The Queen of Hearts
Some marriages are made in heaven. Others, such as that of George, Prince of Wales, and his cousin, Caroline of Brunswick, are straight from hell. Far from being a romantic fairytale, when Caroline married the heir to the throne, it was the start of one of the most vitriolic royal tales that history has ever known.
Today we’re used to our media-savvy royals gazing into one another’s eyes, filled with hope for the future and dreams of a happy family, but in the Georgian era, love often didn’t come into it. In the case of George and Caroline, the marriage was one of necessity. A compulsive spender with a love of women, George was drowning in debt. When he went cap in hand to his father, King George III, and begged for a handout, the monarch offered him a deal. If the prince would agree to marry Caroline, the daughter of the king’s sister, then his debts would be settled. Caroline’s family, meanwhile, accepted the suit readily. The princess had proven difficult to match with a prospective husband so to be offered the hand of the heir to one of the most powerful thrones in the world was an offer they couldn’t and wouldn’t turn down.
What the Prince of Wales didn’t think to mention
