Caroline of Ansbach
Encyclopedia
Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach (Wilhelmina Charlotte Caroline; 1 March 1683 – 20 November 1737) was the queen consort
of King George II of Great Britain
.
Her father, John Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, was the ruler of a small German state. Caroline was orphaned at a young age and moved to the enlightened
court of her guardian, Sophia Charlotte of Hanover
, consort of Frederick I of Prussia
. At the Prussian court, her previously limited education was widened, and she adopted the liberal outlook possessed by her guardian. They became good friends, and Sophia Charlotte's views influenced Caroline all her life.
As a young woman, Caroline was much sought-after as a bride. In 1705, after rejecting the suit of the nominal King of Spain, Archduke Charles of Austria
, she married George Augustus, the third-in-line to the British throne
and heir apparent
to the Electorate of Hanover. They had eight children, seven of whom grew to adulthood. Caroline moved permanently to Britain in 1714 when her husband became Prince of Wales
. As Princess of Wales, she joined her husband in rallying political opposition to his father King George I
. In 1717, her husband was expelled from court after a family row. Caroline came to be associated with Robert Walpole
, an opposition politician who was a former government minister. Walpole rejoined the government in 1720, and Caroline's husband and King George I reconciled publicly, on Walpole's advice. Over the next few years, Walpole rose to become the leading minister.
Caroline succeeded as queen and electress consort in 1727, when her husband became King George II. Her eldest son, Frederick
, became Prince of Wales. He was a focus for the opposition, like his father before him, and Caroline's relationship with him was strained. As princess and as queen, Caroline was known for her political influence, which she exercised through and for Walpole. Her tenure included four regencies during her husband's stays in Hanover
, and she is credited with strengthening the Hanoverian dynasty's
place in Britain during a period of political instability. Her death in 1737 left Caroline widely mourned not only by the public, but also by the King, who refused to remarry.
, the daughter of John Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, and his second wife, Princess Eleonore Erdmuthe of Saxe-Eisenach. Her father was the ruler of one of the smallest German states; he died of smallpox
at the age of 32, when Caroline was three years old. Caroline and her only full sibling, her younger brother Margrave William Frederick
, left Ansbach
with their mother, who returned to her native Eisenach
.
In 1692, Caroline's widowed mother was pushed into an unhappy marriage with the Elector of Saxony
, and she and her two children moved to the Saxon court at Dresden
. Eleanore Erdmuthe was widowed again two years later, after her unfaithful husband contracted smallpox from his mistress. Eleonore remained in Saxony
for another two years, until her death in 1696. The orphaned Caroline and William Frederick returned to Ansbach to stay with their elder stepbrother, Margrave George Frederick II. George Frederick was a youth with little interest in parenting a girl, and so Caroline soon moved to Lützenburg outside of Berlin
, where she entered into the care of her new guardians, Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg
, and his wife, Sophia Charlotte
, who had been a friend of Eleanore Erdmuthe.
in 1701. Sophia Charlotte was the daughter of Dowager Electress Sophia of Hanover
, and the sister of George, Elector of Hanover
. She was renowned for her intelligence and strong character, and her uncensored and liberal court attracted a great many scholars, including philosopher Gottfried Leibniz
. Caroline was exposed to a lively intellectual environment quite different from anything she had experienced previously. Before she began her education under Sophia Charlotte's care, Caroline had received little formal education; her handwriting remained poor throughout her life. With her lively mind, Caroline developed into a scholar of considerable ability. She and Sophia Charlotte developed a strong relationship in which Caroline was treated as a surrogate daughter; the queen once declared Berlin was "a desert" without Caroline whenever she left temporarily for Ansbach.
, who was a candidate for the throne of Spain and later became Holy Roman Emperor. Charles made official overtures to her in 1703, and the match was encouraged by King Frederick of Prussia. After some consideration, Caroline refused in 1704, as she would not convert from Lutheranism
to Catholicism
. Early in the following year, Queen Sophia Charlotte died on a visit to her native Hanover. Caroline was devastated, writing to Leibniz, "The calamity has overwhelmed me with grief and sickness, and it is only the hope that I may soon follow her that consoles me."
In June 1705, Queen Sophia Charlotte's nephew, George Augustus, the electoral prince of Hanover
, visited the Ansbach court, supposedly "incognito", to inspect Caroline, as his father the Elector did not want his son to enter into a loveless arranged marriage like he had. The nephew of three childless uncles, George Augustus was under pressure to marry and father an heir, or risk putting the Hanoverian succession at risk. He had heard reports of Caroline's "incomparable beauty and mental attributes". He immediately took a liking to her "good character" and the British envoy reported that George Augustus "would not think of anybody else after her". For her part, Caroline was not fooled by the prince's disguise, and found her suitor attractive. He was the heir apparent of his father's Electorate of Hanover
and third-in-line to the British throne of his distant cousin Queen Anne
, after his grandmother Dowager Electress Sophia and his father the Elector.
On 22 August 1705, Caroline arrived in Hanover for her wedding to George Augustus; they were married that evening in the palace chapel at Herrenhausen
. By May of the following year, Caroline thought herself pregnant, and her first child Prince Frederick
was born on 20 January 1707. A few months after the birth, in July, Caroline fell seriously ill with smallpox
followed by pneumonia
. Her baby was kept away from her, but George Augustus remained at her side devotedly, and caught and survived the infection himself. Over the next seven years, Caroline had three more children, Anne
, Amelia, and Caroline, all of whom were born in Hanover.
George Augustus and Caroline had a largely successful marriage, though he continued to keep mistresses, as was customary for the time. Caroline was well-aware of his infidelities, as they were well known and he told her about them. His two best-known mistresses were Henrietta Howard, later Countess of Suffolk
, and, from 1735, Amalie von Wallmoden, Countess of Yarmouth
. Howard was one of Caroline's Women of the Bedchamber
and became Mistress of the Robes
when her husband inherited a peerage in 1731; she retired in 1734. In contrast with her mother-in-law
and husband, Caroline was known for her marital fidelity; she never made any embarrassing scenes nor did she take lovers. She preferred her husband's mistresses to be ladies-in-waiting, as that way she believed she could keep a closer eye on them.
The succession of her husband's family to the British throne was still insecure, as Queen Anne's half-brother James Stuart
contested the Hanoverian claim, and Queen Anne and Caroline's grandmother-in-law Dowager Electress Sophia had fallen out. Anne refused permission for any of the Hanoverians to visit Britain in her lifetime. Caroline wrote to Leibniz, "I accept the comparison which you draw, though all too flattering, between me and Queen Elizabeth
as a good omen. Like Elizabeth, the Electress's rights are denied her by a jealous sister [Queen Anne], and she will never be sure of the English crown until her accession to the throne." In June 1714, Dowager Electress Sophia died in Caroline's arms at the age of 84, and Caroline's father-in-law became heir presumptive
to Queen Anne. Just weeks later, Anne died and the Elector of Hanover was proclaimed as her successor, becoming George I of Great Britain
.
from The Hague
to Margate
was the first and only sea voyage she took in her life. Their young son, Prince Frederick, remained in Hanover for the rest of George I's
reign to be brought up by private tutors.
