a queen. The first
Hanover king born in England, George was also arguably the
(08:02):
first Hanover sovereign to be widely well liked, so even
the public got involved in the search, although their lack
of knowledge on the subject of minor German princesses meant
that they weren't much help. Fortunately, the extended Hanover family
had been preparing for this for as long as their
dynasty had reigned, and so a number of names were
(08:23):
being thrown around among the royal court. One name eventually
stood out, Princess Sophia Charlotte of Mecklenburg Strelitz, a small
North German duchy. She was the eighth child and second
surviving daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Mecklenburg Strelitz.
Her older sister, Princess Christianne, was a spinsterly twenty five
(08:47):
and thus obviously out of the marriage market for George.
Christianne was actually about to make a match with an
English peer, but the King's intentions toward her sister ultimately
forbade her from marrying one of his subjects. The buzz
in court was that Charlotte, the younger daughter, had an
admirable character and was well raised by her mother, But
(09:10):
George's advisers worried that since she was from such a
small duchy, she wouldn't have been able to receive the
kind of education that she would require to thrive in
British court life. Mecklenburgh was small and overgrown. The Scottish
essayist Thomas Carlyle once described it as a view of
(09:32):
quote serene highness fallen into sleepy hollow. And it was
true that by royal standards her education was lacking, but
she received one comparable to that of the daughter of
a country lord. She was competent in French, excellent in music,
and she was educated in botany and natural sciences. The priority, however,
(09:57):
in her education, had been religion household management. Still we
know she was passionate about literature from an early age.
A surviving letter from when she was around fifteen tells
us she had been recently reading the memoirs of an
unnamed man of quality, but would not be continuing with
(10:18):
the works of Voltaire, whom she did not consider such
an homme de quality. Emissaries were dispatched to Germany to
look into accounts of Charlotte and her two strongest rivals
in the race to be English queen. The report returned
finding that one of the rivals was quote stubborn and
(10:39):
ill tempered to the greatest degree, which eliminated her, and
the other had a father who had seemingly fallen victim
to a classic scam from visionnaire who claimed to put
him in contact with the spirit world. All in all,
embarrassing and a bad look for the family. Reports on Charlotte, however,
(11:00):
came back positive. These informants did not find her beautiful,
but argued that she had quote enough charms for plane
and quote the best heart in the world. With his
candidate essentially chosen, George told Lord Bute that quote a
(11:20):
little England's heir will soon give her the deportment necessary
for a British queen end quote. And at the beginning
of June seventeen sixty one, one Colonel Graham of the
Scottish Brigade was dispatched to Germany at the behest of
Lord Bute to meet with Charlotte's family, carrying a letter
to Charlotte's mother. The Dowager Duchess could not actively join
(11:45):
in the discussions, as she was afflicted with quote violent cramps,
which have sometimes deprived her of speech but without affecting
her judgment end quote. She had recently had a particular
early violent bout and was confined to bed her husband.
Charlotte's father had died almost ten years earlier, which meant
(12:09):
Charlotte's brother, Adolphus Frederick was the new Duke. Charlotte had
not yet been told that the colonel was there because
the decision had been made. Her family had decided that quote,
having no disturbance in her mind, she would converse more
freely end quote. So after dinner with the Colonel and
(12:31):
her siblings, Charlotte was called to the Duchess's bedside, where
her mother informed her of her matrimonial destiny. With that,
the Duchess signed her reply to George historians today, noting
that it must have been done with a very feeble hand.
Twelve days later she would be dead. With the Duchess's reply,
(12:56):
the Colonel sent his own description of Charlotte back to England,
the most detailed one we had yet to see. She
was quote delicate and fine, with an abundance of red,
not to be called a high bloom, but sufficient to
relevate the luster of a very fine white. He goes
(13:16):
on to describe the size and shape of her features
in detail, such as her nose being quote good and
not flat emphasis his. And if you were wondering if
he would give his opinion on her body, you are,
of course in luck. As he remarks, it was quote
not quite that of a woman fully formed, though the
(13:39):
bosom full enough for her age In the same vein
as earlier reports. He decides that she's not a great beauty,
but her face quote rather agreeable than otherwise end quote.
