library discovers new poem attributed to Queen Caroline, who was barred from her husband’s coronation in 1821

A groan of outrage from a rejected queen who found the doors barred at her husband’s coronation 200 years ago has surfaced in an archive, just in time for the weekend ceremonies to enthrone Charles III.

It may rain on King Charles’ parade, as it did on his mother’s, or a horse may throw a shoe, a guard may pass out, or a trumpet player may hit a wrong note – but whatever the disasters minor events that arise, at least he won’t have to deal with a distraught wife pounding on the locked door of Westminster Abbey, pleading in vain for admission, as Caroline of Brunswick did in 1821 at the coronation of her ex-husband George IV.

The handwritten poem, titled “To His Royal Highness”, begins:

Of royal lineage and spotless fame
It does not become me humbly to continue in this way;
A wounded princess, justice is my request,
A helpless woman, pity is my due.

The verse resurfaced in an archive recently acquired by Cambridge University Library, and although it is not in Caroline’s handwriting, the 41-line poem is believed to be a contemporary copy, in a file of documents relating to the marriage of Caroline and George IV which was calamitous even by the standards of the British monarchy.

The two, who were cousins, were married in 1795 although they apparently hated each other on sight: George, then Prince of Wales, got so drunk on the wedding night that he spent it sprawled on the floor of the bedroom, head in the fireplace. As vicious contemporary cartoonists gleefully pointed out, George also had a wife, the virtuous and Catholic Mrs Fitzherbert, but as he had married without royal approval this was not officially acknowledged. Caroline and George succeeded in producing a child, Charlotte, the only legitimate heir among the raft of illegitimate offspring of George III’s many children. Charlotte was extremely popular and happily married, and her death in childbirth in 1817 was considered a national disaster.

By then, Caroline and George had long separated. The poem may date from the “Delicate Inquiry” of 1806, when George, desperate to find evidence to divorce or even annul the marriage, set up a tribunal to find evidence of his traitorous adultery. Despite attempts to bribe her servants and friends, Caroline was acquitted, and many who hated George’s lifestyle and his showy extravagances as Prince Regent (a title bestowed upon him in 1811) declared themselves her supporters – though even her most devoted admirers would hardly have claimed her as “of spotless fame”.

In 1820 George III finally died after years of fits of madness. His son eventually became King George IV and staged an extravagant coronation ceremony in July 1821, costing £283,000, or more than £21 million in contemporary cost, the most expensive of all time. Caroline, still his legal wife, showed up at the abbey but was refused admission. She died a few weeks later, George in 1830 – succeeded by her brother William IV who spared all possible expense at his own £30,000 coronation.

The poem and related documents, including dozens of handwritten letters and contemporary copies of letters from the early 1800s – exchanged between Princess Caroline, King George III and Caroline’s loyal circle of friends and supporters – make part of the Massy-Beresford collection which was donated. by the late Michael Massy-Beresford.

John Wells, senior archivist at Cambridge University Library, describes the poem’s authorship as “a fascinating mystery”.

“These letters transport us to a feverish period in royal history. The broad outlines of the story are fairly well known to historians, but these personal letters – sent directly to and from the princess and other key participants – reveal more about the calculations and sensibilities of those most intimately involved. They give scholars information that cannot be extracted from official public records.