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