‘ Albion ’ s Queen by All Admir ’ d ’ : Reassessing the Public Reputation of Queen Charlotte, 1761 - 1818

: This article challenges contemporary and historiographical assertions about the public reputation of Queen Charlotte. Through an examination of newspaper articles and satirical prints, it traces the evolution of Charlotte ’ s public reputation through events such as the Regency Crisis, the Regency and ultimately her death in 1818 . Charlotte ’ s largely positive reputation centred on repeated representations of her domesticity and de-votion to her family. Deeper analysis of public discourse reveals that a counter image of Charlotte circulated in the public sphere from 1786 onwards, one which portrayed her as an emotionally cold mother and an avaricious, politically ambitious queen.

However, the 'official' image of the queen was challenged by a series of highly publicised events beginning in the 1780s which saw Charlotte cast in a very different light: as a queen consort who hungered for power, a greedy and parsimonious woman and a cold maternal figure who alienated the affections of her children. This 'unofficial' image of Queen Charlotte was disseminated in satirical prints and newspaper articles, and it is these sources which form the basis of this reassessment of her reputation. Although neither medium was immune to political prejudices, their persistent and sometimes contradictory contribution to public discourse on the royal family makes them a valuable foundation of analysis. Moments of political upheaval, in particular the Regency Crisis of 1788-1789 and the eventual implementation of a Regency in 1811, cast doubt on Charlotte's image as a domestic, apolitical queen, while her relationships with her many children were frequently dissected by an interested and sometimes critical public sphere. Through analysis of newspaper articles and satirical prints commenting on the queen, this article seeks to re-evaluate Charlotte's popular reputation and argues that her public image was complex and multifaceted.

I. 1761-1786: ' Albion's Queen by All Admir'd' 7
Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz married George III of Great Britain in 1761 and, over a period of twenty-one years, produced fifteen royal children, thirteen of whom survived to adulthood. This profusion of offspring ensured the endurance of the Hanoverian dynasty, and this domestic good fortune was celebrated in the public eye by the widespread publication of prints that portrayed the royal couple with their children. In some instances, these prints were copies of royally commissioned portraits, while others such as The Royal Family of Great Britain were cheap woodcuts created by enterprising printmakers to celebrate the royal family. 8 Two official portraits of the royal family by Johan Joseph Zoffany were turned into mezzotint prints and sold in print shops: a 1771 portrait of the king, queen and their six children and an informal portrait of Queen Charlotte with the prince of Wales and the duke of York as young children. 9 These images, official and unofficial, consistently associated the queen with motherhood in the British public sphere. Similarly, newspapers reported in detail loyal addresses made to the queen which centred on her identity as a virtuous mother. During a visit to Portsmouth in the spring of 1778, the Mayor referred to the queen as a princess 'whose virtues adorn her sex' and whose example the Mayor hoped would occasion 'much public and private happiness in these kingdoms'. 10 On an official visit to Winchester in October 1778, the Mayor of the city referred to the queen as a 'bright ornament' and expressed a hope that her royal offspring should inherit the royal virtues 'which have so deservedly rendered your majesty the delight of all your subjects'. 11 Every year, celebrations of the queen's birthday occasioned a profusion of poetry published in the press which reiterated the queen's moral virtue and her position as a mother. Verses written by 'Carus' in 1778 were addressed to ' Albion's queen, by all admir'd': a mother who reared her children 'with sweet affection' and a figure whose charity and virtue transcended the political partisanship of Britain. 12 In 1782, the London Chronicle published a poem with the lines: 'Behold a numerous progeny/on their fond parent lean/Oh! What a sight at once to see/the mother and the Queen', a verse that highlighted the queen's dynastic success as a royal consort while praising her maternal 'fondness' for her children. 13 In the period 1761-1786, Charlotte's official public image was overwhelmingly domestic in nature; the queen was praised for prioritising her family and the private sphere over the political and public aspects of royalty.
Praise of Charlotte's studied detachment from political interference contrasted sharply with contemporary discussions of her mother-in-law, Augusta, the dowager princess of Wales. In 1765, George III suffered from an unspecified but serious illness which prompted him to propose a new Regency Bill. 14 The identity of the said Regent was hotly debated in the British press, and many papers gleefully noted that the king's mother would be excluded by the provision of the bill which dictated that the Regent be 'the Queen, or one of the descendants of the late King usually resident in Great Britain'. 15 Ultimately, Augusta was added to the Regency Bill, second only to Queen Charlotte, but discussions in the media reflected enduring popular discourse critical of Augusta's alleged relationship with the king's former prime minister, the earl of Bute. 16 For example, in May 1765, the Westminster Journal and London Political Miscellany emphasised that fears Bute would regain power through the Bill were unfounded, as the king himself had excluded the dowager princess of Wales from acting as a Regent. 17 In the early years of her reign as queen consort, Charlotte's apolitical image therefore contrasted strongly with that of the king's mother; while the prospect of Augusta acting as Regent provoked debate in the press, few concerns were raised about the possibility of the young queen taking on the role.
