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 30th arrived with Leopold calling on the Prince Regent at Carlton House to share the joyful news. Charlotte was over three months pregnant.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
In May 1499, months after the birth of the Tudor’s sixth child, Prince Arthur married by proxy Katherine of Aragon, Infanta to King and Queen of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella. Henry, now, had his connection to the powerful Spanish nation. Katherine would arrive in England when she reached fourteen in December along with ladies who were beautiful in order to make “English” connections.
Those connections were endangered with the arrival of another pretender appeared on the scene and though, Henry took care of him quickly, the Spanish King and Queen’s faith on Henry’s hold on the English throne. Especially since there was a very true threat to Henry’s crown, that threat was the Earl of Warwick.
Henry had to rid himself of the claimant to the throne, one who had a better claim than Henry since he was the son of the Duke of Clarence (brother to Edward IV and uncle to Elizabeth of York). Alison Weir writes in Elizabeth of York, “the likelihood is that Ferdinand warned Henry VII that while Warwick lived, the Infanta would not be coming to England.”
How was Henry to accomplish this when Warwick committed no crime and was locked up in the Tower of London? But Henry needed the Spanish alliance and wasn’t the king the law? He just had to find a way.
Robert Cleymound met with Lord Warwick in his cell and plotted to “fire and seize the Tower, thus facilitating his escape to Flanders, whence he would make war upon Henry VII.” Then contact was made with Warbeck who was locked in the Tower and just below Warwick’s own cell. The plot was that Warbeck and Warwick would escape from the tower and Warbeck was told that Warwick would make him king whereas Warwick was told he would be king. But Cleymound claimed Warbeck informed the king of the plot.
Warwick was tried on November 19 in Westminster Hall. He plead guilty perhaps because he did not understand since he was considered simple-minded (as his contemporaries called him). He was sentenced to a traitor’s death.
On November 29, Warwick was beheaded on Tower Hill. He was twenty-four years old. He was buried in Bisham Priory beside his grandfather, Warwick the Kingmaker. Years later, Katherine was said to say, that her marriage to Prince Arthur had been made in blood.
After the executions, Henry fell ill and recovered by the middle of December. That same year, the plague so to over the pandemic the King and Queen traveled to Calais. This was the first and last time Elizabeth had traveled abroad. While in English-held territory in France, Elizabeth and Henry met with the Archduke Phillip and his Archduchess Juana of Castile, sister to Katherine of Aragon. Forty days after departing England, Elizabeth and Henry returned to the realm.
Upon the arrival at Greenwich, they received distressing news. Prince Andrew’s health was a concern yet the worse was the death of their infant son Prince Edmund at fifteen months. The baby prince was given a state funeral, provisions which Henry VII had laid down.
During this time, Katherine departed Spain. She arrived in England on October 2, 1501. Prince Arthur and the King traveled to with the future Queen of England.
Preparations for the marriage began. On November 9, Katherine met Prince Henry. Then on the 12th, Katherine entered the city of London to bells ringing, banners fluttering about and crowded streets where music played and wine ran free. The next day, Elizabeth met her future daughter-in-law. “During her audience, she and Elizabeth both spoke in Latin, and they enjoyed ‘pleasant and goodly communication, dancing, and disports. Thus, with honor and mirth, this Saturday was expired and done,’ and it was late when Katherine departed for Lambeth Palace to make ready for her wedding day.”
On November 14, 1501, Arthur and Katherine were married in St. Paul’s Cathedral. Their wedding night would play an importance years later when Henry VIII sought a divorce.
The young royal couple departed for Ludlow Castle on December 21, 1501. That royal marriage wasn’t the only one being arranged. In January 1502, Henry arranged a treaty of marriage with James IV of Scotland. His daughter, Margaret would become Queen of Scots but would not travel across the border until September 1503.
The good cheer of the wedding wouldn’t last. In February, Prince Arthur sickened. And another threat reared up. Henry dealt with the menace but the King’s power meant nothing with his son’s health. Prayers were said, pilgrimage was made by two priests Elizabeth hired, and offers were given to the church.
Arthur’s health improved enough that he was well enough to wash the feet of fifteen men on Maundy Thursday on March 24.
Four days into April, the worse happened. Arthur, Prince of Wales and future King, died. The fifteen-year-old was buried at Worcester and not Westminster Abbey. According to Weir, it has been suggested that Arthur died of something contagious since his body had to be buried as swiftly as possible.
