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Acknowledgements
IT HAS TAKEN ME TEN years to write this book, during which time I have incurred many debts. I would like to thank the John Rylands Library, University of Manchester, and the Bodleian Library, Oxford, for allowing me to consult letters and journals in their collections. I am similarly grateful to the Landeshauptarchiv Schwerin, the Leicestershire Record Office and the Hunterian Collection, University of Glasgow, for making papers and documents available to me. I am also indebted to the London Library, whose extensive holdings of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century diaries and correspondence, together with their generous policy of allowing members to borrow them, made it possible for someone like me, with a full-time job, to access historical sources in my limited free time.
Many publishers might have given up on a book with such a lengthy gestation, but neither of mine did so. I will always be grateful to HarperCollins and Henry Holt for their faith in the project, and their remarkable patience and forbearance. I have benefited more than I can say from the wise advice and stewardship of all my editors, who have guided me through a decade of new learning and experience. I’d like to thank Richard Johnson of HarperCollins who commissioned The Strangest Family and who made a first-time writer feel confident enough to begin upon such an ambitious undertaking. His successor, Martin Redfern, has never wavered in his support for the book, and has been a beacon of encouragement and calming kindness throughout. Stephen Guise’s painstaking care in managing the latter stages of the production process was a model of efficiency and engagement.
My American editor, Barbara Jones, has been equally generous; her trenchant comments and up-beat appreciation of my efforts kept me going when completion sometimes seemed a very long way off. I also owe a great deal to Stephen Rubin, whose personal enthusiasm for the book has been so important to me. Bold, forceful and very sure of what he likes, Steve’s conviction that this was a book worth having inspired and energised me, and I shall always be grateful for his exuberant and powerfully expressed support.
The manuscript was read by two brilliant editors, David Milner and Kate Johnson, whose comments and suggestions were extremely helpful. I am likewise indebted to Professors Amanda Vickery and Jeremy Black, who read the finished manuscript, passing it through the prism of their unrivalled historical scholarship. I have benefitted hugely from their advice and friendly corrections, which are reflected in the final text. I am also grateful to Daniel Mitchell for his help in transcribing correspondence. Any remaining errors or infelicities are, of course, my own.
I should also like to pay tribute to some of those writers whose books so inspired me as a reader and fed my passion for the world I have sought to capture in my own writing. Of course, there are far too many to list here in their entirety, but I have always been stimulated by the work of Stella Tillyard, Amanda Foreman, Flora Fraser and Amanda Vickery. All these writers bring a new understanding to the inner lives of eighteenth-century families, especially the experiences of women and children. I have also learned a great deal from the pioneering work of Clarissa Campbell Orr and Irene Brown.
I am profoundly grateful to Peter Robinson, my agent for many years, without whose belief and fortitude this book would probably never have got off the starting block. Peter was stalwart, loyal and endlessly supportive, always ready with advice and encouragement, often delivered over a large glass of wine whilst he smoked a surreptitious cigarette. His contribution to the book is huge and will always be deeply appreciated. He is a wonderful man and a great friend. I should also like to thank Caroline Michel, who has shepherded the book through
the final stages of its journey, and who has been unremitting in both her thoughtful kindness and steely sense of purpose. I have been very lucky to work with two such talented people.
While writing this book, I had a very demanding job as a channel controller at the BBC. I owe a great deal to my television colleagues, who, over the years, have listened politely as I have explained to them exactly what I was attempting to write. They were all very patient and understanding, at least when I was around! My thanks are due to everyone in broadcasting who has had to hear at length my views on the importance of the eighteenth century and all its works, but there are some people who have been more exposed to the full force of my passion than others. Special thanks go to Jana Bennet, Alan Yentob, George Entwistle, Danny Cohen, Michael Jackson, Denys Blakeway, Emma Swain, Ben Stephenson, Charlotte Moore, Claire Powell, Adam Barker, Mark Bell and Kate Mordaunt. None of my colleagues, however, has heard more about the book and its progress than Don Cameron. We worked together for the ten years of this book’s gestation and he was party to all the many ups and downs along the way. He never looked bored while hearing about them, for which I owe him much. Great thanks too are due to Daisy Goodwin, not just for sharing her own experiences of the pleasures and challenges of writing, but also as a sympathetic listener, tough-minded adviser and much-valued friend.