Despite this seemingly overwhelming tide of public approbation for the queen, the first hint of a satirical register against the queen's domestic image emerged in 1786, when several caricature prints depicted the king and queen as a homely farmer and his wife. In The Farmyard, published by S. W. Fores, the king and queen are shown working at a farm in Windsor: the king has just placed food in a trough for pigs, while the queen feeds chickens with grain from her apron. 18 A caricature published by James Phillips, The Constant Couple (1786; Fig.1), shows the king dressed as a farmer riding a horse towards Windsor, with the queen sitting pillion behind him. 19 The content of these satirical prints had roots in the official image of domestic felicity that was encouraged by the king and queen, yet in these prints, that domestic image was mocked because it clashed with notions of royal grandeur. The 'Farmer George' images were part of a long-running visual tradition that parodied George III for his apparent yearning to lead a simple life at Windsor, but the examples which include Charlotte emphasise that, even when mocked, the queen was still depicted as a woman who existed within a decidedly domestic role at this time. 20 For the first twenty-five years of her reign as queen consort, Charlotte's reputation as a devoted mother and sober queen appears to have been consistently bolstered by contemporary media.

II. 1786-1788: The Queen of Hearts Cover'd with Diamonds
The celebrated image of a virtuous, retiring queen who thrived in the domestic sphere was shaken in 1786, when the royal couple were implicated in the highly publicised impeachment trial of Warren Hastings, former governor of Bengal. In June 1786, George III was presented with a bulse containing a large diamond; this gemstone was a diplomatic gift from Nizam Ali Khan of Deccan, but as the stone was presented to the king through Hastings, the British press interpreted the gesture as an attempt at bribery. 21 In fact, the Morning Herald stated on 6 July 1786 that the king had felt compelled to return the diamond to Mr Hastings because 'the publick [sic] justly conceived that the many various devices artfully practiced to pass the diamond as a present from the Nizam were merely a pretext to deceive His Majesty into an acceptance of it'. 22 Significantly, it appears that none of the newspaper articles discussing this scandal made reference to the queen, yet in several satirical prints produced between 1786 and 1788, Charlotte earned a starring role in the developing scandal.
A pair of prints addressing the diamond scandal emerged in 1786, each one implicating the king and queen, respectively. In The Queen of Hearts Cover'd with Diamonds (1786; Fig. 2), Charlotte is envisaged as a sultaness, wearing an enormous, bejewelled turban and a variety of ostentatious diamond jewellery. 23 A large, heart-shaped jewel sits in a bulse in the upper left-hand corner of the image, inextricably linking the queen's fabulous jewels with the Hastings scandal. 24 The print's title suggests that the queen's former popularity has been jeopardised by the revelation of her supposed avarice: she is no longer the queen of hearts, but a queen who has traded the love and respect of her subjects for diamonds.
Another caricature from 1788, The Diamond Eaters, Horrid Monsters!, depicted Hastings pouring diamonds labelled 'Indian plunder' into the mouths of George, Charlotte and the Lord High Chancellor Edward Thurlow. 25 The presence of these three figures was no doubt intended to reiterate to the public the involvement of the highest political players in Hastings's criminal deeds. The artist behind this particular print is unknown, but it is likely that this caricature and others critical of Hastings were produced by the Foxite Whigs, whose own Edmund Burke led the charge against Hastings's alleged misdeeds in court. Indeed, the caricature The Bow to the Throne; Alias the Begging Bow, also produced in 1788, suggested that Hastings was loaning money and granting gifts to cardinals, judges, sea captains and even the Prime Minister. 26 Hastings, depicted in Indian costume, sits on a gilded chamber pot and hands large bags of gold to Thurlow, William Pitt and the numerous disembodied hands grasping before him. The king and queen bow at Hastings's feet, their eyes fixed on the piles of gold littering the floor around him.