Alison Weir says of forty-five-year-old Henry’s reaction, “‘When the King understood these sorrowful, heavy tidings, he sent for the Queen, saying that he and his wife would take their powerful sorrow together.’ Thus it was the Elizabeth heard the shattering news every parent dreads to hear, that her child was dead in the flower of his youth.”
Elizabeth reacted as any mother would. She collapsed. Henry rushed to her and comforted her. Her son’s death impacted her health. There are reports of the Queen’s health taking a turn for the worse.
Katherine, widow of Arthur afterward stayed with the King and Queen then went on to reside at Croydon Palace. The young Prince Henry Tudor was now being groomed as the heir to the English and Irish throne. But that’s another story.
Dressed in her mourning attire that Henry set down in his ordinances, the royal couple decided they were still capable of bearing more children. Elizabeth and Henry had always lived together. She accompanied him on his journeys yet on 1502 Elizabeth departed from Windsor and Henry’s side. By the end of September, Henry reunited with his wife.
Royal duties resumed but Elizabeth was with child again. She wasn’t due until February and preparations being made for her confinement.
Elizabeth, meanwhile, celebrated the Christmas season. Meanwhile, Henry was consumed with the construction of the new Lady Chapel. In January 1503, Elizabeth came by river to Westminster to reunite with the King. They, then, traveled onto the Tower.
On February 2, 1503, Elizabeth was still at the Tower (her father’s favorite residence) when the baby arrived ten days early. After the difficult birth, the daughter was christened Katherine on the Saturday after her birth at the parish church of the Tower.
That same time, Elizabeth fell ill. She worsened swiftly. The king sent a man for the physician and paid a boatman to wait for the doctor along with horses and guides to get him to the queen’s side through the dark night.
Elizabeth of York–the Bloom of the House of York–died in the early morning of Saturday, February 11. Her thirty-seventh birthday. Henry was at her side along with priests for last rites and her attendants and servants.
Henry was heartbroken. He traveled to Richmond to mourn his wife alone. For six weeks he was so low with grief that he sickened and was said near death. Tradition decreed that he would not attend her funeral. He ordered a new velvet cloth of estate of blue, the color of royal mourning. Books were bound in this fabric and mourning attire in black and blue. He slowly came out of mourning ten months later. He also abandoned the Tower, which led to the decline as a royal residence. Future royals only stay there for their coronations as tradition had set.
Elizabeth of York Funeral Effigy
In London, six-hundred and six masses were offered by the king and fifty-six pounds of wax candles burned at Walsingham for the monks while they prayed for her.
Henry now the lone king became even more of a miser than he was before along with being suspicious and harsh since Elizabeth’s influence was now absent. He never married again.
Henry VII died on April 21, 1509 at Richmond Palace of tuberculosis.
Yet the blood of Elizabeth flowed through Stuart monarchs, Hanoverians monarch and the House of Windsor and her namesake, Queen Elizabeth II, her sixteenth generation descendant.
With the heir born, time had come for Elizabeth to be crowned Queen of England, Wales, and Ireland. However, the royal couple’s joy diminished during the Christmas season when rumors rang about Elizabeth’s cousin, the Earl of Warwick, the York heir to the English throne who was locked away in the Tower of London. The English whispered and roared that the young earl had escaped while others professed that he met the same fate as the young York Princes.
In January 1487, the first pretender to the throne appeared on the scene. Lambert Simnel was in Ireland, claiming to be the escaped Earl of Warwick. The next month, Henry displayed the twelve-year-old Earl in a procession through London to St. Paul’s Cathedral then brought Warwick to the Queen at Sheen Palace. Warwick was a threat to Henry but he had the mental capacity of a one-year-old yet Henry couldn’t kill the child.
With that rumor squashed, other threats continued to haunt the royal couple. The Earl of Lincoln, nephew to Richard III and the Queen’s cousin, fled to Flanders where his aunt, Margaret of York, Duchess if Burgundy resided. She hated Henry since he killed her brother Richard at Bosworth and did all within her power to undermine Henry. Margaret acknowledged Simnel and the Yorkist sailed to Ireland where the Anglo-Irish lords crowned Simnel. Lincoln was the force behind this plot and was the leader of the Yorkists faction.