On the accession of George I in 1714, Caroline's husband automatically became Duke of Cornwall
and Duke of Rothesay
. Shortly afterwards, he was invested as Prince of Wales
, whereupon she became Princess of Wales. Caroline was the first woman to receive the title at the same time as her husband received his. She was the first Princess of Wales for over two hundred years, the last one being Catherine of Aragon
. As George I had repudiated his wife Sophia Dorothea of Celle
in 1694 prior to his becoming King of Great Britain, there was no queen consort
, and Caroline was the highest ranking woman in the kingdom. George Augustus and Caroline made a concerted effort to 'anglicise' by acquiring knowledge of England's language, people, politics, and customs. Two separate courts developed with strong contrasts; the old king's had German courtiers and government ministers, while the Wales's court attracted English nobles out of favour with the King, and was considerably more popular with the British people. Political opposition to the King gradually became centered around George Augustus and Caroline.
Two years after their arrival in England, Caroline suffered a stillbirth, which her friend the Countess of Bückeburg blamed on the incompetence of English doctors, but the following year she had another son, Prince George William. At the baptism in November 1717, her husband fell out with his father over the choice of godparents, leading to the couple's placement under house arrest at St. James's Palace
prior to their banishment from court. Caroline was originally allowed to stay with their children, but refused as she believed her place was with her husband. She and her husband moved into Leicester House
, while their children remained in the care of the King. Caroline fell sick with worry, and fainted during a secret visit to her children made without the King's approval. By January, the King had relented and allowed Caroline unrestricted access. In February, Prince George William fell ill, and the King allowed both George Augustus and Caroline to see him at Kensington Palace
without any conditions. When the baby died, a post-mortem was conducted to prove that the cause of death was disease (a polyp on the heart) rather than the separation from his mother. Further tragedy occurred in 1718, when Caroline miscarried at Richmond Lodge, her country residence. Over the next few years, Caroline had three more children: William, Mary
and Louise
.
Leicester House became a frequent meeting place for the ministry's political opponents. Caroline struck up a friendship with politician Sir Robert Walpole
, a former minister in the Whig government who led a disgruntled faction of the party. In April 1720, Walpole's wing of the Whig party reconciled with the governing wing, and Walpole and Caroline helped to effect a reconciliation between the King and her husband for the sake of public unity. Caroline wanted to regain her three eldest daughters, who remained in the care of the King, and thought the reconciliation would lead to their return, but negotiations came to nothing. George Augustus came to believe that Walpole had tricked him into the reconciliation as part of a scheme to gain power. The prince was isolated politically when Walpole's Whigs joined the government, and Leicester House played host to literary figures and wits, such as John Arbuthnot
and Jonathan Swift
, rather than politicians. Arbuthnot told Swift that Caroline had enjoyed his Gulliver's Travels
, particularly the tale of the crown prince who wore one high-heel and one low-heel in a country where the King and his party wore low heels, and the opposition wore high ones: a barely veiled reference to the political leanings of the Prince of Wales.
Caroline's intellect far outstripped her husband's, and she read avidly. She established an extensive library at St. James's Palace. As a young woman, she corresponded with Gottfried Leibniz
, the intellectual colossus who was courtier and factotum to the House of Hanover. She later facilitated the Leibniz-Clarke correspondence
, arguably the most important philosophy of physics discussion of the 18th century. She helped to popularise the practice of variolation (an early type of immunisation), which had been witnessed by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
and Charles Maitland in Constantinople
. At the direction of Caroline, six condemned prisoners were offered the chance to undergo variolation instead of execution: they all survived, as did six orphan children given the same treatment as a further test. Convinced of its medical value, Caroline had her children Amelia, Caroline and Frederick inoculated against smallpox in the same manner.
Caroline became queen consort on the death of her father-in-law in 1727, and she was crowned alongside her husband at Westminster Abbey
on 11 October that year. She was the first queen consort to be crowned since Anne of Denmark
in 1603. Though George II denounced Walpole as a "rogue and rascal" over the terms of the reconciliation with his father, Caroline advised her husband to retain Walpole as the leading minister. Walpole commanded a substantial majority in Parliament and George II had little choice but to accept him or risk ministerial instability. Walpole secured a civil list
payment of £100,000 a year for Caroline, and she was given both Somerset House
and Richmond Lodge. Courtier Lord Hervey called Walpole "the Queen's minister" in recognition of their close relationship. For the next ten years, Caroline had immense influence. She persuaded the King to adopt policies at the behest of Walpole, and persuaded Walpole against taking inflammatory actions. Caroline had absorbed the liberal opinions of her mentor, Queen Sophia Charlotte of Prussia, and supported clemency for the Jacobites
(supporters of the rival Stuart claim to the throne), freedom of the press, and freedom of speech in Parliament.
Over the next few years, she and her husband fought a constant battle against their eldest son, Frederick, Prince of Wales
, who had been left behind in Germany when they came to England. He joined the family in 1728, by which time he was an adult, had mistresses and debts, and was fond of gambling and practical jokes. He opposed his father's political beliefs, and complained of his lack of influence in government. The Regency Act 1728
made Caroline rather than Frederick regent
when her husband was in Hanover for five months from May 1729. During her regency, a diplomatic incident with Portugal (where a British ship had been seized on the Tagus
) was defused, and the negotiation of the Treaty of Seville
between Britain and Spain was concluded. From May 1732, she was regent for four months while George II was away again in Hanover. An investigation into the penal system uncovered widespread abuses, including cruel treatment and conspiracy in the escape of wealthy convicts. Caroline pressed Walpole for reform, largely unsuccessfully. In March 1733, Walpole introduced an unpopular excise
bill to parliament, which the Queen supported, but it gathered such strong opposition that it was eventually dropped.
Caroline's entire life in Britain was spent in the South-East of England in or around London. As Queen, she continued to surround herself with artists, writers, and intellectuals. She collected jewellery, especially cameos and intaglios, acquired important portraits and miniatures, and enjoyed the visual arts. She commissioned works such as terracotta busts of the kings and queens of England from Michael Rysbrack, and supervised a more naturalistic design of the royal gardens by William Kent
and Charles Bridgeman
. In 1728, she rediscovered sets of sketches by Leonardo da Vinci
and Hans Holbein
that had been hidden in a drawer since the reign of William III
.
Caroline's eldest daughter Anne
married William IV of Orange in 1734, and moved with her husband to the Netherlands. Caroline wrote to her daughter of her "indescribable" sadness at the parting. Anne soon felt homesick, and travelled back to England when her husband went on campaign. Eventually, her husband and father commanded her to return to Holland.
. Shortly after the wedding, George went to Hanover, and Caroline resumed her role as "Protector of the Realm". As regent, Caroline considered the reprieve of Captain John Porteous
, who had been convicted of murder in Edinburgh
. Before she could act, a mob stormed the jail where he was held and killed him. Caroline was appalled. The King's absences abroad were leading to unpopularity, and in late 1736 he made plans to return, but his ship was caught in poor weather, and it was rumoured that he had been lost at sea. Caroline was devastated, and disgusted by the insensitivity of her son, who hosted a grand dinner while the gale was blowing. During her regency, the Prince of Wales attempted to start a number of quarrels with his mother, whom he saw as a useful proxy to irritate the King. George eventually returned in January 1737.