In contrast, English Slavery; or, a Picture of the Times attempted to detach the king from Hastings's guilt and emphasised his moral uprightness. 27 In the image, George III and Thurlow sit at a table on which rests a bag of gold and the diamond delivered by Hastings; the king simply declares, 'I would not for the world touch either', mimicking the report published in the Morning Herald in July 1786, when the king allegedly resolved to return the diamond to Hastings. Significantly, the depiction of the queen in this image is far less flattering than that of her spouse; George expresses determination to avoid Hastings's bribery, while the queen sits at a pianoforte, singing about her love of money. The separate depictions of the royal couple in this print are significant, as the king is cleared of guilt while Charlotte is portrayed as avaricious and immoral. It is arguable that the queen was singled out for reprobation by caricaturists who primarily aimed to criticise the king and the political status quo, but the prints examined show that caricaturists were sufficiently confident to directly depict the king and his ministers grovelling at the feet of Warren Hastings. That Charlotte was repeatedly represented as a key player in the Hastings diamond scandal by caricaturists suggests a significant dimension of her public reputation which gained currency at this time. Marcia Pointon has compellingly argued that the splendour of her coronation regalia in 1761 led to Queen Charlotte being associated with precious gemstones in the minds of the British public throughout her reign. 28 Other satirical prints produced between 1786 and 1788 also emphasise the extent to which discussions of royal avarice circulated in the public sphere. James Gillray's A New ' Albion's Queen by All Admir'd ' 5 Way to Pay the National-Debt, for example, was produced in response to Parliamentary discussions about alleviating debts from the Civil List. 29 The print depicts George III and Charlotte exiting the Treasury with thousands of coins stowed in the king's pockets and the queen's apron; the royal couple were both tarred with the brush of avarice, a trait which was enhanced by coverage of the Hastings scandal.
In spite of the highly critical register of caricature prints linking Charlotte to the Hastings affair, many newspapers continued to publish poems and addresses that reiterated the established image of Charlotte as a domesticated and moral queen. Commenting on the Queen's official birthday in January 1787, The Times reported that the large number of individuals present at the royal levee was proof that 'loyalty and affection increase every year' towards the Queen. 30 Significantly, the article was at pains to suggest that the clothing of the royal and noble attendees was more indicative of economy than brilliance, suggesting that the paper wished to downplay accusations of lavish splendour at the court. 31 In its coverage of the queen's birthday, the Gazetteer and New Daily Advertiser praised Charlotte as a model wife, queen and mother, concluding that 'her virtues are too amiable for the exertion of power'. 32 This quotation underlines the fact that Charlotte's positive public reputation was focused on her lack of interference in politics, an attribute which would have challenged notions of her as a domestic queen. While satirical prints between 1786 and 1788 portrayed Charlotte in an unflattering, avaricious role, the majority of the British media continued to praise the queen as a paragon of female virtues. However, although the satirical prints were a minority voice, their publication and dissemination nonetheless created an alternate image of the queen within the British public sphere. This alternate and largely negative image would grow exponentially during the Regency Crisis in the winter of 1788-1789.

III. 1788-1799: ' A Pattern of Domestic Virtue'
The Crown-headed Ladies of Europe at present have no little sway in the respective councils of their Courts […] while our Queen is contented with the humble yet substantial virtues of domestic life, and was never known to interfere in matters of State. 33 This paragraph praising Charlotte's contentment with an apolitical domestic life was published just before the beginning of a period of significant political upheaval known as the Regency Crisis. In November 1788, George III began to exhibit symptoms of madness, prompting Parliament to plan for a Regency. The ensuing scramble for power between the Foxites and Pittites saw the prince of Wales and his mother positioned at opposite sides of a political dispute that evolved into a propaganda war which played out in newspapers and satirical prints.
The matter of a Regency was debated in Parliament and in newspapers throughout the winter of 1788-1789, as the Foxites fought for the rights of their supporter, the prince of Wales, and the Pittites prevaricated in hopes of the king's swift return to health. Parliament debated the extent to which the prince of Wales would hold power under a Regency. Under the 'restricted' Regency put forth by Prime Minister Pitt, the prince of Wales would be granted temporary executive power, while Queen Charlotte would be given control of the privy purse and the royal household, including the person of the king himself. 34 The Morning Herald, an Opposition newspaper, was outspoken about the perceived injustices done to the prince of Wales, and it did not hesitate to criticise the queen, highlighting that she was merely a 'consort' and that Pitt's proposals allowed her responsibilities and powers beyond what she was due. 35 The queen's right to act in the king's stead was again questioned in the public eye, when members of Parliament also challenged her sudden rise to power. Opposition MP Edmund Burke expressed his unease at the queen possessing the ability to manage the king's household and the privy purse, arguing that while he respected Her Majesty, 'he by no means thought her the most proper person to be entrusted with the giving away of such an immense sum of money'. 36 Burke's concern about the queen's financial trustworthiness was perhaps a subtle reference to the caricature prints that had dubbed Charlotte the queen of diamonds the previous year.
