Caroline of Brunswick - Death

Death

Despite the King's best attempts, Caroline retained a strong popularity amongst the masses, and pressed ahead with plans to attend the coronation service on 19 July 1821 as Queen. Lord Liverpool told Caroline that she should not go to the service, but she turned up anyway. George had Caroline turned away from the coronation at the doors of Westminster Abbey. Refused entry at both the doors to the East Cloister and the doors to the West Cloister, Caroline attempted to enter via Westminster Hall, where many guests were gathered before the service began. A witness described how the Queen stood at the door fuming as bayonets were held under her chin until the Deputy Lord Chamberlain had the doors slammed in her face. Caroline then proceeded back to an entrance near Poet's Corner, where she was met by Sir Robert Inglis, who held the office of "Gold Staff". Inglis persuaded the Queen to return to her carriage, and she left. Caroline lost support through her exhibition at the coronation; the crowds jeered her as she rode away, and even Brougham recorded his distaste at her undignified behaviour.

That night, Caroline fell ill and took a large dose of milk of magnesia and some drops of laudanum. Over the next three weeks she suffered more and more pain as her condition deteriorated. She realised she was nearing death and put her affairs in order. Her papers, letters, memoirs, and notebooks were burned. She wrote a new will, and settled her funeral arrangements: she was to be buried in her native Brunswick in a tomb bearing the inscription "Here lies Caroline, the Injured Queen of England". She died at Brandenburg House at 10:25 p.m. on 7 August 1821 at the age of 53. Her physicians thought she had an intestinal obstruction, but she may have had cancer, and there were rumours at the time that she had been poisoned. Even up till her last moments, she was being reported on by a man named Stephen Lushington, who conveyed his insights to the King's loyal supporter, the Prime Minister Lord Liverpool. Exactly why this deathbed surveillance was carried out remains unclear, and the surviving documentation is patchy. The exact cause of her death remains unknown.

Afraid that a funeral procession through London could spark public unrest, Lord Liverpool decided the Queen's cortège would avoid the city, passing to the north on the way to Harwich and Brunswick. The crowd accompanying the procession were incensed and blocked the official route with barricades to force a new route through London. The scene soon descended into chaos; the soldiers forming the honour guard opened fire and rode through the crowd with drawn sabres. The crowd threw cobblestones and bricks at the soldiers. Two members of the public were killed. Eventually, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Sir Robert Baker, ordered that the official route be abandoned and the cortège passed through the city. As a result, Baker was dismissed from office.

The final route (in heavy rain) took the following course: Hammersmith, Kensington (blocked), Kensington Gore (blocked), Hyde Park, Park Lane (blocked), return to Hyde Park where soldiers forced the gates open, Cumberland Gate (blocked), Edgware Road, Tottenham Court Road, Drury Lane, the Strand, and from there was forced into the city centre. Thereafter it reached Harwich by route of Romford, Chelmsford, and Colchester.

The body was placed on a ship on 16 August and reached Brunswick on the 24th. She was buried in Brunswick Cathedral on the 25th.