Frederick applied to Parliament unsuccessfully for an increased financial allowance that had hitherto been denied him by the King, and public disagreement over the money drove a further wedge between parents and son. On the advice of Walpole, Frederick's allowance was raised in an attempt to mitigate further conflict, but by less than he had asked. In June 1737, Frederick informed his parents that Augusta was pregnant, and due to give birth in October. In fact, Augusta's due date was earlier and a peculiar episode followed in July in which the prince, on discovering that his wife had gone into labour, sneaked her out of Hampton Court Palace
in the middle of the night, to ensure that the King and Queen could not be present at the birth. George and Caroline were horrified. Traditionally, royal births were witnessed by members of the family and senior courtiers to guard against supposititious children, and Augusta had been forced by her husband to ride in a rattling carriage for an hour and a half while heavily pregnant and in pain. With a party including two of her daughters and Lord Hervey, the Queen raced over to St. James's Palace
, where Frederick had taken Augusta. Caroline was relieved to discover that Augusta had given birth to a "poor, ugly little she-mouse" rather than a "large, fat, healthy boy" as the pitiful nature of the baby made a supposititious child unlikely. The circumstances of the birth deepened the estrangement between mother and son. According to Lord Hervey, she once remarked after seeing Frederick, "Look, there he goes—that wretch!—that villain!—I wish the ground would open this moment and sink the monster to the lowest hole in hell!"
In the final years of her life, Caroline was troubled by gout in her feet, but more seriously she had suffered an umbilical hernia at the birth of her final child in 1724. On 9 November 1737, she felt an intense pain and, after struggling through a formal reception, took to her bed. Her womb had ruptured. Over the next few days she was bled, purged, and operated on, without anaesthetic, but there was no improvement in her condition. The King refused Frederick permission to see his mother, a decision with which she complied; she sent her son a message of forgiveness through Walpole. She asked her husband to remarry after her death, which he rejected saying he would take only mistresses; she replied "Ah, mon Dieu, cela n'empêche pas" ("My God, that doesn't prevent it"). On 17 November, her strangulated bowel burst. She died on 20 November 1737 at St. James's Palace.
She was buried in Westminster Abbey
on 17 December. Frederick was not invited to the funeral. George Frideric Handel
composed an anthem for the occasion, The Ways of Zion Do Mourn / Funeral Anthem for Queen Caroline
. The King arranged for a pair of matching coffins with removable sides, so that when he followed her to the grave (23 years later), they could lie together again.
wrote of Caroline in A Letter to A Lady (1714):
She was widely seen by both the public and the court as having great influence over her husband. A satirical verse of the period went:
The memoirs of the eighteenth century, particularly those of John, Lord Hervey, fed perceptions that Caroline and Walpole governed her husband. Peter Quennell
wrote that Hervey was the "chronicler of this remarkable coalition" and that she was Hervey's "heroine". Using such sources, biographers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries credit her with aiding the establishment of the House of Hanover in Britain, in the face of Jacobite opposition. R. L. Arkell wrote "by her acumen and geniality, [Caroline] ensured the dynasty's rooting itself in England", and W. H. Wilkins said her "gracious and dignified personality, her lofty ideals and pure life did much to counteract the unpopularity of her husband and father-in-law, and redeem the early Georgian era from utter grossness." Although modern historians tend to believe that Hervey, Wilkins and Arkell have overestimated her importance, it is nevertheless probable that Caroline of Ansbach was one of the most influential consorts in British history.
in the British Colony of Virginia was named in her honour when it was formed in 1727.
are impaled
with those of her father, John Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach. The arms of her father were quarterly
of fifteen, 1st, per fess
gules
and argent
, within a bordure
counter-changed of the same (for Magdeburg
); 2nd, argent, an eagle displayed sable
, crowned or
; 3rd, or, a griffin segreant gules, crowned; 4th and 5th, argent, a griffin segreant gules; 6th, or, a griffin segreant sable; 7th, argent, an eagle displayed sable (for Crossen
); 8th, per pale
argent and gules within a bordure counter-changed of the same (for Halberstadt
); 9th, argent, an eagle displayed sable; 10th, or, a lion rampant sable, crowned, within a bordure goboné
argent and gules (for Nuremberg
); 11th, gules, two keys in saltire
or (for Minden
); 12th, quarterly argent and sable (for Hohenzollern
); 13th, the field gules, the figure argent; 14th, per fess gules and argent; 15th, plain field of gules (for right of regalia
); overall an inescutcheon, argent, an eagle displayed gules (for Brandenburg
).
As Princess of Wales she used the arms of her husband (the royal arms with a label
of three points argent) impaled with those of her father, the whole surmounted by a coronet of the heir apparent.
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Queen consort
A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king. A queen consort usually shares her husband's rank and holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles. Historically, queens consort do not share the king regnant's political and military powers. Most queens in history were queens consort...
of King George II of Great Britain
George II of Great Britain
George II was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Archtreasurer and Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death.George was the last British monarch born outside Great Britain. He was born and brought up in Northern Germany...
.
Her father, John Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, was the ruler of a small German state. Caroline was orphaned at a young age and moved to the enlightened
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
court of her guardian, Sophia Charlotte of Hanover
Sophia Charlotte of Hanover
Sophia Charlotte of Hanover was the Queen consort of Prussia as wife of Frederick I of Prussia. She was the daughter of Ernst August, Elector of Hanover, and Sophia of the Palatinate...
, consort of Frederick I of Prussia
Frederick I of Prussia
Frederick I , of the Hohenzollern dynasty, was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia in personal union . The latter function he upgraded to royalty, becoming the first King in Prussia . From 1707 he was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...
. At the Prussian court, her previously limited education was widened, and she adopted the liberal outlook possessed by her guardian. They became good friends, and Sophia Charlotte's views influenced Caroline all her life.
As a young woman, Caroline was much sought-after as a bride. In 1705, after rejecting the suit of the nominal King of Spain, Archduke Charles of Austria
Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles VI was the penultimate Habsburg sovereign of the Habsburg Empire. He succeeded his elder brother, Joseph I, as Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia , Hungary and Croatia , Archduke of Austria, etc., in 1711...
, she married George Augustus, the third-in-line to the British throne
Monarchy of the United Kingdom
The monarchy of the United Kingdom is the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom and its overseas territories. The present monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, has reigned since 6 February 1952. She and her immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial and representational duties...
and heir apparent
Heir apparent
An heir apparent or heiress apparent is a person who is first in line of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting, except by a change in the rules of succession....
to the Electorate of Hanover. They had eight children, seven of whom grew to adulthood. Caroline moved permanently to Britain in 1714 when her husband became Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...
. As Princess of Wales, she joined her husband in rallying political opposition to his father King George I
George I of Great Britain
George I was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 until his death, and ruler of the Duchy and Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire from 1698....
. In 1717, her husband was expelled from court after a family row. Caroline came to be associated with Robert Walpole
Robert Walpole
Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, KG, KB, PC , known before 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British statesman who is generally regarded as having been the first Prime Minister of Great Britain....
, an opposition politician who was a former government minister. Walpole rejoined the government in 1720, and Caroline's husband and King George I reconciled publicly, on Walpole's advice. Over the next few years, Walpole rose to become the leading minister.
Caroline succeeded as queen and electress consort in 1727, when her husband became King George II. Her eldest son, Frederick
Frederick, Prince of Wales
Frederick, Prince of Wales was a member of the House of Hanover and therefore of the Hanoverian and later British Royal Family, the eldest son of George II and father of George III, as well as the great-grandfather of Queen Victoria...
, became Prince of Wales. He was a focus for the opposition, like his father before him, and Caroline's relationship with him was strained. As princess and as queen, Caroline was known for her political influence, which she exercised through and for Walpole. Her tenure included four regencies during her husband's stays in Hanover
Hanover
Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
, and she is credited with strengthening the Hanoverian dynasty's
House of Hanover
The House of Hanover is a deposed German royal dynasty which has ruled the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg , the Kingdom of Hanover, the Kingdom of Great Britain, the Kingdom of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...
place in Britain during a period of political instability. Her death in 1737 left Caroline widely mourned not only by the public, but also by the King, who refused to remarry.