Finally, I’d like to thank my family for all their support and encouragement. No one could have been more generous with his time and expertise than my brother John, who travelled across the country on more than one occasion to rescue me from disastrous computer malfunctions without a word of complaint. His wife, Jane, was just as understanding. My two sons, Alexander and Louis, were small children when I began writing. Now they are strapping teenagers. They have probably heard more about George III and his preoccupations than most boys of their age. Sometimes this has made them laugh – and who can blame them? – but they have borne without complaint the evenings, weekends and school holidays that have been devoted to writing and research. Perhaps one day they will read the book; if so, I hope they will feel it was all worthwhile.
There have been many people to thank here, but no one deserves my heartfelt gratitude more than my husband, Martin Davidson. It is inconceivable that this book would have been written without him. He ushered it into life. No one had a better understanding of what I hoped to achieve than he did, and no one did more to help me get there. An accomplished writer himself, he was tireless in doing all he could to improve my work, suggesting, correcting, editing, making me persevere in tough times and exulting when things went well. His opinion has always been the standard by which I judge everything I write. We have been partners in this enterprise, as in so much else. He is the love of my life and I am very proud to dedicate this book to him.
Index
THE PAGE NUMBERS IN THIS index relate to the printed version of this book; they do not match the pages of your ebook. You can use your ebook reader’s search tool to find a specific word or passage.
Abercorn, James Hamilton, 8th Earl of, 146
Act of Settlement (1689), 447
Act of Union (with Ireland, 1801), 498
Adam, Robert, 160
Adams, John, 290
Addison, Joseph: Cato, 85
Adelaide, Queen of William IV, 612
Adolphus, Prince see Cambridge, Duke of
adultery: among aristocracy, 155–6
Albemarle, George Keppel, 6th Earl of, 565–6
Albino brothers, 324
Alfred, Prince (George III–Charlotte’s son): birth, 191, 291, 309; ill health and death, 291–2
Amelia, Princess (George II’s daughter): on George III’s succession, 1; reunited with parents, 42; George II criticises, 55; on death of Princess Louisa, 99; and George II’s death, 127; on adultery, 156; indulges George III’s sons, 239; character, 477; independence, 548
Amelia, Princess (George III–Charlotte’s daughter): appearance, 47, 475; childhood and upbringing, 117, 192, 204, 473; birth, 191, 309; portrayed as child, 203, 475; Fanny Burney on, 328–9, 477–8; father’s affection for, 329, 536, 614; sister Charlotte instructs, 337; taken to meet father during sickness, 397, 404; on Princess Royal’s departure as married woman, 467; indiscretions, 476–7; sister Mary’s fondness for, 476; ill health, 477–9, 521, 526, 528, 530–3; affection for Prince of Wales, 479–80; General Garth helps, 485; wariness of brother Ernest, 494; accompanies parents to Battersea, 501; and father’s second illness, 505, 509, 514; hopes to marry Charles Fitzroy, 521–7, 530–2, 558; sent to recover in Weymouth, 528–9; breach with mother, 529–31; death, 533–4, 560; will read to father, 539; father believes still alive, 541
American War of Independence, 274, 276, 279–86, 290, 309
Ancaster, Mary, Duchess of, 145–6
Annals of Agriculture, 420
Anne, Princess (George II–Caroline’s daughter): birth, 31; reunited with parents, 42; dislike of father, 43, 53
Anne, Queen: death and succession, 17–18, 35
Annual Register, 247
Anson, Admiral George, Baron, 146
Arblay, Alexander d’ (Fanny Burney’s son), 477
Aries, Philip, 194
Armistead, Elizabeth, 288, 446
Auckland, William Eden, 1st Baron, 430, 510
Augusta, Duchess of Brunswick (Frederick–Augusta’s daughter): birth, 71; relations with George II, 97–8; qualities, 99–100, 452; and George’s training as youth, 101; meets Charlotte, 148; musical performances, 163; distant relations with Charlotte, 175; education, 258; behaviour, 267; fondness for Mary Hamilton, 267–8; stays at Nuneham Courtenay, 315; marriage and children, 344, 348–9; and daughter Caroline’s marriage to Prince of Wales, 450, 452; and daughter Caroline’s upbringing, 455; on Charles Fitzroy, 521
