The True Fairy Tale Romance

A Royal Wedding 

The day of the royal wedding arrived. And much like when Diana and Charles, Wills and Kate even Meghan and Harry, the crowds gathered outside Clarence House along the Mall between Carlton House and Buckingham House long before the wedding time at nine pm. 

In the early afternoon, Leopold visited his bride before returning to Clarence House. The crowds outside yelled for him throughout the day, that he was compelled to come out onto the balcony every quarter of an hour to wave. As his last day as a single bachelor, Leopold dined with a few gentlemen while Charlotte dined with her grandmother, Queen Charlotte then changed into her wedding dress. 

The young Charlotte’s wedding gown befitted a princess, costing ten thousand pounds. The gown was a white and silver slip covered with a transparent silk net embroidered with shells and flowers in silver lamé. Brussels lace trimmed the sleeves and the six-foot long train constructed of the same material as the slip. The train fastened like a cloak with a diamond clasp. Charlotte wore a wreath of diamond leaves and roses along with a diamond necklace and earrings that her father gave her and a diamond bracelet gifted to her from Leopold. 

The bride departed Buckingham House (it wasn’t a palace yet) and drove down the Mall to meet her groom. 

For the first time, Leopold donned the scarlet British uniform and carried a jewel-encrusted sword given to him by the queen. The ceremony was short and dignified except for Charlotte’s giggle when her poor groom promised to endow her with all his worldly goods. 

Outside, the church bells pealed. Bonfires were lit. Fields guns cracked their salute in St. James’s Park and down the Thames, the Tower of London’s cannons added their boom.  

Now changed into a traveling dress with white satin bonnet trimmed with lace and accented with a plume of ostrich feathers over one shoulder in the latest fashion and a pelisse with a ermine collar and cuffs. 

The royal couple climbed in a green carriage for their journey off alone to Oatlands, which the Duke and Duchess of York had lent the couple for their honeymoon. 

A Royal Marriage

After the honeymoon, Charlotte and Leopold returned to London and set up residence at Claremont. These first weeks of their marriage the young couple learned about each other and discovered they had a lot in common. 

Naturally, the royal couple attracted everyone’s notice but people whispered about how the “uninhibited princess sat with her hand resting on her husband’s arm.” Meanwhile, Leopold wrote, “except when I went out to shoot, we were together always, and we could be together, we did not tire.” The lovebirds read to each, played duets on the piano, strolled in the park and drove together. However, Charlotte no longer rode due to a miscarriage she suffered early in their marriage. The doctors didn’t think it wise and Leopold did not approve of it. Their married life seems to have been bliss. 

Charlotte loved to spoil and care for her husband, regularly combing his hair and even folding his cravats. Leopold grew a mustache, which was rare in England to please his wife since she had loved the one her deceased uncle—the Duke of Brunswick—had.  Their home life was describe as a place where harmony reign, along with peace and love. 

“My master is the best of all husbands in all the five quarters of the globe; and his wife bears him an amount of love, the greatness of which can only be compared with the English national debt.” 

Leopold schooled Charlotte to behave more like a proper princess. He did so “light-heartedly and lovingly.” He would whisper, “doucement, Cherie, doucement,” whenever the princess became loud and animated. So, she nicknamed Leopold “doucement.” 

Naturally, it was believed Leopold was strict. But years later when he wrote to Queen Victoria, “I know that you have been told that she ordered everything in the house and liked to show that she was mistress. It was not so. On the contrary, her pride was to make me appear to my best advantage and even to display respect and obedience when I least wanted it from her.” 

The Christmas season arrived with the couple at Oatlands with the Duchess of York. Presents were given and the German custom of a little pine tree decorated with baubles and candles was on display. 

On Charlotte’s twenty-first birthday on January 7, Charlotte was ill yet they would have happy news to share. April 30^th arrived with Leopold calling on the Prince Regent at Carlton House to share the joyful news. Charlotte was over three months pregnant. 

Get Me To The Church On Time

Wishing And Hoping

Now, that Charlotte had chosen the prince for her, she wished to receive her father’s approval and quickly. Her uncle advised her to wait until November when Parliament would sit so another push would be made. Meanwhile, Charlotte was now at Warwick House with even less freedom while Leopold was on the continent with the Russian army to destroy Napoleon’s army. 

Soon, Charlotte had a reason to be overjoyed. Napoleon had been defeated and Leopold was safe since the Russians were too far away to participate in the battles of 1815. So, the Princess wrote to the Prime Minister requesting he represent her with her father and to request him to offer her hand in marriage to the Prince. And if her request was denied, she’d remain a spinster and deny all other offers for her hand. 

Luckily, a mutual friend Charlotte and Leopold helped the couple exchange letters since it was improper for an unengaged female to write to an unmarried man. Another lucky break for Charlotte, Slender Billy announced engagement to Tsar’s younger sister, Grand Duchess Anne. 