Henry VII
All came to a head when on May 5, 1487 when word of the invasion reached Henry. The king set up his headquarters at Kenilworth, “a strongly built, centrally located fortress.” He sent word to Elizabeth and along with Arthur they joined him on May 29. In June, the Earl of Lincoln landed in Lancashire. Henry marched to Conventry to protect England and his reign.
June 16th arrived and the two sides clashed. This was the Battle of Stoke. Henry was victorious. Lincoln was killed and Lambert Simnel was taken prisoner and put in Henry’s household from working in the kitchens, he advanced to become trainer of the King’s hawks and died in 1525.
“The Battle of Stoke, which Andrè called ‘the second triumph of Henry VII,’ finally brought the Wars of the Roses to an end…” as Alison Weir states in her biography entitled Elizabeth of York.
The Wars of the Roses came to an end but Elizabeth still hadn’t been crowned. She was the first uncrowned queen to birth an heir since William the Conqueror in 1066. That fact was one of the complaint of the rebels as well as the English people.
In September 1487 summonses were sent out to the nobility to the attend Elizabeth’s coronation in November. On the twenty-third day of the month, Elizabeth departed from Greenwich with her mother-in-law and attended by lords and ladies and rode the royal barge to the Tower of London. The next day, England’s princess made her state entry into London.
On the 25th, which happened to be St. Katherine’s Day, Elizabeth journeyed to her coronation, decked out in gold, jewels, and ermine. Though, no tradition existed that prohibited kings from attending their wives’ coronation, Henry did not attend instead allowing the Elizabeth to enjoy the ceremony. Henry did watch the ceremony that dated to 1399, hidden behind a screen.
Palace of Westminster
On the 25th, which happened to be St. Katherine’s Day, Elizabeth journeyed to her coronation, decked out in gold, jewels, and ermine. Though, no tradition existed that prohibited kings from attending their wives’ coronation, Henry did not attend instead allowing the Elizabeth to enjoy the ceremony. Henry did watch the ceremony that dated to 1399, hidden behind a screen.
With the crown on the queen’s head, it was time to celebrate. The banquet was in Westminster Hall. “Elizabeth, wearing her crown, sat alone at the high table at the top of a flight of steps.” Once again, the king did not attend. Much like most occasions, there was sumptuous food, dancing and verses composed to honor Elizabeth. The next day, Elizabeth traveled to Greenwich and received her dower. With her own household and administrators, Elizabeth took up her role as Queen of England, Wales, and Ireland.
For Elizabeth, family was her center. According to Weir’s Elizabeth of York, “She gave ‘unbounded love’ and support to her children, her sisters, and other relations, and always interested herself in their affairs. She kept her sisters with her at court before they wed, and sometimes after, and they were usually included in the royal celebrations of Christmas, Easter, and Whitsun.”
That March, Henry reached an agreement that raised the Tudor dynasty to the top echelons of the continent’s monarchies—the agreement of marriage between Prince Arthur and Katherine of Aragon. Katherine was bringing an estimated 20 million pounds (today’s currency) to the isle nation.
Margaret Tudor
That same month, Elizabeth was pregnant with her second child. This was three years after the birth of Arthur. Henry was overjoyed and bestowed lavish gifts upon Elizabeth. On November 29, 1489, Elizabeth gave birth to her first daughter—Margaret Tudor. The next day—the feast day of St. Andrew, patron saint of Scotland, was baptized. Margaret Tudor would go on to marry James IV of Scotland and birth James V, father of Mary, Queen of Scots.
That Christmas was a solemn affair as a measles epidemic spread through Elizabeth’s court and had taken the lives of some ladies. And Elizabeth hadn’t been churched and the hard recovery Elizabeth experience with Arthur caused the queen to flee to Greenwich.
Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales
That Christmas was a solemn affair as a measles epidemic spread through Elizabeth’s court and had taken the lives of some ladies. And Elizabeth hadn’t been churched and the hard recovery Elizabeth experience with Arthur caused the queen to flee to Greenwich.
The new year rang in with running of the realm and on 27 February 1490, Arthur was conveyed to Westminster where he was endowed with the titles of Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester. The boy prince had he had his own celebrations.
Henry Tudor, Future King
The two Tudor children were joined by a third child on June 28, 1491. The child was named Henry. His household was established at Eltham Palace in Kent. “Although, Prince Arthur was brought up away from the court, Elizabeth’s younger children were largely reared in close proximity to their parents, at Eltham, or at Sheen (where she herself had spent part of her early childhood), Greenwich, or the Archbishop of Canterbury’s palace at Croydon, Surrey—all well away from the unhealthy air of London.”
