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Sophia Charlotte was born on 19 May 1744. She was the youngest daughter of [[Duke Charles Louis Frederick of Mecklenburg, Prince of Mirow|Duke Charles Louis Frederick of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Prince of Mirow]] and his wife [[Princess Elizabeth Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen]]. [[Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz|Mecklenburg-Strelitz]] was a small north German duchy in the [[Holy Roman Empire]].
Sophia Charlotte was born on 19 May 1744. She was the youngest daughter of [[Duke Charles Louis Frederick of Mecklenburg, Prince of Mirow|Duke Charles Louis Frederick of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Prince of Mirow]] and his wife [[Princess Elizabeth Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen]]. [[Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz|Mecklenburg-Strelitz]] was a small north German duchy in the [[Holy Roman Empire]].


The children of Duke Charles were all born at the ''Untere Schloss'' (Lower Castle) in [[Mirow]]. <ref>{{cite book |last1=Wurlitzer |first1=Bernd |last2=Sucher |first2=Kerstin |title=Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: Mit Rügen und Hiddensee, Usedom, Rostock und Stralsund |year=2010 |publisher=Trescher Verlag |isbn=3897941635 |page=313 }}</ref> According to diplomatic reports at the time of her engagement to George III, Charlotte had received "a very mediocre education".<ref name="Fraser">{{Cite book
The children of Duke Charles were all born at the ''Untere Schloss'' (Lower Castle) in Mirow.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wurlitzer |first1=Bernd |last2=Sucher |first2=Kerstin |title=Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: Mit Rügen und Hiddensee, Usedom, Rostock und Stralsund |year=2010 |publisher=Trescher Verlag |isbn=3897941635 |page=313 }}</ref> According to diplomatic reports at the time of her engagement to George III, Charlotte had received "a very mediocre education".<ref name="Fraser">{{Cite book
| last = Fraser
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In 2004, the [[Queen's Gallery]] at [[Buckingham Palace]] staged an exhibition illustrating George and Charlotte's enthusiastic arts patronage, which was particularly enlightened in contrast to that of earlier Hanoverian monarchs. It compared favorably to the adventuresome tastes of the King's father, [[Frederick, Prince of Wales]].
In 2004, the [[Queen's Gallery]] at [[Buckingham Palace]] staged an exhibition illustrating George and Charlotte's enthusiastic arts patronage, which was particularly enlightened in contrast to that of earlier Hanoverian monarchs. It compared favorably to the adventuresome tastes of the King's father, [[Frederick, Prince of Wales]].


Up until 1788, portraits of Charlotte often depict her in maternal poses with her children, and she looks young and contented;<ref>Levey, pp. 7–8.</ref> however, in that year her husband fell seriously ill and became temporarily insane. It is now thought that the King was suffering from [[porphyria]], but at the time the cause of the King's illness was unknown. Sir [[Thomas Lawrence (painter)|Thomas Lawrence's]] portrait of her at this time marks a transition point, after which she looks much older in her portraits; the Assistant Keeper of Charlotte's Wardrobe, [[Charlotte Papendiek|Mrs. Papendiek]], wrote that the Queen was "much changed, her hair quite grey".<ref>Levey, p. 7.</ref>
Up until 1788, portraits of Charlotte often depict her in maternal poses with her children, and she looks young and contented;<ref>Levey, pp. 7–8.</ref> however, in that year her husband fell seriously ill and became temporarily insane. It is now thought that the King was suffering from [[porphyria]], but at the time the cause of the King's illness was unknown. Sir [[Thomas Lawrence (painter)|Thomas Lawrence's]] portrait of her at this time marks a transition point, after which she looks much older in her portraits; the Assistant Keeper of Charlotte's Wardrobe, Mrs. Papendiek, wrote that the Queen was "much changed, her hair quite grey".<ref>Levey, p. 7.</ref>


==Relations with Marie Antoinette==
==Relations with Marie Antoinette==
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===Claims of African ancestry===
[[File:Margarita de Castro e Souza genealogy and descent.JPG|thumb|300px|Margarida de Castro e Sousa genealogy and descent.]]
In a 2009 episode of the [[PBS]] TV magazine, ''[[Frontline (U.S. TV series)|Frontline]]'', Mario de Valdes y Cocom claimed that Charlotte may have had African ancestry and speculated that Scottish painter [[Allan Ramsay (1713-1784)|Allan Ramsay]] emphasized the Queen's alleged "[[mulatto]]" appearance in his portrait of her to support the anti-slave trade movement.<ref name=pbs>Mario de Valdes y Cocom, [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/secret/famous/royalfamily.html "The blurred racial lines of famous families - Queen Charlotte"], PBS Frontline.</ref>