One of the most significant charges laid against Charlotte in the British media at this time was her alleged plotting with Prime Minister Pitt, who was determined to prevent the prince of Wales from assuming royal authority. One of the earliest caricatures addressing this supposed alliance appeared on 20 December 1788, at the very beginning of debates on the powers of the Regent. In The Prospect before Us (1788; Fig. 3), the queen is shown exiting the Treasury and stepping on a banner decorated with the prince of Wales's seal, a sign of maternal betrayal and the usurpation of the rights of the heir to the throne. 37 The queen is led by her lady-in-waiting Mrs Schwellenberg, who holds the mace and purse of the Lord Chancellor. Pitt follows behind the queen, seemingly holding onto children's leading strings which attach to the queen's gown. The half-crowns floating above the queen's and Pitt's heads emphasise their shared plot for power, but the fact that the queen is being 'led' by her German lady-in-waiting and 'guided' by Pitt could suggest that the caricaturist was willing to acknowledge that the queen had been misled by these 3. Thomas Rowlandson Charlotte's supposed hunger for political power, and her willingness to step over her children's rights to advance her position, was also depicted in The Q.A. Loaded with the Spoils of India and Britain. 38 Released in December 1788, the print depicts the queen as her famed pet zebra, wearing panniers full of gold and a large diamond necklace. Pitt and two other Tory ministers urge the zebra onwards to the Tower of London to split their spoils. Most significantly, the zebra says, 'What are Children's rights to Ambition -I will rule in spite of them if I can conceal things at Q [Kew]'. This print directly attacks Charlotte as an unnatural mother, one who is willing to rob her children of their rights in order to advance her own cause; it is a damning contrast to the queen's usual image as a perfect maternal figure and raises concerns about the position of queen consort in the British political sphere.
Questions about the queen's morality and domesticity also prompted contemporary media to challenge Charlotte's loyalty to her husband. In Weird Sisters; Ministers of Darkness; Minions of the Moon, James Gillray portrays politicians William Pitt, Henry Dundas and Edward Thurlow watching with interest as the moon rises. 39 The moon's two faces are George III, sleeping and in shade, and Queen Charlotte, who smiles as the light shines upon her. This image literally depicts the waning of George III's power and the 'waxing' of the queen's, a controversial concept. Whether or not Queen Charlotte relished the prospect of enhanced influence remains unknown, but the popular response to her responsibilities in the case of a Regency does suggest an uneasiness at the notion of a queen consort exercising any kind of control in British life. Where Charlotte's avarice was mercilessly mocked during the Hastings scandal, in caricatures addressing the queen's role in the Regency Bill, her greed is depicted as going beyond money: she becomes a German-born princess eager to grasp the reins of political control in Britain at the very moment her husband ails. Concerns about the queen's role in the Regency Crisis of 1789 echo similar debates about the position of George III's mother, Augusta, during the Regency Crisis of 1765; while Charlotte avoided criticism when she was named as a potential Regent in 1765, by 1789, many press commentaries on her political role were decidedly negative, bolstered by the prince of Wales's supporters.
In satirical prints, Charlotte's supposed betrayal of her family was made possible through an unholy alliance with Prime Minister Pitt, and in each example, the onus of influence seems to rest more with the politician than with the queen. Newspaper articles from 1789 similarly point to a belief that Pitt and the queen were scheming together: in January 1789, The World reported that the queen would form a court of her own and that the Opposition now referred to Pitt as 'her minister'. 40 In February 1789, the pseudonymous satirical commentator known as Peter Pindar published a poem in the Morning Herald, declaring that 'PITT and the PETTICOAT shall rule together'. 41 Although the king gradually regained his health and his ability to rule in February 1789, attacks on the queen and her alleged political machinations endured. The Morning Herald critiqued the queen again in March by publishing a controversial article which suggested that Queen Charlotte, in connivance with Prime Minister William Pitt, had attempted to hide news of the king's recovery in order to establish their own political agenda. 42 Whatever the truth of Charlotte's alliance with Pitt, the Crisis undoubtedly caused strain in the queen's relationship with her eldest son, and this was well known among the court. Smith cites a letter written by Sir Gilbert Elliot, recording that the prince of Wales was initially not invited to a celebration for the king's recovery, as the queen had designated it an event for those who had 'supported' herself and the king. 43 The queen was almost certainly a victim of a smear campaign during the Crisis, and this very accusation against the Opposition was made by The Times on 15 January 1789. The paper argued that the Opposition 'began a most scurrilous attack on the Queen, not only by private conversation, but through the medium of the prints in their interest'. 44 After George III's recovery in February 1789, accusations of political meddling directed at the queen largely petered out, and Linda Colley has in fact highlighted the many loyal addresses which praised the queen's conduct during the Crisis. 45 The queen also received firm support from many newspapers: for example, in April 1789, The Times claimed that 'no Queen ever reigned more in the hearts of the people […] she is a pattern of domestic virtue which cannot be too much admired'. 46 The World declared of the queen that 'her whole conduct has been admirable! It is now cherished as referring to something more dignified than any Earthly Throne, DOMESTIC MERIT, and its Reward-It has edified to every Wife and every Mother in existence-The BEST EXAMPLE in the FIRST PLACE!' 47 An examination of newspapers and satirical prints from the Regency Crisis emphasises the pivotal role that the queen played in this very public struggle for political power. A queen once vaunted for never straying beyond her domestic duties was suddenly thrust into the public and highly politicised world of the British press. While numerous newspapers continued to praise the queen's character and her moral conduct during the Crisis, it is evident that a powerful counter image of the queen emerged in this period. This counter image challenged the concept of the queen as a devoted wife and mother by insinuating that Charlotte was eager to grasp the reins of power when the opportunity presented itself. This negative and hyperbolic image of the queen featured in caricature prints and newspapers, many of which were likely bought and paid for by supporters of the prince of Wales. These prints and articles nonetheless played upon contemporary anxiety about the political influence of elite women, an anxiety which had featured in British caricatures produced during the Westminster Election in 1783. 48 Regardless of the genesis of this very public attack on the queen's character, it is evident that Charlotte's reputation did suffer during the Regency Crisis, and the negative impact of this crisis continued after the resolution of the Crisis.
