<\/p>
When news broke that the beautiful, charismatic and wildly popular princess had tragically died, it sparked an out- pouring of public anguish on a scale never seen before in Britain. The nation was plunged into mourning as people tried to come to terms with the shock of losing a princess who had captured their hearts from the moment she had appeared on the royal scene. But grief soon turned to retribution, and the monarchy\u2019s public image plummeted. Suddenly, this centuries-old institution looked as if it was at risk of losing all support from its subjects.<\/p>\n
Sound familiar? To anyone born in the 1980s or earlier, it will be. But the princess in question wasn\u2019t Diana<\/a>, the late, estranged wife of Prince Charles, who died in a car accident in Paris<\/a> in 1997. She was Charlotte of Wales, the only child of the debauched prince regent, later George IV, and she died in 1817 at the age of just 21. Although her passing shook the nation and brought the crown to its knees, during the intervening two centuries Charlotte has largely been forgotten. Yet her death would prove a pivotal moment in the history of the British monarchy.<\/p>\n Charlotte Augusta was born at Carlton House, her father Prince George\u2019s lavish London home, on 7 January 1796. George was the eldest of King George III\u2019s 15 children, and his daughter Charlotte was his only child, which made her second in line to the throne. The young princess soon came to be seen as a bright hope for the future, in stark contrast to her profligate and licentious father.<\/p>\n \u201cPrinny\u201d, as he was known to his friends, was the ultimate playboy prince. Described by one contemporary as \u201ca libertine over head and ears in debt and disgrace\u201d, he himself admitted to being \u201crather too fond of wine and women\u201d. King George III complained bitterly about the \u201cunruly passions\u201d of his eldest son and grimly predicted that \u201cevery absurdity and impropriety may be expected\u201d.<\/p>\n He was right. By 1795, Prince George\u2019s debts had spiralled to a staggering \u00a3630,000 (equivalent to perhaps \u00a348m). At a time when Britain was fighting a cripplingly expensive war with Napoleonic France, the prospect of a government bailout was slim. Instead, in a deliberate side-swipe at the profligate prince, the government introduced a new tax on hair powder, knowing it would hit George and his foppish friends where it hurt.<\/p>\n To resolve the gathering crisis, the Prince of Wales reluctantly admitted that there was nothing else for it but to break with his secret wife, Maria Fitzherbert (whom the king had barred him from marrying because she was a Roman Catholic, so their \u201cmarriage\u201d was never legal) and marry a wealthy princess.<\/p>\n The unfortunate candidate was his cousin, a German princess named Caroline of Brunswick. They hated each other on sight but were married in April 1795 and conceived a child on their wedding night \u2013 possibly their only conjugal encounter.<\/p>\n When Charlotte was only a day old her father vowed to separate her from her mother forever. Just four months later, her parents split and their ongoing animosity would dominate her childhood. The tiny princess was established in a household of her own, although she visited her parents every week at their respective homes. She also spent time with her grandparents, King George and Queen Charlotte, and the latter praised her young namesake as being \u201cblessed with an uncommon share of good sense\u201d.<\/p>\n Charlotte grew into a warm-hearted and affectionate girl, capable of forming strong attachments to those who treated her kindly. Pretty, fair-haired and high-spirited, she captured hearts wherever she went \u2013 although her own father\u2019s wasn\u2019t one of them. Perhaps she reminded Prince George too much of his estranged wife, or perhaps he was upholding the Hanoverian tradition of hostility between a future monarch and their heir.<\/p>\n As a result, Charlotte grew much closer to her mother, who showered her daughter with the affection that she craved. Caroline was hardly a perfect maternal figure, however. There were rumours that she had taken various lovers and had even had a child by one of them. \u201cMy mother was wicked,\u201d Charlotte later reflected, \u201cbut she would not have turned so wicked had not my father been much more wicked still.\u201d<\/p>\n Increasingly concerned for his only legitimate grandchild, with whom he had formed a close bond, from 1804 George III began to play a greater role in his granddaughter\u2019s upbringing. He appointed Lady De Clifford as Charlotte\u2019s governess, and she introduced an extensive curriculum that included Latin, history, drawing and music. The princess was not always a model pupil. \u201cWe had a few sour grapes between us,\u201d Charlotte admitted after one quarrel, \u201cbut before we had finished our contest, I made her swallow them all.\u201d She did, though, excel in the subjects she enjoyed, becoming an accomplished pianist and horsewoman.<\/p>\n As she entered her teenage years, the princess\u2019s rebellious streak grew more pronounced. Lady De Clifford complained about her charge\u2019s tendency to let her ankle-length underdrawers show under her dresses, and one of her mother\u2019s ladies-in-waiting observed that Charlotte rarely chose to \u201cput on dignity\u201d. It was said that she identified with Marianne, the headstrong and wayward heroine of Jane Austen<\/a>\u2019s Sense and Sensibility<\/em>. Yet the princess enjoyed immense popularity with the public \u2013 a lively, personable and apparently virtuous young woman, providing a welcome contrast to her \u201cmad\u201d grandfather, George III, and her profligate father, the prince regent \u2013 and was met with cheering crowds wherever she went.<\/p>\n This stoked her father\u2019s jealousy, and when he was appointed prince regent in 1811 upon his father\u2019s final descent into \u201cmadness\u201d, he used his new powers to impose harsh restrictions on his daughter\u2019s lifestyle. This included a paltry clothing allowance and obliging her to spend most of her time with maiden aunts at Windsor.<\/p>\n The prince also limited Charlotte\u2019s contact with his estranged wife. Caroline\u2019s behaviour had grown ever more shocking since their separation. In one particularly infamous episode in 1813, she locked their 16-year-old daughter in a bedroom with a suitor and told the pair to amuse themselves.<\/p>\n Charlotte needed little encouragement: her head was filled with romance, and she became infatuated with a number of inappropriate suitors, including the illegitimate sons of two of her uncles. Although he was hardly a shining example of morality himself, the prince regent appreciated the need to find a suitable husband for his daughter. He was also motivated by a desire to secure Britain an ally in the war against Napoleon.<\/p>\n His first choice was Prince William of Orange. But the Dutch suitor made a poor first impression when introduced to his prospective bride in August 1813 by getting drunk. Charlotte hated the idea of living in Holland after the marriage and argued that a future British queen should not marry a foreigner \u2013 something that chimed with the views of her father\u2019s subjects. To the prince regent\u2019s fury, she eventually broke off the engagement. \u201cNo arguments, no threats, shall ever bend me to marry this detested Dutchman,\u201d she declared.<\/p>\n Prince George retaliated by dismissing all of his daughter\u2019s servants and confining her to a life of isolation at Cranbourne Lodge in Windsor Forest. Her mother was forbidden from visiting and, to Charlotte\u2019s deep distress, she left the country soon afterwards, never to see her daughter again.<\/p>\n But Caroline\u2019s absence eased relations between the princess and her father, and in August 1814 he allowed her a visit to Weymouth. By now, public sympathy with the persecuted princess had reached fever pitch. Wherever her coach stopped along the way, huge crowds turned out to cheer her. Upon her arrival in Weymouth, she was greeted with spectacular illuminations with a centrepiece declaring: \u201cHail Princess Charlotte, Europe\u2019s Hope and Britain\u2019s Glory.\u201d<\/p>\nPlayboy prince<\/h3>\n
Hanoverian hostility<\/h3>\n
Inappropriate infatuations<\/h3>\n