Princess Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel

Upon first glance, this painting depicts a woman with blonde curls, big blue eyes and rosy cheeks, in a red velvet dress, an example of lingering Renaissance influence in Georgian fashion and a matching red hat with a large, white feather. The woman portrayed in this painting is Caroline of Brunswick, the Queen and estranged wife of the future King George IV, the fourth king of the Hanover dynasty, who was still Prince of Wales when this work was painted. This depiction of Caroline bears a striking resemblance to Thomas Lawrence’s portrait of Caroline’s daughter, Princess Charlotte, as a little girl. Lawrence, the top portrait painter of the Regency era, also created a dual portrait of the mother and daughter in 1801, three years before he created this work. On the left of Caroline is a bust that she sculpted of her father, the Duke of Brunswick. One might consider Caroline the Princess Diana of the Georgian era. Although George IV (Prince of Wales upon his marriage) was determined to divorce Caroline, even launching an investigation into rumours about her alleged adultery and an illegitimate child, Caroline asserted her position as queen and was wildly popular with the British people, who in turn despised the newly crowned George IV.