Early life
Caroline was born on 1 March 1683 at AnsbachAnsbach
Ansbach, originally Onolzbach, is a town in Bavaria, Germany. It is the capital of the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Ansbach is situated southwest of Nuremberg and north of Munich, on the Fränkische Rezat, a tributary of the Main river. As of 2004, its population was 40,723.Ansbach...
, the daughter of John Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, and his second wife, Princess Eleonore Erdmuthe of Saxe-Eisenach. Her father was the ruler of one of the smallest German states; he died of smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
at the age of 32, when Caroline was three years old. Caroline and her only full sibling, her younger brother Margrave William Frederick
William Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach
William Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach , was Margrave of the Principality of Brandenburg-Ansbach from 1703 until his death, 1723...
, left Ansbach
Ansbach
Ansbach, originally Onolzbach, is a town in Bavaria, Germany. It is the capital of the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Ansbach is situated southwest of Nuremberg and north of Munich, on the Fränkische Rezat, a tributary of the Main river. As of 2004, its population was 40,723.Ansbach...
with their mother, who returned to her native Eisenach
Eisenach
Eisenach is a city in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated between the northern foothills of the Thuringian Forest and the Hainich National Park. Its population in 2006 was 43,626.-History:...
.
In 1692, Caroline's widowed mother was pushed into an unhappy marriage with the Elector of Saxony
John George IV, Elector of Saxony
John George IV was Elector of Saxony from 1691 to 1694.He was the eldest son of the Elector John George III and Anna Sophie of Denmark.-First years as elector:...
, and she and her two children moved to the Saxon court at Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
. Eleanore Erdmuthe was widowed again two years later, after her unfaithful husband contracted smallpox from his mistress. Eleonore remained in Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
for another two years, until her death in 1696. The orphaned Caroline and William Frederick returned to Ansbach to stay with their elder stepbrother, Margrave George Frederick II. George Frederick was a youth with little interest in parenting a girl, and so Caroline soon moved to Lützenburg outside of Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, where she entered into the care of her new guardians, Frederick, Elector of Brandenburg
Frederick I of Prussia
Frederick I , of the Hohenzollern dynasty, was Elector of Brandenburg and Duke of Prussia in personal union . The latter function he upgraded to royalty, becoming the first King in Prussia . From 1707 he was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...
, and his wife, Sophia Charlotte
Sophia Charlotte of Hanover
Sophia Charlotte of Hanover was the Queen consort of Prussia as wife of Frederick I of Prussia. She was the daughter of Ernst August, Elector of Hanover, and Sophia of the Palatinate...
, who had been a friend of Eleanore Erdmuthe.
Education
Frederick and Sophia Charlotte became king and queen of PrussiaKingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
in 1701. Sophia Charlotte was the daughter of Dowager Electress Sophia of Hanover
Sophia of Hanover
Sophia of the Palatinate was an heiress to the crowns of England and Ireland and later the crown of Great Britain. She was declared heiress presumptive by the Act of Settlement 1701...
, and the sister of George, Elector of Hanover
George I of Great Britain
George I was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 until his death, and ruler of the Duchy and Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire from 1698....
. She was renowned for her intelligence and strong character, and her uncensored and liberal court attracted a great many scholars, including philosopher Gottfried Leibniz
Gottfried Leibniz
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was a German philosopher and mathematician. He wrote in different languages, primarily in Latin , French and German ....
. Caroline was exposed to a lively intellectual environment quite different from anything she had experienced previously. Before she began her education under Sophia Charlotte's care, Caroline had received little formal education; her handwriting remained poor throughout her life. With her lively mind, Caroline developed into a scholar of considerable ability. She and Sophia Charlotte developed a strong relationship in which Caroline was treated as a surrogate daughter; the queen once declared Berlin was "a desert" without Caroline whenever she left temporarily for Ansbach.
Marriage
An intelligent and attractive woman, Caroline was much sought-after as a bride. Dowager Electress Sophia called her "the most agreeable Princess in Germany". She was considered for the hand of Archduke Charles of AustriaCharles VI, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles VI was the penultimate Habsburg sovereign of the Habsburg Empire. He succeeded his elder brother, Joseph I, as Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia , Hungary and Croatia , Archduke of Austria, etc., in 1711...
, who was a candidate for the throne of Spain and later became Holy Roman Emperor. Charles made official overtures to her in 1703, and the match was encouraged by King Frederick of Prussia. After some consideration, Caroline refused in 1704, as she would not convert from Lutheranism
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
to Catholicism
Catholicism
Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....
. Early in the following year, Queen Sophia Charlotte died on a visit to her native Hanover. Caroline was devastated, writing to Leibniz, "The calamity has overwhelmed me with grief and sickness, and it is only the hope that I may soon follow her that consoles me."
In June 1705, Queen Sophia Charlotte's nephew, George Augustus, the electoral prince of Hanover
George II of Great Britain
George II was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Archtreasurer and Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death.George was the last British monarch born outside Great Britain. He was born and brought up in Northern Germany...
, visited the Ansbach court, supposedly "incognito", to inspect Caroline, as his father the Elector did not want his son to enter into a loveless arranged marriage like he had. The nephew of three childless uncles, George Augustus was under pressure to marry and father an heir, or risk putting the Hanoverian succession at risk. He had heard reports of Caroline's "incomparable beauty and mental attributes". He immediately took a liking to her "good character" and the British envoy reported that George Augustus "would not think of anybody else after her". For her part, Caroline was not fooled by the prince's disguise, and found her suitor attractive. He was the heir apparent of his father's Electorate of Hanover
Electorate of Hanover
The Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg was the ninth Electorate of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation...
and third-in-line to the British throne of his distant cousin Queen Anne
Anne of Great Britain
Anne ascended the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702. On 1 May 1707, under the Act of Union, two of her realms, England and Scotland, were united as a single sovereign state, the Kingdom of Great Britain.Anne's Catholic father, James II and VII, was deposed during the...
, after his grandmother Dowager Electress Sophia and his father the Elector.
On 22 August 1705, Caroline arrived in Hanover for her wedding to George Augustus; they were married that evening in the palace chapel at Herrenhausen
Herrenhausen
Herrenhausen is an area of the German city Hanover which is most notable for the baroque Herrenhausen Gardens.Ernest Augustus, Elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg died in Herrenhausen Castle and his grandson King George II of Great Britain was born there. During the Second World War the castle was...
. By May of the following year, Caroline thought herself pregnant, and her first child Prince Frederick
Frederick, Prince of Wales
Frederick, Prince of Wales was a member of the House of Hanover and therefore of the Hanoverian and later British Royal Family, the eldest son of George II and father of George III, as well as the great-grandfather of Queen Victoria...
was born on 20 January 1707. A few months after the birth, in July, Caroline fell seriously ill with smallpox
Smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease unique to humans, caused by either of two virus variants, Variola major and Variola minor. The disease is also known by the Latin names Variola or Variola vera, which is a derivative of the Latin varius, meaning "spotted", or varus, meaning "pimple"...
followed by pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
. Her baby was kept away from her, but George Augustus remained at her side devotedly, and caught and survived the infection himself. Over the next seven years, Caroline had three more children, Anne
Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange
Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange was the second child and eldest daughter of King George II of Great Britain and his consort, Caroline of Ansbach. She was the spouse of William IV, Prince of Orange, the first hereditary stadtholder of the Netherlands...