On 6 January 1816, Charlotte along with her grandmother, the Queen and two aunts traveled to Brighton. The next day, her twentieth birthday, her father hosted a party for her at the Brighton Pavilion. With her father cornered, Charlotte pressured her father to agree to the marriage. It seems to have worked because Prinny asked about Leopold and liked what he heard so he summoned Leopold to England with a letter from Lord Castlereagh informing him that the Prince Regent intended to offer the princess’s hand. 

Only Have Eyes For You

Near the end of February 1816, Leopold landed at Dover. This time the Prince stayed at Clarendon Hotel on Bond Street, where a suite of rooms had been reserved for him. But the poor prince was ill but he still traveled to Brighton to dine with Charlotte, the Queen, and her aunts. Leopold bewitched everyone with his charm, good looks and grace. Queen Charlotte even forged her after dinner game of cards to talk to the Prince. 

Yet, it seemed the young royal couple only had eyes for each other.  In Charlotte and Leopold: The True Story of The Original People’s Princess, “Charlotte and he were totally absorbed in each other, anxiously reassuring, eagerly planning,…” Later that night, she wrote to her friend, “I find him quite charming, & I go to bed happier than I have ever done yet in my life…I am certainly a most fortunate creature & have to bless God. A Pss. (Princess) never, I believe, set out in life (or married) with such prospects of happiness, real domestic ones like other people. I’m so very grateful at my lot I cannot express it sufficiently to you. All he said was so very charming & so right & so everything in short I could wish.” 

Yet, the royal lovebirds were kept apart so the wooing happened through letters since they met occasionally. “As their wedding day approached, they were still as eager and optimistic as they had been when they first dined together in Brighton, but, as Leopold readily admitted, they hardly knew each other any better.” 

Clint, George; The Betrothal of Princess Charlotte and Prince Leopold;

A Wedding Plan

While the wedding preparation carried on, Leopold learned English though his health hadn’t improved. Leopold also was made “naturalized as a British subject”. The Prince Regent even offered him a dukedom, which Leopold refused. “He acquiesced in everything when the marriage contract was drawn up, and he took no part in the financial discussions.” Parliament provided the royal couple two houses. The London residence, Camelford House, a very unroyal building located on the corner of Park Lane and Oxford Street. Their country residence was in Surrey, which Charlotte though the most beautiful house.” The previous owner, Charles Rose Ellis, had put it up for sale because his wife died in childbirth within its walls. The couple also received a single payment of 60,000 and for living expenses, Leopold was granted 50,000 and Charlotte 10,000. 

For the new household, Charlotte settled on “six footmen, not eight as her father suggested, and their state livery was to be a simple green, not gaudy crimson and green like the Prince Regent’s house. She was also loyal and kept on many of the people who had been closest to her at Windsor and Warwick House.” 

The Queen ordered Charlotte’s dress from Mrs Triand of Bolton Street even though, a few alterations were required, it didn’t delay the wedding. The Prince Regent’s gout did that. 

But the wedding date had been set 2 May 1816.

Better Than Prince Charming

Prince Leopold

A Boy General…

On 16 December 1790, the youngest of six children of the Duke Francis of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld entered the world. Prince Leopold George Christian Fredrick hailed from a family with seven hundred years of family history. 

As the youngest child, Leopold would not inherit the dukedom so he would have to make his own way in the world either as a solider or a diplomat. Naturally, he was educated as a gentleman, learning Christian ethics, Latin, Russian, French, and English. He was taught to draw, play the piano, ride and to fence. 

Though, his family had a long history, they were all ambitious, desiring power, position and wealth. His sister, Julia, married the brother of Tsar of Russia, the Grand Duke Constantine and Leopold found favor and patronage in the Russian Court. 

At twelve years of age, Leopold was made a general. In 1806, Coburg, a capital of the Duchy of Sax-Coburg Gotha and Saalfeld fell to Napoleon. Two years later, Leopold would return to his home but four years after his return (1812), Napoleon summoned the princes of the German Confederation to Dresden. The Corsican planned to invade Russian. Leopold didn’t heed the summon especially since he was an officer in the Tsar’s army so he traveled to Italy while the invasion happened and the French were decimated. 

In February 1813, Russian and Prussian leaders gathered to form alliance against Napoleon. Leopold was counted among the leaders and received the rank of colonel and was attached to the staff of the Imperial Guard in the Imperial Russian Army. 

Leopold’s first battle was at Lutzen where he commanded a brigade of cavalry. Three weeks later, he fought at Bautzen, taking charge of a brigade himself. He led it out in front of advancing French and covered the allied retreat into Silesia. His bravery was displayed once again in the victory of Kulm and was decorated in the field with the Cross of St. George. Then was award the Cross of Maria Theresa at Leipzig. As the campaign drew to a close, Leopold led the Russian heavy Calvary from Switzerland toward Paris, where during the journey, he engaged the French army at Brienne, Fere-Champenoise and Bellville. 

A Marriage Would Do Nicely

On 31 March 1814, Leopold, now a Lieutenant-General and the head of his own cuirassiers, escorted the Tsar of Russia and the King of Prussia into Paris. 

This handsome prince didn’t know he fit into the Tsar’s plans. For the Tsar, the marriage of Charlotte and Prince William of Orange wasn’t to his benefit so what better way to end that disaster than a dashing prince in military uniform (swoon) so Leopold was now part of the Tsar’s entourage and London town awaited.