While individualised criticisms of Charlotte declined rapidly after the resolution of the Regency Crisis, she continued to be a visible royal figure during the political turbulence of the 1790s. The queen was frequently caricatured alongside her husband in prints which revolved around the long-running spectre of royal avarice which had formed a key component of Charlotte's popular image during the Hastings scandal. During the 1790s, the royal family was under intense scrutiny, as reform societies in Britain and the overthrow of the French monarchy raised intense discussions about the rights of monarchy. In 1792, James Gillray attacked the king's Proclamation against radical and seditious publications by depicting the royal couple's avarice and parsimony in a print which also satirised the 'vices' of the royal princes. 49 Accusations of financial greed and scheming continued to follow the king and queen: in 1798, for example, the caricature print They Are a Coming, or Deliver Your Money depicted Pitt informing the royal couple that they must use their savings to stop riots in response to the Voluntary Subscription. 50 The king hides behind huge sacks of money, while Charlotte is shown wearing extravagant jewels and exclaiming, 'I can never part with my Jewels twill break my poor heart!' Once again, Charlotte's reputation as the queen of diamonds resurfaced during a period of significant economic hardship for many people in Britain, occasioned by the drawn-out conflict with Revolutionary France. 51 Although caricatures and commentaries critical to Charlotte and the royal family overall continued to emerge in the 1790s, the overthrow of the monarchy in France appears to have encouraged loyalist newspapers to emphasise that Charlotte remained a figure much adored by the British public. 52 At Charlotte's official birthday in 1793, The World claimed that public celebration of the event showed that 'the characteristic of Britons is loyalty; particularly to one, who possesses every virtue which can add splendour even to Majesty'. Further emphasising loyal affection to Charlotte, the paper contrasted the queen's happy situation with that of Queen Marie-Antoinette of France 'immured in a solitary prison' and fearing for her life. 53 The Times similarly connected the queen's birthday with loyalist sentiment: 'the union of parties and the general junction that animates the people of England against the tyrannical republicans of France will make the court at St James's this day one of the most splendid that has complimented Her Majesty since her coronation'. 54 Nonetheless, while the loyalist press hailed Charlotte and George III as symbols of British values during the radicalism of the French Revolution, caricaturists instead played upon well-established criticisms of the royal couple and of the queen, especially. In 1791, for example, a violent and ironic image by James Gillray depicted Charlotte and Prime Minister Pitt being hanged from a lamp post while British 'Jacobins' prepared to behead George III. 55 Although the image was intended as a mocking, nightmarish vision of the aims of radicals in Britain, the inclusion of Charlotte and Pitt harks back to the caricatures which depicted their alleged political alliance during the Regency Crisis. Another image produced by Gillray in 1792 took the alliance between queen and Prime Minister even further. Inspired by John Milton's Paradise Lost, Gillray's Sin, Death, and the Devil depicts the queen in the guise of a serpentine monstress ('Sin'), throwing herself in front of Pitt ('Death') as Thurlow ('the Devil') prepares to strike him down. 56 The print's transformation of the queen into a monstrous creature and the sexual undertones of the image created a scandal at court. 57 It is evident that Charlotte's supposed political alliance with Pitt endured in satirical prints long after the conclusion of the Regency Crisis, especially as the political culture of the 1790s made discussions about a power-hungry queen more pertinent than ever. The reiteration of key criticisms about Charlotte's alleged political manoeuvrings and avarice in caricatures of the 1790s emphasises the extent to which both the Hastings scandal and the Regency Crisis had a long-term impact on the queen's public image.

