Princess Charlotte of Wales was born on January 7, 1796, the only child of the Prince Regent (later King George IV) and his wife, Caroline of Brunswick. As the sole legitimate grandchild of King George III, Charlotte was second in line to the throne from birth and Britain rejoiced that the Hanoverian dynasty now seemed secure. Yet just 21 years later, the beloved princess would be dead, plunging the nation into despair and provoking a succession crisis that permanently altered the monarchy.
A Lonely and Turbulent Childhood
As the daughter of an unhappy arranged marriage, Charlotte had an isolated and often traumatic upbringing. Her parents despised each other and separated permanently when Charlotte was just eight months old. The Prince Regent was a distant and unreliable father at best, lavishing attention on his daughter when it suited him but quick to punish any disobedience harshly. Charlotte‘s mother, never popular with the British public, lived apart from her only child and descended into a scandalous lifestyle.
Shuffled between various palaces and residences, the princess rarely saw either of her parents and was primarily raised by a succession of governesses. From a young age, she studied literature, arts, music and languages in preparation for her eventual role as queen. By all accounts a bright and precocious child, Charlotte reportedly most enjoyed her visits with her doting grandparents, King George and Queen Charlotte, at Windsor.
However, these moments of happiness and stability were fleeting. As Charlotte entered adolescence, her father, now serving as Prince Regent due to the King‘s deteriorating mental state, began taking a keener interest in controlling his strong-willed daughter. She soon chafed at his restrictive rules and lack of parental warmth, leading to an increasingly strained relationship.
Broken Engagements and a Daring Escape
In 1813, as Charlotte approached the marriageable age of 17, her father sought to arrange a match with William, Hereditary Prince of Orange. The foreign alliance would strengthen Britain‘s ties with the Netherlands at a time when the Napoleonic Wars still raged. But the independent-minded princess, having already fallen deeply (and unsuitably) in love with the Prussian Prince Augustus and a dashing soldier named Captain Charles Hesse, rejected the match. Under immense pressure from her father and the government, Charlotte reluctantly acquiesced to the betrothal but soon thought better of it. In a bold move, she called off the engagement just a few months later – becoming the first British princess in history to spurn an arranged political marriage.
Enraged by his daughter‘s defiance, the Prince Regent banished Charlotte to the isolated Warwick House, intending to send her to the remote Cranbourne Lodge in Windsor. But in the early morning hours of July 12, 1814, the headstrong princess slipped away from her chaperones and fled out into the street, hailing a hackney cab to take her to her mother‘s house. Her dramatic escape attempt made newspaper headlines and thrilled the British public, who saw Charlotte as a modern, spirited princess determined to marry for love.
Though Charlotte‘s bid for freedom ultimately failed, with her father‘s men forcing her to return that same day, the incident showcased the strength of will and disdain for convention that made her immensely popular with the people. In the aftermath, she only grew more miserable and defiant under virtual imprisonment and constant surveillance at Cranbourne Lodge and Carlton House.
A Fairytale Romance
The prince regent soon realized that an advantageous marriage was the only way to rein in his unruly daughter. In 1815, he approved her match with Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, a minor German prince who had caught Charlotte‘s eye the previous year. Though initially cool on Leopold, finding him too serious and foreign, the princess quickly warmed to the handsome, honorable prince as they exchanged impassioned letters during their engagement. After years of loneliness and turmoil, Charlotte fell deeply in love.
The couple married in a lavish ceremony on May 2, 1816, with jubilant crowds thronging the streets of London to celebrate. Charlotte glowed with happiness on her wedding day in a stunning silver lamé gown adorned with roses and shamrocks. After a joyous honeymoon tour, the newlyweds settled into a quiet, comfortable life at Claremont House, the country estate the prince regent had begrudgingly purchased for them.
For the first time, Charlotte experienced domestic tranquility, delighting in decorating her new home and strolling on the grounds with Leopold and their dogs. The pretty, petite princess and her tall, charming husband made for a striking couple, often spotted out for carriage rides or at the theatre. Both were also active in charitable causes for the poor. To a nation used to the dysfunctional marriages and scandalous antics of Charlotte‘s elders, the young couple represented the romantic ideal of a modern royal marriage based on love and partnership.
"Prince Leopold was the very Polar Star of my life," Charlotte later wrote to a friend. "In my opinion there never was a truer, more devoted or better husband than he was to me."
Tragedy Strikes
In early 1817, 21-year-old Charlotte joyfully announced her first pregnancy, as the country eagerly anticipated the birth of a future monarch. But on November 3rd, after a grueling 50-hour labor attended by male physicians, the princess delivered a stillborn son. Exhausted and weak, she seemed to rally briefly, expressing relief that the ordeal was over. However, she soon began experiencing alarming symptoms like chest pains and difficulty breathing.