I note these descriptions because they're earlier indicators of what
would become a long obsession with Charlotte's features. For a
(14:03):
variety of reasons. Take Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities,
which lets us know very early on that quote there
was a king with a large jaw and a queen
with a plain face on the throne of England end quote.
But we see that before she was even in the country,
(14:23):
this was the prevailing opinion for every detail shared about her.
We know very little of Charlotte's in her life at
this point. How she felt about her mother's death, her marriage,
her move to England practically lost to time. According to
the colonel, she confided in him quote with flowing tears,
(14:46):
that her mother's last words were a wish for her happiness,
and that even during her grief, she was ready to
quote render herself worthy of the station designed for her
end quote. Was a good thing. She had apparently steeled
herself because wedding plans were already under way. Her departure
(15:08):
was to be delayed for a few weeks, the minimum
propriety required for her mourning, but the court in England
had already been buzzing for some time with preparations. The
Colonel passed on Charlotte inquiry as to whether she would
be allowed to quote carry with her any of the
women who had been hithrow about her, and the King
(15:30):
made it clear that England did not employ foreigners in
service of their queen, and that the most she could
bring was one or two women, if they were of
the quiet sort. George the Third was a distrustful man,
stemming from the behaviors of his grandfather and great grandfather.
(15:50):
The clothing and jewels of the new Queen were all
to be sourced in England, so very little of Charlotte's
familiar life would be making the trip with her. On
July twenty third, George held a ceremony to rename the
Royal Caroline yacht as the Royal Charlotte, and it would
(16:12):
be this charlotte duty to carry the human Charlotte to England.
Two months after Colonel Graham's arrival, the Royal Charlotte docked
on the coast of Stade and its company set off
for Strellette to pick up a future queen. The group
was led by the first Earl of Harcourt, who carried
(16:33):
with him a gift for Charlotte from the King, his
own picture quote richly and prettily set round with diamonds
and a diamond rose. George was already in possession of
a portrait of his future queen and was said to
be quote mighty fond of it, but won't let any
(16:53):
mortal look at it. Charlotte was not used to finery.
She had no sin to be, but she would have
to adjust quickly for the voyage. She provided the outerwear
of a heron plume and capassine or hooded cape lined
with ermine for the queen. She was to travel with
(17:14):
the party sent by the King, along with her brother,
the Duke, and Colonel Graham, who was appointed secretary to
the new Queen and with whom she seemed to have
formed a bond. Every step of their journey, the almost
queen would be met with parades and celebrations. When she
made her first stop, not too far from her home,
(17:35):
twelve young girls in white dresses and floral wreaths presented
her with wreaths of Myrtle, which would incidentally later become
the Royal bouquet flower of choice after the wedding of
Victoria and Albert. At Charlotte's next stop, she would bid
her final farewell to her childhood country. Boarding the boat
(17:57):
as it sailed to England, the Princess met Duchesses, who
would be her travel companion to the rest of the way,
but was warned by the colonel to quote not attach
herself strongly to any of the ladies, as was the
King's decree. As mentioned earlier, the trip was not smooth sailing,
(18:18):
strong gale's hail, thunder lightning, pouring rain, the kind of
tempest that would land you on an island with Caliban.
But Charlotte, thankfully was not to suffer the same fate
as Miranda. The naval correspondent for Scott's magazine Imagine what
a position reported that quote the Queen was not at
(18:42):
all affected with the storm and bore the sea like
a truly British queen. Almost a month after her initial departure,
on September seventh, the truly British Queen to be would
finally step foot on British oil. She spent one night
in Essex before the royal procession carried her from the
(19:05):
coast to London, as crowds gathered to catch a glance
of their future queen in her carriage. As crowds gathered
to catch a glimpse of their future queen in her carriage.
At three thirty pm the next day, she arrived at
Saint James's Palace, where the king was waiting. An eyewitness
(19:28):
described their meeting as as plain as possible, but it
appears that through a telephone a game like series of
accounts we end up with this recorded breakdown. The King
himself opened the gate and Charlotte was presented by her brother,
upon which she threw herself at the King's feet. He
(19:50):
raised her up and led her through the garden up
the steps into the palace. Charlotte's first order of business
was to meet her future family, but the time for
introductions would be brief. The king had already put the
plans in motion to be married that very night. He
(20:11):
led Charlotte to the apartments where his wedding gifts a
set of jewels, including a fairylike crown, were waiting, along
with her wedding dress, her wedding rings, were also waiting
for her. There three in total, including one to be
worn on her little finger, featuring a likeness of the king.