IV. 1800-1818: ' Am I Not the Queen?'
In contrast with the heated Parliamentary debates of the Crisis of 1788-1789, the commencement of the Regency in 1811 did not occasion a succession of concentrated vitriolic attacks on Queen Charlotte. 58 Nonetheless, public critiques of the queen continued to appear in newspapers and satirical prints throughout the Regency: suggestions of coldness and cruelty towards her family abounded, calling into question Charlotte's reputation as a devoted mother. Accusations of political meddling and avarice, which had dominated rhetoric critical of Charlotte during the period 1788-1799, continued in a steady flow until her death in 1818. In the Regency period, there also emerged a significant anti-German discourse in caricatures of the queen, which typified Charlotte as the stereotypical and politically threatening 'foreign queen'. 59 Caricatures similarly mocked Charlotte's old age, where unattractive and haggard depictions of the queen mirrored accusations of old-fashioned ideals and tyrannical behaviour in the royal household.
As George III had neither died nor abdicated the throne, Charlotte occupied an unusual position within the royal family, as both the wife of the reigning king and the mother of the Regent. In response to this shift in status, the queen decided to hold a court of her own, separate from that of the Regent. In June 1813, the Morning Post disclosed that the queen had held a 'private court' in order to receive the Prussian minister. 60 The known establishment of a queen's court inspired satirical prints such as John Bull in the Council Chamber by George Cruikshank, published in 1813. 61 The image conjures a second, secret royal court, which is discovered by an astonished 'John Bull', the figure who represented the everyday Englishman in this period. 62 In the centre of the print, a haggard and greatly caricatured Charlotte sits on a throne, bearing crown and sceptre. Several attendants surround her, offering snuff and sauerkraut, as she laments: ' Am I not the Q---n, I will not lose one jot of my prerogative'. The queen's foot rests on an ornate stool labelled 'Hastings diamonds', thus resurrecting the twenty-five-year-old spectre of the Hastings scandal for the British public. The image shows the queen's imaginary court peopled with distasteful characters, among them leading politicians involved with the controversial Delicate Investigation into the conduct of the princess of Wales. 63 It is significant that this print by Cruikshank unites two of the popular critiques levelled at the queen during the period 1786-1799: hunger for political power and avarice. To these enduring critiques is added a new 'vice' of the queen, who was consistently criticised for her cold treatment of her daughter-in-law Caroline. On 5 June 1814, the Examiner dedicated three whole pages to a critique of the treatment that the princess of Wales had received at the hands of the royal family and politicians. The extensive article centred on the revelation that the Regent wrote to Queen Charlotte insisting that the princess of Wales be barred from two official gatherings that he himself planned to attend. Although the paper saved its greatest condemnation for the Regent, Queen Charlotte was also criticised for agreeing with her son, a move which was interpreted as contrary to the wishes of not only George III and Parliament but also the British public. 64 Where political manoeuvrings had previously placed the queen and prince of Wales in opposing corners, the Regency period saw satirical artists depict mother and son as unsavoury allies.
The queen's treatment of Caroline was also criticised in satirical prints. For example, in R---l Advice (1814; Fig. 4), the artist suggests that the queen's desire to run off her daughter-in-law was yet another grasp for power. 65 In the image, the Regent asks his mother what he should say about his wife when asked by the allied sovereigns of Europe who were visiting Britain. The queen, sitting on a raised dais and taking a pinch of snuff, replies, 'I advise you my Son, to say as little as convenient, or d-n it; say I am your R-l Wife'. The print thus presents Charlotte in the most unsavoury terms, as willing to cast aside both her own husband and her daughter-in-law in order to maintain a position of power. Unlike prints and articles produced in 1788-1789, these later representations of the queen cannot be attributed to a smear campaign from a specific political party but may instead speak to the growing reform movement in Britain. These sources do, however, make evident the long-term impact of the Regency Crisis on the queen's image, as accusations of political meddling continued to cling to the queen decades after the Crisis. In fact, the examples from 1811-1818 appear more interested in mocking the queen's pretensions and foibles than accusing her of a genuine power grab: Charlotte was no longer considered a genuine threat to the political order, but rather, she had become a suitable object of mockery in various portions of the media.