, Amelia, and Caroline, all of whom were born in Hanover.
George Augustus and Caroline had a largely successful marriage, though he continued to keep mistresses, as was customary for the time. Caroline was well-aware of his infidelities, as they were well known and he told her about them. His two best-known mistresses were Henrietta Howard, later Countess of Suffolk
Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk
Henrietta Howard was a mistress of King George II of Great Britain.She was the daughter of Sir Henry Hobart, 4th Baronet, a Norfolk landowner who was killed in a duel when Henrietta was aged eight...
, and, from 1735, Amalie von Wallmoden, Countess of Yarmouth
Amalie von Wallmoden, Countess of Yarmouth
Amalie Sophie Marianne von Wallmoden, 1st Countess of Yarmouth was the mistress of George II of Great Britain from the mid-1730s until his death in 1760. Born into one prominent family in Hanover and wed into another, she became a naturalised citizen of Britain in 1740 and was granted the life...
. Howard was one of Caroline's Women of the Bedchamber
Woman of the Bedchamber
In the Royal Household of the United Kingdom the term Woman of the Bedchamber is used to describe a woman attending either a queen regnant or queen consort, in the role of Lady-in-Waiting...
and became Mistress of the Robes
Mistress of the Robes
The Mistress of the Robes is the senior lady of the British Royal Household. Formerly responsible for the Queen's clothes and jewellery, the post now has the responsibility for arranging the rota of attendance of the Ladies in Waiting on the Queen, along with various duties at State ceremonies...
when her husband inherited a peerage in 1731; she retired in 1734. In contrast with her mother-in-law
Sophia Dorothea of Celle
Sophia Dorothea of Brunswick and Lunenburg was the wife and cousin of George Louis, Elector of Hanover, later George I of Great Britain, and mother of George II through an arranged marriage of state, instigated by the machinations of Duchess Sophia of Hanover...
and husband, Caroline was known for her marital fidelity; she never made any embarrassing scenes nor did she take lovers. She preferred her husband's mistresses to be ladies-in-waiting, as that way she believed she could keep a closer eye on them.
The succession of her husband's family to the British throne was still insecure, as Queen Anne's half-brother James Stuart
James Francis Edward Stuart
James Francis Edward, Prince of Wales was the son of the deposed James II of England...
contested the Hanoverian claim, and Queen Anne and Caroline's grandmother-in-law Dowager Electress Sophia had fallen out. Anne refused permission for any of the Hanoverians to visit Britain in her lifetime. Caroline wrote to Leibniz, "I accept the comparison which you draw, though all too flattering, between me and Queen Elizabeth
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
as a good omen. Like Elizabeth, the Electress's rights are denied her by a jealous sister [Queen Anne], and she will never be sure of the English crown until her accession to the throne." In June 1714, Dowager Electress Sophia died in Caroline's arms at the age of 84, and Caroline's father-in-law became heir presumptive
Heir Presumptive
An heir presumptive or heiress presumptive is the person provisionally scheduled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of an heir or heiress apparent or of a new heir presumptive with a better claim to the position in question...
to Queen Anne. Just weeks later, Anne died and the Elector of Hanover was proclaimed as her successor, becoming George I of Great Britain
George I of Great Britain
George I was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 until his death, and ruler of the Duchy and Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire from 1698....
.
Princess of Wales
George Augustus sailed to England in September 1714, and Caroline and two of her daughters followed in October. Her journey across the North SeaNorth Sea
In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
from The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
to Margate
Margate
-Demography:As of the 2001 UK census, Margate had a population of 40,386.The ethnicity of the town was 97.1% white, 1.0% mixed race, 0.5% black, 0.8% Asian, 0.6% Chinese or other ethnicity....
was the first and only sea voyage she took in her life. Their young son, Prince Frederick, remained in Hanover for the rest of George I's
George I of Great Britain
George I was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 until his death, and ruler of the Duchy and Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire from 1698....
reign to be brought up by private tutors.
Duke of Cornwall
The Duchy of Cornwall was the first duchy created in the peerage of England.The present Duke of Cornwall is The Prince of Wales, the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II, the reigning British monarch .-History:...
and Duke of Rothesay
Duke of Rothesay
Duke of Rothesay was a title of the heir apparent to the throne of the Kingdom of Scotland before 1707, of the Kingdom of Great Britain from 1707 to 1801, and now of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland....
. Shortly afterwards, he was invested as Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales
Prince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...
, whereupon she became Princess of Wales. Caroline was the first woman to receive the title at the same time as her husband received his. She was the first Princess of Wales for over two hundred years, the last one being Catherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon
Catherine of Aragon , also known as Katherine or Katharine, was Queen consort of England as the first wife of King Henry VIII of England and Princess of Wales as the wife to Arthur, Prince of Wales...
. As George I had repudiated his wife Sophia Dorothea of Celle
Sophia Dorothea of Celle
Sophia Dorothea of Brunswick and Lunenburg was the wife and cousin of George Louis, Elector of Hanover, later George I of Great Britain, and mother of George II through an arranged marriage of state, instigated by the machinations of Duchess Sophia of Hanover...
in 1694 prior to his becoming King of Great Britain, there was no queen consort
Queen consort
A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king. A queen consort usually shares her husband's rank and holds the feminine equivalent of the king's monarchical titles. Historically, queens consort do not share the king regnant's political and military powers. Most queens in history were queens consort...
, and Caroline was the highest ranking woman in the kingdom. George Augustus and Caroline made a concerted effort to 'anglicise' by acquiring knowledge of England's language, people, politics, and customs. Two separate courts developed with strong contrasts; the old king's had German courtiers and government ministers, while the Wales's court attracted English nobles out of favour with the King, and was considerably more popular with the British people. Political opposition to the King gradually became centered around George Augustus and Caroline.
Two years after their arrival in England, Caroline suffered a stillbirth, which her friend the Countess of Bückeburg blamed on the incompetence of English doctors, but the following year she had another son, Prince George William. At the baptism in November 1717, her husband fell out with his father over the choice of godparents, leading to the couple's placement under house arrest at St. James's Palace
St. James's Palace
St. James's Palace is one of London's oldest palaces. It is situated in Pall Mall, just north of St. James's Park. Although no sovereign has resided there for almost two centuries, it has remained the official residence of the Sovereign and the most senior royal palace in the UK...
prior to their banishment from court. Caroline was originally allowed to stay with their children, but refused as she believed her place was with her husband. She and her husband moved into Leicester House
Leicester Square
Leicester Square is a pedestrianised square in the West End of London, England. The Square lies within an area bound by Lisle Street, to the north; Charing Cross Road, to the east; Orange Street, to the south; and Whitcomb Street, to the west...
, while their children remained in the care of the King. Caroline fell sick with worry, and fainted during a secret visit to her children made without the King's approval. By January, the King had relented and allowed Caroline unrestricted access. In February, Prince George William fell ill, and the King allowed both George Augustus and Caroline to see him at Kensington Palace
Kensington Palace
Kensington Palace is a royal residence set in Kensington Gardens in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. It has been a residence of the British Royal Family since the 17th century and is the official London residence of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Duke and...
without any conditions. When the baby died, a post-mortem was conducted to prove that the cause of death was disease (a polyp on the heart) rather than the separation from his mother. Further tragedy occurred in 1718, when Caroline miscarried at Richmond Lodge, her country residence. Over the next few years, Caroline had three more children: William, Mary
Princess Mary of Great Britain
The Princess Mary was a member of the British Royal Family, a daughter of George II and Caroline of Ansbach.-Early life:...
and Louise
Louise of Great Britain
Louise of Great Britain was the youngest surviving daughter of George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Ansbach, and became queen consort of Denmark and Norway.-Early life:...
