Read Charlotte & Leopold Online
Authors: James Chambers
Leopold did not live long enough to know that the Mexican adventure had ended in such tragedy. When he died at his country house at Laeken, on 10 December 1865, his daughter was still an empress.
Knowing that he was dying, he asked that his body be taken to England and buried in Windsor with his first wife and their son. He even wrote to Victoria, who agreed to it. His ministers, however, would not allow it. He was the King of the Belgians. He must be buried among his people. But they could only control his earthly remains. Gathered round the bed in accordance with tradition to witness the last moments of their king, they must have known that his heart and mind were in England, when they heard him whisper as life left him, ‘Charlotte… Charlotte.’
The principal sources for this book are newspapers, journals, published letters, diaries and memoirs. Since almost all quotations are already identified by their source and date in the text, it seemed superfluous to identify them again by page numbers in chapter notes.
Albermarle, 3
rd
Earl of,
Fifty Years of my Life,
2 vols. (London, 1876)
Argyll, Duke of, ed.,
Intimate Society Letters of the Eighteenth Century,
2 vols. (London, 1910)
Aspinall, A., ed.,
Letters of the Princess Charlotte, 1811–1817
, (London, 1949)
Aspinall, A., ed.,
The Correspondence of George, Prince of Wales,
1770–1812
, 8 vols. (London, 1963–71)
Aspinall, A., ed.,
The Letters of King George IV, 1812–1830,
3 vols. (Cambridge, 1938)
Bauer, Caroline,
Memoirs of Caroline Bauer
, Trans. (London, 1884)
Benson, A. C. and Esher, Viscount, ed.,
The Letters of Queen Victoria, 1837–61,
3 vols. (London, 1908)
The Book, or the Proceedings and correspondence upon the Subject of the Inquiry into the Conduct of the Princess of Wales
(London, 1813)
Brougham, Henry,
The Life and Times of Henry Lord Brougham written by himself,
3 vols. (London, 1871)
Bury, Lady Charlotte,
The Diary of a Lady in Waiting
, ed. A.F. Steuart, 2 vols. (London, 1907)
Fairburn, J., ed.,
An Inquirey, or Delicate Investigation, into the Conduct of Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales
4
th
ed. (London, 1820)
Glenbervie, Lord,
The Diaries of Sylvester Douglas, Lord Glenbervie
, ed. Francis Bickley, 2 vols (London 1928)
Knight, Cornelia,
Autobiography
, 2 vols. (London, 1861)
Lewis, Lady Theresa, ed.,
Extracts of the Journals and Correspondence of Miss Berry from the year 1783 to 1852
(London, 1865)
Londonderry, 3
rd
Marquess of, ed.,
Memoirs and Correspondence of Viscount Castlereagh, 2
nd
Marquess of Londonderry
, 12 vols. (London, 1853)
Malmesbury, 3
rd
Earl of, ed.,
Diaries and Correspondence of James Harris, First Earl
of Malmesbury
, 4 vols. (London, 1844)
Minto, Countess of, ed.,
Life and Letters of Sir Gilbert Elliot, 1
st
Earl of Minto,
3 vols. (London, 1874)
Murray, the Hon. Amelia,
Recollections, 1803–1837
, (London, 1868)
Quennell, Peter, and Powell, Dilys, ed.,
The Private Letters of Princess Lieven to Prince Metternich
(London, 1948)
Robinson, Lionel G., ed.,
Letters of Dorothea Princess Lieven during her Residence in London, 1812–1834
, 2 vols. (London, 1902)
Stockmar, Baron E. von,
Denkwurdigkeiten aus den Papieren des Frieherrn Christian Friedrich von Stockmar
(Brunswick, 1872)
Temperley, Harold, ed.,
The Unpublished Diary and Political Sketches of Princess Lieven together with some of Her Letters
(London, 1925)
Wellington, 2
nd
Duke of, ed.,