Valdes incorrectly said that an early-19th-century medical practitioner, [[Christian Friedrich, Baron Stockmar|Baron Stockmar]], was Queen Charlotte's personal physician and that he had described the Queen as having a "mulatto face" in his autobiography.<ref name=pbs/> In fact, Christian Friedrich Freiherr von Stockmar was personal physician not to Queen Charlotte, but to [[Leopold I of Belgium|Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha]] in 1816, at the time of Leopold's marriage to [[Charlotte Augusta|Princess Charlotte of the United Kingdom]].<ref>Valdes, [http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/secret/famous/royalfamily.html "The blurred racial lines of famous families - Queen Charlotte"], PBS Frontline. Note: Valdes credits his sources to the "History Department of McGill University. Dr. Joyce Hemlow, director of the Burney Project ([[Fanny Burney]], the prolific 19th-century British diarist, had been secretary to the Queen). He said Hemlow obtained from Olwen Hedly, the most recent biographer of the Queen Charlotte (1975), at least half a dozen quotes by her contemporaries referring to her negroid features.</ref><ref>See [http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/566837/Christian-Friedrich-Freiherr-von-Stockmar "Christian Friedrich, baron von Stockmar"], in ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' (2010), retrieved 14 February 2010, and [http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Stockmar.html "Christian Friedrich Stockmar, Baron von"], in ''The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition'' (2008), retrieved 14 February 2010.</ref>

On the PBS website page for this episode, Valdes interprets an excerpt of a poem reproduced there as attesting to Charlotte's African features,<ref name=pbs/> but it clearly refers to her as descended from the [[Vandals]], an East Germanic tribe.
According to Valdes, Queen Charlotte's African contribution could have been inherited three to six times over from one ancestor nine generations removed, Margarida de Castro e Sousa, a 15th-century [[Portugal|Portuguese]] noblewoman, who traced her ancestry to King [[Afonso III of Portugal]] (1210&ndash;1279) and one of his [[Mistress (lover)|mistresses]], [[Madragana]] (c. 1230&ndash;?). Critics of Valdes' theory point out that Margarita's and Madragana's distant perch in the queen's family tree &ndash; nine and 15 generations removed, respectively &ndash; makes any African ancestry that they bequeathed to Charlotte negligible.<ref name='jeffries'>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/12/race-monarchy Stuart Jeffries, "Was this Britain's first black queen?"] ''The Guardian'', 12 March 2009.</ref> in any event, Charlotte shared descent from Alfonso and Madragana with a large proportion of Europe's royalty and nobility.<ref name='jeffries'/>

Madragana has been described as [[Berber people|Berber]], an Afro-Asiatic ethnicity.<ref>Brett, Michael; Fentress, Elizabeth (1997) [ISBN 0-631-16852-4], ''The Berbers (The Peoples of Africa)'', ISBN 0-631-20767-8.</ref> Some researchers believe Madragana to have been a [[Mozarab]]: an Iberian [[Christian]] living in Spain when it was under Muslim control.<ref>Anselmo Braamcamp Freire, ''Brasões da Sala de Sintra'', 3 vols, Lisbon, Imprensa Nacional-Casa de Moeda, 1973; António Caetano de Sousa, ''História Genealógica da Casa Real Portuguesa'', Coimbra, Atlântida-Livraria Editora, 1946; Felgueiras Gayo & Carvalhos de Basto, ''Nobiliário das Famílias de Portugal'', Braga, 1989; José Augusto de Sotto Mayor Pizarro, Linhagens Medievais Portuguesas, 3 vols., Porto, Universidade Moderna, 1999; Manuel Abranches de Soveral, "Origem dos Souza ditos do Prado", in ''Machado de Vila Pouca de Aguiar. Ascendências e parentescos da Casa do Couto d'Além em Soutelo de Aguiar'', Porto, 2000.</ref>


==Notes==
==Notes==

Revision as of 13:18, 10 June 2016

"Queen Charlotte" redirects here. For other uses, see Queen Charlotte (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Duchess Charlotte Georgine of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Queen Charlotte in state robes by Allan Ramsay, 1761
Queen consort of Great Britain and Ireland
Electress/Queen consort of Hanover
Tenure8 September 1761 – 17 November 1818
Coronation22 September 1761
Born(1744-05-19)19 May 1744
Unteres Schloß, Mirow,
Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Holy Roman Empire
Died17 November 1818(1818-11-17) (aged 74)
Kew Palace, Kew, England, United Kingdom
Burial2 December 1818
St George's Chapel, Windsor, England
SpouseGeorge III
IssueGeorge IV
Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany
William IV
Charlotte, Princess Royal and Queen of Württemberg
Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn
Princess Augusta Sophia
Elizabeth, Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg
Ernest Augustus I of Hanover
Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex
Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge
Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh
Princess Sophia
Prince Octavius
Prince Alfred
Princess Amelia
Names
Sophia Charlotte
HouseMecklenburg-Strelitz
FatherDuke Charles Louis Frederick of Mecklenburg, Prince of Mirow
MotherPrincess Elizabeth Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen

Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Sophia Charlotte; 19 May 1744 – 17 November 1818) was the wife of King George III. She was Queen of Great Britain and Ireland from her marriage in 1761 until the union of the two kingdoms in 1801, after which she was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until her death in 1818. She was also the Electress of Hanover in the Holy Roman Empire until the promotion of her husband to King of Hanover on 12 October 1814, after which she was also queen consort of Hanover.

Queen Charlotte was a patroness of the arts and an amateur botanist, who helped expand Kew Gardens. George III and Charlotte had 15 children, 13 of whom survived to adulthood. She was distressed by her husband's bouts of physical illness and insanity, which became permanent in later life and resulted in their eldest son being appointed Prince Regent in 1811.

Early life

Charlotte with a servant

Sophia Charlotte was born on 19 May 1744. She was the youngest daughter of Duke Charles Louis Frederick of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Prince of Mirow and his wife Princess Elizabeth Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen. Mecklenburg-Strelitz was a small north German duchy in the Holy Roman Empire.

The children of Duke Charles were all born at the Untere Schloss (Lower Castle) in Mirow.[1] According to diplomatic reports at the time of her engagement to George III, Charlotte had received "a very mediocre education".[2]: 16 

Marriage

When King George III succeeded to the throne of Great Britain upon the death of his grandfather, George II, he was unmarried. His mother and advisors were anxious to have him settled in marriage. The 17-year-old Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz appealed to him as a prospective consort partly because she had been brought up in an insignificant north German duchy and therefore would have had no experience of power politics or party intrigues. He instructed her on her arrival in London "not to meddle", a precept she was glad to follow.

Charlotte spoke no English but was quick to learn the language, albeit speaking with a strong German accent. It was noted by many observers that she was "ugly", had a dark complexion and flared nostrils. "She is timid at first but talks a lot, when she is among people she knows", said one observer.[2]: 17 

The King announced to his Council in July 1761, according to the usual form, his intention to wed the Princess. By the end of August 1761, a party of escorts departed for Germany to conduct Princess Charlotte to England. Arriving at St. James's Palace on 7 September, the Princess met the King and the royal family. The following day at nine o'clock, the wedding ceremony took place in the Chapel Royal and was performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Secker.[3]

Life as queen

In 1767, Francis Cotes drew a pastel of Queen Charlotte with her eldest daughter Charlotte, Princess Royal. Lady Mary Coke called the likeness "so like that it could not be mistaken for any other person".[4]

Less than a year after the marriage, on 12 August 1762, the Queen gave birth to her first child, the Prince of Wales, who would later become King George IV. In the course of their marriage, they had 15 children, all but two of whom (Octavius and Alfred) survived into adulthood.

Around this time the King and Queen moved to Buckingham House, at the western end of St. James's Park, which would later be known as Buckingham Palace. The house which forms the architectural core of the present palace was built for the first Duke of Buckingham and Normanby in 1703 to the design of William Winde. Buckingham House was eventually sold by Buckingham's descendant, Sir Charles Sheffield, in 1761 to George III for £21,000[5] (equivalent to £4,090,000 in 2023).[6]

The house was originally intended as a private retreat, in particular for Charlotte, and was known as The Queen's House.[7]—14 of their 15 children were born there. St. James's Palace remained the official and ceremonial royal residence.[8]

The King enjoyed country pursuits and riding and preferred to keep his family's residence as much as possible in the then rural towns of Kew and Richmond-upon-Thames. He favoured an informal and relaxed domestic life, to the dismay of some courtiers more accustomed to displays of grandeur and strict protocol. Lady Mary Coke was indignant on hearing in July 1769 that the King, Queen, her visiting brother Prince Ernest and Lady Effingham had gone for a walk through Richmond town by themselves without any servants. "I am not satisfied in my mind about the propriety of a Queen walking in town unattended."[2]: 23 

From 1778, the Royal family spent much of their time at a newly constructed residence, Queen's Lodge at Windsor, opposite Windsor Castle, in Windsor Great Park where the King enjoyed hunting deer.[9] The Queen was responsible for the interior decoration of their new residence, described by friend of the Royal Family and diarist Mary Delany: "The entrance into the first room was dazzling, all furnished with beautiful Indian paper, chairs covered with different embroideries of the liveliest colours, glasses, tables, sconces, in the best taste, the whole calculated to give the greatest cheerfulness to the place."[2]: 23 

