King George III (1738-1820) and Queen Charlotte (1744-1818)

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi,

I don't think Queen Charlotte looks like a 'monkey face'. I think she looks no better nor no worse than any other queen or person for that matter.

Here in Canada, we honour Queen Charlotte with the capital city of Prince Edward Island (our smallest province, named after Queen Victoria's father), Charlottetown.
Also, on the west coast of British Columbia, is a large group of islands called the Queen Charlotte Islands.
We seem to have honoured her better than some kings and queens!

Larry

[CarolinaLandgrave]

Thats interesting about Queen Charlotte having African blood - I had never heard that until reading some obscure article online a few weeks ago. I wish I could remember where I found the article. Does anyone have a breakdown on the genealogy of Queen Charlotte?
Also intersting to me are the many references that Queen Mary does make to being a descendant of Queen Charlotte. Queen Mary is a fascinating person to me, made all the more so by her Hungarian noble blood - which, though not Royal, she holds in highest esteem.
And on that subject, was Queen Mary's paternal grandmother in the many who claim descent from Atilla the Hun?

[Lady Jennifer]

And our county is named after her German home- Mecklenburg. Here is the Wikipedia article on the city of Charlotte (the nickname of the city is The Queen City) The airport has a statue of Queen Charlotte....it isn't the best representation of her- its quite odd looking actually. I'll try to find a picture of it on the net- here is a link to a post I wrote that has the picture of Queen Charlotte.

Originally Posted by Reina

I heard that she was quite celebrated by the ppl, inclduing ppl in the colonies. Also Charlotte, NC is named after her.

I agree that she seemed to be celebrated by all people. She had to have been a strong woman to deal with her husband and all his issues.

[rodomjr]

http://www.readthehook.com/Stories/2006/02/02/coverqueen.html

Was Queen Charlotte black??


Published February 2, 2006 in issue 0505 of the HooK.
By VIRGINIA DAUGHERTY VIRGINIA@PAPERCRAFT.COM

[ricland]

The are three pieces of evidence that lead me to believe Queen Charlotte Sophia, consort to George III was of African heritage.

First, the Ramsey portrait made of her just before George III's cornation:
The Black Queen

You'll note the inset head image is definitely that of a woman of African heritage. I believe the inset image is the original. I have seen at least four other versions of the same head each rendered with distinct European features. In fact, so distinctly different are each of versions I've seen it is clear to me a concerted effort was made to render a version of the sitter's face completely different from what I believe was the Ramsey original.

Note also in the second version the hair from the first was clearly copied, or I should say, the face from the first erased and a more European one painted in its place.

Also, I've included a cartoon made of George III and Queen Charlotte where although both face's are exaggerated hers is clearly rendered in a distinctly ethnic way, a way to my eye, seems to be based on the way person I marked "original" looks.

There are other things...

In his dairy, Baron von Stockmar surgeon to the Queen writes about her, "She had the face of a true mulatto."
Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

On the link above please ignore Mario de Valdes y Cocom's nonsense about Queen Charlotte being nine times removed from a distant ancestor of African heritage, even if that were true, that wouldn't explain her "true mulatto face."

Many other comments are recorded about Queen Charlotte's looks and most have this in common: they speak of a woman who looked not like folks entirely expected, that she had a "frog-like" appearance, was "not pretty" etc.

Finally, for the purposes of the novel I'm writing about her, I'm presuming her "father" was a full-blooded African named Abram Gannibal.

Gannibal was a noted Russian General who visited England several times during the 18th century.

ricland

[ricland]

Originally Posted by rodomjr

rodomjrHello! Please click http://www.genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00000318&tree=LEO on to read about her life... I am new here... I am a deaf light-skinned African/Multiracial-American man and Queen Charlotte is my favorite one... :)

...Hello! ...I want to know why they called my favorite Queen Charlotte as "monkey-faced"??? To me her looks is very fine and she is looking much better than some other Queens.... It remind me like my late grandmothers :) ...Thoughts are so welcome! ... :-}.

I'd love to know where that "monkey-face" quote comes from.

I'm writing a novel about Queen Charlotte's supposed black ancestry and hae never seen that quote.

The Black Queen

[SASSY]

Are there any more photos (portraits) of Charlotte? Also of Phillipa and her son Edward?
I didn't know this..as an African-American I find this very interesting.

Thanks!

[Mermaid1962]

I can't remember where I read this, but there was one writer who claimed that Queen Charlotte was descended from an African diplomat who was present in the Russian court. The article gave the name of this man. I only wish I could remember where I read it!

[Furienna]

You know, I think I read that too somewhere.

[iowabelle]

Originally Posted by Mermaid1962

I can't remember where I read this, but there was one writer who claimed that Queen Charlotte was descended from an African diplomat who was present in the Russian court. The article gave the name of this man. I only wish I could remember where I read it!

There are two ladies today in the British aristocracy who claim such ancestry: the Duchess of Abercorn and her sister, the Duchess of Westminster. Not only are they descendants of Sophie, the Electress of Hannibal but they are also descendants of the Russian poet Pushkin and his African great-grandfather, Abram Petrovich Gannibal, the associate of Peter the Great.