In this period, the character of the queen's relationships with her six daughters was also increasingly called into question in newspapers and satirical prints. One of the main areas of contention was the fact that most of the royal princesses remained unmarried well into their thirties or forties, a circumstance that prompted the Examiner to declare 'we do not like the idea of unmarried princesses, any more than that of nuns and vestal virgins'. 66 The queen discouraged her daughters from marrying, claiming that such upheaval would be detrimental to their father's mental health. 67 Nonetheless, her reluctance to allow her daughters to marry deprived them of the cultural expectation that they should have their own household and family. The pitiful situation of the royal princesses is alluded to in numerous satirical prints from the 1790s onwards, many of which depict the princesses glumly sitting at tea with their parents or singing in the chapel at Windsor Castle. 68 Rumours of affairs with courtiers and equerries were attached to each of the royal princesses, and these rumours often resurfaced in popular discourse when the princess in question eventually succeeded in marrying. 69 For example, the marriage of the forty-eight-year-old Princess Elizabeth to the Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg in 1818 prompted several satirical attacks on Queen Charlotte's morality, on the premise that the queen was instrumental in deceiving the bridegroom of the princess's virginity. In Old Snuffy Inquiring After Her Daughter Betty by J. Lewis Marks, the queen enters the bedchamber of Elizabeth and her new husband, the prince of Hesse-Homburg. 70 Charlotte, once again depicted taking snuff, asks her daughter if the prince has discovered that she was not a virgin before her marriage. In another print titled Found It Out; or, a German P-Humbuged, Marks imagines a scenario wherein the prince of Hesse-Homburg does discover the royal deceit and attempts to leave his bride, before being stopped by a furious and diminutive Charlotte who ardently denies the accusations levelled at her daughter. 71 The queen's moral superiority was also satirised by Peter Pindar in a poem published in 1815. In The Cork Rump, or Queen and Maids of Honour, Pindar imagined the queen insisting that her maids of honour begin wearing excessive padding under their gowns in hopes of prompting a fashion trend that would conveniently conceal secret pregnancies among the princesses. 72 Although fictional and highly satirical in tone, these sources certainly challenge the notion of Charlotte as a figure of ideal motherhood and spotless morality.
Charlotte's relationship with her granddaughter and namesake, Princess Charlotte, was also a popular topic of discussion in the British press between 1811 and the princess's untimely death in 1817. After Princess Charlotte broke off an engagement with the prince of Orange in 1814, the Regent declared that she would be moved to live at Windsor with her grandmother. In satirical prints, the queen is often seen standing in for the princess of Wales as a motherly figure to Charlotte, arranging meetings between the heiress to the throne and potential suitors, most of whom were of Germanic stock. In a print published in 1816, however, the artist depicts a negative view of the relationship between the queen and her granddaughter. In The Mother's Girl Plucking a Crow, or German Flesh & English Spirit, Princess Charlotte attacks her grandmother for mistreating her mother, Caroline. 73 The queen is depicted grotesquely, and the artist takes pains to emphasise that Queen Charlotte is German, while Princess Charlotte is English: where the queen is old, outdated and foreign, her granddaughter is youthful, modern and a symbol of British fortitude and morality. Queen Charlotte's identity as a German princess was reiterated in many caricatures published during the Regency, with prints such as John Bull in the Council Chamber alluding to this identity through depictions of sauerkraut and the recurrent motif of the queen indulging in 'Strasbourg' snuff. The persistent focus on Charlotte's Germanness in this period is a reflection of the rise in British nationalism that emerged as a result of the conflict with Revolutionary France and the ensuing Napoleonic Wars. 74 Despite having lived in Britain for most of her life, Charlotte was increasingly depicted in caricatures as a foreign queen, whose foreignness may have posed a threat to the welfare of Britain and the royal family in a politically turbulent period when fears of foreign invasion preyed on the minds of the British public. 75 National grief at the loss of a popular heiress to the throne rebounded on Queen Charlotte when princess Charlotte died in childbirth in November 1817. The queen was unwell and had travelled to Bath to recuperate in the winter of 1817, leading to some accusations in the press that she should have been present at her granddaughter's lying in at Claremont. The Morning Chronicle stated, 'there was not one Lady, or even female domestic, resident at Claremont whose experience could authorize her to be useful to the Princess during her pregnancy or labour. Not one of them was a mother'. 76 The press was largely, however, sympathetic to the queen on the loss of her granddaughter, and many reports expressed sincere concern about the impact that the news would have on the already ill queen. 77 The Courier, for example, was one of several newspapers which stressed that the queen had not been present at Claremont because it was Princess Charlotte's wish that the house not be overwhelmed by royal attendants. 78 These examples, centred on the queen's complex relationships with her female relatives, undoubtedly challenged the idealised image of a maternal and loving queen that had been cultivated in the public sphere of Britain since the birth of the prince of Wales in 1762. While the Regency Crisis prompted some commentators to portray the queen as a mother willing to overthrow her son in order to rule, popular discourse during the Regency instead suggests that the queen was showing decidedly unmaternal sentiments towards her daughters, daughters-in-law and granddaughter Princess Charlotte. In addition to enduring, periodic accusations of political intrigue coupled with a growing anti-German rhetoric, these public revelations of troubles within the queen's family likely did further damage to Charlotte's 'official' image in the years preceding her death.