Queen Charlotte endeared herself to her ladies and her children's attendants by treating them with friendly warmth, as in this note she wrote to her daughters' assistant governess:

My dear Miss Hamilton, What can I have to say? Not much indeed! But to wish you a good morning, in the pretty blue and white room where I had the pleasure to sit and read with you The Hermit, a poem which is such a favourite with me that I have read it twice this summer. Oh! What a blessing to keep good company! Very likely I should not have been acquainted with either poet or poem was it not for you.[2]: 72 

The King's first bout of physical and mental illness in 1788 distressed and terrified the Queen. She was overheard by the writer Fanny Burney, at that time one of the Queen's attendants, moaning to herself with "desponding sound": "What will become of me? What will become of me?"[2]: 116  As the King gradually became permanently insane, the Queen's personality altered: she developed a terrible temper, sank into depression, no longer enjoyed appearing in public, not even at the musical concerts she had so loved, and her relationships with her adult children became strained.[2]: 112–379 passim  From 1792, she found some relief from her worry about her husband by planning the gardens and decoration of a new residence for herself, Frogmore House, in Windsor Home Park.[10]

Interests and patronage

"Patroness of Botany, and of the Fine Arts"

King George III and Queen Charlotte were music connoisseurs with German tastes, who gave special honour to German artists and composers. They were passionate admirers of the music of George Frideric Handel.[11]

In April 1764, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, then aged eight, arrived in Britain with his family as part of their grand tour of Europe and remained until July 1765.[12] The Mozarts were summoned to court on 19 May and played before a limited circle from six to ten o'clock. Johann Christian Bach, eleventh son of the great Johann Sebastian Bach, was then music-master to the Queen. He put difficult works of Handel, J. S. Bach, and Carl Friedrich Abel before the boy: he played them all at sight, and those present were quite amazed.[13] Afterwards, the young Mozart accompanied the Queen in an aria which she sang, and played a solo work on the flute.[14] On 29 October, the Mozarts were in town again, and were invited to court to celebrate the fourth anniversary of the King's accession. As a memento of the royal favour, Leopold Mozart published six sonatas composed by Wolfgang, known as Mozart's Opus 3, that were dedicated to the Queen on 18 January 1765, a dedication she rewarded with a present of 50 guineas.[15]

Queen Charlotte was an amateur botanist who took a great interest in Kew Gardens. In an age of discovery, when travellers and explorers such as Captain James Cook and Sir Joseph Banks were constantly bringing home new species and varieties of plants, she ensured that the collections were greatly enriched and expanded.[16] Her interest in botany led to the South African flower, the Bird of Paradise, being named Strelitzia reginae in her honour.[17]

Among the royal couple's favored craftsmen and artists were the cabinetmaker William Vile, silversmith Thomas Heming, the landscape designer Capability Brown, and the German painter Johann Zoffany, who frequently painted the king and queen and their children in charmingly informal scenes, such as a portrait of Queen Charlotte and her children as she sat at her dressing table.[18] In 1788 the royal couple visited the Worcester Porcelain Factory (founded in 1751, and later to be known as Royal Worcester), where Queen Charlotte ordered a porcelain service that was later renamed "Royal Lily" in her honour. Another well-known porcelain service designed and named in her honour was the "Queen Charlotte" pattern.[19]

The queen founded orphanages, and in 1809 became the patron (providing new funding) of the General Lying-in Hospital, a hospital for expectant mothers. It was subsequently renamed as the Queen's Hospital, and is today the Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital. The education of women was of great importance to her, and she ensured that her daughters were better educated than was usual for young women of the day; however, she also insisted that her daughters live restricted lives close to their mother, and she refused to allow them to marry until they were well-advanced in years. As a result, none of her daughters had legitimate issue (one, Princess Sophia, may have had an illegitimate son).

In 2004, the Queen's Gallery at Buckingham Palace staged an exhibition illustrating George and Charlotte's enthusiastic arts patronage, which was particularly enlightened in contrast to that of earlier Hanoverian monarchs. It compared favorably to the adventuresome tastes of the King's father, Frederick, Prince of Wales.