Leopold prepared for his visit by borrowing a carriage from his brother-in-law (his sister Sophia’s husband) and he lent him a castle in Austria (ah the castle life). He visited the best Parisian tailors. But money was still tight so once in England, he rented two rooms on Marylebone High Street. 

So, it was not a stroke of luck that Leopold was at the bottom of the stairs as Charlotte left the Tsar’s rooms. The Tsar departed England but gave Leopold “permission to stay here as long as it suits me.” 

Leopold knew what was required of him. He wrote to his sister telling her, “My chances are, alas, very poor, because of the father’s opposition, and he will never give his consent. But I have resolved to go on to the end, and only to leave when all my hopes have been destroyed.” 

For his first visit to Charlotte at Warwick House, Leopold donned full dress uniform. Mrs. Mercer (a trusted friend of Charlotte) knew Leopold and approved of him. So, she schemed to have Leopold appear whenever Charlotte was in Hyde Park. “Each time the princess acknowledged him with a nod, and each time, in response, the Prince trotted up to her carriage and rode beside her for a while.”

The Prince Regent still pressured his daughter to wed Prince William so Leopold wrote to Prinny to tell him his intentions were honorable. This displeased Charlotte since her father confronted her. To make matters worse, he had her household replaced so she ran away. After some negotiations, Charlotte went to her father where he stowed her away at Cranbourne Lodge. She was watched twenty-fours and was even watched in her sleep. 

Leopold worried for her and yearned to see her but he had to sail away to Vienna. At the same time, her mother traveled to France. Charlotte never saw her mother again. Charlotte was alone again.

Only One Would Do

In September, Charlotte vacationed at Weymouth to recover from her misery. She enjoyed her time there, sailing, attending the theatre, balls at the Assembly Rooms and gave dinner parties.

This joyful, free life would only continue with marriage. Her choice was Leopold. In 1815, she enjoyed her nineteenth birthday while she sought out information on the man she decided upon or as she called him “the Leo” 

In March of 1815, Napoleon escaped Elba so Leopold couldn’t return to England since he had to rejoin the Russian army to take up his old command. 

During this time, Charlotte wrote to the Prime Minister to represent her with her father and request him to offer her hand in marriage to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg. If her father didn’t agree, Charlotte would remain a spinster. 

All Leopold had to do was survive the coming war. 

Madame du Barry: The Last Mistress

French Beauty

Vaucouleurs, France. The Lorraine region. On 19 August 1743, Jeanne Bécu came into the world. History remembers her as Madame du Barry, the last Maîtresse-en-titre of Louis XV of France. 

Jeanne was the illegitimate daughter of Anne Bécu, a seamstress, and possibly Jean Jacques Godard. Jeanne’s mother worked for Monsieur Billiard-Dumonceaux and his Italian mistress, Francesca. Now in Paris, Francesca spoiled the three-year-old girl, giving her the first taste of luxury. 

Dumonceaux paid for Jeanne’s education at Couvent de Saint-Aure. At fifteen, she left the convent since mother was let go so the money stopped. Jeanne returned to her mother’s home. 

To earn money, Jeanne sold trinkets on the streets of Paris. That wasn’t her only job. She was an assistant hairdresser to Lametz. A companion (dame de compagnie) to an elderly widow even worked as a milliner’s assistant (called a grisette). 

Jeanne was described as a “remarkable attractive blonde.” She had thick golden curls and almond-shaped blue eyes. In 1763, the beautiful Jeanne caught the eye of the man who changed her life.

His name was Jean-Baptiste du Barry, the brother to the Comte Guillaume du Barry. Jean-Baptiste was considered a high class pimp nicknamed Le Roué.

Du Barry took her from the brothel/casino establishment where she toiled and installed her in his household. So began the life as a courtesan in Parisian society. The blonde, blue eyed beauty stirred a sensation among the aristocrats and the King’s ministers. 

In 1768 at the Palace of Versailles, Jeanne caught the attention of Louis XV. The king’s personal valet escorted her to the royal boudoir and all knew this woman replaced the deceased Madame Pompadour. 

Unfortunately, Jeanne couldn’t be maitresse-en-titre since she lacked a title. King Louis would change that by marrying her to a man of  a strong lineage so she could take the official position as according to protocol. 

On September 1, 1768, Jeanne married Comte Guillaume du Barry, becaming Comtesse Du Barry as well as three years younger thanks to her false birth certificate to go along with her concocted noble descent.  

Even with the new noble lineage, she still wasn’t able to be seen with the king since a formal presentation hadn’t taken place. She held the powerful position but few nobles befriended her. 

Time to find powerful sponsor. Maréchal de Richelieu helped her by getting the insolvent Madame de Béarn to be her official sponsor. On 22 April 1769, Du Barry was presented.

As a maitresse-en-déclarée, Du Barry wasn’t popular. Marie Antoinette disliked her (the scene in Marie Antoinette did happen). People were bribed into befriending her. But the mistress life fit her perfectly. The day started with a cup of chocolate then she dressed in her fine gowns and jewels. Berline dressed her hair for every day styles whereas Noelle did for special occasions in powder and curls. Then she received friends, jewelers and artists, her shopping time. 