(20:32):
A full report of her wedding attire details that she
was dressed in quote a silver tissued, stiffened bodied gown,
embroidered and trimmed with silver. On her head, a little
cap of purple velvet, quite covered with diamonds, a diamond
ai jette in the form of a crown, three dropped
(20:54):
diamond ear rings, diamond necklace, diamond sprigs of flowers on
her sleep, and to clasp back her robe, a diamond stomacher.
Her purple velvet mantle was laid with gold and lined
with ermine. It was fastened on the shoulders with large
tussles of pearls end quote for a girl not used
(21:18):
to finery, this was an exceptionally heavy outfit, and the
night was the hottest of the year. According to a
poet in London, on that point, I can actually relate
exactly two hundred and sixty one years and one day later.
I got married on a day where temperatures in Los
(21:40):
Angeles hovered around a hundred and ten degrees, which, of course,
given that I was also wearing a velvet robe and
velvet hat and diamonds and ermine. It was frankly quite
a challenge, but we persevere. The Duke of York was
set to escort Charlotte to the chapel, and as Charlotte
(22:01):
began to feel constricted by the weight of her clothes
and no doubt that temperature, he held her trembling hands
and repeated courage. Princess. Mon Dieu was apparently the princess's
first remark upon seeing the bridesmaid assembled, her first glimpse
of the ceremony to come. At ten o'clock in the evening,
(22:24):
those bridesmaids carried her purple train down the aisle, her
diamond eggret sparkling as she walked. Moments later, she was
married to George the Third by the Archbishop, officially beginning
her life as Queen of England, only hours after she
had arrived in the country for the very first time.
(22:49):
The marriage of George and Charlotte was nearly instantly a
happy one. Quote every hour more and more convinces me
of the treasure I have got, George said to Lord
Bute in the day's following. The next step was the coronation.
While George had already been king for all intents and
(23:10):
purposes for some time, the official deal wasn't to be
sealed until after the marriage. On September twenty second, rosebuds
and autumn bloods were tossed from baskets and Charlotte walked
upon them as she made her way to Westminster Abbey.
She wore her hair in curls without adornment, as was
(23:32):
custom for the coronation, waiting for the crown to be
placed upon her head. The abbey it was packed to
capacity with spectators eager to see their new elegant queen
and favorable king. With that business out of the way,
it was finally time for the queen to adjust to
(23:54):
life at Saint James's. This included learning English, which she
said to have quickly picked up, though she would speak
with a strong German accent. For life, still she struggled
for a time. Even with her understanding French, which was
spoken in court, she became the subject of some unfavorable gossip.
(24:16):
She was also able to continue her musical studies, taking
singing lessons three times a week from John Christian Bach,
the son of the composer You might have heard of.
Every Wednesday, the Queen performed for the family, playing the
harpsichord and singing. The King would not join her in
(24:37):
performing on these occasions, but when the couple was alone,
he was known to accompany her on the German flute.
Their married life was comfortable, but the Queen was not
forming social connections outside of her husband, but that was
his design. She later wrote that she followed her quote
(24:57):
dear Great King's strictness at my arrival in England to
prevent my making acquaintances. You might have suspected as much
when he didn't allow her to bring her own lady's
maids from Germany his reasoning, Charlotte remarked that he was
constantly reminding her to know quote there never could be
(25:19):
kept up a society without party, which was always dangerous
for any woman to take part in, but particularly so
for the royal family. This was a reflection of the
King's distrustfulness and hints of paranoia, behavior encouraged by his mother,
the Princess of Wales. George's brother, Prince William, once stated
(25:44):
that George was quote raised to have a bad opinion
of the world and dread human honor, and upon the
queen's arrival, he was quote delighted with having entirely under
his own training, a young innocent girl of seventeen determined
she would be wholly devoted to him alone and should
(26:05):
have no other friend in society. End quote wooh, there
is certainly, let's say allah to unpack there. But the
King's warnings that socializing and frivolity could and badly for
the royals, while taken to a far extreme with his wife,
(26:29):
weren't without merit. Court politics were a messy, petty game
that Charlotte was completely innocent too. While the King's possessiveness
was isolating, Charlotte soon learned she did need to be
careful as to who she could place her trust into.
