Born in Germany as Princess of Brunswick, Caroline was betrothed to the eldest son of England’s King George III and heir apparent to the British throne, George, Prince of Wales. At the time of their engagement, they had not met. When the day came, they were both sorely disappointed – he with her lack of decorum and tact, she with his fat appearance. Despite their general revulsion for one another, Caroline bore George a daughter (Princess Charlotte of Wales) nine months after their wedding. Shortly thereafter, the pair separated, and George spitefully restricted Caroline’s access to her daughter. Trapped in a loveless marriage, and about to ascend to the throne, George tried his best to discredit his soon-to-be Queen consort. She was exiled to Italy with an annual allowance of 35,000 pounds, but she returned to assert her position as Queen consort when George became king. Yet King George IV had a trick up his sleeve; he introduced the “Pains and Penalties Bill†into Parliament in an effort to prove her adultery and be granted a legitimate divorce on those grounds. Only George had a problem. The English public loved Caroline more than him and they had no intention of seeing her wronged. Caroline was the first “People’s Princess†long before Princess Diana came onto the scene, and beloved in the same way. Queen consort Caroline became the figurehead of a growing opposition that demanded political reform in England. Unfortunately she would die too soon for history to see how this might have played out. Knowing death was imminent; Caroline got her affairs in order, wrote out her will and planned her own funeral wherein she requested that her tombstone read: “Here lies Caroline, the Injured Queen of England.”