Du Barry was described as extravagant but good-natured and not spoiled. She even save  three people lives by getting the king to pardon them. Though, she had no interest in politics unlike Madame de Pompadour. She grew unpopular because of the king’s extravagance toward her. 

In 1772, Louis started displaying symptoms of smallpox. Du Barry cared for him. On 4 May 1774, the King sent her away to protect her from becoming sick. She remained close to Versailles. The King died and Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI had her exiled to Abbey du Pont-aux-Dames, where she spent two years.

After her release, she moved to Château de Louveciennes. It was said that her time at the château was the happiest time of her life. She lived quietly, have a few lovers, and helped the poor in the area. 

Then the French Revolution erupted. Her servant testified that she  financially assisted émigrés who fled France. She tried to save herself by handing over the gems she had hid. It didn’t work. She was arrested in 1793. She was found guilty of treason and condemned to death.

On 8 December 1793, she was brought to the Place de la Révolution (now Place de la Concorde) to be guillotined. She collapsed on the tumbrel (cart used to transport the condemned) and cried “You are going to hurt me! Why?!” She begged the crowd for mercy and even said, “One more moment, Mr. Executioner, I beg you.” 

She is buried at Madeleine Cemetery. 

Smile: A Lady Artist

In 1781, Louise-Elisabette Vigée-Lebrun painted the portrait of Madame du Barry. Vigée was born in Paris on 16 April 1755. The French portrait artist was the daughter of a hairdresser and a portraitist and member of Académie de Saint-Luc who was also her first teacher. She was educated in a convent until 1766. Her father died when she was twelve and her mother remarried a man Louise hated. 

By her early teens, she was painting portraits professionally and her studio was seized because she practice without a license so she applied to Saint-Luc. In 1774, Louise became a member. 

Two years later, she married Jean-Baptiste Le Brun, a painter and art dealer. On 12 February 1780, she gave birth to a daughter, Jeanne Lucie Louise. The next year, she toured Flanders and Netherlands. 

On May 1783, she became member of Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, the first woman to be granted membership between 1648 and 1793.

In 1787, Louise exhibited Self-Portrait with her daughter, Julie. This portrait caused a scandal because she was smiling and open-mouthed which went against custom. But she earned the patronage of Marie Antoinette, who she painted more than thirty portraits of the queen and her family. 

At the start of the French Revolution, she fled with her family to Italy, claiming instruct and improvement. Twelve years later, she returned to France. 

She purchased a home in Louvenciennes, Ile de France. She died on 30 March 1842 at the age of 86. Her tombstone reads “Ici, elfin, je repose” which translates to “Here at last I rest.” 

Madame du Barry

Ease and Beauty: A Chemise Gown

Madame du Barry is the chemise gown. This French fashion became popular during the 1780s. The Chemise gown (or Robe en Chemise in French) became popular when Marie Antoinette donned it so it was also called chemise á la Reine. 

This casual, informal style was worn over undergarments that included a short corset underneath. This gown was constructed out of expensive Indian muslin with a silk sash in a contrasting color. Madame du Barry has a blue silk sash. 

The design was influenced by little girls who worn a chemise with pantaloons. Since the garments influence was the chemise, it was natural that many of the gowns details featured the same as a chemise did. It had a drawstring neckline (which du Barry trimmed with two layers of fine lace). Unlike the chemise, the Chemise gown had a waistline and a soft, full skirt that was gathered with a sash or drawstring.

Madame du Barry finishes her look with soft curls and a straw hat with a jaunty feather in the hat.  

A Princess In Need Of A Prince

Royal marriages rarely include love instead duty is the other four-letter word used. Most royal couples hope for some form of compatibility between the prospective bride and bridegroom. And for Princess Charlotte and the Prince of Orange, such an outcome was hoped for as well. The first meeting between the royal pair was to happen over a dinner party her father was throwing.

For the party, Charlotte donned a “violet satin, trimmed with black lace.” The gown didn’t help hide how pale she was  or her agitation. At dinner, Lord Liverpool sat on her left and to her right was the Prince of Orange. 

Charlotte described the future King William III of Netherlands as “very plain but he was so lively and animated that it quite went off…” 

After dinner and allowing the two strolling in the gallery,  an impatient Prinny drew his daughter to a corner to learn her opinion of Slender Billy. Charlotte said, “I like his manner very well, as much as I have seen it.” All her father heard was her agreement to wed the prince so he summoned the Prime Minister (actually entitled First Lord of the Treasury) Lord Liverpool and his wife who offered their felicitations, which was followed by the surprised Prince of Orange. 

It seems Slender Billy was smart than Prinny since in truth he didn’t think he impressed her much. And he hadn’t. She “thought him particularly plain and sickly in his look, his figure very slender, his manner rather hearty and boyish, but not unpleasant in a young soldier.” Not words of affection not even a stir of such feeling. In fact, Charlotte wrote, “I am persuaded I shall have a very great regard and opinion of him which perhaps is better to begin with and more likely to last than love.”

