George IV by E. A. Smith

Author:E. A. Smith
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780300088021
Publisher: Yale University Press
Published: 2017-02-16T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

REBELLIOUS DAUGHTER

One of the major causes of George’s unpopularity as Regent was his supposed cruel treatment of his daughter Charlotte. She was growing up to be a lively, energetic and self-willed teenager with many of her father’s own qualities. No doubt perceiving this, George was as severe with her as his father had been with him, attempting to shield her from the contamination of the outside world and placing her under the care of governesses and attendants whom she regarded as gaolers and who supervised her leisure as well as her education. She was given all the necessary accomplishments of a young lady, and like her father showed considerable talent as a musical performer and a knowledgeable interest in literature and the arts, but unlike him she lacked refined manners and was too cloistered to be used to the ways of polite society. As the child of a broken marriage – her parents ceased to live together even before she was born – she suffered those psychological handicaps which derive from the lack of a secure and affectionate home, and they were made worse by the fact that her parents’ disputes were public property, and that she was to some extent a political victim of their quarrels. Charlotte showed the strain by bouts of violent temper tantrums which made her temporarily unmanageable. As the only child of this most disastrous of marriages she had to carry a heavy burden.1

George was determined from the outset that Charlotte’s mother should have no say in her upbringing and education. He was convinced that Caroline was immoral and an unsuitable guardian for a young girl who was apparently destined to be Queen of England, and he always tried to restrict his wife’s access to their daughter. Yet he had no better claim to be able to provide the secure background she needed, and for long periods during her childhood she was in effect brought up by governesses, her father’s role being largely confined to drawing up restrictive rules to prevent her mother from having any part in her life.

George’s attitude to his only (legitimate) daughter was an ambivalent one. On the one hand, he was always fond of small children and liked to play and romp with them and give them little presents. On the other hand, he could not forget that Charlotte was Caroline’s daughter. Like her mother, Charlotte showed early signs of being a tomboy, with boisterous manners – her handshake as a girl and young woman was a hearty one more suited to the society of young sportsmen than to that of genteel young ladies. She was unguarded in her language, a reckless horsewoman, and showed a liking for exuberant companions. George feared that she might turn out as her mother had done, and he thought, like his father and despite his own experience, that a strict regime would prevent his offspring from succumbing to the temptations of the world. His attitude seemed to Charlotte to alternate between neglect and repression, with only occasional displays of affection.

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