.
Leicester House became a frequent meeting place for the ministry's political opponents. Caroline struck up a friendship with politician Sir Robert Walpole
Robert Walpole
Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, KG, KB, PC , known before 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British statesman who is generally regarded as having been the first Prime Minister of Great Britain....
, a former minister in the Whig government who led a disgruntled faction of the party. In April 1720, Walpole's wing of the Whig party reconciled with the governing wing, and Walpole and Caroline helped to effect a reconciliation between the King and her husband for the sake of public unity. Caroline wanted to regain her three eldest daughters, who remained in the care of the King, and thought the reconciliation would lead to their return, but negotiations came to nothing. George Augustus came to believe that Walpole had tricked him into the reconciliation as part of a scheme to gain power. The prince was isolated politically when Walpole's Whigs joined the government, and Leicester House played host to literary figures and wits, such as John Arbuthnot
John Arbuthnot
John Arbuthnot, often known simply as Dr. Arbuthnot, , was a physician, satirist and polymath in London...
and Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift
Jonathan Swift was an Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer , poet and cleric who became Dean of St...
, rather than politicians. Arbuthnot told Swift that Caroline had enjoyed his Gulliver's Travels
Gulliver's Travels
Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships, better known simply as Gulliver's Travels , is a novel by Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift that is both a satire on human nature and a parody of...
, particularly the tale of the crown prince who wore one high-heel and one low-heel in a country where the King and his party wore low heels, and the opposition wore high ones: a barely veiled reference to the political leanings of the Prince of Wales.
Caroline's intellect far outstripped her husband's, and she read avidly. She established an extensive library at St. James's Palace. As a young woman, she corresponded with Gottfried Leibniz
Gottfried Leibniz
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was a German philosopher and mathematician. He wrote in different languages, primarily in Latin , French and German ....
, the intellectual colossus who was courtier and factotum to the House of Hanover. She later facilitated the Leibniz-Clarke correspondence
Leibniz-Clarke correspondence
The Leibniz–Clarke correspondence was a scientific, theological and philosophical debate conducted in an exchange of letters between the German thinker Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Samuel Clarke, an English supporter of Isaac Newton during the years 1715 and 1716...
, arguably the most important philosophy of physics discussion of the 18th century. She helped to popularise the practice of variolation (an early type of immunisation), which had been witnessed by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
The Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was an English aristocrat and writer. Montagu is today chiefly remembered for her letters, particularly her letters from Turkey, as wife to the British ambassador, which have been described by Billie Melman as “the very first example of a secular work by a woman about...
and Charles Maitland in Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
. At the direction of Caroline, six condemned prisoners were offered the chance to undergo variolation instead of execution: they all survived, as did six orphan children given the same treatment as a further test. Convinced of its medical value, Caroline had her children Amelia, Caroline and Frederick inoculated against smallpox in the same manner.
Queen and regent
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
on 11 October that year. She was the first queen consort to be crowned since Anne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark was queen consort of Scotland, England, and Ireland as the wife of King James VI and I.The second daughter of King Frederick II of Denmark, Anne married James in 1589 at the age of fourteen and bore him three children who survived infancy, including the future Charles I...
in 1603. Though George II denounced Walpole as a "rogue and rascal" over the terms of the reconciliation with his father, Caroline advised her husband to retain Walpole as the leading minister. Walpole commanded a substantial majority in Parliament and George II had little choice but to accept him or risk ministerial instability. Walpole secured a civil list
Civil list
-United Kingdom:In the United Kingdom, the Civil List is the name given to the annual grant that covers some expenses associated with the Sovereign performing their official duties, including those for staff salaries, State Visits, public engagements, ceremonial functions and the upkeep of the...
payment of £100,000 a year for Caroline, and she was given both Somerset House
Somerset House
Somerset House is a large building situated on the south side of the Strand in central London, England, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The central block of the Neoclassical building, the outstanding project of the architect Sir William Chambers, dates from 1776–96. It...
and Richmond Lodge. Courtier Lord Hervey called Walpole "the Queen's minister" in recognition of their close relationship. For the next ten years, Caroline had immense influence. She persuaded the King to adopt policies at the behest of Walpole, and persuaded Walpole against taking inflammatory actions. Caroline had absorbed the liberal opinions of her mentor, Queen Sophia Charlotte of Prussia, and supported clemency for the Jacobites
Jacobitism
Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...
(supporters of the rival Stuart claim to the throne), freedom of the press, and freedom of speech in Parliament.
Over the next few years, she and her husband fought a constant battle against their eldest son, Frederick, Prince of Wales
Frederick, Prince of Wales
Frederick, Prince of Wales was a member of the House of Hanover and therefore of the Hanoverian and later British Royal Family, the eldest son of George II and father of George III, as well as the great-grandfather of Queen Victoria...
, who had been left behind in Germany when they came to England. He joined the family in 1728, by which time he was an adult, had mistresses and debts, and was fond of gambling and practical jokes. He opposed his father's political beliefs, and complained of his lack of influence in government. The Regency Act 1728
Regency Acts
The Regency Acts are Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed at various times, to provide a regent if the reigning monarch were to be incapacitated or a minor . Prior to 1937, Regency Acts were passed only when necessary to deal with a specific situation...
made Caroline rather than Frederick regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...
when her husband was in Hanover for five months from May 1729. During her regency, a diplomatic incident with Portugal (where a British ship had been seized on the Tagus
Tagus
The Tagus is the longest river on the Iberian Peninsula. It is long, in Spain, along the border between Portugal and Spain and in Portugal, where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean at Lisbon. It drains an area of . The Tagus is highly utilized for most of its course...
) was defused, and the negotiation of the Treaty of Seville
Treaty of Seville (1729)
The Treaty of Seville was signed on 9 November 1729 between Great Britain, France, and Spain, concluding the Anglo-Spanish War .Preliminary discussions had already taken place between Britain and Spain at the Convention of Pardo and the Congress of Soissons...
between Britain and Spain was concluded. From May 1732, she was regent for four months while George II was away again in Hanover. An investigation into the penal system uncovered widespread abuses, including cruel treatment and conspiracy in the escape of wealthy convicts. Caroline pressed Walpole for reform, largely unsuccessfully. In March 1733, Walpole introduced an unpopular excise
Excise
Excise tax in the United States is a indirect tax on listed items. Excise taxes can be and are made by federal, state and local governments and are far from uniform throughout the United States...
bill to parliament, which the Queen supported, but it gathered such strong opposition that it was eventually dropped.
Caroline's entire life in Britain was spent in the South-East of England in or around London. As Queen, she continued to surround herself with artists, writers, and intellectuals. She collected jewellery, especially cameos and intaglios, acquired important portraits and miniatures, and enjoyed the visual arts. She commissioned works such as terracotta busts of the kings and queens of England from Michael Rysbrack, and supervised a more naturalistic design of the royal gardens by William Kent
William Kent
William Kent , born in Bridlington, Yorkshire, was an eminent English architect, landscape architect and furniture designer of the early 18th century.He was baptised as William Cant.-Education:...
and Charles Bridgeman
Charles Bridgeman
Charles Bridgeman was an English garden designer in the onset of the naturalistic landscape style. Although he was a key figure in the transition of English garden design from the Anglo-Dutch formality of patterned parterres and avenues to a freer style that incorporated formal, structural and...
