Queen's House by Edna Healey

would have fallen at his feet; he prevented and embraced her, and led her into the apartments, where she was received by the Princess of Wales and Lady Augusta: these three Princesses only dined with the King. At ten the procession went to chapel, preceded by unmarried daughters of peers, peers, and peeresses in plenty. The new Princess was led by the Duke of York and Prince William; the Archbishop married them; the King talked to her the whole time with great good humour, and the Duke of Cumberland gave her away. She is not tall, nor a beauty; pale, and very thin; but looks sensible, and is genteel. Her hair is darkish and fine; her forehead low, her nose very well, except the nostrils spreading too wide; her mouth has the same fault, but her teeth are good. She talks a good deal, and French tolerably; possesses herself, is frank, but with great respect to the King. After the ceremony, the whole company came into the drawing-room for about ten minutes, but nobody was presented that night. 3
    In three short months Charlotte had been transformed from a quiet and plain princess of an obscure and remote German dukedom to be Queen of England, with her own two dower houses, Somerset House in London and the White House at Kew.
    She had an immense household of her own. The Duke of Manchester was her Lord Chamberlain, the Duchess of Ancaster her Mistress of the Robes. She had
    two vice-Chamberlains, two Gentleman Ushers of the Privy Chamber, three gentleman ushers daily waiters, three gentleman ushers quarterly waiters, twopages of the Presence Chamber, four pages of the backstairs, physicians, surgeons and apothecaries, ‘an operator for the teeth’, six Ladies of the Bedchamber, six Maids of Honour and six Women of the Bedchamber. 4
    Her ‘mistress laundress, sempstress & starcher’ was an elderly daughter of a nobleman.
    Since Queen Charlotte spoke no English, it was with great relief that she turned to the two ladies she had brought from Germany, the ferocious Elizabeth Schwellenberg and Louisa Hagedorn. Although the King had discouraged the introduction of foreign attendants, he did allow her to bring one of her household, Frederick Albert. This highly intelligent and cultured man was to remain her faithful servant for the rest of his life.
    It was an exceptionally happy marriage, for which the King thanked his ‘dearest friend’ Bute most effusively. Now it was Queen Charlotte who took his old mentor’s place. After a brief, unsuccessful spell as the King’s Prime Minister, Bute retired and the Queen gave the King the warm companionship that his affectionate nature demanded. Years later, during the black period of his ill health, he could say, ‘The Queen is my best friend.’ And though, when illness loosened his tongue, he revealed a suppressed lust for Lady Pembroke, whom he called Queen Esther, he remained steadfastly faithful and doting.
    The King’s choice of a palace was equally happy – at least for the first years. There were a number of alternatives. There had been, in the past, plans to build a new palace in St James’s Park – one architect even suggesting diverting the canals around Buckingham House so that there could be a ceremonial water approach. The old Whitehall Palace on the Thames had been destroyed by fire in 1698, and only the Banqueting House remained, and it could have been rebuilt; Somerset House on the Strand, with a superb terrace overlooking the Thames, the traditional dower house for royal consorts, could have been enlarged. As a bachelor the King had lived at Savile House next door to his mother’s mansion in Leicester Square, and his father, when Prince of Wales, had also bought Carlton House in London. Then there was Hampton Court, beloved of William III and Queen Mary, but George III, it was said, had never forgotten unhappy times there when his grandfather, GeorgeII, had boxed his ears. Windsor Castle was not in good condition at this