The Hanovers 1714-1901

LouisFerdinand · March 14, 2018, 12:47:37 AM

Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales was the daughter and heiress of King George IV of Great Britain. Her mother was Princess Caroline of Brunswick.
Prince Leopold was the son of Duke Francis of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.
Charlotte and Leopold married on May 2, 1816 at Carlton House in London.
Charlotte's dress was a white and silver slip, covered with transparent silk net embroidered in silver lame with shells and flowers. The sleeves were trimmed with Brussels lace. The train was six feet long.
Charlotte wore a wreath of diamond leaves and roses.
Leopold wore a scarlet British uniform. He carried a jewel-encrusted sword that had been given to him by Queen Charlotte.

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Curryong · March 14, 2018, 01:00:47 AM

Weddings in the evening were very popular as well in the 18th and early 19th centuries. It must have looked magnificent by candlelight, though for people marrying in church these buildings were often so large they seem to have been quite dark even during the day. Interesting isn't it that so many Royal weddings took place at home, as did Princess Charlotte's? Carlton House was the Prince Regent's London home, later the Carlton Club, a gentlemen's club.

Charlotte fell in love with Leopold at first sight, having previously rejected the Prince of Orange, to the Prince Regent's annoyance.

LouisFerdinand · May 04, 2018, 11:05:12 PM

On February 21, 1702 King William III was riding in Richmond Park, near London, when his horse stumbled on a molehill. William's hand became swollen. He could not sign his documents and instead had to use a stamp.

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LouisFerdinand · May 09, 2018, 11:55:03 PM

William III authorized the establishment of the Bank of England to finance his campaigns. His expensive wars on the continent served the larger purpose of containing French power. However this drew little admiration from the English.

LouisFerdinand · July 25, 2018, 01:17:07 AM

If Princess Charlotte had married William of Orange, was there not an agreement that she, Charlotte, would be required to reside for a certain length of time each year in The Netherlands?

amabel · July 29, 2018, 01:49:46 PM

Quote from: Curryong on March 14, 2018, 01:00:47 AM
Weddings in the evening were very popular as well in the 18th and early 19th centuries. It must have looked magnificent by candlelight, though for people marrying in church these buildings were often so large they seem to have been quite dark even during the day. Interesting isn't it that so many Royal weddings took place at home, as did Princess Charlotte's? Carlton House was the Prince Regent's London home, later the Carlton Club, a gentlemen's club.

Weddings were generally small affairs in the 18th C, but its likey that if Leopold and C had married in a church, unless it was a private chapel, it would have attracted public attention and been hard to avoid crowds coming to stare. And it was considered that an upper class bride, being a "lady" was shy and modest and did not want to be stared at, at such a "delicate" occasion. George III I believe was the one who put an end to the idea of a public "bedding" of himself and his wife.. as "times were more refined" and women were seen as "more delicate" in their behaviour and attitudes than had been the notion in bawdier, earlier times.
by the time Charl got married, the idea was more and more that a lady didn't want to be looked at by everyone when she was going through this rite of passage that involved sex...
so having the wedding in ther private house was one way of avoiding that and keeping it as only family...

LouisFerdinand · August 18, 2018, 01:04:23 AM

Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold had agreed to be the patrons of a new theatre, The Royal Coburg. They were due to lay the foundation stone on September 14, 1817. But on September 14 the ceremony was performed by one of the City Aldermen instead. Why did Charlotte and Leopold not attend?

TLLK · August 18, 2018, 05:49:47 AM

Princess Charlotte was in the last months of the pregnancy and that alone would have prevented her from attending a public event. Women of her status did not appear in public with such an advanced pregnancy.

QuotePrincess Charlotte Augusta of Wales (7 January 1796 ? 6 November 1817)

amabel · August 18, 2018, 05:51:54 AM

Quote from: TLLK on August 18, 2018, 05:49:47 AM
It is possible that weather or other issues related to travel in the early 19th century prevented the couple from attending.

I haven't read any biographies but I am sure there are several modern ones about Charlote and Leopold. I'd assume that there might be an explanation in one of them...

TLLK · August 18, 2018, 05:55:42 AM

@amabel-I realized not long after I posted that Charlotte was pregnant then and would not have appeared in public.

amabel · August 18, 2018, 06:17:02 AM

Quote from: TLLK on August 18, 2018, 05:49:47 AM
Princess Charlotte was in the last months of the pregnancy and that alone would have prevented her from attending a public event. Women of her status did not appear in public with such an advanced pregnancy.

Im not sure they were quite so prim about pregnancy in the Regency era, as ladies became in Victorian times... but its a possibility tht she was not too well, or was so very pregnant that she didn't apper in public. but Im sure this info is more likely to be found in a bio of the couple...

Curryong · August 18, 2018, 11:37:56 AM

It was probably just a typo but it was Sept 1816 not 1817 when the foundation stone for the Royal Coburg theatre (later to become the Old Vic) was laid.

