THE MARRIAGE OF PRINCESS CAROLINE
On the evening of Wednesday 8th April 1795 the Prince of Wales (later George IV) was married to his cousin Princess Caroline of Brunswick in the Chapel Royal of St James’s Palace. It would not be an overstatement to say that from the beginning the union was a total disaster. At their first meeting, three days earlier, hardly a word was exchanged between the two of them and on separating from a formal embrace the Prince called for a glass of Brandy and on his leaving the room the Princess was heard to say ‘Mon Dieu est-ce que le Prince est toujours comme cela? Je le trouve trés gros, et nullement aussi beau que son portrait’.
The Prince’s behaviour at the wedding was no better. On two occasions he told his friends that he would never love any other woman but Mrs Fitzherbert and during the ceremony he had to be supported up the aisle by no less than two Dukes because of the excess of wines and spirits that he had consumed. His behaviour during the wedding night was even more unsatisfactory than it had been in the chapel. Not only was he unable to perform in the manner expected of bridegrooms on such an occasion, but he ended the night lying on the floor in a drunken stupor where he was left by his new bride.
After this inauspicious start to their marriage relations between the Prince and Princess of Wales continued to deteriorate. Within two or three weeks of marriage they had ceased to live together as ‘man and wife’, although by some miracle during this period Caroline conceived the future Princess Charlotte. From 1797 they were to all intents and purposes separated, with the Princess of Wales having her own home and social life at Greenwich. Both of them had numerous lovers, the Princess being particularly promiscuous. Amongst her possible lovers were George Canning, a future Prime Minister; Sir Sydney Smith, the hero of Acre; Lawrence, the portrait painter; James Hood, son of the famous admiral; Captain Manby, a naval Captain and Samuel Roberts, a footman.
In 1806, on the instructions of the King, a commission consisting of four Cabinet Ministers was set up to inquire into the amatory affairs of the Princess. This inquiry, which became known as the Delicate Investigation, more for political reasons rather than lack of evidence, came to no firm conclusions. Since then historians have debated with enthusiasm the extent to which she granted ‘the last favour’ to her many male friends. As we will see from her subsequent career, it seems likely she may have been quite generous in this respect.
In 1814 Napoleon abdicated and for the first time for many years it became possible for the English to visit the Continent. Worn out by the continued hostility of her husband and the Queen, and bitterly disappointed by her exclusion from the victory celebrations held in London, Princess Caroline decided to leave England for her native land and stay with her brother, the Duke of Brunswick.
Having left England in August 1814 Princess Caroline did not return to England until June 1820, by which time she was Queen Caroline, George III having died in January of that year. In the intervening years she and her small court led a peripatetic life, mainly in Italy. There was however one constant feature of these travels, the presence of a Signor Bartolomeo Pergami, who had been engaged as a courier by the Princess on her arrival in Italy. He was aged 30 (by this time the Princess was 46) and said to be strikingly good looking.
In eighteen months Pergami transformed his position in Princess Caroline’s establishment and at the beginning of 1816, having been created a Baron of the Order of Malta at the request of the Princess, was appointed her Chamberlain. He had also made progress in other directions and after a cruise around the Mediterranean during 1816, where the onboard sleeping arrangements were most irregular, the Tabloid press of the day and also the Prince Regent, began to think in terms of ‘last favours’.
In 1817, after the death of his daughter and heir, Princess Charlotte, the Prince Regent felt the time had come to make a further attempt to divorce his wife. To do this he needed evidence that she was committing adultery with Signor Pergami and with the reluctant agreement of the Government the Prince Regent appointed three Commissioners to go out to Italy to obtain the necessary evidence.
Despite the difficulties of finding and organising a large number of witnesses, ranging from British naval officers to Italian inn keepers and servant girls, the Milan Commission, as it became known, was confident that it had accumulated sufficient evidence to prove in an English court that Princess Caroline was guilty of adultery. However while the Government were considering what action to take on this evidence another event occurred that changed the situation. On 29 January 1820 King George III died, thereby ending, what had been to that date, the longest reign in English history.
Before the King’s final illness the Princess had indicated that she had no wish to return to England and she was becoming nervous about the evidence that had been collected by the Milan Commission. There seemed to be a possibility that she might agree to a divorce or some other form of permanent separation. On realising she would soon be Queen of England Caroline had second thoughts and she became determined to come home and claim her rights.
Events after the death of George III are described in more detail later and all that needs to be said at this is stage is that on hearing of the death of the King she decided to return to England. After rejecting Government proposals aimed at keeping her on the Continent she arrived in London on the 6th of June.