Queen Caroline: the 1820 trial of ‘The people’s Queen’

Two hundred years ago saw the climax of a royal scandal that puts those of recent decades in the shade. When the so-called ‘trial’ of Queen Caroline, wife of George IV, reached its conclusion in November 1820, the people of Somerset made their views known in no uncertain terms.

Princess Caroline of Brunswick was born in Germany in May 1768, and was seen from an early age as a potential Protestant bride for George, Prince of Wales. George had an infamous private life, even secretly marrying a widow, Mrs Fitzherbert, in 1785. Severe financial difficulties in 1794 forced him to agree to George III’s demand that he marry legitimately, to produce an heir. The Prince was indifferent about the choice of bride; when Caroline was introduced to him in April 1795, just before their wedding, he turned away and asked for brandy!

Shortly after the birth of their only child, Princess Charlotte, the following January, the Prince prepared a will, naming Mrs Fitzherbert as his only true wife and left “to her who is call’d the Princess of Wales” one shilling. Not surprisingly, they soon separated.

Caroline’s own private life, especially during her foreign travels, was not unblemished and George, who became Regent in 1811, employed spies to secretly gather evidence for a divorce. Advised that a divorce through the ecclesiastical courts would be too risky, given his own conduct, he sought one by Act of Parliament shortly after he became King in January 1820.

Caroline returned to Britain to assert her right to be Queen, but a Bill of Pains and Penalties to enact a divorce and deprive Caroline of her title was introduced in the House of Lords in August 1820. The Lords proceedings on the Bill became known as her ‘Trial’ and her personal attendance further increased the public and press support for her. When on November 10 it won its Third Reading by only 9 votes, the Prime Minister, Lord Liverpool, announced that the Bill would be dropped. The ‘Trial’ was over.

Most of Somerset was sympathetic to the Queen. Ilchester people, at a public meeting in July, and later in an address to her, declared their ”deep-rooted abhorrence of the attempts to vilify and traduce” her. Similarly, a well-supported address to her from Taunton in mid-September asked her “to accept the assurance of our highest veneration for your personal virtues, and of our zealous and unalterable devotion to your service.”

Local newspapers reported at length on the public’s reaction to the Queen’s victory, including parades; illumination and garlanding of buildings; fireworks, church bellringing and public dinners. In Taunton it was reported that “seldom, if ever, has so universal a satisfaction been witnessed as that displayed on this occasion”, and, in Frome, the day-long “demonstrations of joy have not been exceeded on any occasion”.

There was, however, some dissent. In Wrington, “enemies of the Queen” stole the bell ropes from the church to stop the celebratory ringing, though new ones were obtained and ringing resumed. The Taunton authorities failed to prevent a pro-Caroline public meeting on November 27, though others in the town drafted a loyal address to the King hoping that the central government would “frustrate and defeat the wicked projects and traitorous designs of that revolutionary faction, which has been so long anxious to prostrate the monarchy at the feet of a turbulent democracy.” Glastonbury Corporation’s Minutes record sustained but unsuccessful efforts to prevent it from sending formal congratulations to Caroline.

In early 1821, many Somerset communities, including Shepton Mallet, Bath, Bridgwater, Taunton and Ilchester petitioned Parliament to have the Queen’s name restored to the Anglican prayers for the Royal Family, which the King had removed on his accession. However, by then there was a reaction against Caroline, and some places such as Bath in early February sent the King their pledges of loyalty and support.

When, on February 1, the House of Commons was debating a substantial grant to the Queen, the Somerset Tory MP, Sir Thomas Lethbridge, declared that he believed in the Queen’s guilt, and opposed funding for the “continuance of … a national disgrace.” This provoked a vehement pamphlet from his opponents in Taunton, declaring the shame that the majority of people in Somerset felt in having him as their MP.

Caroline’s sad life ended shortly after she was refused entry to the new King’s Coronation service on July 20. She became critically ill and died the following month, still garnering public sympathy from areas like Somerset. As the Taunton Courier noted on August 15, “the sentiment of sorrow which this announcement excited was as universal as it was profound.”