A few months later she repaired to Carlsruhe on a visit to the Grand Duke of Baden; but her reception was not such as to induce her to prolong her stay; and when she appeared at Vienna contemptuous neglect awaited her. English families had long since ceased to show her respect; and from the time of her leaving her home to become a wanderer nobody is to blame but herself for whatever ill-treatment she experienced. Up to that period all the world sympathized with her, but they could do so no longer.
Towards the close of the year the sad news of the sudden death of her daughter, the Princess Charlotte, reached her. She bore it with wonderful calmness, and wrote to a friend in England: "I have not only to lament ah ever-beloved child, but a most warmly attached friend, and the only one I have in the kingdom. But she is only gone before. I have not lost her, and I now trust we shall soon meet in a much better world than the present one."
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A.D. 1818. Three of the royal dukes married this year, and towards its close, Queen Charlotte, who had been declining for many months, died suddenly while sitting in a chair.
A.D. 1819. The Duke of Kent, George III.'s fourth son, had married Princess Victoria of Leiningen. The event had no connection with this reign; but we mention it merely to announce the birth of their daughter, which occurred on the twenty-fourth of May. It was not supposed that she would ever mount the throne, therefore her appearance in the world was not considered of great importance. She was christened in June, and received the name of Alexandra Victoria. The baptismal ceremony took place in the grand saloon of Kensington Palace, in presence of the regent and other members of the royal family. The Emperor of Russia was god-father. As this princess is the present Queen of England, we shall have more to say about her by-and-by.
A.D. 1820. The great bell of St. Paul's announced the death of George III. at midnight, on January 29, and the accession of George IV. Before ten days had elapsed the new king was again embroiled with his ministers on the subject of a divorce from his wife, who, having met with a series of insults and petty slights at the various courts of Europe, had made her way to St. Omer, where she awaited her legal advisers before deciding on her future course.
It was Mr. Brougham and Lord Hutchinson who met her there, the latter with a proposition, that as the death of George III. left her without income, the king would grant her fifty thousand pounds per annum on the condition that she would remain on the continent, surrender the title of queen, and never, under any pretext whatever, set foot in England. She refused the proposal with infinite scorn, and declared her intention to proceed to England. This was the result of Mr. Brougham's advice, for he was always friendly to Caroline, and knew that her acceptance of Hutchinson's proposal would be most injurious to her character.