In order to make this book as complete as possible I have visited Ansbach, where Caroline was born, Berlin, the scene of her girlhood, and Hanover, where she spent her early married years. I have searched the Archives in all these places, and have further examined the records in the State Paper Office, London, and the Manuscript Department of the British Museum. A list of these, and of other authorities quoted herein, published and unpublished, will be found at the end of this book.

In The Love of an Uncrowned Queen (Sophie Dorothea of Celle, Consort of George the First) I gave a description of the Courts of Hanover and Celle until the death of the first Elector of Hanover, Ernest Augustus. This book continues those studies of the Court of Hanover at a later period. It brings the Electoral family over to England and sketches the Courts of George the First and George the Second until the death of Queen Caroline. The influence which Caroline wielded throughout that troublous time, and the part she played in maintaining the Hanoverian dynasty upon the throne of England, have never been fully recognised. George the First and George the Second were not popular princes; it would be idle to pretend that they were. But Caroline’s gracious and dignified personality, her lofty ideals and pure life did much to counteract the unpopularity of her husband and father-in-law, and redeem the early Georgian era from utter grossness. She was rightly called by her contemporaries “The Illustrious”. If this book helps to do tardy justice to the memory of a great Queen and good woman it will not have been written in vain.

W. H. WILKINS.

FOOTNOTE TO PREFACE:

[1] Dr. A. W. Ward’s sketch of Caroline of Ansbach in the Dictionary of National Biography contains some facts concerning this period of her life, but they are necessarily brief.

CONTENTS.

BOOK I. Electoral Princess of Hanover.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Ansbach and its Margraves [3]
CHAPTER II.
The Court of Berlin [14]
CHAPTER III.
The Wooing of the Princess [36]
CHAPTER IV.
The Court of Hanover [59]
CHAPTER V.
The Heiress of Great Britain [88]
CHAPTER VI.
The Last Year at Hanover [105]
BOOK II. Princess of Wales.
CHAPTER I.
The Coming of the King [137]
CHAPTER II.
The Court of the First George [159]
CHAPTER III.
The Reaction [186]
CHAPTER IV.
The White Rose [210]
CHAPTER V.
After the Rising [234]
CHAPTER VI.
The Guardian of the Realm [255]
CHAPTER VII.
The Royal Quarrel [271]
CHAPTER VIII.
Leicester House and Richmond Lodge [287]
CHAPTER IX.
The Reconciliation [316]
CHAPTER X.
The South Sea Bubble [341]
CHAPTER XI.
To Osnabrück! [364]
INDEX [385]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Caroline, Princess of Wales. From the painting by Sir Godfrey Kneller
[Frontispiece]
to face page
The Castle of Ansbach [8]
Lützenburg (Charlottenburg) [20]
Sophia Charlotte, Queen of Prussia. From the original portrait by Wiedman [34]
Queen Caroline’s Room in the Castle of Ansbach [54]
George II. and Queen Caroline at the Time of their Marriage [70]
The Electress Sophia of Hanover [88]
Leibniz [102]
Herrenhausen [124]
The Ceremony of the Champion of England Giving the Challenge at the Coronation [152]
King George I. From the painting by Sir Godfrey Kneller in the National Portrait Gallery [174]
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (in Eastern dress) [200]
Prince James Francis Edward Stuart (The Chevalier de St. George). From the picture in the National Portrait Gallery [218]
Lord Nithisdale’s Escape from the Tower. From an old print [242]
Pavilions Belonging to the Bowling Green, Hampton Court, temp. George I. [258]
Leibnizhaus, Hanover (where Leibniz died) [270]
Caroline, Princess of Wales, and Her Infant Son, Prince George William. From an old print [284]
Leicester House, Leicester Square, temp. George I. [302]
Mary, Countess Cowper. From the original portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller [324]
The South Sea Bubble. From an old cartoon [346]
Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke [358]

BOOK I.
ELECTORAL PRINCESS OF HANOVER.