Queen Charlotte (1744-1818)
Queen Charlotte from La Belle Assemblée (1806)
Profile
Queen Charlotte (19 May 1744 - 17 November 1818) was the wife of George III. She was a keen botanist and helped develop the gardens at Kew. You can read more about Kew gardens here.
Marriage to George III
Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was born on 19 May 1744. On 8 September 1761, she married King George III of England, just a few hours after meeting him for the first time. The Princess was not generally thought handsome, but was gracious and devoted to her husband. The couple enjoyed many happy years together with a mutual love of the outdoors and a preference for austere living.
Queen Charlotte from Memoirs of HM Sophia Charlotte of Mecklenburg Strelitz by William Marshall Craig (1818)
Kew Gardens
Charlotte was a patroness of the arts and a keen amateur botanist. George III gave Richmond Lodge and estate to Queen Charlotte in 1761 as part of their marriage settlement, and, during the 1770s, she developed a retreat, known today as Queen Charlotte’s Cottage, within the grounds of what is now Kew Gardens, as a picnic place for her family.
Queen Charlotte's Cottage, Kew Gardens (2014)
It was situated near a paddock known as the New Menagerie which housed exotic animals including buffaloes, the first kangaroos to arrive in England and a quagga, a now extinct animal similar to a zebra. Charlotte was instructed in botany by Sir James Edward Smith and in botanical illustration by Francis Bauer and Margaret Meen.
The Chinese pagoda, Kew Gardens (2023)
George III's illness
After 1804, however, as her husband’s health deteriorated, she grew fat and unpleasant, unable to cope with her husband’s illness, and growing afraid to be left alone with him. She died on 17 November 1818, outlived by her sick husband, and was buried in the royal vault of St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, on 2 December 1818.
The chair in which Queen Charlotte died, in her bedroom in Kew Palace (2014)
The children of George III and Queen Charlotte
The royal couple had fifteen children:
(1762-1830). Became King George IV on his father’s death in 1820.
2. Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany (1763-1827).
3. Prince William, Duke of Clarence (1765-1837). Became King William IV on the death of his brother George in 1830.
4. Charlotte, Princess Royal (1766-1828).
5. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (1767-1820). Father to Queen Victoria.
6. Princess Augusta Sophia (1768-1840).
7. Princess Elizabeth (1770-1840).
8. Prince Ernest, Duke of Cumberland (1771-1851). Became King of Hanover in 1837.
9. Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex (1773-1843).
10. Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge (1774-1850).
11. Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester (1776-1857).
12. Princess Sophia (1777-1848). It is believed that she had an illegitimate child by the King’s equerry, Thomas Garth, in Weymouth in 1800.
13. Prince Octavius (1779-1783). Died in infancy.
14. Prince Alfred (1780-1782). Died in infancy.
15. Princess Amelia (1783-1810). Favourite child of George III. Her death in 1810 plunged her father into a deep melancholy which led to a bout of insanity from which he never recovered.
Rachel Knowles writes faith-based Regency romance and historical non-fiction. She has been sharing her research on this blog since 2011. Rachel lives in the beautiful Georgian seaside town of Weymouth, Dorset, on the south coast of England, with her husband, Andrew, who co-writes this blog.
If you have enjoyed this blog and want to encourage us and help us to keep making our research freely available, please buy us a virtual cup of coffee by clicking the button below.
Sources used include:
Chedzoy, Alan, Seaside Sovereign - King George III at Weymouth, (2003)
Fry, Plantagenet Somerset, The Kings & Queens of England & Scotland, (1990)
Watson, J. Steven, Oxford History of England: The Reign of George III 1760-1815, (1960)
Kew, History and Heritage, Kew Gardens' website
All photographs © RegencyHistory.net
