Her first alternative was little doubt the good-looking and proud Prince Frederick of Prussia, who she met at a dinner on 8 June and continued to correspond with in secret afterwards. Dr Stott believes it was this liaison that prompted Charlotte to finish her engagement to William in June 1814.
Her father reacted badly to the news, maintaining her at dwelling at Cranbourne Lodge in Great Windsor Park all however a prisoner. Stott reveals: ‘Her solely communication with associates and household was by way of letters and these typically needed to be worded elliptically, as she feared that they could be opened.’
Leopold I of BelgiumDeAgostini / Getty Images
Yet Princess Charlotte of Wales and Frederick continued to correspond in secret, with the royal additionally writing to Augustus and Leopold, who in flip grew to become her new favourites after Frederick didn’t suggest. Eventually, her father permitted her match with Leopold, and the 2 have been married on 2 May 1816. Tragically, Charlotte died throughout childbirth to a stillborn child in November of the next yr, aged simply 21. She by no means ascended to the throne.
Popular with the public because of the unpopularity of her grandfather and father, she was held up as an indication of hope for future generations, with her loss of life prompting mass grieving. This prompted a disaster amongst her uncles, who all tried to marry to realize an inheritor to proceed the household line – with her father’s youngest brother, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, ultimately having a toddler, Princess Victoria – who would go on to develop into Queen Victoria.
