Caroline the Illustrious, vol. 1 (of 2) : $b Queen-Consort of George II. and sometime Queen-Regent; a study of her life and timeWilkins, W. H. (William Henry)
History
Caroline the Illustrious, vol. 1 (of 2) : $b Queen-Consort of George II. and sometime Queen-Regent; a study of her life and time
Wilkins, W. H. (William Henry)
Caroline, Queen, consort of George II, King of Great Britain, 1683-1737
This was the home in which Caroline spent the greater part of nine
years, and we have dwelt upon it because the impressions she received
and the opinions she formed at Lützenburg, during her girlhood
influenced her in after years. The King of Prussia was Caroline’s
guardian, and after her mother’s death, Sophie Charlotte assumed a
mother’s place to the little princess, who had now become an orphan and
friendless indeed. Her step-brother was ruling at Ansbach, and Caroline
was not very welcome there; indeed she was looked upon rather as an
encumbrance than otherwise, and the only thing to be done was to marry
her off as quickly as possible. There seems to have been some idea of
betrothing her, when she was a mere child, to the Duke of Saxe-Gotha,
but she could hardly have been in love with him, as Horace Walpole
relates, for the Duke married some one else when Caroline was only
thirteen years of age.
Sophie Charlotte caused her adopted daughter to be thoroughly educated,
and carefully trained in the accomplishments necessary to her position.
Caroline’s quickness and natural ability early made themselves
manifest. Sophie Charlotte had no daughter of her own, and her heart
went out to the young Princess of Ansbach, who returned her love
fourfold, and looked up to her with something akin to adoration. Her
admiration led to a remarkable likeness between the two in speech and
gesture; nor did the likeness end here. Caroline was early admitted to
the reunions at Lützenburg, and permitted to listen to the frank and
free discussions which took place there. Such a training, though it
might shake her beliefs, could not fail to sharpen her wits and enlarge
her knowledge, and there is abundant evidence to show that in later
life she adopted Sophie Charlotte’s views, not only in ethics and
philosophy, but in conduct and morals. But she was more practical and
less transcendental than the Queen of Prussia, and, like the Electress
Sophia, she loved power, and took a keen interest in political affairs.
In this manner Caroline’s girlhood passed. We may picture her walking
up and down the garden walks and terraces of Lützenburg hearing Leibniz
expound his philosophy, or sitting with the Queen of Prussia on her
favourite seat under the limes discussing with her “the why of the
why”. She was the Queen’s constant companion and joy, and when, as it
sometimes happened, she was obliged to leave Berlin for a while to pay
a visit to her brother at Ansbach, Sophie Charlotte declared she found
Lützenburg “a desert”.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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