(26:49):
Nearly thirty years after her rival, she still wrote that
she avoided quote meddling in politics, which I abore equal
to sin. Charlotte and George grew closer over shared passions,
particularly the arts. He threw balls so they could dance.
(27:10):
Other attendees would remark how much enjoyment she took in
dancing and in snuff boxes, a love that would persist.
He made sure that his queen would regularly attend the
theater much ado about Nothing, being the first show they
attended together, and in Charlotte's private life she became known
(27:31):
as an extensive patron of local arts. About a month
shy of their first wedding anniversary, Charlotte gave birth to
the couple's first child, George, Prince of Wales. It was
reported that the Queen quote had had a very good time,
which may be the only time in history that phrase
(27:54):
was associated with giving birth, particularly giving birth in the
eighteenth century and all of the medical technology at their
disposal at that time. Young George would be the first
birth out of fifteen, so maybe Charlotte actually did enjoy it.
She was only eighteen years old at this point, but
(28:17):
in a year of her life, Charlotte was married, became
the Queen, and gave the nation its future king check
check check. Earlier in the year, George had acquired a
new property, a little place known as Buckingham House, which
they called the Queen's House, intended as a private residence
(28:39):
for Charlotte before the birth of her second child, Frederick
a year later in seventeen sixty three. Charlotte wished to
spend the pregnancy there for its open air and relative privacy.
It wouldn't be long before the family transitioned the space
to their full time residence. Year. She would build an
(29:01):
extensive library over the years, mainly curated by the Queen herself.
Books on law, natural sciences, theology, history, and geography all
expressed the Queen's desire to learn across subjects. Voltaire, however,
was notably absent from her shelves beyond books for her
(29:24):
own literary tastes. She would over the years acquire a
number of educational treatises and works of children's literature in
an effort to pass on her love of reading to
her children. She wasn't only interested in the success of
her own children. Around the time of Frederick's birth, she
also began to support an eight year old pianist by
(29:48):
the name of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The story goes that
he sat at the palace's organ and accompanied the Queen
when she sang in aria. She also began her lifelong
investment in charity around this time. In eighteen o nine,
she would fund the General Lying In Hospital for Expecting Mothers,
(30:09):
which was subsequently renamed the Queen's Lying In Hospital and
operates today as Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital, one of
the country's oldest maternity hospitals. While Charlotte kept out of politics,
she began a royal precedent for exercising power in monetarily
supporting women and children's welfare. It was in seventeen sixty
(30:35):
five that George experienced the first episode of the mental
illness that would come to define his life and reputation.
While he was indisposed, George's mother attempted to hide the
illness from Charlotte. Charlotte's closest confidante, Madame Schwellenberg, one of
(30:55):
the two bedchamber women she was permitted to employ from Germany,
challenged the dowager Princess on this decision. When George recovered,
he shared the same opinion as his mother in regards
to meddling women. He threatened to send Madame Schwellenberg back
to Germany. We don't know exactly how aware Charlotte was
(31:18):
of her husband's condition, but we do know that behind
her back, talks of regency were being put into motion.
The king had already publicly declared that in the case
of his death, he wished for the Queen to be
appointed as regent. Until his successor was eighteen. The Minority
(31:39):
of Heir to the Crown Act of seventeen sixty five
was passed in Parliament and Charlotte became the Regent elect.
The king soon recovered this bout of madness was temporary,
and Charlotte's time as regent did not come. One year later,
seventeen sixty six, Queen Charlotte gave to her first daughter,
(32:02):
Charlotte in a classic Loralai Gilmore, naming her daughter Loralai
Gilmore move George and Frederick were now old enough that
they were in care of governors for their education, but
the education of the young daughter, Charlotte and the Queen's
other future daughters would be a responsibility she took on herself.
