The story of Caroline of Brunswick: a queen with a scent (8 photos)

She was called the "unwashed princess" and is literally the personification of rebellion against the harsh rules of the royal family. There is no sadder story in the world than the story of those who are “lucky” to be born into a crowned family.





On May 17, 1768, a girl was born in the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, North Germany, and was named Caroline. Dad, with the simple name Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand of Brunswick, ruled this principality, and mummy was also complex and had a complicated title, but we will simply call her the British Princess Augusta.

The daughter grew up, became prettier, but until she came of age, few people were interested in her, and she, in turn, rebelled against all these tedious protocols of behavior from childhood. Caroline was careless about all these rules of sitting at the table, the depth of curtsies and the position of hands on her knees.



George

In 1794, Caroline, as is customary, quietly and in a family way became engaged to her cousin, King George IV of England, and pretty soon began to appear in all historical documents. But not as a “fighting friend” and faithful wife, but as a scandalous lady living in defiance of everyone.

It is worth noting that the marriage was initially completely fictitious, since George IV had long and openly loved a certain Maria Fitzherbert. The court, by the way, criticized the king for this almost openly. The prince got drunk like a beast at the wedding and, at the top of his voice, told everyone about his sad fate.

However, it was necessary to continue the royal dynasty and George and Caroline somehow conceived Charlotte Augusta, which disappointed George, since he was counting on a boy, an heir. The couple separated soon after the birth of their daughter - Caroline went to Italy, and the king began to think about how he could break off this absolutely unnecessary marriage. But why did such sharp antagonism arise? Both George and Caroline were not at all bad-looking, both were from royal families...

The principality where the future queen grew up was considered one of the most liberal, but even there children were raised in strictness. Caroline hated all these endless duties and rituals. Rebelling against the matchmaking of George IV, the princess decided to abandon hygiene procedures, and when a diplomat from Great Britain came to the principality, he was greatly struck by both the appearance of the future bride and her “aroma.” The diplomat was Earl James Harris.





Portrait of George

Having pulled himself together, the count spent four months trying to teach Caroline manners and bring her into divine form. But, as a loyal subject, Harris told everything to the king and George IV, and the latter realized that his future wife was very unkempt, to say the least.

When the couple first met, they made a negative impression on each other. So much so that Georg told Caroline right at dinner that she smelled surprisingly bad, and she, in response, retorted that she was also surprised, only by the fact of how fat Georg turned out to be. What kind of patience and love is there, don’t you agree?



Caricature of a crowned couple

Georg wrote in his diaries that he only had to muster all his courage three times to enter Caroline’s bedroom. The whole point was that the princess, completely disappointed in her husband, decided to continue the rebellion and did not go to the bathroom. By the way, as soon as she managed to get him away from her, the riot stopped and Caroline washed herself willingly and regularly.

In private conversations with friends, Georg wrote that he seriously doubted that his wife was a virgin before the wedding. He made this conclusion due to the fact that Caroline, on their first night, was not at all embarrassed or afraid of the upcoming consummation of the marriage, and even giggled at the size of George’s dignity.

The wife of the future king, by the way, did not remain silent and in response actively told everyone that her husband was completely untenable as a man. These mutual “declarations of love” lasted three weeks, after which Caroline and George chose not to intersect at all.



Caroline

George IV, like all English rulers, made a will quite early and changed it periodically to avoid any slippery situations. According to Georg's will, Caroline was completely separated from her daughter so that she would not raise her “negatively.”o". The future king ordered his property to be transferred to his mistress. A scandal? Of course. And so large-scale that it even got into the press and the subjects unanimously sided with the future queen, since in the history of England there has never been such an open indulgence of a mistress (now, Knowing the story of Charles and Camilla, this sounds pretty funny).

Caroline did not remain in debt and did not even intend to obey her own husband. She visited her daughter whenever she wanted, picked up Charlotte and took her for a carriage ride. The crowd, at such moments, rejoiced, as they considered the princess one of their own, “the people’s.” By the way, representatives of the elite also respected Caroline for her unbending character.



Portrait of Caroline

In 1806, the princess gave birth to a boy who was apparently not the genetic son of King George. Rumors began to spread, and they were not just unpleasant, but also dangerous - they undermined the reputation of the dynasty. But then an investigation was carried out, where it turned out that the “sudden” child was adopted by Caroline when he was left an orphan at her court. Society was immediately touched and imbued with sympathy for the princess, saying that she missed her daughter so much that she decided to take upon herself the upbringing of an ordinary child from the crowd. It’s worth admitting that even before the advent of social networks, Carolina perfectly personified the word “hype.”



Caroline with Charlotte

George IV was seriously afraid of such influence of his “unwashed princess” and forcibly pushed her on a trip to Europe, warning that if her kind wife thought of returning to English lands, he would do anything to stop her pressure.

Carolina decided to travel around the countries and because of Georga’s attitude, she did not deny herself anything on this tour. She had plenty of lovers, and in 1814 Caroline (she was already 46 years old at the time) had a monogamous affair with her servant Bartolomeo Pergami.

The woman was so informationally separated from both her daughter and her husband that she learned the news about Charlotte’s death during childbirth (1816) completely by accident. The sad news was conveyed by a courier who arrived from the UK. Carolina was tearing and throwing. If the couple had previously simply preferred never to communicate or see each other, then concealing the death of their own daughter infuriated Caroline and the conflict became much larger.



Wedding of Caroline and George

George IV became king of England in 1820, making his German wife de facto queen. Wanting to take revenge on George for his treachery, Caroline decided to return to England and begin the fight for the throne. By the way, she had every chance of winning, bearing in mind how her subjects treated her. By the way, they didn’t like Georg very much. In 1821, Caroline was still not allowed to attend the coronation, which became a huge scandal. A popular revolt was about to begin. But the trouble is, the queen, while in London at that moment, miraculously “fell ill” and died in June 1821.

This is the “golden cage”. And George IV and Caroline of Brunswick had to lock teeth and get married, so that they could then hurt each other throughout their entire life together.