. In 1728, she rediscovered sets of sketches by Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
and Hans Holbein
Hans Holbein
Hans Holbein may refer to two German painters:* Hans Holbein the Elder father of Hans the Younger* Hans Holbein the Younger , better known of the two, court artist to King Henry VIII of England...
that had been hidden in a drawer since the reign of William III
William III of England
William III & II was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth. From 1672 he governed as Stadtholder William III of Orange over Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel of the Dutch Republic. From 1689 he reigned as William III over England and Ireland...
.
Caroline's eldest daughter Anne
Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange
Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange was the second child and eldest daughter of King George II of Great Britain and his consort, Caroline of Ansbach. She was the spouse of William IV, Prince of Orange, the first hereditary stadtholder of the Netherlands...
married William IV of Orange in 1734, and moved with her husband to the Netherlands. Caroline wrote to her daughter of her "indescribable" sadness at the parting. Anne soon felt homesick, and travelled back to England when her husband went on campaign. Eventually, her husband and father commanded her to return to Holland.
Final years
In mid-1735, Frederick, Prince of Wales, was further dismayed when Caroline, rather than himself, again acted as regent while the King was absent in Hanover. The King and Queen arranged Frederick's marriage, in 1736, to Princess Augusta of Saxe-GothaPrincess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha
Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg was Princess of Wales between 1736 and 1751, and Dowager Princess of Wales thereafter. She was one of only three Princesses of Wales who never became queen consort...
. Shortly after the wedding, George went to Hanover, and Caroline resumed her role as "Protector of the Realm". As regent, Caroline considered the reprieve of Captain John Porteous
Captain John Porteous
Captain John Porteous, was a Scottish soldier, Captain of the City Guard of Edinburgh .-Early life:John Porteous was born at The Glen, Quair Water, near Traquair, in the Borders, the son of Stephen Porteous, a tailor of the Canongate, Edinburgh. Little is known of his early life, except that he...
, who had been convicted of murder in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
. Before she could act, a mob stormed the jail where he was held and killed him. Caroline was appalled. The King's absences abroad were leading to unpopularity, and in late 1736 he made plans to return, but his ship was caught in poor weather, and it was rumoured that he had been lost at sea. Caroline was devastated, and disgusted by the insensitivity of her son, who hosted a grand dinner while the gale was blowing. During her regency, the Prince of Wales attempted to start a number of quarrels with his mother, whom he saw as a useful proxy to irritate the King. George eventually returned in January 1737.
Hampton Court Palace
Hampton Court Palace is a royal palace in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, Greater London; it has not been inhabited by the British royal family since the 18th century. The palace is located south west of Charing Cross and upstream of Central London on the River Thames...
in the middle of the night, to ensure that the King and Queen could not be present at the birth. George and Caroline were horrified. Traditionally, royal births were witnessed by members of the family and senior courtiers to guard against supposititious children, and Augusta had been forced by her husband to ride in a rattling carriage for an hour and a half while heavily pregnant and in pain. With a party including two of her daughters and Lord Hervey, the Queen raced over to St. James's Palace
St. James's Palace
St. James's Palace is one of London's oldest palaces. It is situated in Pall Mall, just north of St. James's Park. Although no sovereign has resided there for almost two centuries, it has remained the official residence of the Sovereign and the most senior royal palace in the UK...
, where Frederick had taken Augusta. Caroline was relieved to discover that Augusta had given birth to a "poor, ugly little she-mouse" rather than a "large, fat, healthy boy" as the pitiful nature of the baby made a supposititious child unlikely. The circumstances of the birth deepened the estrangement between mother and son. According to Lord Hervey, she once remarked after seeing Frederick, "Look, there he goes—that wretch!—that villain!—I wish the ground would open this moment and sink the monster to the lowest hole in hell!"
In the final years of her life, Caroline was troubled by gout in her feet, but more seriously she had suffered an umbilical hernia at the birth of her final child in 1724. On 9 November 1737, she felt an intense pain and, after struggling through a formal reception, took to her bed. Her womb had ruptured. Over the next few days she was bled, purged, and operated on, without anaesthetic, but there was no improvement in her condition. The King refused Frederick permission to see his mother, a decision with which she complied; she sent her son a message of forgiveness through Walpole. She asked her husband to remarry after her death, which he rejected saying he would take only mistresses; she replied "Ah, mon Dieu, cela n'empêche pas" ("My God, that doesn't prevent it"). On 17 November, her strangulated bowel burst. She died on 20 November 1737 at St. James's Palace.
She was buried in Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
on 17 December. Frederick was not invited to the funeral. George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
composed an anthem for the occasion, The Ways of Zion Do Mourn / Funeral Anthem for Queen Caroline
The ways of Zion do mourn / Funeral Anthem for Queen Caroline
The ways of Zion do mourn / Funeral Anthem for Queen Caroline, HWV 264, is an anthem composed by George Frideric Handel. The theme of the first chorus was taken by Mozart as the theme for the Requiem aeternam movement of his requiem mass.-Text:...
. The King arranged for a pair of matching coffins with removable sides, so that when he followed her to the grave (23 years later), they could lie together again.
Legacy
Caroline was widely mourned. The Protestants lauded her moral example, and even the Jacobites acknowledged her compassion, and her intervention on the side of mercy for their compatriots. During her lifetime her refusal to convert when offered the hand of Archduke Charles was used to portray her as a strong adherent to Protestantism. For example, John GayJohn Gay
John Gay was an English poet and dramatist and member of the Scriblerus Club. He is best remembered for The Beggar's Opera , set to music by Johann Christoph Pepusch...
wrote of Caroline in A Letter to A Lady (1714):
- The pomp of titles easy faith might shake,
- She scorn'd an empire for religion's sake:
- For this, on earth, the British crown is giv'n,
- And an immortal crown decreed in heav'n.
She was widely seen by both the public and the court as having great influence over her husband. A satirical verse of the period went:
- You may strut, dapper George, but 'twill all be in vain,
- We all know 'tis Queen Caroline, not you, that reign –
- You govern no more than Don Philip of Spain.
- Then if you would have us fall down and adore you,
- Lock up your fat spouse, as your dad did before you.
The memoirs of the eighteenth century, particularly those of John, Lord Hervey, fed perceptions that Caroline and Walpole governed her husband. Peter Quennell
Peter Quennell
Sir Peter Courtney Quennell CBE was an English biographer, literary historian, editor, essayist, poet, and critic....
wrote that Hervey was the "chronicler of this remarkable coalition" and that she was Hervey's "heroine". Using such sources, biographers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries credit her with aiding the establishment of the House of Hanover in Britain, in the face of Jacobite opposition. R. L. Arkell wrote "by her acumen and geniality, [Caroline] ensured the dynasty's rooting itself in England", and W. H. Wilkins said her "gracious and dignified personality, her lofty ideals and pure life did much to counteract the unpopularity of her husband and father-in-law, and redeem the early Georgian era from utter grossness." Although modern historians tend to believe that Hervey, Wilkins and Arkell have overestimated her importance, it is nevertheless probable that Caroline of Ansbach was one of the most influential consorts in British history.
Titles and styles
- 1683–1705: Her Serene Highness Princess Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach
- 1705–1714: Her Serene Highness The Electoral Princess of Hanover
- 1714–1727: Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales
- 1727–1737: Her Majesty The Queen
Honours
Caroline CountyCaroline County, Virginia
Caroline County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2010, the population was 28,545. Its county seat is Bowling Green. Caroline County is also home to The Meadow stables, the birthplace of the renowned racehorse Secretariat, winner of the 1973 Kentucky Derby, Preakness and...
in the British Colony of Virginia was named in her honour when it was formed in 1727.