Up until 1788, portraits of Charlotte often depict her in maternal poses with her children, and she looks young and contented;[20] however, in that year her husband fell seriously ill and became temporarily insane. It is now thought that the King was suffering from porphyria, but at the time the cause of the King's illness was unknown. Sir Thomas Lawrence's portrait of her at this time marks a transition point, after which she looks much older in her portraits; the Assistant Keeper of Charlotte's Wardrobe, Mrs. Papendiek, wrote that the Queen was "much changed, her hair quite grey".[21]

Relations with Marie Antoinette

A 1792 caricature of William Pitt the Younger informing the King and Queen about the shooting of the King of Sweden
Charlotte sat for Sir Thomas Lawrence in September 1789. His portrait of her was exhibited at the Royal Academy the following year. Reviewers thought it "a strong likeness".[22]

The French Revolution of 1789 probably added to the strain that Charlotte felt.[23] Queen Charlotte and Queen Marie Antoinette of France kept a close relationship. Charlotte was 11 years older than Marie Antoinette, yet they shared many interests, such as their love of music and the arts, in which they both enthusiastically took an interest. Never meeting face to face, they kept their friendship to pen and paper. Marie Antoinette confided in Charlotte upon the outbreak of the French Revolution. Charlotte had organized apartments to be prepared and ready for the refugee royal family of France to occupy.[24] After the execution of Marie Antoinette and the bloody events that followed, Charlotte was said to be shocked and overwhelmed that such a thing could happen to a kingdom, and at Britain's doorstep.

Husband's illness

After the onset of his madness, George III was placed in the care of his wife. She could not bring herself to visit him very often, due to his erratic behaviour and occasional violent reactions. It is believed she did not visit him again after June 1812. However, Charlotte remained supportive of her husband as his illness, now believed to be porphyria, worsened in old age. While her son, the Prince Regent, wielded the royal power, she was her husband's legal guardian from 1811 until her death in 1818. Due to the extent of the King's illness he was incapable of knowing or understanding that she had died.

Later life

The Queen died in the presence of her eldest son, the Prince Regent, who was holding her hand as she sat in an armchair at the family's country retreat, Dutch House in Surrey (now known as Kew Palace). She was buried at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. Her husband died just over a year later. She is the second longest-serving consort in British history (after the present Duke of Edinburgh), having served as such from her marriage (on 8 September 1761) to her death (17 November 1818), a total of 57 years and 70 days.

Her eldest son, the Prince Regent, claimed Charlotte's jewels at her death, but the rest of her property was sold at auction from May to August 1819. Her clothes, furniture, and even her snuff were sold by Christie's.[25] It is highly unlikely that her husband ever knew of her death. He died blind, deaf, lame and insane 14 months later.

Legacy

Places named after her include the Queen Charlotte Islands (now also known as Haida Gwaii) in British Columbia, Canada, and Queen Charlotte City on Haida Gwaii; Queen Charlotte Sound (not far from the Haida Gwaii Islands); Queen Charlotte Bay in West Falklands; Queen Charlotte Sound, South Island, New Zealand; Fort Charlotte, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines; Charlottesville, Virginia; Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; Charlotte, North Carolina; Mecklenburg County, North Carolina; Mecklenburg County, Virginia; and Charlotte County, Virginia. The proposed North American colonies of Vandalia (because of her supposed Vandal ancestry; see above)[26][27][28] and Charlotina were also named for her.[29] Queen Street, or Lebuh Queen as it is known in Malay, is a major street in Penang, Malaysia named after her.

Her provision of funding to the General Lying-in Hospital in London prevented its closure; today it is named Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital, and is an acknowledged centre of excellence amongst maternity hospitals. A large copy of the Allan Ramsay portrait of Queen Charlotte hangs in the main lobby of the hospital.

A statue of Queen Charlotte stands in Queen Square in Bloomsbury, London, and at the Charlotte/Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, was chartered in 1766 as Queen's College, in reference to Queen Charlotte. Despite the outcome of the American Revolution, the college was not renamed until 1825, when it was named in honor of Colonel Henry Rutgers, an American revolutionary war officer and college benefactor. However, its oldest extant building, Old Queen's (built 1809–1823), and the city block that forms the historic core of the university, Queen's Campus, in New Brunswick, New Jersey continue to retain the historical reference.

Queen Charlotte was played by Helen Mirren in the 1994 film The Madness of King George.