The next day, Prince William called upon her. It wasn’t a success. He informed Charlotte that she would have to spend two or three months a year in Holland when he visited his home country. 

She was devastated. The prince promised that she wouldn’t have to accompany him on his every visit and when she did, she could bring her ladies with her. 

Such a concession had to be enough for her though. That didn’t stop her anger with her father. Slender Billy was chance at freedom from her father nevertheless, the government held the position that the Princess never leave England’s shores.

On January 7 1814, Charlotte spent her eighteenth birthday by visiting her mother during the day and the evening, at a concert with her uncles, the royal dukes. 

The next two months the marriage negotiations raged. Charlotte kept informed of every detail of the negotiations by having them put in writing. Her father was a feckless man who would change anything to suit his whims and that included sending his daughter to Holland. 

A Peace Party

While the talks continued, Napoleon was defeated and all of Europe (except France of course since they lost) and their sovereigns journeyed to England, including the Tsar’s favorite sister, the Grand Duchess Catherine, to celebrate. Much like everyone else, the Grand Duchess was impressed by the Princess. She described her as “the most interesting member of the family…She is blonde, has a handsome nose, a delicious mouth and fine teeth…She is full of spirit and positive in character. She seems to have an iron will in the smallest things…Her manners are so extraordinary that they take one’s breath away… She walks up to any man, young or old, especially takes them by the hand, and shakes it with all her strength… She looks like a boy, or rather a ragamuffin.” 

That strong will the duchess noticed in Charlotte stood firm against her father and his demands of her to visit Holland after her marriage. The princess refused to give in. To irritate her father even more the Prince of Orange didn’t want her to do anything against her will. In the end, the marriage contract specified that Charlotte would not have to leave England against her will. 

While Charlotte signed the marriage contract, Prince of Orange was at Ascot, getting rip roaring drunk. He had to be sent back to London in a coach. Two days later, Charlotte attended a great banquet at Carlton House (the only state occasion she was permitted to attend). Prince William also attended and as was his habit, he got drunk. 

Charlotte was becoming disheartened by the arrangement. She learned Slender Billy’s true nature. Her impression of him changed. To her, he was a “callow, scruffy boy who could not even hold his liquor.” 

Charlotte’s yearning for freedom wasn’t enough to marry Prince William and for three solid reasons. The first was that she wished to marry another prince since Slender Billy was a “dismal prospect”. The second reason was another prince had caught her eye, a certain handsome Prince August. The third was her duty to stand by her mother who would protect her own position as heir presumptive. 

Back Away Not So Slowly

On June 16 1814, Charlotte and Prince of Orange met at Warwick House where she informed him that she’d marry him only if her mother would always be welcome in their home. William wouldn’t agree to that (the two parties hated each other thanks to European politics). She couldn’t marry him without it. 

A shocked William plead for her to think over her decision. Of course, the Whigs and her mother were happy. Prinny not so much. 

 The Princess didn’t know what awaited her.  Soon after her meeting with Billy, she and a companion called upon the Tsar and his sister, who happened to be staying at the same hotel as the Prince of Orange. During the visit, the Tsar attempted to persuade Charlotte to change her mind. She wouldn’t budge. When Charlotte was departing, the Grand Duchess Catherine sent her to the back stairs to avoid William. 

She took the stairs where a small group lingered at the foot of them. Charlotte spotted “A tall, dark, handsome officer wearing the all-white uniform of the Russian heavy cavalry. The officer turned. He was not more than twenty-four years old, but his badges signified that he was already a Lieutenant-General.” 

The handsome Lieutenant-General asked if he could assist the ladies and the princess’s companion informed him of Charlotte’s identity and asked him to see them to her carriage. He did.

The drop-dead gorgeous officer was the General Officer Commanding Cavalry of the Tsar, Prince Leopold Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. 

Love had come for the Princess. 

A Royal Marriage…Perhaps?

A Princess With Benefits

The Prince Regent had marriage on his mind. Not for himself but for his daughter and the man he had his eye on William VI—Slender Billy—the Prince of Orange. Slender Billy hated the British but there was a threat a bigger threat—Napoleon and Britain was his only hope to defeating the Corsican.

Napoleon had taken the throne of Holland and with it William’s seat so a marriage between the Hereditary Prince of Orange (who reigned over Holland) and Princess Charlotte sounded like a win.

In 1813, this possible marriage fit into England’s desire. Napoleon’s army was rushing back to France and the plan for peace was to create a “buffer state” between France and Prussia. That state was Holland. And to sweeten the deal, the plan was to increase the size of Holland but subsume part of Austrian Netherlands (Belgium to us) and give the Dutch a constitutional monarchy like merry ole England and make Slender Billy king. Naturally, he loved the idea. 

The whispered rumors of the marriage negotiations reached Charlotte. Her mother, Caroline of Brunswick, hated Billy and his family but this was Charlotte’s chance to escape from her father’s thumb. 

