By George! She Found Her Man.

Prince George IV and his daughter, Princess Charlotte, didn’t see eye to eye on whom she should marry. He thought she should marry a buddy of his; an alcoholic bounder. She thought not. It became a contest of wills.

If the Prince Regent thought he held all the high cards in his showdown with Charlotte, he overlooked something rather obvious. No amount of privation would change Charlotte’s mind. She was right, being kept in Cranbourne Lodge wasn’t pleasant, but it was a damned sight better than being married to an ugly, stupid drunk. Dad could not possibly keep her prisoner forever, but once she married the Prince of Orange…

She sent dad a letter laying out, again, her intention to never marry the Prince of Orange. Dad gave up. With a heavy heart, dad responded that she had won. He would never bring the subject up again. She was free to do as she pleased. Princess Charlotte began to improve immediately.

She stayed on at Cranbourne Lodge for several weeks, because she wanted to, not because she had to. She was sending and receiving mail freely. Lady Ilchester noted “an air of happiness about her which she had not seen before.”

This was partly attributable to the fact that Princess Charlotte had met a man she actually did want to marry. He filled the bill perfectly. At least, among the fellas she had seen to date. She wrote to Miss Elphinstone; “at all events, I know that worse off…I cannot be than I am now, and after all if I end by marrying Prince L, I marry the best of all those I have seen, and that is some satisfaction.”

Prince L was Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg- Saalfeld, a very minor German Principality. Dad was not thrilled with her choice. He could see no advantage in Charlotte marrying such a fellow. Why, not only was his family of no political importance, they were poor as church mice! Leopold may have been a prince, but he was renting an apartment above a grocer’s shop in Marylebone High Street. Imagine the scandal if a fellow like that were to be seen…looking for a job!

But there were things that dad could not see that Charlotte did that made all the difference. Trivial things, to be sure, but girls latch onto the silliest things. According to one historian, Prince Leopold “was good looking and charming in a rather solemn kind of way. Talented and respected, he was as smart as the Prince of Orange was slovenly.”

How Charlotte could prefer good looking, smart, respected, talented and charming, but poor, to ugly, stupid and drunk, but rich, baffled dad. If dad was baffled by Charlotte’s choice, he was enraged to learn that Charlotte was being encouraged in her choice by…the Duchess of Oldenburg! Was there no end to the evil that woman was willing to perpetrate? What had he EVER done to her?

The fact that the Prince Regent’s brother, the Duke of Kent, championed the match was not a plus in their favor. In fact, it was the Duke who served as courier for letters between the two. However, the Duke of York also favored the match, as did Lord Castlereagh, who had met Leopold at the Congress of Vienna and formed a very high opinion of him. Dad was out-maneuvered. William was out, Leopold was in. At least Charlotte was getting married. Now she would be her husbands cross to bear. Leopold didn’t see it that way at all. Self-aggrandizement was not among Leopold’s faults. The fact that Charlotte was heir to the Throne of England was not the reason he wanted to marry her. Indeed, Charlotte being who she was, or rather, who she would become, made things more difficult for the two of them as far as he was concerned.

Most people who were close to both agreed. Leopold’s attraction to Charlotte was genuine, as was hers to him. In January 1816, the engagement was announced. Bowing to the inevitable, dad decided if this thing were to be done, it had to be done right. The Prince Regent had a party to plan.

The party would be held at Brighton Pavilion. Unlike most of the Prince’s parties, this was kept small. Small by his standards anyway. Thirty to forty at dinner. Since this was her granddaughters party, the Queen couldn’t hope to keep the Princesses at Windsor. With the exception of meals and musical entertainments, nothing was planned. This gave the guests plenty of time to explore the Pavilion, which awed everyone.

“Guests strolled up and down between the cast iron and bamboo staircases at either end of the Chinese Gallery, their brilliant suits and dresses illuminated by the colored lanterns and reflected in the panels of looking glass on the doors.”

Wrote Lady Ilchester to a friend; “The Chinese scene is gay beyond description, and I am sure you would admire it, as well as the manner of living at the Pavilion.”

Charlotte was extremely happy that dad seemed to be taking it so well, the Prince was happy to see his daughter, and everyone else, so happy, although his gout was bothering him and he had to be wheeled about in a Merlin chair. The Princesses were beside themselves to out of the “Windsor Nunnery” and even the Queen was reported to be “much better tempered than usual.”

Not long after this, Charlotte visited The Queen so she could get a dose of queenly advice on how to be a good royal wife and mother. This was quickly dispensed and then the two got on with what grandma really wanted to talk about. Planning her wedding and reception! Woohoo! This was gonna be fun! And complicated, and expensive.

Plans had to be laid as to living arrangements after the wedding. Staff had to be appointed, budgets drawn up, the houses furnished and decorated, carriages ordered. And Prince Leopold, everyone just adored him to bits…but…it was too, too obvious that he had precious little to spend on a wardrobe. That had to be taken care of right away. Time for a Royal Makeover!

— Mr Al