Royal Subject: Portraits of Queen Charlotte

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Perhaps the only academic work on the topic of Charlotte and race is Bethany Gregory’s master’s thesis Commemorating Queen Charlotte: Race, Gender, and the Politics of Memory, 1750 to 2014. This is the only work that ties together Rogers’ work from the 1940s, the discussion in 1989 in Charlotte, NC precipitated by a statue of Charlotte, and Valdes’ work in 1999.

The queen died in the presence of her eldest son, the Prince Regent, who was holding her hand as she sat in an armchair at the family's country retreat, Dutch House in Surrey (now known as Kew Palace). [50] She was buried at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. [51] Her husband died just over a year later. She is the longest-serving female consort and second-longest-serving consort in British history (after Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh), having served as such from her marriage (on 8 September 1761) to her death (17 November 1818), a total of 57 years and 70 days. [52] Unattributed painting, whole length in coronation robes, Queen’s College, Oxford (Mrs R. L. Poole, Catalogue of Portraits in the possession of the University, Colleges and City and County of Oxford, II, p 134, no.75). The pose resembles the Ramsay pattern of 1762, but is reversed.

George and Charlotte’s relationship

Less than a year after the marriage, on 12 August 1762, the queen gave birth to her first child, George, Prince of Wales. In the course of their marriage, the couple became the parents of 15 children, [10] all but two of whom ( Octavius and Alfred) survived into adulthood. [11] [12] [13] Medal attributed to William Mossop, conjoined busts of the King and Queen (L. Brown, A Catalogue of British Historical Medals 1760-1960: The Accession of George III to the Death of William IV, 1980, no.529). Space in Queen Charlotte (1762) by Allan Ramsay; Allan Ramsay, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons The queen's arms changed twice to mirror the changes in her husband's arms, once in 1801 and then again in 1816. A funerary hatchment displaying the queen's full coat of arms, painted in 1818, is on display at Kew Palace. [75] [76] Miniature by Richard Cosway, bust length. Royal Collection (R. J. B. Walker, The eighteenth and early nineteenth century Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, 1992, no.174).

The King enjoyed country pursuits and riding and preferred to keep his family's residence as much as possible in the then rural towns of Kew and Richmond. He favoured an informal and relaxed domestic life, to the dismay of some courtiers more accustomed to displays of grandeur and strict protocol. Lady Mary Coke was indignant on hearing in July 1769 that the king, the queen, her visiting brother Prince Ernest and Lady Effingham had gone for a walk through Richmond town by themselves without any servants. "I am not satisfied in my mind about the propriety of a Queen walking in town unattended." [17] Wikimedia Commons Queen Charlotte’s son, William IV, would also later assume Britain’s throne after his older brother’s death. Mezzotint by Thomas Frye from his own drawing, the likeness taken at a London theatre (J. C. Smith, British Mezzotint Portriats, I, p 516), published 24 May 1762 (after Frye’s death). The companion piece of the King engraved by Pether published 1 November 1762. Related but indifferent portraits in oil sold Sotheby’s, 14 March 1951, lot 104, and Christie’s, 17 June 1966, lot 109. A three-quarter length mezzotint by P. Haid evidently derived from Frye’s plate. ordinary in features, but the farthest possible from anything like vulgarity. A professor might despise it, but in the

The 'madness' of King George 

Medal attributed to P. Kempson, with conjoined busts of the King and Queen (L. Brown, A Catalogue of British Historical Medals 1760-1960: The Accession of George III to the Death of William IV, 1980, nos.643-45).

Alicia has been working for artincontext.com since 2021 as an author and art history expert. She has specialized in painting analysis and is covering most of our painting analysis. Painting by William Beechey, half length with white dress and cap. Engraved W. Evans 1809. Copied in enamel by Henry Bone, see NPG 6290.Miniature by Edward Miles, bust length. Royal Collection (R. J. B. Walker, The eighteenth and early nineteenth century Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, 1992, no.270). The Queen sat to Miles on 4 April 1794. As the King gradually became permanently insane, the queen's personality altered: she developed a terrible temper, sank into depression, and no longer enjoyed appearing in public, not even at the musical concerts she had so loved; and her relationships with her adult children became strained. [24] From 1792 she found some relief from her worry about her husband by planning the gardens and decoration of a new residence for herself, Frogmore House, in Windsor Home Park. [25]