Even though, the Tudor family were happy, they were still dogged by the rumors that one of the princes survived. And in the autumn of 1491, those rumors centered around a “handsome stranger” who claimed to be Richard, Duke of York, the younger son, who would have been sixteen in August of 1491 and this boy was around that age. Margaret of Burgundy recognized him as her nephew. This boy was Perkin Warbeck.
First, the nation had to mourning. On June 8, 1492, Elizabeth Wydeville (mother to Elizabeth of York and Queen of England) died. Elizabeth couldn’t be with her mother at the time since she was once again pregnant and near to birth.
Less than a month later, July 2 to be exact, Elizabeth birth her second daughter—Elizabeth—named for her mother and grandmother.
By this time, Henry had tried to rid himself of this pretender who he called the “feigned lad” and made a protest to the rulers of Flanders but the diplomatic route failed and so did relations between England and Flanders.
To dismiss the claims of the new pretender, Henry created his three-year-old Henry the Duke of York. Edward VI bestowed the title onto his second son, Richard, so until the eighteenth century the second sons would bear the title.
Time passed and in October 1495, Elizabeth was pregnant again. The joyous occasion was marred by the death of her three-year daughter Elizabeth.
Then the next month Perkin Warbeck was in Scotland where he was received at Stirling Castle. James IV liked him, clothing the boy in finery, granting him a pension and took him on a progress through Scotland. The Scottish king held a tournament for him and even married him to a distant relation—Katherine, daughter of George Gordon, Earl of Huntly.
Mary Tudor
The time passed and Elizabeth birthed her third daughter—Mary Tudor on March 18, 1496 at Sheen Palace. Mary would marry the King of France who was an old man who then died and she went on to marry Duke of Suffolk, Charles Brandon.
Less than six months later, James IV invaded England with Warbeck who promised to return Berwick, a dispute area in the north of England that had once belong to Scotland. But the Scots looted so James had to retreat back to Scotland when Henry’s army appeared.
Henry was dealing with rebels and trying to raise money to fight against Warbeck and the Scots and soon, 1497 arrived and was half way through when a new treaty was agreed with Spain. It stated for Katherine to come to England when she was fourteen, which she would reach in 1499. And a month later, Arthur and Katherine were formally betrothed.
The joy of the agreement didn’t last long since Warbeck landed in Cornwall on September 7, 1497. About a fortnight later, Warbeck fled south to Southampton and took sanctuary in Beaulieu Abbey. Henry surrounded the abbey and promised “the pretender a pardon if he surrendered to the King and threw himself on his ‘grace and pity.’ Warbeck took up the offer.
Warbeck was paraded through London then imprisoned in the Tower. That same year (1497), Henry brought the young pretender to court where he was followed by two guards and confined to the palace. It was reported that Henry treated them well but did not allow Katherine and Warbeck to sleep together.
A year later on June 9, 1498 Perkin escaped from the Palace of Westminster. Henry didn’t execute him but he did put him in stocks and made him read aloud his confession then returned to the Tower.
Henry and Elizabeth now focused on the wedding of Arthur and Katherine. And Henry was also negotiated a marriage between Margaret Tudor and James IV of Scotland so to bring peace to the nations and his put his bloodline on the Scottish throne. Elizabeth, though, demanded that her daughter not marry before September 1503 when Margaret would be fourteen.
But the royal couple had another reason to celebrate. Elizabeth bore a third son and her sixth child on February 21, 1499 at Greenwich. The young prince was named Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond. It was a difficult pregnancy for the queen.
For Henry and Elizabeth much was changing. Those changes would bring happiness and grief.
Henry and Elizabeth’s vows have been spoken and now comes time for the celebration, which was a lavish nuptial feast of “roasted peacocks, swans, larks and quails, followed by sugared almonds and fruit tarts.”
Palace of Westminster in the time of Henry VIII
After the celebrations, Elizabeth spent her wedding night in the King’s Bedchamber, which was the Painted Chamber of the Palace of Westminster. The newlyweds went to bed to do their duty to England and untied the two Houses of York and Lancaster so peace would come to the realm. It was this time that the white and red roses of York and Lancaster were combined to the Tudor Rose. Henry VII actively promoted the design. The English people hoped that peace would come to their shores. Meanwhile, the young couple was falling in love.