[iowabelle]

I was just looking at wikipedia about this queen, and it would seem that any "African" blood would have been at least 9 generations in the past. By my estimate that's about 2 centuries, maybe more -- so the total effect upon the queen's appearance must have been negligible. (As a comparison, I am only 5 generations away from my Native American roots and you wouldn't know that unless I told you.)

Let's face it, some royals (even today) are less than photogenic, and it would seem to me that describing the queen as African was probably more of a scurrilous political attack on her than an accurate description of her appearance.

[Furienna]

This is an article about Queen Charlotte's possible African heritage.
Frontline: Famous Families
Frontline: Queen Charlotte

[Emperor Wilhelm IX]

Originally Posted by ricland

The are three pieces of evidence that lead me to believe Queen Charlotte Sophia, consort to George III was of African heritage.

First, the Ramsey portrait made of her just before George III's cornation:
The Black Queen

You'll note the inset head image is definitely that of a woman of African heritage. I believe the inset image is the original. I have seen at least four other versions of the same head each rendered with distinct European features. In fact, so distinctly different are each of versions I've seen it is clear to me a concerted effort was made to render a version of the sitter's face completely different from what I believe was the Ramsey original.

Note also in the second version the hair from the first was clearly copied, or I should say, the face from the first erased and a more European one painted in its place.

Also, I've included a cartoon made of George III and Queen Charlotte where although both face's are exaggerated hers is clearly rendered in a distinctly ethnic way, a way to my eye, seems to be based on the way person I marked "original" looks.

There are other things...

In his dairy, Baron von Stockmar surgeon to the Queen writes about her, "She had the face of a true mulatto."
Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

On the link above please ignore Mario de Valdes y Cocom's nonsense about Queen Charlotte being nine times removed from a distant ancestor of African heritage, even if that were true, that wouldn't explain her "true mulatto face."

Many other comments are recorded about Queen Charlotte's looks and most have this in common: they speak of a woman who looked not like folks entirely expected, that she had a "frog-like" appearance, was "not pretty" etc.

Finally, for the purposes of the novel I'm writing about her, I'm presuming her "father" was a full-blooded African named Abram Gannibal.

Gannibal was a noted Russian General who visited England several times during the 18th century.

ricland

I have a difficult time really picturing how Queen Charlotte mush have looked. From the descriptions I have read they make her out to be not very attractive and yet from the paintings I have seen I don't think she looks unattractive at all. But I do understand that artists tended to flatter their subjects and create a more idealized image, many of Winterhalter's paintings of Queen Victoria are idealized a bit, so it is difficult to really have a conception on how she really looked.

[chickin]

See time on wikipedia to King George III from england (1738-1820) and Queen Charlotte princess from Mecklenburg/Strelitz(1744-1818)what with mirow to do have,where she there toward born is!What in the ex DDR is in eastgermany!What 30 kilometre from her away is!What me interest is if it ever still royal member here give,or member from other royal Familys the Mecklenburg/Strelitz visit have!That have a special reason why i ask!

[chickin]

Queen Charlotte, (née Duchess Sophia Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz; 19 May 1744 – 17 November 1818) was the queen consort of George III of the United Kingdom (1738–1820).
Queen Charlotte was a patroness of the arts, known to Johann Christian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, among others. She was also an amateur botanist who helped establish Kew Gardens. George III and Queen Charlotte had 15 children, 13 of whom survived to adulthood.

Charlotte was the youngest daughter of Duke Charles Louis Frederick of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Prince of Mirow (23 February 1707 – 5 June 1752) and his wife, Princess Elizabeth Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen, Duchess in Saxony (4 August 1713 – 29 June 1761).
She was a granddaughter of Adolf Frederick II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (19 October 1658 – 12 May 1708) by his third wife, Christiane Emilie Antonie, Princess of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen (March, 1681 – 1 November 1751). Her father's elder half brother reigned from 1708 to 1753 as Adolf Friedrich

[chickin]

Princess Charlotte was collected at Cuxhaven by a squadron of British yachts and warships under Admiral Anson (including the specially renamed HMY Royal Charlotte), but on its return the squadron was three times blown over to the Norwegian coast by westerly gales and took ten days to reach Harwich, which it did in early September 1761. Charlotte then travelled to London, where the couple were married at the Chapel Royal in St. James's Palace, London, on 8 September of that year. Her mother-in-law did not welcome her with open arms, and for some time there was a slight tension between the two. However, the king's mother had yet to accept any woman with whom he was alleged to have been involved, therefore it seems that the young king cared little for her approval by this time.
Despite not having been her husband's first choice as a bride, and having been treated with a general lack of sympathy by her mother-in-law, the Dowager Princess of Wales, Charlotte's marriage was a happy one, and the king was apparently never unfaithful to her. In the course of their marriage, they had 15 children, all but two of whom (Octavius and Alfred) survived into adulthood. As time went on, she wielded considerable power within the realm, although she evidently never misused it.

1 from her Kids was George 4 on the picture and still 14 other kids toward wikipedia!