A Prince Will Do

Two days after the Prince Regent’s birthday party, the Prince of Orange arrived from Spain to deliver the news of the Duke of Wellington advancing into France. Charlotte knew his appearance was a ploy to have Billy and Charlotte meet. It didn’t happen. 

The cautious Princess wished to learn more about Slender Billy. The Hereditary Prince was described in a way that would not make a woman’s heart race.  He was “very gentlemanlike, well informed and pleasant” as well as the best waltzer. All this was encased in a body that was “excessively plain” and “thin as a needle”.  A month later the Billy return to the theatre of war. 

In October, the first mention of the political marriage was raised to Charlotte. Not by her father but a Sir Henry Halford. Charlotte wasn’t ready to accept the Prince so used a ploy of her own, stating that she preferred the Duke of Gloucester, an Englishman. She was believed. 

Prinny was not pleased. And he knew what was wrong with his daughter. She was drunk because she couldn’t possibly fallen for Gloucester otherwise. This didn’t win over the Princess so the Prince Regent changed tactics by telling his daughter, “There were plenty of eligible princes to choose from and then assured her that he was not the sort of man who would force his daughter to marry anyone against her will.” 

She knew the bull her father was serving her. 

Dinner Then Decide

With Napoleon dealt with, Prince Orange was returning from France to Holland by way of England (the long way home) so the Prince Regent planned a dinner for him. Now, Charlotte had to meet him and consider marriage. Prinny’s new ploy to earn his daughter’s agreement was to be more respectful and loving with her than he had ever been in her life. 

The stubborn young lady understood she had a duty to her nation and her people. The marriage played into the interests of both Holland and Great Britain. Charlotte had a demand. She refuses to accompany Slender Billy to Holland during his visits, saying, “As heiress presumptive to the Crown it is certain that I could not quit this country, as Queen of England still less. Therefore P of O must visit his frogs solo.” 

Slender Billy’s boots hit British soil on December 10. The next day the Prince Regent visited his daughter to pressure her again. Charlotte put off giving an answer by promising to decide after the small and informal dinner. 

Now, a Princess had to decide if Slender Billy will do for her. 

Or another…

The Mysterious Lady Holding An Orange Blossom:What Was Worn

When I was searching for the next portrait for the What Was Worn series, I came across this portrait, Lady Holding an Orange Blossom and knew with the first glance that this one was it. Why? Her face captured me. This unknown lady reminded me of a friend I had during my teenage years. My friend and I had grown apart and I have seen her in decades but I wonder about her and her life. Where she happens to be, I hope she is healthy and happy.

Now back to our post.

Who’s That Girl?

Lady Holding An Orange Blossom is an oil canvas dated mid-eighteenth century with the fashion style circa 1775. The unknown artist was trained in the European Style yet, the artistic treatment of fabric and bodice was a style that dates to the 1750s and as stated the fashion timeline is later. This information tells us that the artist was a less prominent style and safe to say to resided in the Caribbean or Central or South America.

As for our sitter, she is unknown and ranges in age from twelve to fifteen years of age. She is a mystery that gazes out at us with a Mona Lisa quality that snares the viewer. For the purpose of this post, I’m naming her Grace. Our amazing Grace has medium-dark skin, with dark, deep brown eyes and hair to that matches and arranged of her face and pinned up.

Art historians believe Grace is from the British or Spanish colonies and possibly, mixed race since formal Spanish portraiture was used. Because of her fine clothing and accessories as well as the fact that her family possesses the money to commission a portrait of her, Grace was a free young lady of color. Since the Renaissance, free Africans had married into white English families and experienced wealth and status. Though, in the colonies, enslavement still occurred during this timeless so some Africans were subjected to that great sin. (If you wish to read about Black people in the Regency then visit Vanessa Riley at https://vanessariley.com/blackpeople.php)

Dress You Up

Our Grace is dressed in a matching blue silk bodice trimmed with blue silk box-pleated trim on the square neckline and a matching blue skirt/ petticoat. A lace fichu is tucked in her bodice. Her sleeves are trimmed in two tiers of lace box-pleated trim with a small festoon trim between the two tiers with lace engageantes (ruffles or flounces of linen, cotton or lace tacked to elbow-length sleeves) Grace has donned a fine, sheer apron trimmed with a ruffled edge.

Material Girl

The final touches of Grace’s outfit are simple in design. Grace wears a cap of lace with blue silk trim band with a bow. Her jewelry are understated with cut steel earrings and a choker of pearls that match the pearl bracelet on her right wrist and two bead bracelets on her left one.

She is holding an orange blossom. The white and orange blossom is a symbol or marriage and purity, which most likely relates to her age. An orange tree is in the background. The tree were expensive in European colonies and the tree reinforces her family’s wealth.

Grace’s true identity may never be discovered but she has captured our imagination.

A Regency Princess

It’s 1811 and George III is mad and his son, George has gone from the Prince of Wales to the Prince Regent. And George did as George loved to do—he decided to throw a grand fête at Carlton House. As the invites went out, Charlotte waited for her own to appear on her table. She waited in vain. Public favor and attention couldn’t be ripped off the Prince Regent and set upon his daughter or worse, her mother. Charlotte wasn’t his daughter and heir but his rival. Yet, the people expected her attendance at the June 5 occasion. The public favored the young princess and the Prince Regent believed a glimpse of Charlotte would increase the unpopularity even more than it was. According to one lady, the Prince Regent was “avoiding everything which could look like a recognition of her as the heir presumptive to the crown.”

