Princess Charlotte: The Queen Who Never Was D
princess Charlotte of Wales was born to inherit one of the most powerful nations in the Western World the daughter of King George IV she was a regeny era darling famous for her warm manners outspoken nature and scandalous personal life in 1817 princess Charlotte of Wales suffered every parents nightmare after a harrowing labor she finally gave birth to a stillborn son she and her husband mourned the loss of their child but neither of them realized an even even worse tragedy was on the horizon on January 7th 1796 princess Charlotte came into the world at Carlton house in London from the beginning it was no ordinary birth her mother Caroline of Brunswick was the wife of Prince George the son of King George III and The Heir Apparent to the British throne so of course Charlotte grew up very privileged but just beyond the palace doors her family was hiding a
dark secret Charlotte’s parents may have been the next generation of British Royals but they were not perfect George and Caroline utterly despised each other and Charlotte was the product of one of the very few times they’d even ever touched she was born exactly 9 months after their contractually obligated wedding now some families can do conscious uncoupling for the kids as little Charlotte soon found out her parents were not those people Charlotte’s father Prince Prince George was not going to win father of the year anytime soon a notorious rake Drinker and gambler the prince had other priorities other than fatherhood and he dealt his family a truly cruel betrayal just 3 days after Charlotte was born George changed his will leaving almost all of his money to his mistress and giving only a shilling to Charlotte’s mother and he didn’t stop there Prince George was used to getting what he
wanted and he wanted to burn his marriage to the ground shortly after her birth Charlotte’s father forbid her mother from seeing the baby girl without a nurse or another third party present for the most formative period of her life Charlotte was only allowed to see her mother once a day this got complicated extremely quick as Charlotte grew up her life got even more dysfunctional her mother Caroline didn’t take these snubs lying down and soon her parents were using their daughter as a pawn in their power games and through this all Charlotte started to Rebel with all this Royal turmoil princess Charlotte started developing some very naughty habits especially in the eyes of the prim and proper court she was a happy Reckless type who was also quite a tomoy she loved riding her horses and getting into spats and small brawls with her Playmates and it was pretty obvious that Charlotte was acting out but when Charlotte was just 10 years old a
scandal rocked her world Prince George started the infamous delicate investigation against Charlotte’s Mother Caroline unsuccessfully accusing Charlotte’s mother of taking up lovers and even having an illegitimate love child in the wake of the investigation George completely forbade Charlotte from seeing her mother at all and this unfortunately had heartbreaking consequences in the middle of this tense period a young Charlotte happened to see her mother walking in the park one day but while Charlotte tried to run to her mother Caroline worried about her estranged husband’s wrath pretending not to see her Charlotte who loved her mother dearly and remained loyal to her throughout her life was heartbroken from that point on her Rebellion went into overdrive as Charlotte became a teenager she began to be more rebellious her actions often left the court shocked The Bold and Brash princess reportedly loved to show off her ankle length
underdrawers even when high power adults were around as people started to grow concerned Charlotte was just getting started if Charlotte was humble looking maybe her Antics would have attracted less attention but the exact opposite was true by 15 she was absolutely gorgeous or as one commentator put it she was a fine piece of flesh and blood on top of that Charlotte’s tomboy ways had morphed into Supreme confidence in herself so of course her father had to try and screw that up too although Charlotte could put on a front in the ballroom her private life was secretly tragic behind the scenes her controlling father had turned his be eyes on Charlotte and was starting the hammer in with increasingly alarming methods first George strictly controlled her finances and refused her even enough allowance to keep up with court Fashions then he kicked it up a notch soon enough Prince George was demanding that whenever
Charlotte attended the Opera she had to sit in the very back of the royal ball walk and always leave early so she wouldn’t get caught in a crowd when Charlotte wasn’t hiding herself away in plain sight Prince George insisted that she stayed at winter castle with her aunts and obviously this isn’t what a teenage girl wants so you can obviously bet that Charlotte got her revenge with her father being extremely overprotective princess Charlotte found even more inventive ways of throwing it right back in his face when Prince George turns against his previous political allies the wigs Charlotte beline for the Opera positioned herself at the front of her box and blew very pointed kisses at the wig leader in the audience and that wasn’t the end of Charlotte’s rebellious stage 19th century fathers didn’t exactly have their daughter’s emotional interest at heart in the marriage Market but Prince George was worse than the rest see at that time George was acting as a regent
and a defao ruler of England so he had all the power he wanted to make his daughter Charlotte an advantageous political match Prince George’s main pick for a Suitor was William the hereditary Prince of orange whose powerful Connections in the Netherlands would be invaluable to the crown when Charlotte met William for the first time at her father’s birthday in the summer of 1813 it couldn’t have gone worse there are bad First Impressions and then there was Charlotte’s introduction to Prince William although Charlotte’s father had every intention of it going extremely well William messed it up completely becoming so intoxicated along with the rest of the men at the party that even Charlotte was gross though and Charlotte wasn’t shy about sharing her feelings and she didn’t hide her dislike for the Dutchman when Charlotte’s father tried to talk to her about William she insisted that she didn’t want to marry a foreign man but fearing that her father may be upset she stalled for time
writing I cannot quit this country and threatening that if she did marry William she would never accompany him back home unfortunately like most meddling parents Prince George couldn’t quit on December 12th 1813 he arranged for another meeting between Charlotte and the prince of orange at a dinner party hoping the second time would be the charm as soon as the party finished George asked Charlotte if she’d reconsider her position Charlotte responded very blandly saying that it wasn’t so bad and Prince George took these words as complete acceptance he called in the prince of orange then and there and told him the good news not seeing that Charlotte wasn’t very happy about it although she was now trapped in a completely ill-advised engagement Charlotte went one step further and actually signed a marriage contract to the prince of orange making it that much more of a reality even as the ink was still drying on her contract to the prince of orange princess Charlotte was hiding a double life in the following
