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| The Marriage of George, Prince of Wales, by John Graham, 1795. |
I rather love this painting. Not only for the quaint depiction of the figures and the rich but beautifully restrained coloration. But also because of the odd posture of the bridal couple. The way they - maintaining as much distance as possible - are forced to
lean in, just enough to get the ring on. Certainly the artist wasn't trying to convey any sort of hidden message or "insider" commentary with the pose, but I find that detail of the tableau particularly - perversely - delightful, knowing what I know about their famously intense aversion for each other.
In 1794, the Prince of Wales - the future George IV - and his first cousin Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (17 May 1768 - 7 August 1821) were engaged. They had never met. Heavily in debt as always, the prince had agreed to marry her because Parliament would increase his allowance if he contracted a marriage with an eligible princess. (In fact, he was already married. He had secretly wed Maria Fitzherbert in 1785, but his marriage to Fitzherbert violated the Royal Marriages Act and so was not legally valid.) The diplomat Lord Malmesbury was dispatched to Brunswick to escort Caroline to Britain. Malmesbury wrote in his diary about his concerns as to Caroline's suitability as the Prince Wales' bride for the prince, noting that she was too outspoken and often neglected to wash, or change her dirty clothes. Indeed, on meeting his future wife for the first time, the prince asked Malmesbury to bring him brandy. Similarly disappointed, Caroline complained to Lord Malmesbury that the prince was, "very fat and he's nothing like as handsome as his portrait."
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| In this, as in the following painting, the groom's father, King George III, is seated on the left, presumably surrounded by his other sons... |
The couple was married on 8 April 1795 at the Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace, in London. During the ceremony, the prince was drunk. He found his bride unattractive and unhygienic, and expressed his suspicions that she was not a virgin when they married. In a subsequent letter to a friend, the prince claimed that the couple only had sexual intercourse three times in the course of their marriage - twice the first night of the marriage, and once the second night - writing, "it required no small [effort] to conquer my aversion and overcome the disgust of her person." While Caroline claimed her new husband was so drunk that he "passed the greatest part of his bridal night under the grate, where he fell, and where I left him".
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| ... While the prince's mother, Queen Charlotte, in on the right, her daughters standing behind. |
Nine months after the wedding, Caroline gave birth to their only child, Princess Charlotte (7 January 1796 - 6 November 1817), and the couple separated soon after. But all the DRAMA that followed is too good to whittle down for a mere blog post. Better to wade into
Wikipedia's excellent article on Caroline.
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| The Marriage of George IV when Prince of Wales, by Henry Singleton, 1795. |
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_-_The_Marriage_of_George,_Prince_of_Wales,_and_Princess_Caroline_of_Brunswick_-_RCIN_404486_-_Royal_Collection.png) |
| The Marriage of George, Prince of Wales and Princess Caroline of Brunswick, by William Hamilton, circa 1796. |
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| A mezzotint published by "Haines & Son - 19, Rolls Buildings, Fetter Lane", circa 1795. The Prince of Wales looks noticeably less svelte here... |
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| ... And the unknown artist may have shared the groom's opinion of the bride's beauty; he only shows her from the back. |
_-_The_Marriage_of_George,_Prince_of_Wales,_and_Princess_Caroline_of_Brunswick_-_RCIN_404486_-_Royal_Collection.png)
These two made Charles and Diana look like Ozzie and Harriet. Caroline was eventually sued for divorce by her husband - the trial of which took place in the House of Lords. Denied by the Lords for his divorce from her George hired prize fighters to act as bouncers to keep her from entering Westminster Abbey on the day of his Coronation ( a ceremony in which she had every legal right to also be anointed and crowned. ) Her escort and fellow occupant in her carriage that day was Lord Alexander Hood, my grandmother's great, great, something or other. I've never determined whether I'm proud of this bit of historical family minutia or ashamed of it. Anyway, upon being successfully barred from entrance to the Abbey she departed to the sounds of the jeering crowds, returned home, and died a fortnight later.
ReplyDeleteIts interesting how the Georgian traits of character still hang about the Windsors . None of George the 3rds sons were much to write home about . But I suppose his father and grandfather were also rather regrettable people when it came to their parenting skills or lack there of .
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