If she had attended, society would have seen the young Princess changed. Now, fifteen-years-old, Charlotte was described as “…grown and improved in looks.” Charlotte was described as “very graceful” as well as “forward, dogmatic on all subjects, puckish about horses, and full of exclamations very like swearing.” Even in a letter, Charlotte wrote, she described her temperament as Marianne Dashwood from Sense and Sensibility. This young lady also was very aware of her political position. She was a Whig who was “sincere, committed, and above all radical.” 

Life As Before

Sadly, for the lively Charlotte, life continued much as it had before, being watched by her father’s household spies and hidden away from the outside but for few moments of freedom. In November when she visited Oatlands and experienced her first whirlwind of society. Two balls were given and even her father was in attendance. He welcomed her with great joy and warmth then, proceeded to ignore her until she was learning the dance entitled Highland Flurry, the Prince Regent forced himself into the instruction. 

The Princess’s social world was expanding beyond her rooms. At the end of the year, the Prince Regent opened Parliament and invited his daughter. The only reason he issued the offer was because otherwise her absence would reflect badly on him. On his return to Carlton House, the crowds chanted, “Down with the Regent” while Charlotte received cheers and shouts of her name. That must have riled the narcissistic Prinny.

In February 1812, she attended the opera and with youthful enthusiasm, she waved at everyone she knew. So, people that was improper but most loved her freshness. And her open demeanor endeared her even more to the people. 

Freedom Delayed

January 1813, the Princess turned seventeen and her gift was a new governess. At this age, the proper protocol was for her to have ladies-in-waiting. When she raised her objections, her father responded with “Depend upon it, as long as I live you shall never have an establishment, unless you marry.” Her only route to freedom started at a church’s aisle. 

At least, Charlotte began to have more of a social life even attending the February 5, 1813 ball at Carlton House. She had hoped to dance with the Duke of Devonshire. She had enjoyed his company when she met him before and even got the shy duke (who was deaf so isolated himself) to “talk a great deal.” Instead, she danced with her uncles and older men but she was free of her apartments. 

While all this was happening, the nation was at war—The Peninsula War—and she was still dealing with the war between her parents. Her mother’s letter to her father was published by the Morning Chronicle, which stated the curtailment of the visits with her daughter. This letter started The Delicate Investigation. This hoopla had Charlotte all but locked away since it wouldn’t be proper for her to be seen and her social life only included events that occurred in her father or uncle’s homes or strolls or drives in her carriage. The Prince Regent even prohibited Charlotte from  sitting for a painting. 

Meanwhile, the Prince Regent was seeking to arrange a marriage between Charlotte and the Hereditary Prince of Orange. 

But love would come for the Princess. 

Charlotte Augusta: The People’s Princess

The lone child of the Prince of Wales and his utterly unwanted wife resided above her parent’s apartments in the nursery of Carlton House. When Charlotte was a year old, her mother moved out of Carlton House and to a place five miles away in Blackheath.

Charlotte, Princess Of Wales

Not that either parent could be describe as tentative yet, she saw more of her father than her mother since she lived at Carlton House, the Prince’s residence though his attendance there was spotty at best. Charlotte’s staff raised her. When she was an eight-year-girl, Charlotte left behind that place and moved into Warwick House. With this move as well, the staff that had been with her since her first days were replaced. Warwick House was east of Carlton House and nothing more than a crumbling old brick building.

Her new governess was dowager Lady de Clifford. This fifty plus woman was in charge of the “…temperamental tomboy…” The good-natured woman couldn’t discipline her effectively since the princess who may not behave as a princess yet she knew her position and used it to her benefit. Like children everywhere still do.

Nevertheless, the two ladies grew fond of each other and Lady de Clifford did all to make Charlotte’s life less lonely. She had one of her grandsons, the Honorable George Keppe befriend her, a friendship that would last through her lifetime. These two kids got up to much trouble. Later in Keppe’s life when he became the Earl of Albemarle, he wrote a memoir of their childhood. In his memoir, he shared stories which include stories of “..fisticuffs, bolting horses and tears.” He even shared the time that when Charlotte and George visited his parents at their home named Earl’s Court. She slipped through a side gate and joined in the back of the crowd that had gathered outside the house to see the princess.

Yet, it was all fun. Children especially Princess’s must be educated. That task fell to Retired Reverend Dr. John Fisher, Bishop of Exeter. The man had tutored the Duke of Kent and had a long list of court positions. “He was sincerely pious and a connoisseur of painting and drawing. But he was pompous, homourless, dogmatic, willful and absurdly old-fashioned.” The man “…still wore a wig and spoke affectedly.” That man pronounced bishop as “bishup”. At nine, Charlotte graced him with the nickname “the Great UP.”