Supplementary Despatches, correspondence, and Memoranda of Arthur Duke of Wellington [1797–1819]
, 15 vols. (1858–65)
The Morning Chronicle
The Times
The Gentleman’s Magazine
Adolphus, J. H.,
The Trial of Her Majesty, Queen Caroline
(London, 1820)
Aspinall, A.,
Lord Brougham and the Whig Party
(Manchester, 1927)
Bridge, F. R. and Bullen, R.,
The Great Powers and the European State System, 1815–1914
(New York, 1980)
Bury, J. P. T.,
Napoleon III and the Second Empire
(London, 1964)
Corti, E. C.,
Leopold I of Belgium,
trans. J. McCabe (London, 1923)
Creston, Dormer,
The Regent and his Daughter
(London, 1932)
Fulford, Roger,
Royal Dukes
, (London, 1933)
Fulford, Roger,
George the Fourth,
(London, 1935)
Fulford, Roger,
The Trial of Queen Caroline
(London, 1967)
Gash, N.,
Lord Liverpool
(London, 1984)
Green, Thomas,
Memoirs of Her Late Royal Highness, Charlotte Augusta of Wales And Saxe-Coburg
(London, 1818)
Gronow, Captain R. H.,
Reminiscences
(London, 1861–6)
Hamilton, Lady Anne,
Secret History of the Court of England, from the accession of George III to the death of George IV,
2 vols. (London, 1832)
Hawes, Francis,
Henry Brougham
, (London, 1957)
Hibbert, Christopher,
George IV, Regent and King, 1811–1830
(London, 1973)
Hinde, W.,
George Canning
(London, 1973)
Holden, A.,
Uncle Leopold
(London, 1936)
Holme, Thea,
Prinny’s Daughter
(London, 1976)
Huish, Robert,
Memoir of the Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Coburg
(London, 1818)
Jones, Mrs Herbert,
The Princess Charlotte of Wales
(London, 1885)
Juste, T.,
Memoirs of Leopold I, King of the Belgians
, Trans. R. Black, 2 vols. (London, 1868)
Lucas-Dubreton, J.,
Louis-Philippe
(Paris, 1938)
Plowden, Alison,
Caroline and Charlotte
(London,1989)
Renier, G. G.,
The Ill-fated Princess
(London, 1932)
Richardson, Joanna,
The Disastrous Marriage
(London, 1960)
Smith, E. A.,
A Queen on Trial
(London, 1993)
Smith, E. A.,
Lord Grey, 1764-1845
(London, 1990)
Staniland, K.,
In Royal Fashions
(London, 1997)
Stuart, D. M.,
Daughter of England
(London, 1951)
Weigall, Lady Rose,
A Brief Memoir of the Princess Charlotte of Wales
(London, 1874)
Jacket: Engraved by W. T. Fry after a drawing by George Dawe (Museum of London)
Plates: The Prince Regent, Sir William Beechey (Royal Collection)
Caroline of Brunswick (Royal Collection)
Princess Charlotte by Sir Thomas Lawrence (Royal Collection)
Claremont House by Caleb R. Stanley (Royal Collection)
Cornelia Knight by Angelica Kauffmann (City of Manchester Art Gallery)
Mercer Elphinstone by John Hoppner (Marquess of Lansdowne)
Crimson Drawing Room by W. H. Pyre (
Royal Residences
, 1819)
Charlotte by George Dawe (National Portrait Gallery)
Charlotte by Richard Woodman (National Portrait Gallery)
Leopold (Royal Collection)
Henry Brougham by J. Lonsdale (National Portrait Gallery)
Hortense by Anne-Louis Girodet-Trioson (Rijkmuseum)
Madame Récamier by Jacque-Louis David (Louvre)
‘A German Present’ by Williams
The Heriditary Prince of Orange by J. B. Van der Hulst (Foundation of the Historical Collections of the House of Orange-Nassau)
Leopold by Sir Thomas Lawrence (Imperial Library of Vienna)
Leopold in Garter Robes by Sir Thomas Lawrence (Royal Collection)
‘To Be, or, Not to Be’ by Lewis Marks
‘A Brighton Hot Bath’ by George Cruickshank
Every effort has been made to acknowledge correctly the source and/or copyright holder of each picture, and the publisher apologises for any unintentional errors or omissions, which will be corrected in future editions.