Life in the Georgian Court by Curzon Catherine;

Author:Curzon, Catherine;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: HISTORY / Europe / Great Britain
Publisher: Pen & Sword Books Limited
Published: 2016-08-30T00:00:00+00:00

The Wanton Widow

In her lifetime, Augusta of Saxe-Gotha was many things to many people. She was the shy, teenage Princess of Wales, a loving wife, the mother of a king, the ‘Wanton Widow’ of caricature and a woman so loathed that her funeral cortege was jeered and spat at by the British public who had come to despise her very name. What happened to transform her so thoroughly in the popular opinion and what part did John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, play in the downfall of the widowed Princess of Wales?

Princess Augusta was born to a life of privilege as the daughter of Frederick II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and Magdalena Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst. That she would make a dynastic marriage was never in doubt and at the age of 16, the reserved young lady set foot on English shores to begin a new life as the bride of Frederick, Prince of Wales, son of George II and Queen Caroline. Thirteen years her senior, he was already engaged in a war of attrition with his parents, but this is not a tale of an unhappy couple. In fact, it would prove to be quite the opposite…

After a lavish ceremony on 27 April 1736, the new couple embarked on a happy marriage, with Augusta unwavering in her support for her husband throughout his many disputes with his parents. However, when the apparently unassuming, naive Augusta was left a pregnant widow with eight children to raise in 1751, she threw herself on the sympathy of her bereaved father-in-law despite his earlier quarrels with her late husband. To his credit, the king rallied to support his daughter-in-law and her children, one of whom was destined to rule as King George III.

Whilst the death of Frederick left Augusta bereft, she still enjoyed the support of the English people. They admired her devotion to her children and looked on approvingly as she nursed her burgeoning relationship with her parents-in-law. But it was that same devotion to her children that would cause Augusta to take a step from which her reputation would never recover.

Without a father to guide him, Augusta found herself concerned for her young son, George, and took the fateful decision to find a friend and tutor who might steer the young prince on his way to the throne. The man she chose had been introduced to the princess several years before her husband’s death when she and her party took shelter from the rain in a picnic tent at Egham races. As the time passed, the group decided to play whist and for that, they needed one more player. The chosen gentleman was none other than the aforementioned John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute. This was the start of a friendship with Frederick that lasted until his death and when Augusta was looking for a tutor for her son, the respectable Bute seemed the perfect candidate.

In fact, the quiet young man and the stern earl proved an excellent match; as the future king applied himself to his lessons, he seemed to find an encouraging influence in his unlikely friend.

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