Titles, style and arms

Arms of Queen Charlotte, used from 1816

Titles and styles

  • 19 May 1744 – 8 September 1761: Her Serene Highness Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg[30]
  • 8 September 1761 – 17 November 1818: Her Majesty The Queen

Arms

The Royal Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom are impaled with her father's arms as a Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The arms were: Quarterly of six, 1st, Or, a buffalo's head cabossed Sable, armed and ringed Argent, crowned and langued Gules (Mecklenburg); 2nd, Azure, a griffin segreant Or (Rostock); 3rd, Per fess, in chief Azure, a griffin segreant Or, and in the base Vert, a bordure Argent (Principality of Schwerin); 4th, Gules, a cross patée Argent crowned Or (Ratzeburg); 5th, Gules, a dexter arm Argent issuant from clouds in sinister flank and holding a finger ring Or (County of Schwerin); 6th, Or, a buffalo's head Sable, armed Argent, crowned and langued Gules (Wenden); Overall an inescutcheon, per fess Gules and Or (Stargard).[31]

The Queen's arms changed twice to mirror the changes in her husband's arms, once in 1801 and then again in 1816. A funerary hatchment displaying the Queen's full coat of arms painted in 1818, is on display at Kew Palace.[32][33]

Issue

See also: Descendants of George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Name Birth Death Notes
George IV 12 August 1762 26 June 1830 married 1795, Princess Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel; had issue, but no descendants today
Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany 16 August 1763 5 January 1827 married 1791, Princess Frederica of Prussia; no issue
Miscarriage
Summer 1764
 The third pregnancy of Queen Charlotte ended in a miscarriage at Richmond Lodge, Surrey in the summer of 1764[34][35]
William IV 21 August 1765 20 June 1837 married 1818, Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen; no surviving legitimate issue, but has illegitimate descendants, including David Cameron, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Charlotte, Princess Royal 29 September 1766 6 October 1828 married 1797, King Frederick of Württemberg; no surviving issue
Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn 2 November 1767 23 January 1820 married 1818, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld; had issue, descendants include Queen Victoria, Elizabeth II, Felipe VI of Spain, Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Harald V of Norway and Margarethe II of Denmark.
Princess Augusta Sophia 8 November 1768 22 September 1840 never married, no issue
Princess Elizabeth 22 May 1770 10 January 1840 married 1818, Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg; no issue
Ernest Augustus I of Hanover 5 June 1771 18 November 1851 married 1815, Princess Friederike of Mecklenburg-Strelitz; had issue; has descendants today, including Constantine II of Greece and Felipe VI of Spain.
Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex 27 January 1773 21 April 1843 (1) married in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act 1772, The Lady Augusta Murray; had issue; marriage annulled 1794
(2) married 1831, The Lady Cecilia Buggin (later 1st Duchess of Inverness); no issue
Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge 24 February 1774 8 July 1850 married 1818, Princess Augusta of Hesse-Cassel; had issue; has descendants today, including Elizabeth II
Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh 25 April 1776 30 April 1857 married 1816, Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh; no issue
Princess Sophia 3 November 1777 27 May 1848 never married
Prince Octavius 23 February 1779 3 May 1783 died in childhood
Prince Alfred 22 September 1780 20 August 1782 died in childhood
Princess Amelia 7 August 1783 2 November 1810 never married, no issue

Ancestry

Family of Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
16. Johann VII, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
8. Adolf Frederick I, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
17. Princess Sophie of Holstein-Gottorp
4. Adolphus Frederick II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
18. Julius Ernest, Duke of Brunswick-Dannenberg
9. Maria Katharina of Brunswick-Dannenberg
19. Countess Marie of East Frisia
2. Duke Charles Louis Frederick of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
20. Anton Günther I, Count of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
10. Christian William I, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
21. Countess Palatine Marie Magdalene of Birkenfeld
5. Princess Christiane of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
22. Count Albert Frederick of Barby-Muhlingen
11. Countess Antoine Sybille of Barby-Muhlingen
23. Countess Sophie Ursula of Oldenburg
1. Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
24. Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha and Altenburg
12. Ernest, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen
25. Princess Elisabeth Sophie of Saxe-Altenburg
6. Ernest Frederick I, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen
26. Prince Georg Friedrich of Waldeck
13. Countess Sophie of Waldeck
27. Countess Elisabeth Charlotte of Nassau-Siegen
3. Princess Elizabeth Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen
28. George Albert I, Count of Erbach
14. George Louis I, Count of Erbach-Erbach
29. Countess Elisabeth Dorothea of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst
7. Countess Sophia Albertine of Erbach-Erbach
30. Philip Dietrich, Count of Waldeck-Eisenberg
15. Countess Amelie Katherine of Waldeck-Eisenberg
31. Countess Maria Magdalena of Nassau-Siegen

Claims of African ancestry

Margarida de Castro e Sousa genealogy and descent.

