Posted: 2/9/2019
Recently, I watched this great video documentary by Lucy Worsley (Source 1) where I learnt some interesting things about Caroline of Ansbach.
With some exaggeration, I might compare this Queen of Great Britain with Frederick the Great of Prussia, except that Caroline preceded Frederick in promoting ideas of enlightenment or the monarch being the first servant of the state (German: erster Diener des Staates). Not least, it helped that she was German.
Here are some achievements of Caroline (Source 2 unless noted otherwise; emphasis added):
- She rejected suitors
- “Caroline was known for her political influence, which she exercised through and for [Robert] Walpole … Caroline advised her husband to retain Walpole as the leading minister.”
Perhaps, her influence was seen even so dominant as to overshadow her husband as e.g. expressed in this famous satire of the time: “You may strut, dapper George, but 'twill all be in vain, We all know 'tis Queen Caroline, not you, that reign” - “Caroline had absorbed the liberal opinions of her mentor, Queen Sophia Charlotte of Prussia, and supported clemency for the Jacobites (supporters of the rival Stuart claim to the throne), freedom of the press, and freedom of speech in Parliament.”
- “An investigation into the penal system uncovered widespread abuses, including cruel treatment and conspiracy in the escape of wealthy convicts. Caroline pressed Walpole for reform, largely unsuccessfully”
- “As queen, she continued to surround herself with artists, writers and intellectuals. ... supervised a more naturalistic design of the royal gardens by William Kent and Charles Bridgeman. In 1728, she rediscovered sets of sketches by Leonardo da Vinci and Hans Holbein that had been hidden in a drawer since the reign of William III.”
- “As regent, Caroline considered the reprieve of Captain John Porteous [(by the way, the John Porteous story is quite a story in itself)], who had been convicted of murder in Edinburgh.”
- “Queen Caroline, consort of George II, had been friend and patron to [Georg Friedrich] Handel for more than thirty years when she died in 1737. An accomplished amateur musician herself ...” (Source 4)
- Here is how Georg Friedrich Handel’s expressed his devotion to or praise of Caroline: “She put on righteousness and it clothed her; her judgment was a robe and a diadem (Job 29:14) … She delivered the poor that cried, the fatherless and him that had none to help him (Job 29:12). Kindness, meekness and comfort were her tongue (Sirach 36:23); if there was any virtue, and if there was any praise, she thought on those things (Philippians 4:8).” (Source 4, 5)
- “Lady Mary Wortley Montagu defied convention most memorably by introducing smallpox inoculation to Western medicine after witnessing it during her travels and stay in the Ottoman Empire. … Lady Mary was eager to spare her children, thus, in March 1718 she had her nearly five-year-old son, Edward, inoculated with the help of Embassy surgeon Charles Maitland … In April 1721, when a smallpox epidemic struck England, she had her daughter inoculated by Maitland, the same physician who had inoculated her son at the Embassy in Turkey, and publicised the event. … she persuaded Caroline of Ansbach to test the treatment. In August 1721, seven prisoners at Newgate Prison awaiting execution were offered the chance to undergo variolation instead of execution: they all survived and were released. Controversy over smallpox inoculation intensified; however, Caroline, Princess of Wales was convinced. The Princess's two daughters were successfully inoculated in April 1722 by French-born surgeon Claudius Amyand.[” (Source 3)
- “... she sent her son ["Look, there he goes—that wretch!—that villain!—I wish the ground would open this moment and sink the monster to the lowest hole in hell!"] a message [in her final hours] of forgiveness through Walpole”
Sources:
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