months the flirtatious girl had developed a massive crush on a perian prince she also happily invited gentlemen up to her room for for private discussions then like clockwork her future marriage crashed and burned with her wedding day fast approaching Charlotte made a fateful demand to the prince of orange in addition to staying in England she also insisted that her future husband let her mother Caroline be welcome in their home but since Charlotte’s father still absolutely despised her mother there was no way the throne would allow it and her Suitor was forced to deny her wishes no one had ever called Princess Charlotte indecisive so when the prince of orange declined one of her only requests as his future wife she had no problem kicking him to the curb breaking off the marriage contract and the Royal Engagement when Prince George heard about his daughter’s Defiance his reply was so disturbing it’s impossible to
forget he all but put her under house arrest demanding that she keep only to her residence until he could convey her to the Windsor Castle the minute that Charlotte’s had advisor told her of her father’s commands she wanted no part of it and literally ran out into the street to escape her fate with the help of a bystandard the princess then stuffed herself in a cab and went straight into the arms of her mother Caroline of Brunswick the scene of Caroline of Brunswick’s house after the princess escaped was like something out of a spy movie with no real options open to her princess Charlotte eventually had to do what her powerful father wished and she submitted to her virtual house arrest even so the damage was more than she could fathom Not only was the entire country gossiping about the runaway princess her father Prince George was dead to her and she wanted Revenge although most of the nation was on Charlotte’s side when it came to her
juny defiant Adventure her father only put his foot down harder he had attendance watch her at every moment of the day and when one of Charlotte’s uncles tried to plead her case and allow her to move more freely George cut the man out of their lives entirely throughout this whole time Charlotte had been keeping a man in her back pocket the unassuming sensible Prince Leupold of sax cober selt who was also a prince that had spent time in her room after some of those parties evidently Leupold had made an impression on Charlotte her father still somehow hoped that she would marry Prince of orange so much so that Charlotte had to write no arguments no threats shall ever bend me to make Mary this detest Dutchman while Charlotte finally convinced her father to give up the prince of orange the patriarch still wasn’t sold on Leopold after Prince George rejected his daughter Charlotte’s first romantic request the princess went
to desperate measures in January 1816 after nearly a year of finagling for leapold she traveled all the way to Brighton to plea with her father again she begged him to allow her to marry her lover as she promised no one will be more steady or consistent in this their present and last engagement than myself with the assurance that Charlotte had no more broken marriage contracts in her future Prince George finally crumbled finally princess Charlotte could be happy Charlotte married her prize Prince on May 2nd 1816 in the Crimson drawing room of the Carlton house while leopole looks sharp in the uniform of a British general Charlotte wore a lavish wedding gown worth thousands of British pounds one day while sitting at the Opera Charlotte began to feel violently ill after the dust settled the palace revealed that that night at the Opera princess Charlotte had suffered an early term
miscarriage Charlotte was barely a woman and had already experienced one of the worst nightmares a mother could have still the worst was yet to come in April 187 Charlotte was pregnant again and this time the whole nation was sure only happy news was on the way as Charlotte’s belly grew bigger strange concerns started to arise the Regency period still hadn’t got a handle on child birth and many medical professionals were at complete odds with Charlotte’s body but weirdly the medical team insisted she’d go on a strict diet because they were worried that the child would be too big for what it’s worth even other doctors of the time thought this regime was ridiculous especially after Charlotte grew weak and started experiencing spotting one of Leopold’s trusted medical advisers the baron stockmar was so appalled at these tactics that he refused to join the Royal Medical Team for the fear that something would go
wrong princess Charlotte’s chief medical Point person was a man named Sir Richard Croft though he did have experience with childbirth Croft believed that Charlotte would go into labor on October 19th and everyone in the palace fixed their eyes on this date October 19th came and went and on November 3rd Charlotte started having contractions and yet another bizarre tactic Croft and his team forced her to exercise during the beginning stages of her labor all while denying her any food in the end princess Charlotte was suspended in a state of labor for two gruesome days all without any child appearing as the hours were on the attendants grew more desperate and Charlotte more feverish on the evening of November 5th the labor came to its tragic conclusion princess Charlotte gave birth to a stillborn child just after midnight that night the princess woke up vomiting with horrific pains in
her abdomen when Croft examined her she was clammy and bleeding it looked grim and it took an even darker turn as soon as Croft realized the severity of the situation he called for Prince Leupold however in an agonizing twist of fate Leopold had taken a pill to help him fall asleep so when Leopold couldn’t wake Charlotte had to go into the dark without her beloved husband beside her after Prince Leopold failed to wake up Charlotte said her last words speaking they have made me Tipsy England’s Great Hope was dead at the age of 21 the person most affected by Charlotte’s death was the one who loved her most her husband Prince Leupold when he finally did wake up it was to an utter nightmare that he never quite found his way out of when Prince George heard of his daughter’s passing he was so grief stricken that he couldn’t even attend her funeral Charlotte’s fate
upset everyone even her detested Dutchman the prince of Orange He reportedly burst into tears when he heard the sad news though a personal trategy her death also changed the fate of the English crown with the passing of the air of England the throne had to scramble to produce more children eventually Charlotte’s uncle had a child who was future Queen Victoria and she took up the mantle that Charlotte had lost so what do you guys think about Princess Charlotte and all her scandalous stories let us know in the comments below and we can have a discussion but remember to like comment and subscribe and we’ll see you in the next video thanks for watching
