Book description
Caroline of Brunswick, wife of George Prince of Wales and Prince
Regent, and her daughter, Princess Charlotte, lived out their lived
surrounded by a cast of characters who might have been lifted straight
from the pages of some Gothic novel. Theirs was a saga of passion and
pathos, tragedy and black comedy, feuding and fighting -- all set in
Regency England against a backdrop of Europe in turmoil. The marriage
of the Prince of Wales -- renowned for his intemperance, hedonism and
plain ordinary selfishness -- to his cousin Caroline of Brunswick in
1795 with a preordained disaster. The groom is said to have called for
brandy when he first laid eyes on the bride, while the bride was later
to swear that the groom spent most of their wedding night lying in the
grate in a drunken stupor. Brought together for reasons of financial
and dynastic expediencey, the couple split up within a year of the
birth of their daughter, Charlotte Augusta in 1796. The colourful
story of these two fiercely dependent and ultimately tragic women is
brilliantly told by Alison Plowden, tapping into a wealth of
contemporary correspondence, journals, memoirs and contemporary press
reportage. 'Caroline & Charlotte' constitutes a real-life Regency
romance which makes gripping and poignant reading.