Augusta, Princess of Brunswick (Princess Caroline’s sister), 464–5
Augusta, Princess (George III–Charlotte’s daughter): birth, 191; childhood and upbringing, 192; sees brothers flogged, 233; beauty and character, 260, 332–5; writing, 260–1; writes to Mary Hamilton, 272; and Fanny Burney, 330; closeness to brother William, 333–4; love of naval matters, 333, 422; marriage prospects, 350, 363, 415; at Kew during father’s illness, 385; visits sick father, 402, 403–4; on father’s recovery, 406; attempts to reconcile Charlotte and eldest sons, 411; activities at Frogmore, 426; and assassination attempt on father, 431; unhappiness, 443; on Princess Royal’s wedding gown, 466; on sister Sophia’s self-consciousness, 481; and brother Ernest, 493–4; told of Princess Charlotte’s death, 513; and father’s second illness, 514; arranges final meeting between sister Amelia and Fitzroy, 533; on father’s isolation in illness, 542; and mother’s anger at princesses’ independent allowances and lifestyle, 549, 553; insists on independence, 550–1; escorts niece Charlotte on London excursions, 553; love for and request to marry Brent Spencer, 555–8; niece Charlotte’s view of, 570; and sister Elizabeth’s marriage, 596–7; with dying mother, 603; and mother’s health decline, 603; inherits Frogmore from mother, 607; sister Charlotte visits in old age, 617
Augusta, (Dowager) Princess of Saxe-Gotha: marriage to Prince Frederick, 67–8; pregnancy and birth of daughter, 68–71; and birth of son George, 78–9; Frederick’s poems to, 81; marriage relations, 81–3; gardening interests, 82; attitude to son George, 88; and Frederick’s illness and death, 88–9; George II visits in widowhood, 90, 95; nominated as regent and given care of son George, 93–5; personality and character, 94–7; political ability, 94–5; life in widowhood, 96–100; Liotard portrait, 96; death of children, 99; and son George’s education and upbringing, 103, 105, 109–10; relations with Bute, 107–10, 175; welcomes Bute’s influence on son George, 111–12; misanthropic world view, 118, 236; protects son George from entanglement with women, 119, 132; and son George’s marriage prospects, 131–2; proposes son George as husband for Charlotte, 139–40; Charlotte introduced to, 147; dream of Bute, 173; Charlotte warned to avoid, 175; Walpole blames for George III’s isolation, 178–9; employs midwife, 183; rec
ommends wet nurses to Charlotte, 200–1; illness and death, 214–15; burial, 216; resides at Carlton House, 301; and 1st Earl Harcourt, 310
Augustus, Prince see Sussex, Duke of
Augustus Frederick, Prince of Prussia, 576, 579, 582
Augustus, Prince (son of Duke of Sussex and Lady Augusta Murray), 441
Austen, Jane: on marriage, 159; plots, 534; Pride and Prejudice, 250, 346, 588; Sense and Sensibility, 572
Austin, William, 564
Austria: France declares war on (1792), 429
Aylesford, Charlotte, Countess of, 193
Ayscough, Rev. Francis, 85
Bach, Johann Christian, 163, 262
Baillie, Dr Matthew, 532, 537, 544, 560, 593
Baker, Sir George: and George III’s illness, 353, 355, 358–9, 361–2, 372, 374; resigns from treating George III, 368–9; George throws wig at, 378; Charlotte’s dissatisfaction with, 389
Bath: development, 7; Spencer accompanies Augusta and Charlotte to, 559; Queen Charlotte in, 593, 602
Battersea, 501
Beaumont, Jeanne-Marie Le Prince de, 227–31, 233, 236, 257
Beaumont, Mme de: Magasin des enfants, 565
Beckford, William, 302
Bedford, Francis Russell, 5th Duke of, 439
Bellenden, Mary, 51
Bellingham, John, 545
Berkeley, James, 3rd Earl of, 40
Bessborough, Henrietta Frances, Countess of, 507
Beveridge, Allan, 374
Blackheath, 459, 502–3, 507
Blackstone, William, 111
Bolingbroke, Diana, Viscountess, 176
Bolingbroke, Henry Saint-John, 1st Viscount: Idea of a Patriot King, 113
Bolton, Mrs (governess), 254
Boscowen, Anne, 606
Boswell, James: life in London, 5; acquaintance with Fanny Burney, 320; Queen Charlotte enquires about life of Johnson, 325; London Journal, 5
Boulton, Matthew, 9–10
Bridge (Dorset farmer), 420
Brighton: Prince of Wales in, 447, 611
Bristol: and slave trade, 6; expansion, 7
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