The first morning as husband and wife, Henry presented Elizabeth with Giovanni de Gigli’s poem, which was her morning gift. Next, there was the traditional ceremony of her uprising as a new wife. Now, Elizabeth was expected to bind up her hair and cover it with a hood. She would only be permitted to wear her hair loose on ceremonial occasions when she donned a crow.
The new King of England was “a man of vast abilities and hidden depths. He knew four languages, was well read, good at economics, and well versed in the arts of the period.” Good characteristics because the king would need this skills to lead. Henry planned to secure his throne, increase the coffers of the realm and the standing of the isle nation in Europe. To accomplish that, he used his cleverness, shrewd mind, hard-working personality and his family to make it happen.
But Henry wasn’t just King. He lavished his wife with gifts and his servants. He enjoyed court ceremony, being witty and cheerful. Elizabeth and Henry enjoyed a full social life at court. They spent much time together, sharing a common piety and sense of humor. Elizabeth and Henry traveled together even. There has never been talk about an affair or a scandal. The only bastard child of Henry VII is Roland de Velville conceived during his time in Brittany before his marriage.
Elizabeth in turn was a helpmate to her husband. She promoted his interests. And never openly complained or interfered in his ruling. Elizabeth was unlike her mother, never aligning with factions at court and did not promote her relatives. However, as they had deep affection and love for each other, she must have voiced her opinion to her husband but her main focus was the household, estates and court.
Not an easy task but Elizabeth was described by her contemporaries as a charming woman who was generous who had many charities she supported that included orphans, “took children under her wing and raised them and liberated debtors from London prisons.” All this, she had her mother-in-law around. Margaret Beaufort has a strong influence at court. Margaret even had her own state of cloth that she sat beneath. Yet, Elizabeth didn’t seem to battle against her for whatever reason and seemed to have a fine relationship with her mother-in-law who lived only for her son.
So, their marriage pressed on. With Elizabeth’s court as magnificent as her father’s (Edward IV) who modeled his on the Burgundy court. Their court would be the scene for lavish feasts, tournaments, and pageants. All the necessary events for a grand court.
This young couple wished for their own private world. It was Henry VII who created “the Privy Chamber, the department of state comprising the influential and often powerful gentlemen who waited personally upon the sovereign and thus able to influence him and bestow patronage. Elizabeth had her own apartments as well.
By Lent of 1486, Elizabeth was expecting her first child. However, there had been no coronation. Nevertheless, many expressed joy for the coming child. In March, Pope Innocent VIII issued a bull confirmed the dispensation issued by Bishop of Imola for their marriage. Then a couple weeks later, Pope also granted a dispensation that recognized Henry VII as King and threatened any who rose against him with excommunication. Henry papered England with the dispensation. The pope also confirmed Henry’s title so if Elizabeth died without issue then Henry’s children could inherit the English throne.
Not all was happy in England even as Rome sent good news. That summer Henry had to ride to the north to stop sedition. Meanwhile, Elizabeth grew increased. By the end of August, Henry and Elizabeth moved into Winchester, “the ancient capital of England, where Henry wanted his heir to be born, for he believed it to be the site of Camelot, King Arthur’s fabled seat, and that being born there would be portentous for the prince who would bring a new golden age to England.
It was during this time that Henry concocted the series of ordinances governing the running of the royal household and set the ceremonials to be observed there “Including ordinances as to what preparation is to be made against deliverances of the Queen and the christening of the children. The Royal Book, as it was known. According to Alison Weir’s book, Elizabeth of York, “These determined the color and quality of the furnishing for her chamber and bed, which was to be made up with pillows of down and a scarlet counterpane bordered with ermine, velvet, or cloth of gold.”
In the early hours of September 20, 1486, also known as St. Eustace’s Day, Arthur Tudor was born. Through born in his eighth month, Arthur was born, as Alison Weir quotes, “vital and vigorous, contrary to the rules of physicians.” It seems that the young couple enjoyed the wedding night before partaking the ceremony.
Elizabeth meanwhile was weak from the birth and she is “recorded as suffering an ague–an acute fever–during her lying-in period. But the queen recovered enough to be churched and now returned to her daily life though, she didn’t recover her full bloom.
Mageela Troche 