Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales

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Charlotte Augusta
Duchess in Saxony
Portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence
Portrait by Sir Thomas Lawrence
Spouse Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
Titles
HRH Princess Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfied
HRH Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales
Royal house House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (Wettin)
House of Hanover
Father George IV
Mother Caroline of Brunswick
Born 7 January 1796
Carlton House, London
Died 6 November 1817 (aged 21)
Burial St George's Chapel, Windsor

Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales (7 January 1796 – 6 November 1817) was the only child of the ill-fated marriage between George IV (at the time Prince of Wales) and Caroline of Brunswick.

Contents

[edit] Early life

She was born at Carlton House in London, her birth being something of a miracle as George IV later claimed that he and his wife had sex no more than three times in the whole of their marriage. By the time she was a few months old, Charlotte's parents were effectively separated, and her mother's time with her was severely restricted by her father.

She grew into a headstrong and difficult teenager, and fell out with her mother when Caroline decided to go into continental exile. Following an ill-fated attempt to wed her to Prince Willem of Orange (later William II of the Netherlands) which she broke off after he made a drunken exhibition of himself at Ascot races, she was restricted to Cranbourne Lodge at Windsor, Berkshire from July 1814 to January 1816 while Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld lobbied the Prince Regent and the British Parliament for the right to court her.[1]

[edit] Marriage

Charlotte married Prince Leopold George Christian Frederick of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (to whom Parliament had granted a £50,000 per year annuity for his own life, which would survive his wife) on May 2, 1816, at Carlton House. Contemporary accounts describe their marriage as happy and contented, and they lived at Claremont, a wedding gift from the nation. Charlotte confided that her husband was “the perfection of a lover.” [2]

[edit] Death

After two miscarriages in the early months of their marriage, she conceived a third time in February 1817. Although healthy at the beginning of the pregnancy, medical staff took extra precautions; medical practice at the time was bloodletting and a strict diet, which only served to weaken Charlotte.

On the evening of 3 November, her water broke and labour commenced. After a 50-hour labour at Claremont, she delivered a stillborn 9-pound son there on 5 November 1817. The second stage of labour had lasted 24 hours. [2]Initially after delivery Charlotte seemed to do well, but after several hours she became restless, had difficulty breathing, and her pulse become fast and feeble. Five and half hours after the delivery she died, presumably from a concealed post-partum haemorrhage.[2]

Two generations gone — gone in a moment! I have felt for myself, but I have also felt for the prince regent. My Charlotte is gone from the country — it has lost her. She was a good, she was an admirable woman. None could know my Charlotte as I did know her. It was my study, my duty, to know her character, but it was also my delight.

(Prince Leopold to Sir Thomas Lawrence)

The obstetrician, Sir Richard Croft, who had correctly diagnosed a transverse lie of the baby during labour and failed to use a forceps, was distraught. Three months later he shot himself. Thus this single pregnancy is known in medical history as “the triple obstetrical tragedy”.[2]

The Princess was buried in St. George's Chapel, Windsor with her son at her feet. Her death was mourned nationally, on a scale similar to that which followed the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997. On the other hand, in An Address to the People on The Death of the Princess Charlotte (1817), Percy Bysshe Shelley argued that while her death was very sad, the execution the following day of three men incited to lead the Pentrich Rising was the greater tragedy.

Charlotte's death left the Prince of Wales without any direct heirs, and meant that her paternal grandfather George III had no legitimate grandchildren from his twelve surviving children - and most, if not all, of his daughters were either sterile or past childbearing. The death resulted in a mad dash towards matrimony by most of her bachelor uncles (the marriage of her uncle Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent, produced the eventual heir—Queen Victoria). Her father, even after the death of his wife, made no attempt to remarry or father any more children. Given his poor health by the time his estranged wife died in 1821, he may not have been capable of fathering further children anyway.

Prince Leopold, who would later become the first King of the Belgians, married again and had a daughter who was named Charlotte in honour of his first wife. Charlotte would later become Empress Carlota of Mexico.

[edit] Titles, styles, honours and arms

British Royalty
House of Hanover
George III
Grandchildren
   Charlotte, Princess Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfield
   Princess Charlotte of Clarence
   Princess Elizabeth of Clarence
   Victoria
   George V, King of Hanover
   George, Duke of Cambridge
   Augusta, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
   Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck

[edit] Titles

[edit] Legacy

[edit] Regiment

In 1815 the Royal Berkshire Regiment (amalgamated in 1994, but to be de-amalgamated and merged along with the Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment in the Prince of Wales Division announced in restructuring plans on December 16, 2004) was titled the Princess Charlotte's of Wales Regiment when, on their return to England from service in Canada, the 49th (Hertfordshire) Regiment were assigned to guard the royal family in residence. Princess Charlotte, on seeing these polished men in their new uniforms, with scarlet coats and white breeches, pleaded that the regiment should be made "hers", and later the title was officially granted.

[edit] Memorial

An obelisk to her memory stands in Red House Park in Great Barr, Sandwell, England.

[edit] References

  1. ^ [1].
  2. ^ a b c d Shingleton (July-August 2005). "A Famous Triple Death Tragedy". ACOG Clinical Review 10: 14-16. 

[edit] External links and references

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