Space in Queen Charlotte (1762) by Allan Ramsay; Allan Ramsay, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Wax by Thomas Engleheart. Royal Collection (illus. E. J. Pyke, A Biographical Dictionary of Wax Modellers, 1973, pl.89). Drawing by John Downman, half-length profile. Formerly in the E. M. Hodgkins collection (illus. G. C. Williamson, John Downman, 1907, f.p.VIII). Replica dated 1784 sold Sotheby’s, 26 November 1998, lot 11; another, undated, sold Sotheby’s, 11 July 1985, lot 89. The hanging of the whole sequence of portraits at the Royal Academy in 1783 concerned Gainsborough considerably. On the eve of the exhibition he sent a letter to the Hanging Committee insisting that the portraits should not be hung ‘above the line along with full-lengths’ and said if this happened ‘he never more, whilst he breathes, will send another Picture to the Exhibition’. Wikimedia Commons Queen Charlotte’s son, William IV, would also later assume Britain’s throne after his older brother’s death.

Miniature attributed to Anne Mee, bust length. Royal Collection, with two replicas (R. J. B. Walker, The eighteenth and early nineteenth century Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, 1992, nos.875-77). Miss Foldsone (Mrs Anne Mee) drew the Queen in November 1789 and ‘at different times through life she attended the Royal family to take their miniatures’ ( Journals of Mrs Papendiek, 1887, II, pp 143-44). George suffered his first major bout of mental illness in 1788. The king suffered both physical pain and mental distress, including periods of “ incessant loquacity” in which he talked until he foamed at the mouth. Unable to sleep, he spoke out of turn, accusing his wife of adultery and making inappropriate advances toward her attendants. On one occasion, George even physically assaulted his oldest son, George, Prince of Wales. Mezzotint by J. McArdell after Jeremiah Meyer, half length (illus. R. J. B. Walker, The eighteenth and early nineteenth century Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, 1992, fig.21). Wikimedia Commons Allan Ramsay’s portraits of Queen Charlotte may have been the most realistic, accentuating her non-lily-white features.

L-R: original mezzotint “HER Most Excellent Majesty Charlotte Queen of GREAT BRITAIN &c.” by Thomas Frye (1762) ( RCIN 604595), claimed to have been done from life while Charlotte was at the theatre; a lower-quality line engraving derived The rest of Charlotte's property was sold at auction from May to August 1819. Her clothes, furniture, and even her snuff were sold by Christie's. [56] It is highly unlikely that her husband ever knew of her death. He died blind, deaf, lame and insane 14 months later. [57] Legacy [ edit ] Statue in Queen Square, London

For the distribution of versions paired with Gainsborough’s portrait of the King, see George III. Of the Queen alone there are versions in the Royal Collection by William Hopkins, attributed to Gainsborough Dupont (see also c.1794 below), and two reduced copies (Sir Oliver Millar, The Later Georgian Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, I, 1969, nos.809-12), together with related miniatures attributed to J. H. Hurter and Richard Collins (R. J. B. Walker, The eighteenth and early nineteenth century Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, 1992, nos.242, 326); a miniature copy by Hurter is in the Gilbert Collection (illus. S. Coffin & B. Hofstetter, The Gilbert Collection, Portrait Miniatures in Enamel, 2000, no.30). A half-length copy is at Penshurst, and a derivation at Powis Castle. Desmond Shawe-Taylor, a surveyor of the Queen’s pictures, believes that the theory of Queen Charlotte’s ancestry isn’t supported by Ramsay’s portraits. Two profile drawings by William Hoare. Sotheby’s, 11 November 1993, lot 25. Part of an album of drawings by Hoare compiled 1761-83. ordinary in features, but the farthest possible from anything like vulgarity. A professor might despise it, but in the The queen founded orphanages and, in 1809, became the patron (providing new funding) of the General Lying-in Hospital, a hospital for expectant mothers. It was subsequently renamed as the Queen's Hospital, and is today the Queen Charlotte's and Chelsea Hospital. [38] The education of women was of great importance to her, and she ensured that her daughters were better educated than was usual for young women of the day; however, she also insisted that her daughters live restricted lives close to their mother, and she refused to allow them to marry until they were well-advanced in years. As a result, none of her daughters had surviving legitimate issue (one, Princess Charlotte, had a stillborn daughter during her marriage; another, Princess Sophia, may have had an illegitimate son). [39]As the King gradually became permanently insane, the queen's personality altered: she developed a terrible temper, sank into depression, and no longer enjoyed appearing in public, not even at the musical concerts she had so loved; and her relationships with her adult children became strained. [24] From 1792 she found some relief from her worry about her husband by planning the gardens and decoration of a new residence for herself, Frogmore House, in Windsor Home Park. [25]