Feb 12 – Charlotte, Queen of England and Ireland

Queen Charlotte

Certainly, in the UK, you cannot turn on the news, or walk by a newsstand, without seeing something about the upcoming wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton (UPDATE: After the wedding, the Queen gave them the titles of The Duke & Duchess of Cambridge). It’s actually pretty exciting to me since I will be in London to watch the festivities; and had watched the wedding of the Prince’s parents on TV, when I was living in the US.

Someday, Prince William will presumably be King. His grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, is currently Queen of the United Kingdom and the monarch of 15, other sovereign states which comprise what is known as The Commonwealth. When you research Her Majesty’s ancestry, you will find her great-great-great grandmother, Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and wife of King George III.

Charlotte was born in May 1744, and was directly descended from the fifth king of Portugal, Afonso III, who had a son with an African Moorish woman, Madalena Gil. When King George III ascended to the throne, upon the death of his father, King George II, it was expected that he get married. As suitable candidates were considered, the seventeen-year-old, Princess Charlotte, won the favor of a Colonel, who had been sent to Germany to find a wife for the King. He described Charlotte as not being a beauty, but possessing other, desirable qualities such as intelligence, a nice figure, bright eyes, lovely hair and a good sense of humor.

In September 1761, Princess Charlotte arrived in England, after nine, stormy days at sea, and speaking no English. The next day, she and King George got married, in St. James’s Palace, and Charlotte became Queen. That same year, King George purchased Buckingham House (now Buckingham Palace), for his new Queen to serve as a comfortable, family home. The early years of their marriage were difficult because King George was busy with his duties, and her mother-in-law, the Princess Dowager, was not ready to relinquish control at the palace, having recently been Queen.  The situation eventually improved, and Queen Charlotte became a great patroness of the arts, including the works of Bach and Mozart (In 1765, an eight-year-old Mozart wrote and dedicated six sonatas, know as Opus 3, to The Queen). She was also a keen botanist – responsible for greatly expanding the collection at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Kew Gardens) – and introducing the Christmas tree to England, in 1800, by having the first one in her home and decorating it with sweet-meats, almonds and raisins in papers, fruit and toys.

A young  Princess Charlotte

King George and Queen Charlotte were quite devoted to each other, and together, had fifteen children, including future Kings, George IV and William IV; and Edward, father of the future Queen Victoria.   Queen Charlotte remained true to King George, until her death in 1818, even after he very famously went insane.

Mozart's Opus 3 dedicated to Queen Charlotte

Slavery was quite prevalent during much of Queen Charlotte’s life, and she was known to be quite against it, as the anti-slavery campaign grew. It is thought that this might be one of the reasons that Queen Charlotte’s African ancestry was not mentioned very often, or ‘played down’. In fact, some of the Queen’s portrait artists were told to ‘soften her features’; and some portraits were either rejected or made to be re-painted. However, some portraits appear to depict a ‘truer likeness’ – especially those by Sir Allan Ramsay, who interestingly was married to the niece of an abolitionist judge, Lord Mansfield (who also had a Black grand-niece, by marriage, Dido Elizabeth Belle Lindsey (UPDATE: and ).  Additionally, Queen Charlotte’s own physician, Baron Christian Friedrich Stockmar, described her as having a ‘true, mulatto face’.

King George III and Queen Charlotte with their six eldest children

Portrait of Queen Charlotte with 'softened features'

A 'truer likeness' of Queen Charlotte

Some historians do not (want to) believe Queen Charlotte’s African ancestry (in fact, in the film, The Madness of King George, Queen Charlotte was played by the wonderful (but White) Dame Helen Mirren); but it has been proven by a professional genealogist, from Boston, Massachusetts, Mario Valdes, and received a lot of media coverage in 2009.

Dido Elizabeth Lindsey with her cousin, Lady Murray

There were also royal references to her ancestry, such as this poem written to commemorate Queen Charlotte’s marriage to King George III:

Descended from the warlike Vandal race,
She still preserves that title in her face.
Tho' shone their triumphs o'er Numidia's plain,
And Alusian fields their name retain;
They but subdued the southern world with arms,
She conquers still with her triumphant charms,
O! born for rule, - to whose victorious brow
The greatest monarch of the north must bow.

Finally, even at Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation, the Royal Household referred to both her Asian and African bloodlines in an apologia (a defense of one’s opinions, position or actions) which  it published defending her position as head of The Commonwealth.

Queen Charlotte was much-loved for her contributions to the England and Ireland; and there are many streets, squares and hospitals, around the world, named after her. Also, Charlotte, North Carolina, and Charlottesville, Virginia, in the United States, are her namesakes and have statues and historical markers erected in her honor (UPDATE: So, it was with extremely sad irony that, in August 2017 White Supremacists, from several groups, held a Unite the Right rally, which was violent, racist, anti-semitic, and even turned deadly. WATCH HERE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlJk1H6bvqo).  

Statue of Queen Charlotte in Charlotte, North Carolina

Historical Marker in Charlottesville, Virginia

Queen Charlotte died, on November 17, 1818, in the presence of one of her sons at Kew Palace, fourteen months before King George III died, and is buried in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle.

Portrait of Queen Charlotte, Buckingham Palace

=========================================================

UPDATE: NOVEMBER 2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8Dhh1rHQlE

Sources:  Wikipedia, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, PBS, Google Images, YouTube