Royal Coburg Theatre : London Remembers, Aiming to capture all memorials in London

Charlotte was pregnant shortly after her marriage but it was announced that she had suffered a miscarriage when she and Leopold attended the Opera and she became ill, worrying observers. She had the miscarriage that July when staying at Camelford House in London. (From my copy of 'Charlotte and Leopold: Story of the People's Princess.' and 'Britain's Royal Families: A Complete Geneology' by Alison Weir.)

The couple moved into their country house at Claremont in August 1816, after the end of the London Season, and the Princess was fine then. However, her father the Prince Regent was being booed and his coach stoned in the streets of London at this time (it was in the middle of his collecting information to divorce his estranged wife Caroline for her misbehaviour.)

Caroline was a favourite of the London mobs) and the Coburgs may not have wanted to stir this very prickly man up by the inevitable cheers and claps they would get by going up to Town and appearing at the foundation stone ceremony. It was said they were hidden away in great contentment at Claremont that autumn.

amabel · August 18, 2018, 12:07:04 PM

I don't think that Royals were expected to do all this stuff so much back then, so maybe they just weren't that pushed bout going to a laying foundation stone thing. Or perhaps tey were deterred by knowng the Regent would be displeased if they got noticed....

Curryong · August 18, 2018, 12:21:05 PM

Yes, I agree. Charlotte and her husband led semi-private lives really, especially in comparison to senior royals of even 100 years later. It was considered a huge honour for any Royal or Duke/Duchess to condescend to allow any building to be named after them, and who knows, the couple may even have arranged for the Alderman to be their proxy.

TLLK · August 18, 2018, 03:11:52 PM

QuoteIt was probably just a typo but it was Sept 1816 not 1817 when the foundation stone for the Royal Coburg theatre (later to become the Old Vic) was laid

Thanks for catching this error @Curryong. George IV must have been a nightmare to try and "reason" with at times. I suspect that he was envious of his daughter's popularity with the people.

amabel · August 18, 2018, 10:15:34 PM

Quote from: TLLK on August 18, 2018, 03:11:52 PM
Thanks for catching this error @Curryong. George IV must have been a nightmare to try and "reason" with at times. I suspect that he was envious of his daughter's popularity with the people.

Of course he was... he and his brothers were disliked ot the point of hatred by the people and even by many of the aristocracy.. and the truth is that Charlotte was no angel, but by comparison with her father and uncles, she looked pretty good...

LouisFerdinand · September 10, 2018, 12:38:40 AM

The landing of William of Orange (William III) in England in 1688
The landing of William of Orange in England in 1688. William III Stock Photo: 164737569 - Alamy

LouisFerdinand · November 26, 2018, 10:28:21 PM

Sophia Dorothea was born on March 16, 1687. She was the daughter of George Louis of Hanover, later King George I of Great Britain, and Sophia Dorothea of Celle.
She was raised in Hanover under the supervision of her paternal grandmother.

LouisFerdinand · December 07, 2018, 07:41:41 PM

The Prince Regent (the future King George IV) kept Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold apart as much as possible. Leopold was in Brighton and Charlotte was in Windsor. They met occasionally when Charlotte drove down to the Pavilion for dinner.

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LouisFerdinand · December 24, 2018, 07:17:47 PM

When he was told that his carriage was not ready to take him to Parliament, King William IV is reported to have declared, 'Then I will go by hackney cab.'

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LouisFerdinand · January 13, 2019, 09:26:11 PM

The Grand Duchess Catherine of Russia arrived in London on March 17. She and Princess Charlotte visited each other often at the Pulteney Hotel and Warwick Hotel. The Prince Regent (George IV) tried to prevent his daughter Charlotte from appearing anywhere in society other than at Carlton Hotel.

LouisFerdinand · March 03, 2019, 11:53:06 PM

On November 28, 1706, Sophia Dorothea married her cousin Crown Prince Frederick William of Prussia, the heir apparent to the Prussian throne.
She was interested in art, science, and literature.

LouisFerdinand · March 15, 2019, 07:23:33 PM

In January 1813, just after she had celebrated her seventeenth birthday, Princess Charlotte was informed that her new governess was to be the Duchess of Leeds. The new sub-governess was to be Miss Cornelia Knight. Charlotte was furious. She was seventeen years old. No girl of seventeen had a governess. And anyway she was a princess.

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LouisFerdinand · March 19, 2019, 08:56:50 PM

During the reign of King William IV, in 1833 20 million pounds was set aside as compensation for the slave owners after the abolition of slavery in the British Empire.

LouisFerdinand · May 16, 2019, 11:50:03 PM

When Princess Charlotte had reached the age at which she was constitutionally entitled to the throne and rule without a regent, her uncle, The Duke of Sussex asked if there were any plans to provide her with her own appropriate establishment.