Princess Charlotte of Wales - Aftermath

Aftermath

Henry Brougham wrote of the public reaction to Charlotte's death, "It really was as though every household throughout Great Britain had lost a favourite child." The whole kingdom went into deep mourning; linen-drapers ran out of black cloth. Even the poor and homeless tied armbands of black on their clothes. The shops closed for two weeks, as did the Royal Exchange, the Law Courts, and the docks. Even gambling dens shut down on the day of her funeral, as a mark of respect. Wrote The Times, "It certainly does not belong to us to repine at the visitations of Providence ... there is nothing impious in grieving for that as a calamity." Mourning was so complete that the makers of ribbons and other fancy goods (which could not be worn during the period of mourning) petitioned the government to shorten the period, fearing they would otherwise go bankrupt. A dissenting note was struck by poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, who in his An Address to the People on the Death of the Princess Charlotte, indicated that the execution of three men the day after the Princess's death for plotting to overthrow the government was a greater tragedy.

The Prince Regent was prostrated with grief, and was unable to attend his child's funeral. Princess Caroline heard the news from a passing courier, and fainted in shock. On recovering, she stated, "England, that great country, has lost everything in losing my ever beloved daughter." Even the Prince of Orange burst into tears at hearing the news, and his wife ordered the ladies of her court into mourning. The greatest effect fell on Prince Leopold. Stockmar wrote years later, "November saw the ruin of this happy home, and the destruction at one blow of every hope and happiness of Prince Leopold. He has never recovered the feeling of happiness which had blessed his short married life." According to Holme, "without Charlotte he was incomplete. It was as if he had lost his heart."

Prince Leopold wrote to Sir Thomas Lawrence:

Two generations gone. Gone in a moment! I have felt for myself, but I have also felt for the Prince Regent. My Charlotte is gone from the country—it has lost her. She was a good, she was an admirable woman. None could know my Charlotte as I did know her! It was my study, my duty, to know her character, but it was my delight!

The Princess was buried, her son at her feet, in St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, on 19 November 1817. A monument was erected, by public subscription, at her tomb. It was not long before the public began to pin blame for the tragedy. The Queen and the Prince Regent were blamed for not being present at the birth, though Charlotte had specifically requested that they stay away. Although the postmortem was inconclusive, many blamed Croft for his care of the Princess. The Prince Regent refused to blame Croft; nevertheless, three months after Charlotte's death and while attending another young woman, Croft snatched up a gun and fatally shot himself. The "triple obstetric tragedy"—death of child, mother, and practitioner—led to significant changes in obstetric practice, with obstetricians who favoured intervention in protracted labour, including in particular more liberal use of forceps, gaining ground over those who did not.

Charlotte's death left the King without any legitimate grandchildren; his youngest surviving child was over forty. The newspapers urged the King's unmarried sons towards matrimony. One such leading article reached the King's fourth son, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, at his home in Brussels, where he was living with his mistress, Julie de St Laurent. Edward quickly dismissed his mistress and proposed to Leopold's sister Victoria, Dowager Princess of Leiningen. Their daughter, Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent, would eventually (in 1837) become Queen of the United Kingdom. Leopold, by then King of the Belgians, served as long-distance advisor to his niece, and was able to secure her marriage to his nephew, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.