For visual evidence, Rogers includes a low-quality monochromatic reproduction of the 1762 Allan Ramsay portrait. Below, the image from Sex and Race on the left, compared with the original painting on the right. The Queen Charlotte painting depicts a full-length portrait of the queen, who is the central figure. She is gazing at us, the viewers, with a soft smile. She is standing in her regal coronation robes; her right arm (our left) hangs at her side and her left hand (our right) is lightly touching her crown, which stands on a blue velvet and gold trimmed cushion on a table at her left side.

Margarita de Castro e Souza herself descended from King Alfonso III of Portugal and his concubine, Madragana, a Moor that Alfonso III took as his lover after conquering the town of Faro in southern Portugal. Allan Ramsay became one of the “Principal Painters in Ordinary” for King George III, a position he reportedly started from 1761 to his death in 1784. Gregory states that Ramsay’s portrait of the queen depicted her with “mulatto” features, including brown eyes, brown skin, curly brown hair, and a “masculine nose,” cited to Valdes, though Valdes does not actually use this term for the Ramsey portrait. Likewise, that “Rogers argued that the only artist who ever painted her as her true self was Allan Ramsay (Figure 5), who captured the Queen as a true mulatto,” which, as previously described, Rogers actually uses the exact language of having a “Negro strain.” The research notes / rough draft for this work can be found here. Addendum 2: Mistakes in Gregory (2016) Miniature attributed to Richard Collins, profile, set in a tortoiseshell box. Royal Collection (R. J. B. Walker, The eighteenth and early nineteenth century Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, 1992, no.172). The hairstyle recurs in the Henry Morland portrait of c.1764.

George and Charlotte’s relationship

Drawing by Richard Cosway, seated whole length, the head alone finished. Bonham’s, 10 April 2002, lot 370 (illus. G. Barnett, Richard & Maria Cosway, 1995, pl.IIIC). This portrait of Queen Charlotte forms part of the series of fifteen portraits probably commissioned by Queen Charlotte of the royal family. They were painted at Windsor in September and October 1782. On 30 October the Morning Herald reported that Gainsborough ‘has just completed his painting of the whole Royal Family, at Windsor... all of which are spoken of as highly-finished characteristic portraits of the illustrious personages who sat to him’. All the portraits were exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1783 (134). Painting by Angelica Kauffmann, three-quarter length, 'Raising the Genius of the Fine Arts'; engraved T. Burke 1772 (illus. W. W. Roworth ed., Angelica Kauffman, a Continental Artist in Georgian England, 1992, p 144; A. M. Clark et al., Angelika Kauffmann und ihr Zeitgenossen, exhibition catalogue, Bregenz, Vienna, 1998, p 159). A version sold New York, 21 February 1916, lot 331, and a half-length pastel of the Queen alone is in a private collection. A miniature copy by J. H. Hurter sold Christie’s, 11 July 1985, lot 431. 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

Eventually, Charlotte’s son George (later George IV) took over the throne as regent. But her husband would remain ill for the rest of his life, and by 1789 the queen’s hair had “turned white under the stress of the King’s illness.” When Charlotte died in 1818, her husband was so ill he did not understand his wife was dead. Medal by Wilmore, Alston & Co (L. Brown, A Catalogue of British Historical Medals 1760-1960: The Accession of George III to the Death of William IV, 1980, nos.278-79). information about how our city happened to be named for her, why we should love her, her life, character, portraits, her favorite home and a few other things concerning her may prove interesting.” The principal surveys of Charlotte’s iconography are contained in the catalogues of the Royal Collection (Sir Oliver Millar, The Later Georgian Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, I, 1969 and R. J. B. Walker, The eighteenth and early nineteenth century Miniatures in the Collection of Her Majesty The Queen, 1992) and in the National Gallery exhibition catalogue by Michael Levey (M. Levey, A Royal Subject, Portraits of Queen Charlotte, 1977). I don’t think a prisoner could wish more ardently for his liberty than I wish to be rid of my burden and see the end of my campaign. I would be happy if I knew this was the last time,” she wrote in a 1780 letter while pregnant with her 14th child, Prince Alfred.Engraving by R. Houston after Robert Pile [presumably Pine] three-quarter length holding the infant Prince of Wales. The head taken from Frye’s mezzotint of 1762. Charlotte was unknown and thought to have no political connections or aims. This was seen as a plus by George’s political advisers, who wanted British interests to prevail after the king’s marriage. And so, though George had never met Charlotte, in 1761 an emissary proposed marriage on his behalf. Charlotte accepted, and the arranged marriage took place just six hours after the young princess arrived in England.

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 Queen Charlotte's tastes were rather less plain than her husband's, and she had some very luxurious rooms in the new Queen's House. She assembled an impressive collection of furniture, Sèvres porcelain and oriental decorative arts, in ivory, porcelain, embroidered silk and lacquer and she also collected jewelled and gold boxes. Some of the most expensive furniture in the collection was made for Queen Charlotte, for example this Vile & Cobb jewel cabinet to house her extensive collection of diamonds and pearls. The French Revolution of 1789 probably added to the strain that Charlotte felt. [47] Queen Charlotte and Queen Marie Antoinette of France had maintained a close relationship. Charlotte was 11 years older than Marie Antoinette, yet they shared many interests, such as their love of music and the arts, about which they were both enthusiastic. Never meeting face to face, they confined their friendship to pen and paper. Marie Antoinette confided in Charlotte upon the outbreak of the French Revolution. Charlotte had organized apartments to be prepared and ready for the refugee royal family of France to occupy. [48] Notice the finer brushstrokes that create the rich decorative patterns on the queen’s coronation dress.Painting by Thomas Stothard, George III and his Family, engraved J. Murphy 1794. A similar painting, now attributed to Richard Livesay (and formerly to Stothard), is at Upton House. Drawing by John Downman, whole-length seated. Christie’s, 9 July 1991, lot 55. Apparently derived from the drawing of 1783, see above. What about the idea that she was an immigrant - a German teenager who had to make a new life in England in the late 18th century? Like her husband, Queen Charlotte was also interested in books and her substantial library included many volumes on botany, literature and the theatre. In the early 1790s she acquired the Frogmore estate at Windsor which she and her daughters used increasingly as a rural retreat, particularly for botanical and artistic activity. Queen Charlotte commissioned Mary Moser, a founder member of the Royal Academy, to decorate the walls and ceiling at Frogmoremaking the house not just a female domain but one with links to some of the most important female artists and patrons in the eighteenth century.