“As the Princess of Ansbach promised, and as I mentioned in my despatch of the day before yesterday, her Highness made known my mission to her brother, the Margrave, the same evening, and received his consent, which he gave with great pleasure. They thereupon sent a joint message by an express courier to the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt begging him to be good enough to repair hither without delay; the Princess asked the Landgrave to come in order that he might be an adviser to her and her brother, and help to determine the question of her appanage and her settlements. These will probably be easily settled. There is not likely to be any difference between the Princess and her brother on the question of settlements, except that he wishes to give up to her everything left to her by the will of the deceased Margrave, and she declines to accept so much from him.
“Meanwhile, though my credentials have not yet arrived, acting on the Princess’s advice, I had a special audience with the Margrave, and thanked him for his favourable reply, urging at the same time despatch in the matter. Further, I asked that Councillor Voit might act as one of the trustees. To all these requests he replied most politely, and assured me that he considered your Electoral Highness’s request as an honour to his House and a piece of good fortune to his family, and he was deeply obliged to your Electoral Highness for it, and would endeavour at all times to show your Electoral Highness devotion and respect.
“Court Councillor Serverit, who is here, and who was private secretary to the late Margrave, and is still intimate with the Princess, received a letter yesterday from Court Councillor Metsch, wherein he says he has been summoned by both the Emperor and the Elector Palatine, who have commissioned him to make a final representation on behalf of the King of Spain, and he therefore must earnestly request Court Councillor Serverit to repair to some place, such as Nuremberg, where he could meet and confer with him. But her Highness, the Princess, ordered Court Councillor Serverit to reply by special courier to Court Councillor Metsch that it was not worth his trouble to journey to Nuremberg or anywhere else, as she held firmly to the resolution she had already formed, all the more as the matter was no longer res integra. Thus your Electoral Highness has chosen the right moment to send me here, not only on account of this message, but also because of the absence of Privy Councillor von Breidow; and if only the courier will bring me the necessary instructions and authorisation from your Electoral Highness with regard to the marriage contract, as everything is in readiness, the matter can be settled at once. I also hope that the Princess will not long delay her departure from Ansbach, and will not break her journey to Hanover anywhere but at Eisenach. It is true she told Councillor Voit, when at my suggestion he mentioned to her that I was pressed for time, that she had no coaches or appanage ready, and the Councillor also gave me to understand that the Margrave would need time to make proper arrangements for the journey. But I, on the other hand, pointed out that your Electoral Highness cared for none of these things, and needed nothing else but to see the Princess in person, and hoped as soon as possible to receive her. Whereupon the Councillor assured me that her Highness would not take it amiss if I pressed the matter somewhat urgently, and that he would do all in his power to help me. I now only await the courier.... I have so much good to tell concerning the Princess’s merits, beauty, understanding and manner that your Electoral Highness will take a real and sincere pleasure in hearing it.”[15]
The courier from Hanover duly arrived at Ansbach bringing the Elector’s warrant, which gave Eltz full powers to arrange the marriage contract and settle the matter of the impending alliance between “our well-beloved son, George Augustus, Duke and Electoral Prince of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and our well-beloved Princess Wilhelmina Caroline, Princess of Brandenburg in Prussia, of Magdeburg, Stettin and Pomerania, of Casuben and Wenden, also Duchess of Crossen in Silesia, Electress of Nuremberg, Princess of Halberstadt, Minden and Cannin, and Countess of Hohenzollern, etc., etc.,” as Caroline was grandiloquently described. Her long string of titles contrasted with her lack of dowry, for she brought to her future consort nothing but her beauty and her talents, which, however, were more than enough.
QUEEN CAROLINE’S ROOM IN THE CASTLE OF ANSBACH.
The preliminaries being settled, Count Platen was told by the Elector, who was still at Pyrmont, to acquaint the Electress Dowager with what had been done. The Electress expressed her surprise that “the whole matter had been kept secret from her,” but she was so overjoyed at the realisation of her hopes that she waived her resentment at the lack of courtesy with which she had been treated.[16] As the “Heiress of Great Britain” the marriage of her grandson, who was in the direct line of succession to the English throne, was a matter in which she had certainly a right to be consulted. But as it all turned out exactly as she would have wished, she put aside her chagrin and prepared to give the bride a hearty welcome.
The betrothal soon became an open secret, and the Duke of Celle, George Augustus’s maternal grandfather, was formally acquainted with the good news, and came to Hanover to offer his congratulations. Poley adds the following significant note: “During the Duke of Celle’s being here, the Duchess of Celle goes to stay with her daughter, and probably to acquaint her with her son’s marriage”.[17] This daughter was the unfortunate wife of the Elector, Sophie Dorothea, the family skeleton of the House of Hanover, whom her husband had put away and kept a prisoner at Ahlden. This was the only notification of the marriage made to her, and she was not allowed to send a letter to her son or to his future wife.
A few days later the good news was publicly proclaimed. Poley writes: “On Sunday, the 26th, just before dinner, the Elector declared that there was concluded a treaty of marriage between his son the Electoral Prince and the Princess of Ansbach, and the Prince received the compliments of the court upon it, and at dinner there were many healths drunk to his good success. So that the mystery is now at an end which hath hitherto been concealed with so much care.... The Prince’s clothes are now making, and the comedians have an order to be in readiness to act their best plays, of which they have already given in a list, though it is thought the mourning for the Emperor may delay the wedding some weeks longer if the Prince’s impatience does not make him willing to hasten it. The Electress told me on Sunday night that the Elector had left the Prince entirely to his own choice, and the Electress herself hath a very great kindness for her, and since her last visit to Berlin, the Princess of Ansbach hath been always talked of at this court as the most agreeable Princess in Germany.”[18]
After this there was no long delay, and everything was done to hasten forward the marriage. The Princess of Ansbach only asked for time to make necessary preparations for departure, and agreed to waive all unnecessary ceremony. At Hanover it was settled that the Electoral Prince and Princess should have the apartments in the Leine Schloss formerly occupied by Sophie Dorothea of Celle when Electoral Princess, and the same household and establishment allotted to them—“nothing very great,” remarks Poley.