Charlotte, described as blue-eyed and with peculiarly blonde hair with beautifully shaped hands and feet, had a great talent for acting and mimicry. So, when Lady de Clifford and the “Great Up” argued about Charlotte’s lessons, the Princess would stand behind the bishop and mock him. Lady de Clifford struggled to hold back her laughter while trying to best the man. She would stand behind him, “…jutting out her lower lip, waving her arms and generally ridiculing his expressions and mannerisms in an exaggerated mime.”

This young Princess was educated in religious studies, English, Latin, ancient history, and religious instruction as well as reading, writing, French, German, modern history, and music, dancing, drawing, and writing. For her excellent education, the young princess was much like other children. If in trouble, she wasn’t about a little lie to get out of trouble or her studies.

In 1806, Charlotte saw one of her household writing and asked her what she was doing and was told that she was making her will. The Princess declared that she would too. She left many of her belonging to various staff and her birds to a Mrs. Gagrin and her dog or dogs to Mrs. Anna Hatton, her chambermaid.

In 1809, Charlotte’s tutor was replaced because Dr. Nott, tutor to the Princess had written to Princess Caroline. And no pleading save him, the man who was an “adoptive parent” and Charlotte wrote, “If we never meet again, keep for me your regard and affection.”

Yet, she met another who would love her–the Duke of Brunswick, her uncle William. He is describe as “bluff but dignified and patient.” The loving uncle listened to Charlotte’s “lisping chatter” and never tired of hearing it. The princess loved him so that she returned home and “painted a black moustache on her face and marched up and down in military manner barking guttural expletives, which she hoped very much sounded like German swear words.” Just like her uncle.

Also came the Honorable Margaret Mercer Elphinstone, a companion and confidante for the Princess.

As she grew older, Charlotte learned that she would have to be careful in deed and word, whether written or spoken. Now fifteen, her life would change. In January 1811, the government presented the Regency Bill. On February 6, the Prince of Wales was sworn in as Prince Regent.

The Regency began.

The Man Made The Clothes: What Was Worn

The idiom goes the clothes make the man. In the 1600s that was certainly true. Through fabric, colors, and style, a person’s position in society was announced without a word.

In this installment of What Was Worn, we are continuing with Renaissance Artemisia Gentileschi’s work of art entitled Esther Before Ahasuerus.

The last installment centered around Esther’s garments and accessories. This month will focus on Ahasuerus and his rich clothing.

What Is He Wearing: A Stylish Man

This post is all about male fashion. And Ahasuerus can only be described as fashionable. This work of art was painted c.1630. During this time, male fashion was shifting. Yet, Ahasuerus clothing reveals the timeline of this era.

Let’s start at the top of this rich outfit. On his neck is an untrimmed, crisp yet soft, white ruff of accordion pleats. It was fashionable at this time period for some to be trimmed with lace as well. He is wearing a rich, green velvet doublet with a long row of small, gold buttons. The armhole is a rolled sleeve that matches the doublet. Both the fabric and color were expensive and not easy to care for. Those big sleeves are paned, leg-of-mutton sleeves of green velvet trimmed in gold with a white silk lining. Beneath his luxurious clothing would be a linen shirt to protect the outer garments from sweat.

Detail of Ahasuerus Doublet

Ahasuerus’ bottoms certainly catch the eye. He is wearing trunk hose, which are padded hose with strips of fabric or panes as they are called over a full, inner layer or lining that reach mid-thigh. The trunk hose are fastened to the doublet by ties or points (short laces or ribbons pulled through matching sets of worked eyelets) . These points are not seen in the painting. At the era, men were also wearing breeches but not our man.

Seventeenth Century Bling: The Finer Touches

The accessories of Ahasuerus clothing are minimal. He isn’t wearing jewelry but he isn’t without finishing touches. First off is his hat. A matching, green velvet hat that flops. It’s reminiscent of a beret but larger. Men had been wearing a variation of this style since the sixteenth century. Two large feathers–a gold one and a white one–that flutter to the right side. He also seems to be wearing a diadem upon that hat. The golden pyramid appearing from the fullness of the hat.

The next accessory is his wine-hued scarf trimmed in gold embroidery with green details. It seems to be a wrap around scarf and from the draping of the garment it is a satin made of silk. A fancy item that still works in this day and age.

Next on our fashionable man is the bottom half of his outfit. Those boots. When I took notice of them, I couldn’t stop thinking of Nancy Sinatra’s song, These Boots Are Made For Walking. The soft, white leather boots are calf-height with a small heel and trimmed with black, short hair fur. Perhaps, mink, squirrel and trimmed with a gold and ruby brooch in the center.

The last item are white stockings. Even in this day and age, it is a trial to keep whites bright and clean. So in the seventeenth century such a task was even harder and only the rich wore such a color. I feel for the poor laundry maid who cared for those things. Those stocking are probably constructed like modern day leggings so they are pulled up with pants and tied so they remained smooth and upright.

If you missed the last What Was Worn post centered on Artemisia Gentileschi and her work of art entitled Esther Before Ahasuerus, please click here https://trocheauthor.wordpress.com/2021/01/27/a-lady-of-talent-and-strength/