Indiscretions of the Queen

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THE Court of Brunswick was preparing to celebrate the marriage of Princess Charlotte Georgiana Augusta to Frederick William, Prince of Würtemberg. The Princess was sixteen years old but quite ready for marriage, for life at the Court of Brunswick was free and easy; and both she and her sister, Caroline Amelia Elizabeth, had never suffered the restrictions which were considered necessary in most royal courts. The girls had run wild, mixing with servants and villagers; and they already knew what obligations marriage entailed.

The Princess Caroline was in the schoolroom thinking about her sister’s marriage, wondering when there would be a similar occasion for her, and plaguing her governess, the Baroness de Bode, with questions.

‘Now, Baroness,’ she was saying, ‘whom do you think they will select for me?’

‘Your Highness knows that that day is some years distant.’

‘Some years?’ demanded Caroline. ‘But why, pray? If Charlotte can marry at sixteen, why not I?’

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