In a 2009 episode of the PBS TV magazine, Frontline, Mario de Valdes y Cocom claimed that Charlotte may have had African ancestry and speculated that Scottish painter Allan Ramsay emphasized the Queen's alleged "mulatto" appearance in his portrait of her to support the anti-slave trade movement.[36]

Valdes incorrectly said that an early-19th-century medical practitioner, Baron Stockmar, was Queen Charlotte's personal physician and that he had described the Queen as having a "mulatto face" in his autobiography.[36] In fact, Christian Friedrich Freiherr von Stockmar was personal physician not to Queen Charlotte, but to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in 1816, at the time of Leopold's marriage to Princess Charlotte of the United Kingdom.[37][38]

On the PBS website page for this episode, Valdes interprets an excerpt of a poem reproduced there as attesting to Charlotte's African features,[36] but it clearly refers to her as descended from the Vandals, an East Germanic tribe.

According to Valdes, Queen Charlotte's African contribution could have been inherited three to six times over from one ancestor nine generations removed, Margarida de Castro e Sousa, a 15th-century Portuguese noblewoman, who traced her ancestry to King Afonso III of Portugal (1210–1279) and one of his mistresses, Madragana (c. 1230–?). Critics of Valdes' theory point out that Margarita's and Madragana's distant perch in the queen's family tree – nine and 15 generations removed, respectively – makes any African ancestry that they bequeathed to Charlotte negligible.[39] in any event, Charlotte shared descent from Alfonso and Madragana with a large proportion of Europe's royalty and nobility.[39]

Madragana has been described as Berber, an Afro-Asiatic ethnicity.[40] Some researchers believe Madragana to have been a Mozarab: an Iberian Christian living in Spain when it was under Muslim control.[41]

