Monday 6 November 2017 is the 200th anniversary of the death of Princess Charlotte, the granddaughter of King George III. She died at Claremont in Surrey after a protracted fifty-hour labour during which she delivered a stillborn son.
Charlotte Augusta of Wales was born on 7th January 1796. She was the daughter George, the Prince of Wales, who was Prince Regent from February 1811, and his wife Caroline of Brunswick. Charlotte was second in line to the throne and the only legitimate heir that the fifteen children of King George III and Queen Charlotte had managed to produce. George and Caroline’s marriage was arranged and the future King George IV took instant dislike to his bride and spent his wedding night drunk on the bedroom floor. Charlotte was born nine months after the wedding, but there was no chance of any more legitimate children as George kept himself, and Charlotte, as far away as possible from Caroline.
After a difficult upbringing punctuated by her parents constant warring, which necessitated her grandfather’s interference and stays with maiden aunts in Windsor, Charlotte had married Prince Leopold Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld in May 1816 and was said to be blissfully happy with her new domesticity.
Charlotte’s baby was due around 19 October, but she didn’t show signs of labour until the evening of 3 November. She was cared for by Sir Richard Croft, a fashionable male midwife, or accoucheur. After two days of labour, Charlotte’s personal physician, Doctor William Baillie, called on the assistance of obstetrician Doctor John Sims, but Dr Croft would not allow him to see Charlotte. Charlotte’s stillborn baby boy was born on 5 November and Charlotte appeared to recover well at first, but shortly after midnight went into decline. She was vomiting, cold to the touch, short of breath and haemorrhaging. She died during the early hours of 6 November and with her, two generations of Hanoverian succession.
Charlotte’s untimely death forced the Dukes of Clarence, Kent and Cambridge to marry and indeed the royal Dukes of Clarence and Kent celebrated a double wedding at Kew Palace in 1818. King George III’s seventh son, the Duke of Cumberland, also became involved in the race to beget an heir, resulting in four royal heirs born between March and May in 1819. As the Duke of Clarence’s daughter died in infancy, the succession after the royal brothers rested on Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent, who later would be crowned Queen Victoria.
Three months after Charlotte and her son died, her now infamous man-midwife shot himself, unable to live with the guilt of having two generations of royal heirs die under his care.
Very good Ruby! I didn’t know about her.
You didn’t? I’ve been fascinated by her family for years. We wouldn’t have had a Victorian age if she hadn’t have died. Charlottian doesn’t have the same ring, does it?
Great post ruby! I enjoyed it!
Like *Life Going Down*, I had no idea about Charlotte! You’re right though, Charlottian doesn’t have the same ring to it at all. I feel a bit sorry for that male-midwife, though.
An instant follow for your blog! Looking forward to reading more interesting posts!
Thank you! Tell you the truth I was toying with the idea of a royal post and had no idea Charlotte’s anniversary was today until I started researching a different post about Charlotte. And then, of course, it had to be written . . .
Thus is a very interesting piece of history and I feel particularly close to it as I used to live on Claremont Road, in an area 10 minutes walk away from Kingston upon Thames!
Surbiton? Small world! I loved the reference in the newspaper regarding Kingston, so I used it. There are a lot of references to the Duke of Clarence (later William IV) in Kingston – he used to live in Bushy Park, and he was Charlotte’s uncle.
Kingston and its surroundings have an awful lot of history, historians will love it!
Great. It’s always a pleasure to read about kings and queens. Waiting for more such wonderful posts.
Some food in the flavor of history.
Birth related deaths are so terrifying.
Interesting read, especially as I just finished binge-watching Season One of Victoria, so now I know more about Charlotte! Do you have any other blogs on any of the other characters from that show? I must say I am disliking Albert, but I think he is miscast, he looks like Prince the rock star reincarnated!
I’m not too sure, definitely some 19th century. I think I’ll be doing another ‘Thoughts on’ post …. I liked the ease of writing. So there will be Victoria, for sure, and her son Leopold. I’ve been reading about him.
Me too, on the series “Victoria”. This makes her own fear of approaching birth all the more understandable.
Here’s last year’s post which commemorated the death of the heir to the British throne, Princess Charlotte of Wales. At the time, the country was ruled by George III, who was secluded in Windsor, believed mad. His dissolute son, George, the Prince Regent was monarch in all but name. The only member of the family that the public like was Charlotte, who was recently married – and then she was gone.
It’s very sad of course..
…but a really incredible page in the history of the royal family.