The Wedding of George IV and Caroline

Royal weddings are the hot topic as of late. Nary a day passes without us hearing about the upcoming nuptials of a prince and his future princess.  Royal wedding ceremonies have been happening for centuries and some go off without a hitch but others, such as the Prince of Wales' in 1795, are quite infamous.

The prince was originally married to Maria Fitzherbert but that marriage was considered null and void by the Royal Marriage Acts.  The prince was quite in love with his wife but he was also extremely short of cash so he agreed to his father's terms of marrying someone of his choosing.  The king's choice was his niece, the prince's first cousin, Caroline of Brunswick.

Since George was only marrying Caroline in order to have his father pay off his massive debts, you can imagine how thrilled he was to marry the 26 year old German relative whom he had never met.  When the two did meet, Princess Caroline hugged her husband and he immediately wretched himself away and called for a stiff drink.  He considered her fat and of bad hygiene which turned out to be a mutual feeling.

Prints of the time disguise the truth of the marriage: a handsome, slender couple promenade arm in arm, a glorious royal wedding ceremony where the prince is lost in his bride's eyes- nothing could be further from the truth.  George felt the only means of getting himself through the ceremony was to become inebriated.  Instead of staring into his bride's eyes he was being held up by two men because he was too drunk to stand.  Caroline was so decked out in jewels and finery she could barely walk up the aisle, let alone stand.  It is little wonder she took to the simple empire-style gowns.

Caroline knew that if her wedding was this bad, the wedding night would be even worse.  George had already decided she wasn't a virgin and thought she could have used a bath which may have added to his decision to go through the wedding in a drunken state.  He claimed he only consummated the marriage twice, on the wedding night and the night after.  However that wouldn't be entirely accurate.  On the night of the marriage while a frightened Caroline waited under the sheets, her husband blacked out on the floor.  He most likely woke up in the morning in order to go about the process of creating heirs.  After the second intimate encounter with Caroline, George vowed he'd never touch her again.  He stayed true to his word and after Caroline gave birth to his daughter, the two were estranged.


Thanks to Margravaine Louisa who suggested we celebrate Will and Kate's engagement with stories of other royal weddings.  Let's hope this royal marriage goes much better!

Yay or Nay? Caroline of Brunswick

Have you no pity for those who do God's work?? Last week the heathens overhwhemingly voted Nay for Maria Maximiliana's creative spin on a habit. Oh well, perhaps it is something more casual you seek? Especially if they are of a sinful nature...


Thomas Lawrence paints Caroline of Brunswick (1798) in a casual muslin gown that looks very similar to our collared shirts of today. The princess adds a straw bonnet with flowers and a pale pink shall for a bit of colour. Yay or Nay?

[Victoria and Albert Museum]

Hunk Alert: Henry Brougham

SWM, Statesmen/Chancellor/Engineer, Clean, neat appearance that every male of the regency should have. Looking for intelligent woman of no ill-repute.

My interests encompass many enterprises. I mostly busy myself in meaningful politics, of which I am very passionate about. I am a firm believer in equality for both sexes and the abolition of the slave trade. You could say the main lady in my life right now is Caroline of Brunswick who I believe has been very illy treated by her husband; and who I have sworn to defend in court against the injuries set before her.

However, I am seeking more romantic intrigues, although not those of a courtesan. A simple woman who is open-minded and enjoys good conversation will do. Must be open to my spending of long hours at the office.


Many thanks to Anna who riskily suggested this gorgeous man despite his being more of a regency hunk than a Georgian. I told her, any pretty man-face from the long 18th century is welcomed on my blog!

Tart of the Week: Princess Caroline

The marriage of George, Prince of Wales to his consort is either a tale you want to laugh at or just shake you head in pity. For Caroline of Brunswick, it was definitely not a laughing matter. But our tarts usually don't take these things lying down...well, in a manner of speaking they don't...
Caroline of Brunswick was born in 1768, the daughter of the Duke of Brunswick and Princess Augusta of Wales, George III's sister. Caroline turned out to be an average-looking girl who was nice enough, but she had a few bad habits. She was noted to be crass and vulgar and didn't see any reason to bathe often. She had even been described as smelling "like a farmyard." So who better to sell her off in marriage to than her cousin, the Prince of Wales.

If you recall, the prince was already very much, although illegally, married to Mrs. Fitzherbert. He had merely agreed to the marriage in order to get his father to pay off the massive debts he had accrued. Well, the wedding spelled doom from the start. The cousins met for the first time three days before the wedding. Caroline was 26, and considered an extreme spinster, especially by rich aristocrat standards. The 32 year old George was instantly disgusted, after their initial contact he recoiled and asked for a drink. At the wedding, Caroline's gown was so over-decked in jewels and ermine fur, she could barely stand under the weight of it. When George got to the altar it was only with the assistance of his groomsmen because he was so incredibly drunk that he couldn't stand. Meanwhile, he kept staring back longingly at his trusty tart, Lady Jersey, who had already begun torturing the poor, stinky princess. When everyone went to retire after the celebrations George ended up passed out on the bedroom floor, too drunk to perform his husbandly duties. In the morning when he woke up, he deflowered his bride and then vowed never to touch her again.

Nine Months later Princess Charlotte was born. Two days after that George made up his will, leaving everything to Mrs. Fitzherbert and a shilling to Caroline. He also wanted Caroline to have no part in raising her daughter. He hated Caroline so bad, and for no good reason either! After two years of dealing with George's immature behavior toward her, Caroline was finally like, "F this!!" and allowed herself to be banished to a country estate. The English people were sad; they had been cheering her on since they hated George and Lady Jersey so much.