Notes

  1. ^ Wurlitzer, Bernd; Sucher, Kerstin (2010). Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: Mit Rügen und Hiddensee, Usedom, Rostock und Stralsund. Trescher Verlag. p. 313. ISBN 3897941635.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Fraser, Flora (2005). Princesses: The Six Daughters of George III. Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-679-45118-8.
  3. ^ Percy Hetherington Fitzgerald: The Good Queen Charlotte, 1899; pp. 32-33.
  4. ^ Levey, pp. 8–9.
  5. ^ Nash, p. 18, although the purchase price is given by Wright, p. 142, as £28,000.
  6. ^ UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  7. ^ In 1775, an Act of Parliament settled the property on Queen Charlotte, in exchange for her rights to Somerset House (see Old and New London below)
  8. ^ Westminster: Buckingham Palace, Old and New London: Volume 4 (1878), pp. 61–74. Date accessed: 3 February 2009. The tradition persists of foreign ambassadors being formally accredited to "the Court of St. James's", even though it is at Buckingham Palace that they present their credentials and staff to the Queen upon their appointment.
  9. ^ "Berkshire History". Queen's Lodge. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  10. ^ "Berkshire History". Frogmore House. Retrieved 1 April 2013.
  11. ^ Otto Jahn, Sir George Grove: Life of Mozart, Volume 1, 1882, p. 39.
  12. ^ Engel, Louis: From Mozart to Mario: Reminiscences of half a century, Volume 1, 1886, p. 275.
  13. ^ Engel, Louis. From Mozart to Mario: Reminiscences of Half a Century, Volume 1, 1886, p. 39.
  14. ^ Gehring, Franz Eduard. Mozart, 1911, p. 18.
  15. ^ Otto Jahn, Sir George Grove: Life of Mozart, Volume 1, 1882, p. 41.
  16. ^ Murray, John. A Handbook for Travellers in Surrey, Hampshire, and the Isle of Wight, 1876, pp. 130-131.
  17. ^ Missouri Botanical Garden: Missouri Botanical Garden bulletin, Volume 10, 1922, p. 27.
  18. ^ Levey, p. 4.
  19. ^ Appendix III of Flight & Barr Worcester Porcelain by Henry Sandon.
  20. ^ Levey, pp. 7–8.
  21. ^ Levey, p. 7.
  22. ^ Levey, p.16; the building in the distance is Eton College Chapel, as seen from Windsor Castle.
  23. ^ Levey, p. 15.
  24. ^ Fraser, Antonia: Marie Antoinette: The Journey, 2001; p. 287.
  25. ^ Baker, Kenneth (2005), George IV: A Life in Caricature. London: Thames & Hudson, p. 114. ISBN 978-0-500-25127-0.
  26. ^ Otis K. Rice and Stephen W. Brown. West Virginia: A History. 2nd edn. University Press of Kentucky, 1994, p. 30. ISBN 978-0-8131-1854-3.
  27. ^ David W. Miller, The Taking of American Indian Lands in the Southeast: A History of Territorial Cessions and Forced Relocations, 1607-1840. McFarland, 2011, p. 41. ISBN 978-0-7864-6277-3.
  28. ^ Thomas J. Schaeper. Edward Bancroft: Scientist, Author, Spy. Yale University Press, 2011, p. 34. ISBN 978-0-300-11842-1.
  29. ^ "The Expediency of Securing Our American Colonies, &c." (1763), p. 14. Reprinted in The Critical Period, 1763–1765. Volume 10 of the Collections of the Illinois State Historical Library. Clarence Walworth Alvord, ed. Illinois State Historical Library, 1915, p. 139.
  30. ^ "No. 10138". The London Gazette. 8 September 1761.
  31. ^ Pinches, John Harvey; Pinches, Rosemary (1974). The Royal Heraldry of England. Heraldry Today. Slough, Buckinghamshire: Hollen Street Press. p. 297. ISBN 0-900455-25-XTemplate:Inconsistent citations{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  32. ^ "Queen Charlotte’s Hatchment returns to Kew", The Seaxe, No. 56, September 2009.
  33. ^ Queen Charlotte's hatchment, Historic Royal Palaces website: Surprising stories. Retrieved 15 December 2010.
  34. ^ Geoff Keen: A Journey Through Time: The History of the British Monarchy [retrieved 14 February 2016].
  35. ^ Genealogy of the Royal Family of Great Britain and Hanover (House Brunswick-Lüneburg) in: geocities.ws [retrieved 14 February 2016].
  36. ^ a b c Mario de Valdes y Cocom, "The blurred racial lines of famous families - Queen Charlotte", PBS Frontline.
  37. ^ Valdes, "The blurred racial lines of famous families - Queen Charlotte", PBS Frontline. Note: Valdes credits his sources to the "History Department of McGill University. Dr. Joyce Hemlow, director of the Burney Project (Fanny Burney, the prolific 19th-century British diarist, had been secretary to the Queen). He said Hemlow obtained from Olwen Hedly, the most recent biographer of the Queen Charlotte (1975), at least half a dozen quotes by her contemporaries referring to her negroid features.
  38. ^ See "Christian Friedrich, baron von Stockmar", in Encyclopædia Britannica (2010), retrieved 14 February 2010, and "Christian Friedrich Stockmar, Baron von", in The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition (2008), retrieved 14 February 2010.
  39. ^ a b Stuart Jeffries, "Was this Britain's first black queen?" The Guardian, 12 March 2009.
  40. ^ Brett, Michael; Fentress, Elizabeth (1997) [ISBN 0-631-16852-4], The Berbers (The Peoples of Africa), ISBN 0-631-20767-8.
  41. ^ Anselmo Braamcamp Freire, Brasões da Sala de Sintra, 3 vols, Lisbon, Imprensa Nacional-Casa de Moeda, 1973; António Caetano de Sousa, História Genealógica da Casa Real Portuguesa, Coimbra, Atlântida-Livraria Editora, 1946; Felgueiras Gayo & Carvalhos de Basto, Nobiliário das Famílias de Portugal, Braga, 1989; José Augusto de Sotto Mayor Pizarro, Linhagens Medievais Portuguesas, 3 vols., Porto, Universidade Moderna, 1999; Manuel Abranches de Soveral, "Origem dos Souza ditos do Prado", in Machado de Vila Pouca de Aguiar. Ascendências e parentescos da Casa do Couto d'Além em Soutelo de Aguiar, Porto, 2000.

References

  • Hedley, Olwen (1975). Queen Charlotte J Murray ISBN 0-7195-3104-7
  • Levey, Michael (1977). A Royal Subject: Portraits of Queen Charlotte. London: National Gallery.
  • Fraser, Flora (2005). Princesses: The Six Daughters of George III. Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0-679-45118-8
  • Drinkuth, Friederike (2011). Queen Charlotte. A Princess from Mecklenburg-Strelitz ascends the Throne of England. Thomas Helms Verlag Schwerin, ISBN 978-3-940207-79-1
  • Kassler, Michael (ed.) (2015). The Diary of Queen Charlotte, 1789 and 1794, vol. 4 of Michael Kassler (ed.), Memoirs of the Court of George III. London, Pickering & Chatto, ISBN 978-1-8489-34696
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Cadet branch of the House of Mecklenburg
Born: 19 May 1744 Died: 17 November 1818
British royalty
Vacant
Title last held by
Caroline of Ansbach 		Queen consort of Great Britain and Ireland
1761–1800 		Acts of Union 1800
Electress consort of Hanover
1761–1814 		Title abandoned
Holy Roman Empire dissolved in 1806
New title Queen consort of the United Kingdom
1801–1818 		Vacant
Title next held by
Caroline of Brunswick
Queen consort of Hanover
1814–1818

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