Why Germany?

Germany

The consorts are
Sophia Dorothea of Celle, wife of George I
Caroline of Ansbach, wife of George II
Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, wife of Frederick, Prince of Wales
Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, wife of George III
Caroline of Brunswick, wife of George IV
Adelaide of Saxe Meiningen, wife of William IV
Albert of Saxe-Coburg, husband of Queen Victoria

They were all  German. Why?

In the eighteenth century it was common for the rulers of the great powers to marry princesses from minor German principalities. Catherine the Great was the obscure Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst before she married Peter, the heir to the Russian throne in 1745. In the power-politics of the time, this made sense. Dynastic marriages were arranged for political reasons and Germany was at Europe’s strategic crossroads.

There was no nation-state called Germany. The Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation was a federation of over three hundred sovereign states of various sizes, comprising fifteen million people, more than twice the population of Britain. There were three main types: principalities, ecclesiastical states, and city states. The nine princes who elected the Emperor were the most important rulers. 

Succession was by the strict dynastic law of male inheritance. Because it was common for the land to be divided among all the sons, many of these states were tiny, though some became larger through marriage alliances - hence the hyphens in the names of so many of the states! However small the state, the children of the rulers were princes or princesses. This meant that there were many available princesses for the Catholic and Protestant rulers of Europe. 

The Hanoverian succession

In the late-seventeenth and early-eighteenth centuries, Hanover became one of the most important of the German states. In 1679 Ernst August of Braunschweig-Lüneburg became Duke of Hannover (Hanover). In 1683 he introduced primogeniture into his territories. In 1692 he was appointed Elector by the Emperor Leopold, though it was not until 1708 that Hanover was confirmed as the ninth electorate. The electors’ main palace was Herrenhausen, modelled on Versailles, which became one of the most splendid of the German courts.

The gardens at Herrenhausen. The schloss was destroyed
in the Second World War
Johannes D.

In 1658 Ernst August had married Sophia, the granddaughter of James I. 

Sophia, Electress of Hanover
Queen Anne's heir
Public domain

Their son, Georg Ludwig (George Louis) was born in 1660. When Ernst August died in 1698 Georg Ludwig became Duke (and elector of Hanover from 1708).  In 1701 the English Parliament passed the Act of Settlement that settled the crown on Sophia after the death of the Princess Anne of Denmark (who in 1702 became queen). The Act of Union of 1707 created the nation of Great Britain and brought Scotland into line with the succession law. Sophia died on 28 May 1714, Anne on 1 August. George was proclaimed king of Great Britain and he landed at Greenwich on 18 September. 


The constitutional settlement established that the monarch had to be Protestant and married to a Protestant. This was a sharp break with the practice of the seventeenth century when the Stuart monarchs had married princesses from Catholic countries. With the restricted options now available to them, the Hanoverian monarchs were now confined to the Protestant areas of Europe, and this in practice meant Germany, the Netherlands, or Scandinavia. The Hanoverian consorts were all German Protestants. 

The court

In an age when monarchs still possessed considerable powers, the courts were important both politically and culturally. Attendance at court gave personal access to the monarch. The court levée was the means by which the monarch singled out a favoured politician or else snubbed him. All the Hanoverian consorts were brought up in courts that tried to ape the magnificence of Versailles. Caroline of Ansbach and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz both spoke French rather than German, and had to learn English. Unusually, Augusta of Saxe-Gotha did not know English or French. 

On coming to England the consorts had to adjust to a new type of court. In Germany the court was the main focus of political authority, but in Britain the crown shared its powers with Parliament. The king chose the Prime Minister, but he needed a Commons majority in order to survive. The British press was relatively free and the monarch could be criticised – if only obliquely. The consorts therefore had to adjust to political circumstances that were unfamiliar to them.

Because their powers were limited, and because they did not have the money, the Hanoverians could not copy Versailles and unlike many of their continental equivalents, they presided over relatively modest courts. The principal royal residence was the Tudor St James’s Palace. Kensington Palace had been a royal residence from 1689 but it never rivalled St James’s. George I and George II also lived at Hampton Court. Frederick Prince of Wales settled his family at Kew Palace. George III turned Windsor Castle into his favoured royal residence, and he and George IV supervised its extensive rebuilding. In 1762 he purchased Buckingham House, renamed the Queen’s House, as a private residence for Queen Charlotte. 

When they arrived in England, the Hanoverian consorts were greeted with a comparatively low-key reception. There was no ceremony to correspond with the symbolic undressing that Marie Antoinette faced. The language of the court was English rather than French. There was no court theatre – instead the monarchs frequented the London theatres. 

Politics

With the exception of Sophia Dorothea, who never came to England, and Queen Charlotte, all the consorts played important and sometimes controversial political roles. Arguably, Prince Albert's role was especially significant. Queen Charlotte generally kept out of British politics, but she did intervene in the politics of her native Germany. 

The queen presided, along with the king, over the royal Drawing-Room, usually held at St James’s Palace on Sundays. They also presided over the monarch’s birthdays, when it was customary to wear new clothes and jewels, and dancing as well as refreshments were provided.  In the Drawing Rooms politicians of different parties had to meet and socialise, and here the queen could make her preferences known. After the Regency Crisis of 1788-9 (to be discussed later), the normally non-political Queen Charlotte made a point of snubbing the Whig politicians, whom she saw as her husband's enemies..

Patronage

The consorts were extremely significant as patrons of the arts and of charitable projects. See later posts for the details.

Conclusion

1. The Hanoverian consorts had to be Protestant, and this meant in practice that they came from Germany. Sophia Dorothea, Caroline, Augusta, and Charlotte were all princesses of the Holy Roman Empire. Even after the Empire was ended in 1806, the German states continued to supply consorts for the royal family.
2. In an age when monarchy was still important, the consorts played significant roles. They did not all get involved in politics, but they made an important and lasting contribution to the arts and to philanthropy.
3. The only male consort was Prince Albert. He had to step into a role previously only occupied by women and therefore to refashion it. But his role in overseeing his children's education and in supporting the arts and sciences echoed that of his female predecessors.