Quotables

"The joy would be so great, I mean to keep you in bed for a week at least when we marry."

-Princess Amelia to her lover Sir Charles FitzRoy, 21 years her senior

Fashionable Contrasts

Gillray's print, Fashionable Contrasts may be familiar to many of you. But whose feet are those?

This was the satirical artist's marriage gift/big English welcome to Princess Frederica when she married Prince Frederick (Duke of York). Yup, as if it weren't cruel enough to be named Fred, the couple now each had a spouse also named Fred. Frederica had notably dainty feet, which was apparently easy fuel for Gillray's satirical fire. But were her feet really that tiny? Sources say they were a mere 5.5 inches long. That would be the equivalent to about a children's shoe size 7 (US). Given, Frederica was reportedly pretty short even for the 18th century but she became quite famous for her tiny toes.

Thomas Gainsborough's Portraits of George III's Family

In 1782 King George and Queen Charlotte decided they couldn't get enough of their large family and commissioned their favorite artist, Thomas Gainsborough, to paint individual portraits of everyone. It is kind of like those old school portraits your mother still has on display, right down to the bland background. Awkward smiles are absent and I think the outfits are quite fashionable unlike my school portraits.

Queen Charlotte

George Prince of Wales

William IV

Princess Royal (Charlotte)

Prince Edward, Duke of Kent

Princess Augusta

Princess Elizabeth

Prince Ernest, Duke of Cumberland late King of Hanover

Prince Augustus, Duke of Sussex

Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge

Princess Mary

Princess Sophia

Prince Octavius

Prince Alfred










Some of you may have noticed two family members are missing. First of all, I'm impressed if that is the case. Princess Amelia was not portrayed for she was still a twinkle in her father's eye. The second-born Prince Frederick is also missing from portrayals. This is not due to his parents' dislike of him but because the prince was vacationing on the continent. However, some art historians can't believe that Gainsborough would go without completing the family and think there is a long lost Frederick portrait.

Book Review: Princesses The Six Daughters of George III

Royal, Augusta, Elizabeth, Mary, Sophia, and Amelia; these were the six daughters of King George III and Queen Charlotte. It's easy to get lost among the fifteen children of the king and queen but in Princesses: The Six Daughters of George III Flora Frasier attempts to give voice to these women who have often fallen into the shadows of history. While many girls today grow up dreaming of being beautiful princesses, these girls probably wanted nothing more than an independent life in a country cottage.

Much of what is known of George's daughters is that he was so over-protective of them, they weren't allowed to marry until they were well into spinsterhood. Although marriage didn't always mean freedom, it did mean getting out of Mum and Dad's house. Each princess reacted to this repression in a different way, Royal with rebellion, Sophia with men, Mary with passiveness, etc. Frasier records each of their stories chronologically in amazing detail in order to grant each one individuality.

I found though, that in reading this six-person biography that it was hard to actually give the princesses individuality. They may have been raised by the same people, and they may have had their own unique personalities, but they still all led very boring lives. I found that it could become difficult to keep track of all the different princesses (a personal matter perhaps) and had to create a little cheat-sheet sticky note on the inside cover to aid me in the issue. If it was difficult for me to keep track of all these daughters, I'm sure researching their lives was quite the endeavor! Frasier demonstrates her impressive skills in revealing information, but I feel like much of the details she includes could have been omitted. The truth of the matter is that the princesses' boring sheltered lives make for many details about things that aren't as interesting as, say, causing a scandal, making discoveries, or creating significant rifts in history. Family tiffs just don't measure up to those fun biographical details in my opinion!

While no one can deny Frasier's storytelling ability and the amount of work that went into this impressive endeavor, it still wasn't my favourite biography. The less interesting tidbits outweighed the interesting ones. However if you do have a passion for that crazy royal family your opinions might differ from mine!

Tart of the Week: Princess Sophia

It may seem odd to you that a daughter of prudish King George III could be considered a tart. Aftera ll, the six princesses were isolated from the outside world and brought up to be duplicates of their regal parents' sensibilities. But somehow, Sophia managed to stray from the pack and enjoy a little naughty fun in her youth.

The twelfth child of King George and Queen Charlotte was born in 1777. She was christened Sophia Matilda; Sophia after her mother who was really "Sophie Charlotte" and Matilda after her aunt who just happened to be the tartly queen of Denmark. Sophia lived a life that is comparable to both of her namesakes. She grew up much like the other princesses, isolated from the outside world, only knowing the royal court and only being intimate with her sisters and governesses. This lifestyle wore on all the princesses at one point or another, causing a rebellious streak here or there. Their father was extremely over-protective and as the princesses grew older they noticed he refused almost every proposal of marriage for his daughters. Sophia saw this happen and knew her life too, was doomed to the mundane everyday existence that she went through daily.

The princess also suffered from a mysterious illness that would impair her from time to time. During a bad episode Sophia was sent away to the country in hopes that the different atmosphere would benefit her health. On top of this she had a hard time seeing, and required the use of spectacles which made her self-conscious. But Sophia had no problem seeing Colonel Thomas Garth when he bounded into her life. Thomas was the King's equerry, he was also a good thirty years older than her (maybe those glasses didn't work out so well, after all) and not that good looking either. Sophia was introduced to him through her niece's subgoverness, Miss Garth (his niece) who was happy to act as the secret go-between when the two began writing to each other. Soon enough, everyone was aware of Sophia's absolute infatuation with Colonel Garth, but her sisters seemed to just think it was adorable little fancy and didn't take it too seriously. But the sisters should have known, a woman has needs.

Princess Sophia gave birth to a child in 1800 which would be raised by Thomas Garth as his son. The whole affair was, of course, shrouded in mystery, and is even debated by historians today. It is likely that Sophia's sisters figured out their sister's time in the country in the summer of 1800 wasn't necessarily because of her illness. The queen may have even known but was too depressed at the time to really do anything about it. Rumors spread about the secret topic but luckily managed to stay under control. But then the rumors took a more devastating turn. Stories began to surface that not only did Sophia give birth to a child but the father was not Thomas Garth, it was her own brother, Prince Ernest. Sadly these rumors were never to fully go away. Even sadder, there were foundations to these rumors. Ernest was a reckless prince who knew no boundaries (he made George look saintly) and although he never succeeded there is evidence that he did attempt to rape Sophia on more than one occasion.

All this commotion during the turn of the century made Sophia withdraw from her "crazy" lifestyle. It brought some truth to all her parents' well-meant advice and over-protectiveness. The remainder of her life returned to being quiet and family-oriented and man-free. In the last ten years of her life Sophia succumbed to blindness and finally died at the ripe old age of seventy in the reign of Queen Victoria.

Immortalizing Mary

A little while ago a reader (I'm sorry I forgot who!) was asking if there were any Georgian portrait-sitters who had also been photographed later in life. This portrait was suggested and I finally was able to find it so that I could post it for all to see.

This is a 1856 photograph by Antoine Claudet of Queen Victoria, Princess Alice, the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) and Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester at age 80. Princess Mary was the daughter of King George III and the sister of two other kings, George IV (fondly known as the Prince of Wales on this blog) and William IV. She was said to be Queen Victoria's favourite aunt, and was the last surviving child of her parent's fifteen children. Here are some other portrayals of Mary from

1785 by John Singleton Copley (left)



















1797 by William Beechey

















and an undated print from her brother's reign as regent