The Queen’s lost library
QUEEN CAROLINE (1683–1737), consort of George II, combined an intellectual curiosity, characteristic of enlightened princely courts across Europe, with the duties of consort, mother and queen. One of her many brilliant achievements was the creation of a beautiful, compact library building overlooking Green Park, London SW1. It no longer survives, but it deserves to be remembered.
‘Queen Caroline exchanged her library rooms to please the King and his mistress’
Caroline was raised in the sophisticated courts of Germany, then sent away, first to Berlin, to the court of Frederick III, Elector of Brandenburg, and, after 1692, brought back to Dresden to live with her parents, John Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach and his second wife, Eleonore of Saxe-Eisenach. Tragically, both were dead by 1696: the 13-year-old princess and her 11-year-old brother were taken to Ansbach by their half-brother George Frederick, who had inherited the Margravate. Soon after, Elector Frederick III, their earliest protector,