Arms
The royal coat of arms of the United KingdomRoyal coat of arms of the United Kingdom
The Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom is the official coat of arms of the British monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II. These arms are used by the Queen in her official capacity as monarch of the United Kingdom, and are officially known as her Arms of Dominion...
are impaled
Impalement (heraldry)
In heraldry, impalement is the combination of two coats of arms side-by-side in one shield or escutcheon to denote union, most often that of a husband and wife, but also for ecclesiastical use...
with those of her father, John Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach. The arms of her father were quarterly
Quartering (heraldry)
Quartering in heraldry is a method of joining several different coats of arms together in one shield by dividing the shield into equal parts and placing different coats of arms in each division....
of fifteen, 1st, per fess
Fess
In heraldry, a fess or fesse is a charge on a coat of arms that takes the form of a band running horizontally across the centre of the shield. Writers disagree in how much of the shield's surface is to be covered by a fess or other ordinary, ranging from one-fifth to one-third...
gules
Gules
In heraldry, gules is the tincture with the colour red, and belongs to the class of dark tinctures called "colours". In engraving, it is sometimes depicted as a region of vertical lines or else marked with gu. as an abbreviation....
and argent
Argent
In heraldry, argent is the tincture of silver, and belongs to the class of light tinctures, called "metals". It is very frequently depicted as white and usually considered interchangeable with it...
, within a bordure
Bordure
In heraldry, a bordure is a band of contrasting tincture forming a border around the edge of a shield, traditionally one-sixth as wide as the shield itself...
counter-changed of the same (for Magdeburg
Magdeburg
Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....
); 2nd, argent, an eagle displayed sable
Sable (heraldry)
In heraldry, sable is the tincture black, and belongs to the class of dark tinctures, called "colours". In engravings and line drawings, it is sometimes depicted as a region of crossed horizontal and vertical lines or else marked with sa. as an abbreviation.The name derives from the black fur of...
, crowned or
Or (heraldry)
In heraldry, Or is the tincture of gold and, together with argent , belongs to the class of light tinctures called "metals". In engravings and line drawings, it may be represented using a field of evenly spaced dots...
; 3rd, or, a griffin segreant gules, crowned; 4th and 5th, argent, a griffin segreant gules; 6th, or, a griffin segreant sable; 7th, argent, an eagle displayed sable (for Crossen
Krosno Odrzanskie
Krosno Odrzańskie is a city on the east bank of Oder River, at the confluence with the Bóbr. The town in Western Poland with 12,500 inhabitants is the capital of Krosno County...
); 8th, per pale
Pale (heraldry)
A pale is a term used in heraldic blazon and vexillology to describe a charge on a coat of arms , that takes the form of a band running vertically down the center of the shield. Writers broadly agree that the width of the pale ranges from about one-fifth to about one-third of the width of the...
argent and gules within a bordure counter-changed of the same (for Halberstadt
Halberstadt
Halberstadt is a town in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt and the capital of the district of Harz. It is located on the German Half-Timbered House Road and the Magdeburg–Thale railway....
); 9th, argent, an eagle displayed sable; 10th, or, a lion rampant sable, crowned, within a bordure goboné
Compone
In heraldry, an ordinary componé, compony or gobony is composed of a row of panes of alternating tinctures; the ordinary thus affected is most often a bordure....
argent and gules (for Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
); 11th, gules, two keys in saltire
Saltire
A saltire, or Saint Andrew's Cross, is a heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross or letter ex . Saint Andrew is said to have been martyred on such a cross....
or (for Minden
Minden
Minden is a town of about 83,000 inhabitants in the north-east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The town extends along both sides of the river Weser. It is the capital of the Kreis of Minden-Lübbecke, which is part of the region of Detmold. Minden is the historic political centre of the...
); 12th, quarterly argent and sable (for Hohenzollern
Zollern
Zollern, from 1218 Hohenzollern, was a county of the Holy Roman Empire. Its ruling dynasty was the House of Hohenzollern, a Swabian noble family first mentioned in 1061. They named their estates after Hohenzollern Castle at the Swabian Alb; its capital was Hechingen...
); 13th, the field gules, the figure argent; 14th, per fess gules and argent; 15th, plain field of gules (for right of regalia
Prince-elector
The Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Roman king or, from the middle of the 16th century onwards, directly the Holy Roman Emperor.The heir-apparent to a prince-elector was known as an...
); overall an inescutcheon, argent, an eagle displayed gules (for Brandenburg
Coat of arms of Brandenburg
This article is about the coat of arms of the German state of Brandenburg.- History :According to tradition, the Märkischer Adler , or red eagle of the March of Brandenburg, was adopted by Margrave Gero in the 10th century. Gustav A. Seyler states that the Ascanian Albert the Bear was the originator...
).
As Princess of Wales she used the arms of her husband (the royal arms with a label
Label (heraldry)
In heraldry, a label is a charge resembling the strap crossing the horse’s chest from which pendants are hung. It is usually a mark of difference, but has sometimes been borne simply as a charge in its own right....
of three points argent) impaled with those of her father, the whole surmounted by a coronet of the heir apparent.
Issue
Caroline's ten pregnancies resulted in eight live births. One of her children died in infancy, and seven lived to adulthood.| Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frederick, Prince of Wales Frederick, Prince of Wales Frederick, Prince of Wales was a member of the House of Hanover and therefore of the Hanoverian and later British Royal Family, the eldest son of George II and father of George III, as well as the great-grandfather of Queen Victoria... |
1 February 1707 | 31 March 1751 | married 1736, Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenberg; had issue |
| Anne, Princess Royal Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange was the second child and eldest daughter of King George II of Great Britain and his consort, Caroline of Ansbach. She was the spouse of William IV, Prince of Orange, the first hereditary stadtholder of the Netherlands... |
2 November 1709 | 12 January 1759 | married 1734, Prince William IV of Orange-Nassau; had issue |
| Princess Amelia | 10 June 1711 | 31 October 1786 | |
| Princess Caroline | 10 June 1713 | 28 December 1757 | |
| Stillborn son | 20 November 1716 | 20 November 1716 | |
| Prince George William | 13 November 1717 | 17 February 1718 | died in infancy |
| Prince William, Duke of Cumberland | 26 April 1721 | 31 October 1765 | |
| Princess Mary Princess Mary of Great Britain The Princess Mary was a member of the British Royal Family, a daughter of George II and Caroline of Ansbach.-Early life:... |
5 March 1723 | 14 January 1772 | married 1740, Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (or Hesse-Cassel); had issue |
| Princess Louise Louise of Great Britain Louise of Great Britain was the youngest surviving daughter of George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Ansbach, and became queen consort of Denmark and Norway.-Early life:... |
18 December 1724 | 19 December 1751 | married 1743, Frederick V, King of Denmark and Norway Frederick V of Denmark Frederick V was king of Denmark and Norway from 1746, son of Christian VI of Denmark and Sophia Magdalen of Brandenburg-Kulmbach.-Early life:... ; had issue |
Ancestry
External links
- Caroline of Ansbach at the Royal CollectionRoyal CollectionThe Royal Collection is the art collection of the British Royal Family. It is property of the monarch as sovereign, but is held in trust for her successors and the nation. It contains over 7,000 paintings, 40,000 watercolours and drawings, and about 150,000 old master prints, as well as historical...
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