(32:23):
The children's library mentioned earlier was likely designed with the
girls in mind. The Queen was making sure their education
would go beyond what was typically required of young ladies,
what her childhood education had been. The Queen was building
a life for herself in England, but she was undoubtedly
(32:45):
lonely and homesick. After a visit from her brother and
did in seventeen seventy one, she solemnly wrote to him
that quote her pleasures are over for the year, and
that she dreaded the upcoming departure of one of her
other brothers. By this point, she had been nearly constantly
pregnant since seventeen sixty two, Eight of her fifteen children
(33:11):
already born, and the births of her later children would
come to be associated with tragedy. The seventeen eighties would
be a difficult period for the Queen. During her pregnancy
with Prince Albert, her oldest son, the Prince of Wales
was engaging in bouts of public headenism that would send
(33:31):
her into a depression. This was followed by the loss
of her musical tutor, John Christian Bach, who had been
with the Queen since her earliest days at the palace.
She paid for his funeral costs and provided a sum
for his widow. The next death the Queen would face
would possibly be the most devastating she could imagine. Prince Alfred,
(33:57):
her son, had been sickly since his birth, and the
Queen tried a number of remedies, but it was evident
that he was not going to survive past infancy. In
seventeen eighty two, aged only one year old, Prince Alfred
died due to complications with his small pox inoculation. He
(34:18):
was not the first child the King and queen would lose.
Only a year later, Alfred's elder brother, Prince Octavius, would
die due to the same complications at age four. The
queen would mourn her sons for a long time, her
quote two dear little angels, as she called them. We
(34:38):
don't have much in the way of the Queen's own
writing at this time, beyond an instruction to her brother
on the subject of Octavius's death quote, do not mention it.
It is likely that Octavius's death would also contribute to
triggering a spiral that the king would not recover from.
(35:01):
At the time of Octavius's death, Charlotte was pregnant for
the final time, and her depression persisted. She complained to
her brother that all she had was her children and
that life outside them was monotonous and burdensome. The birth
of her final child seemed to have eased the queen
(35:23):
of some of her pain, and she began to reinvest
in her patronage and passion for Botany. Her relationship with
her husband George had remained strong over the years. There's
an anecdote from seventeen eighty six from a woman in
the Queen's service that reads quote, the Queen endeavored to
(35:44):
kiss his the King's hand as he held them. He
would not let her, but made an effort to kiss hers.
I saw instantly in her eyes a forgetfulness that anyone
was present. While drawing her hand away, she presented him
her cheek. He accepted her kindness with the same frank
(36:05):
affection that she offered it end quote. Very sweet. Tragic
days for the couple were soon to return, though. Seventeen
eighty eight marked a major decline in the King's mental
and physiological health. One afternoon, attending a sermon with the
(36:25):
Queen and their daughters, the king quote started up, seemed
to have lost all power over himself, embraced the Queen
and princesses, and then burst into tears. He asked the princess, Elizabeth,
you know what it is to be nervous, but was
you ever so bad as this? She responded yes, and
(36:47):
he fell quiet. The King's control over his own mind
would only deteriorate from here. He soon became delusional and
hostile towards Charlotte. He would accuse her of adultery, while
simultaneously believing he himself was in fact in love with
(37:07):
one of her ladies of the bedchamber, even though the
King had never, in their long marriage ever taken a mistress.
We understand today that the King was suffering from paranoid delusions,
likely the effect of the metabolic disorder porphyria, but Charlotte
had no such reassurances at the time. Over the course
(37:29):
of the king's decline, Charlotte's own mental health suffered and
her hair turned prematurely gray. The same lady's maid who
once recounted the scene of Charlotte and George's little love
kiss exchange later wrote that quote, the Queen is almost
overpowered with some secret terror today. As she gave up
(37:53):
the conflict when I was alone with her and burst
into a violent fit of tears. It was very, very
terrible to see and quote. It was assumed that the
King's illness was grave. He was not going to regain
his capacities as he once did. In seventeen sixty five,
(38:13):
Parliament was once again forced to assemble to discuss the
inevitable regency and decide who would be appointed the regent,
Charlotte or the Prince of Wales. Charlotte was weary of
her son's ambitions, and, unlike others, held out hope that
(38:33):
her husband would recover. The Prince was ultimately declared the
Regent elect, but the resulting bill was designed to limit
his ability to consolidate power around him and gave Charlotte
control over the king's person and household. Charlotte's hope was
ultimately fruitful. The King did recover to a degree. That
(38:57):
same year. He assured his wife that his delusions were
nothing more than that, and they were able to reconcile.