Once Caroline had a house to herself she decided that if George was going to spend his days cheating on her with countless women, why shouldn't she be able to do the same? And that is what she did. With women and men. She was also rumoured to dance half-naked at dinner parties. While Harriet was visiting the continent, she unexpectedly ran into Caroline:

"The first thing I saw in the room was a short, very fat, elderly woman, with an extremely red face (owing I suppose, to the heat) in a girl's white frock looking dress, but with shoulder, back and neck, quite low (disgustingly so), down to the middle of her stomach....She was dancing and at the end of the dance a pretty little English boy ran up and kissed her. I was staring at her from the oddity of her appearance, when suddenly she nodded and smiled at me, and not recollecting her, I was convinced she was mad, till William pushed me, saying: 'do not you see the Princess of Wales nodding to you?'"

Caroline's sadness at the loss of visiting her daughter caused her to adopt children left and right. When George caught wind of this (eventually) he saw it as an opportunity to accuse Caroline of bearing other men's children. He launched an investigation of her fidelity in 1806 which didn't prove anything against her. Still, Caroline decided to move out of England to avoid any further investigation.

While living in Europe Caroline partied hard and racked up huge amounts of debt. She also continued sleeping around. Meanwhile (in 1813) her only daughter, Charlotte, died in childbirth. Caroline was devestated. In 1820 George III finally kicked the bucket and it was time for George IV to be crowned. Caroline came racing home to claim her right as queen. As you can guess, George attempted to prevent this at all cost. First, he offered her large amounts of money-but Caroline wanted the power to help the people of England, and money couldn't lure her away. Next, George sued her for adultery, a crime that could stripe her of her title and head. It was at this trial that Caroline claimed she had committed adulterly with only one man: George, her husband. She had a solid point too because he was technically married to Mrs. Fitzherbert, whom he never divorced. The jury saw her point too and George lost his case.

However on the night of the coronation Caroline suddenly fell ill with severe abdominal pains. She was convinced she had been poisoned, and quite honestly, who can blame her for this claim. She died three weeks later, just barely a queen of England.

Tart of the Week: Frances, Countess of Jersey

The insufferable Lady Jersey was not only a trollop, she was just plain nasty-mean. This wild Irish rose was the daughter of the Bishop of Raphoe, although he died before she was born. His death was the result of him trying to rob a stagecoach in London unsuccessfully. It remains unclear how the simple Frances Twysden was able to nab George Villiers, the next in line for the Earldom of Jersey. He was more than 20 years her senior and she was only 17 at the time of their marriage. George would later become the Master of Horse and Lord of the Bedchamber to the Prince of Wales. You probably know where this is going already.

Frances' marriage proved to be fruitful and she had ten children from 1771 to 1788. In between the children she made a hobby (and reputation) of wrecking her friends' marriages. She was a definitive member of the ton and one of the elite members of the Devonshire House Circle. This allowed her even more access to her friends' husbands and lovers. She was like a really evil version of Lady Melbourne. During Georgiana's first years of marriage she naively considered Lady Jersey to be one of her friends. Frances felt the same way, but she had an odd way of showing it. While Georgiana and her friends paraded in their gowns en militaire in Coxheath, Frances took advantage of the Duchess' brief absences from her husband to visit him alone in his tent...frequently. Worst of all, both parties made no secret of it; in fact they both seemed to flaunt the affair to poor Georgiana. The affair was ended by Georgiana's parents, Lord and Lady Spencer, who threatened Frances if she decided to continue the affair as well as told the Duke how disgusted they were with his behavior.

No matter to Frances, she moved on to other lovers very quickly, not worried at all about her reputation. When an article ran in the paper about her infidelities, this only caught her husband by surprise. The couple was visiting Chatsworth at the time and during dinner George jumped up and declared he would show the world he did not believe the press' slander against his wife. Everyone must have rolled their eyes. She continued to have affairs with the likes of Lord Morpeth and the Earl of Carlisle.

Her most famous affair was, of course, with the Prince of Wales. From 1794 to 1798 she was his main squeeze. In fact, it was she who broke up the prince's relationship with Mrs. Fitzherbert. The satirical cartoonists had a field day depicting the chubby prince canoodling with a haggish grandmother (Frances was over 40 when the affair began). Frances turned out to be more than just an outlet for the prince's carnal desires. Like Camilla with Prince Charles, she convinced Prince George to marry Caroline of Brunswick because she didn't think her to be a threat. She even became Caroline's Lady of the Bedchamber, much to Caroline's dislike. Frances continued her habit of torturing wives. The Prince took two pearl bracelets from Caroline's wedding jewels on the wedding day and gave them to Frances who made sure to always wear them in Caroline's presence. From day one, Frances was involved in the marriage and therefore a huge reason for it's ill-success.

Harriet Lady Bessborough (Georgiana's sister) made the comment that Lady Jersey could not be happy unless she had some rival to torment. Frances' hate for Caroline reached a point where she went out of her way to torment the poor princess. This caused her downfall, she became the most hated woman in England while the crowds cheered for poor Caroline. When she arrived at the Duchess of Gordon's ball, no one greeted her and every time she went up to a group of people to chat, the talking immediately stopped and the crowd dispersed. This wasn't as bad as her treatment by the lower classes who threw rocks at her house and drove her away in embarrassment by parading figures dressed as her and the prince on donkeys. Her golden age of snobbery and evil had come to an end.