In the early morning hours of November 6th, Charlotte‘s condition rapidly deteriorated. With a grief-stricken Leopold at her side, the princess lost consciousness and died at 2:30 AM, likely from postpartum complications such as a pulmonary embolism or amniotic fluid embolism. She was just 21 years old.
Modern medical experts believe Charlotte‘s prolonged labor, during which doctors denied her food and water while restraining her in a reclining position, likely contributed to her death. Had she given birth today, a cesarean section could have saved her life. But the primitive obstetrics of the early 19th century sealed her tragic fate.
A Nation in Mourning
News of Princess Charlotte‘s shocking death elicited mass despair across Britain. Admirers who had cheered her wedding day now openly wept in the streets, with reports of people fainting upon hearing the terrible news. The entire country ground to a halt for weeks of official mourning, with shops closing and church bells ringing mournfully.
On November 19th, Charlotte was laid to rest in a grand state funeral at Windsor Castle, with Prime Minister Lord Liverpool and foreign dignitaries among the attendees. An estimated 200,000 people lined the procession route from Claremont to Windsor. Ladies of the ton set a fashion for mourning clothing and miniature portraits of the princess. The celebrated poet Lord Byron, who had once pursued Charlotte as a prospective bride himself, memorialized "the fair-hair‘d Daughter of the Isles" in the poem "Childe Harold‘s Pilgrimage."
"Scion of chiefs and monarchs, where art thou? Fond hope of many nations, art thou dead?" Byron lamented. "Could not the grave forget thee, and lay low Some less majestic, less beloved head?"
The bereaved Prince Leopold fell into a deep depression and remained in seclusion at Claremont, commissioning multiple memorials to his beloved wife. A devastated Prince Regent collapsed at his daughter‘s funeral and withdrew from public life.
A Monarchy in Crisis
Beyond the outpouring of national grief, Charlotte‘s death triggered a full-blown succession crisis. With no surviving legitimate grandchildren, the 81-year-old King George III now lacked a clear heir. The ailing king had 12 children, including seven sons, but none had produced a legitimate child who survived infancy. With the line of succession in jeopardy, Charlotte‘s aging uncles rushed to find brides and beget children.
Parliament even considered offering financial rewards for royal births. "England is in a pretty fix," the Russian ambassador wrote. "The old Queen [Charlotte] is nearly a hundred, the King mad, and the Prince Regent has so many ailments that he cannot live long. The race is coming to an end."
In a twist of fate, the succession fell to Charlotte‘s uncle Edward, Duke of Kent, and his new bride – Leopold‘s sister, Victoire of Saxe-Coburg. Just one year after Charlotte‘s death, Victoire gave birth to Princess Alexandrina Victoria, the future Queen Victoria. Without Charlotte‘s death, Victoria may never have been born or taken the throne. In the span of a single year, the succession had passed to an entirely new branch of the family.
The People‘s Princess
In life, Princess Charlotte represented a new generation of royalty. Unlike other princesses, she openly defied convention and her overbearing father to marry for love. With a passion for charity and popular streak of independence, she connected with the British people in a way few royals had before. Her tragic fairytale romance with Leopold only endeared her more to a nation.
In death, Charlotte became an even more romanticized figure, the young life cut short in its prime. Though her 21 years were marked by turmoil and heartbreak, she found true happiness before the end. "Nothing could have been more perfect and more joyous than our union," Leopold wrote in the dark days after her passing. For a brief, shining moment, Charlotte embodied the hopes and dreams of her country as the beautiful young princess destined to be a truly great queen.
Two hundred years later, Charlotte‘s haunting story of thwarted potential continues to exert a hold on the popular imagination. She remains the tragic heroine of the British royal family, the lost princess who might have changed the course of history. What kind of queen would the passionate, liberal-minded Charlotte have made? Would the formal Victorian era have looked quite different under the rule of Queen Charlotte and King Leopold?
Such questions can never be answered. But Charlotte‘s enduring legacy is that of a princess who, in many ways, was ahead of her time. With her untimely death, "the fair hair‘d daughter of the isles is laid low," as Byron wrote. "The love of millions! How we did entrust futurity to her!" In a life too short, Britain‘s lost princess gave her country a tantalizing glimpse of what might have been.
References
- Chambers, J. (2007). Charlotte & Leopold: The True Story of the Original People‘s Princess. Old Street Publishing.
- Fraser, F. (1996). The Unruly Queen: The Life of Queen Caroline. Knopf.
- Fraser, F. (2005). Princesses: The Six Daughters of George III. Knopf.
- Shaw, K. (1999). Royal Babylon: The Alarming History of European Royalty. Broadway Books.
- Stott, A. (2021). The Lost Queen: The Life and Tragedy of the Prince Regent‘s Daughter. Pen and Sword History.