Charlotte and her eldest son's relationship, however, was permanently altered.
Charlotte herself was permanently altered. Reports say she became angry,
even toward her beloved daughters, who she relied on increasingly
(39:20):
in her later years. The King's recovery was also only brief.
The illness would return in eighteen oh one, and then
again in eighteen o four. The next bout of illness
in eighteen eleven marked the beginning of George's true and
final decline, and in the last years of her life,
(39:43):
Charlotte would live effectively as a widow. Her husband confined
to separate apartments. The Regency Act of eighteen eleven followed
similar conditions to the one designed years earlier, only now
her son was officially the acting Prince Regent. Charlotte devoted
(40:05):
the last years of her life to aiding the Prince
in his rule as much as he would allow her.
Her joy in later years was greatly derived from planning
royal marriages, first of her eldest daughter, Elizabeth, with whom
she was the closest, and that of the only granddaughter
she lived to meet, Princess Charlotte. If you've listened to
(40:29):
this podcast since its beginning, you might remember an episode
on the poor, beloved, Doomed Princess Charlotte. This Princess Charlotte
also happens to be a major character in my newest novel, Immortality,
a Love Story. In eighteen seventeen, the Queen developed hydropaxy
or dropsy of the chest, which affected her in bouts.
(40:53):
Her last public appearance was April twenty ninth, eighteen eighteen,
a visit to the Egyptian Hall, the Mansion House in
London for a prize ceremony for children taught by the
National Society for Promoting Education of the poor. In November
that same year, Charlotte died at q Palace, survived by
(41:15):
her husband, who likely never knew of her death. Charlotte
was subjected to a number of tragedies throughout her life,
but beyond those, all surviving records painted the portrait of
a woman who found passion beyond it all in her studies,
her hobbies, her children, and in love. That's the story
(41:46):
of Queen Charlotte. But stick around to hear a bit
more on the theory of her possible Black ancestry. As
I noted earlier, England maintained a fervent obsession with the
(42:10):
looks of Queen Charlotte. One report from her physician in
her later years is notable for a particular description quote
small and crooked, with a true mulatto face. Apologies for
that word, but I think in this context it's important
to understand that descriptions like these spurred interest, and a
(42:33):
historian by the name of Mario de Valdes Equcombe is
known for formulating the theory that Charlotte was of African ancestry,
a theory that gave us the Bridgerton Charlotte we know today.
The grounds for the theory are questionable. Based on a
portrait of the seventeen year old Charlotte by the official
(42:54):
royal painter Alan Ramsay, the historian argues that the queen possesses,
which he perceives as quote, subtleties in coloring and facial
bone structure of individuals of African descent and quote. This
is supported by his argument that the queen was, as
described in the Guardian quote, directly descended from a black
(43:18):
branch of the Portuguese royal family related to Margherita de
Castro a Susa, a fifteenth century Portuguese noble woman nine
generations removed whose ancestry she traces from the thirteenth century
ruler Alphonso the Third and his lover Madragana, whom Val
takes to have been a more and thus a black
(43:41):
African end quote. Historians today note that such an ancestral
connection would be incredibly far removed on top of already
thin evidence that Madragana was even black in the thirteenth century.
With the theories roots in a racist comment from a
(44:03):
nineteenth century physician, perceived African features in a portrait, and
an incredibly distant ancestral connection that cannot be proven. Most
historians share the consensus that when it comes to the
question of Queen Charlotte being black, the answer is maybe,
very very distantly possible, but incredibly unlikely. Noble Blood is
(44:47):
a production of iHeartRadio and Grim and Mild from Aaron Manky.
Noble Blood is hosted by me Danish Swartz. Additional writing
and researching done by Hannah Johnston, hannah's Wick, Mira Hayward,
Courtney Sunder, and Laurie Goodman. The show is produced by
rema Il Kaali, with supervising producer Josh Thaine and executive
(45:09):
producers Aaron Manky, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. For more
podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Host
Dana Schwartz
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