V. 1818: 'The Object of Universal Esteem' 79 On 17 November 1818, Charlotte died after fifty-seven years as queen consort. The queen's death was greeted by a deluge of newspaper articles and loyal addresses. A cheap and poorly printed elegy from Nottingham highlights how press coverage of the event extended to those at the lower end of the social scale in Britain. 80 Conscious of the national significance of the event, The Courier claimed that 'only one opinion exists throughout all ranks of society, as to the unblemished and irreproachable character' of the queen. 81 The Morning Herald praised the queen's determination to exclude 'immoral' women from her court as 'a more brilliant jewel in the diadem of her moral fame than any which embellished her temporal crown'. 82 The Morning Post claimed that Charlotte's virtues were 'the object of universal esteem' but admitted that the queen was not perfect: Faults she might have, for she was human; but they are lost in the magnitude of her good qualities and excellencies; and as long as conjugal virtues are revered, as long as parental affection is cherished, and the mild exercise of the loftiest dignity duly appreciated, she will be remembered with love, regret, and admiration by every feeling heart. 83 In a second article published the next day, the Morning Post addressed the long-running accusations of political interference that were attributed to Charlotte from the Regency Crisis onwards. The paper asserted that 'from politics she kept studiously aloof ' and claimed that her actions during the Regency Crisis were motivated only by a desire to support her husband. 84 It is significant that even as this publication praised the late queen as a paragon of virtue, the editors felt it necessary to address the persistent rumours of political scheming, avarice and a lack of maternal sentiment that had attached themselves to Charlotte during the latter half of her reign.
Even The Times, a staunch supporter of the queen, challenged notions that Charlotte was an ideal mother and a staid queen consort. The paper claimed that the 'sober dignity' of the court vanished when George III withdrew from public life in 1811, and it suggested that the queen was in support of the change from 'grave to gay' at court. 85 The most damning claim made in the article, however, touched on Charlotte's identity as a mother, stating that 'much of the praise which was long bestowed upon Her Majesty, as a model of the parental and domestic character, really belonged to her illustrious consort'. 86 According to The Times, the decision of many of the queen's children to leave her sickbed undermined the widespread belief that she had dedicated herself to 'the sacred obligations of a mother towards her offspring'. 87 On 22 November 1818, the front page of the Examiner was filled with an article entitled 'Death and Character of the Queen'. A publication long critical of the queen, the Examiner began by praising The Times for 'what is called "breaking the ice" respecting Her Majesty's character and reputation with the public'. 88 The article did not deny that the queen 'had the virtues of appearance and may have had virtues in reality', but it nonetheless challenged other newspapers and addresses that attempted to paint the queen in a wholly positive light. 89 For example, the article stated that 'in the great Christian virtue of charity, or generosity in money matters […] appearances and popular opinion are certainly against her', before excoriating the queen for her cold and un-Christian conduct towards her daughter-in-law, the duchess of Cumberland. The article concluded by stating that 'The pretence of some of her eulogists, that she did not interfere in politics and intrigue, is refuted not only by all probability, but by what politicians themselves have shewn', a claim that challenged the accepted view that the queen did not involve herself in political disputes. 90 The queen's death thus allowed for a greater discussion of her public reputation in the British press; while many of these discussions were positive, as may be expected on the death of an individual who had existed in the public eye for almost sixty years, the opinions expressed by publications such as The Times and the Examiner unsettle any notion that Charlotte was universally adored or admired.
The queen's death did not put a stop to public discussions about her reputation, as numerous posthumous biographies appeared for sale in the years following 1818. In 1820, an 'H.W. Fitz-George' published a satirical biography of Charlotte, entitled Memoirs of the Late Mrs. King (Otherwise the Diamond Queen!). 91 Although a satirical work, the 'biography' did record much of the gossip that surrounded Charlotte throughout her later life, particularly her ill treatment of her daughters-in-law and her want of charity. The text concluded that Mrs King's death 'did not create the sensation which the loss of a good lady […] would have done; her old acquaintances, wished for her sake, it had happened twenty years before, when the presence of her husband rendered her respected'. 92 The text thus suggests that the queen's popularity and respectability declined as a direct result of George III's gradual withdrawal from the public and political roles of kingship. Certainly, Charlotte's decision to maintain a 'queen's court' and the influence that she exerted over the inner politics of the royal family were well documented and criticised in satirical prints and newspaper articles during the Regency period. Also noting the deterioration of Charlotte's reputation in her later years, the allegedly impartial memoirs of the queen's life written by Walley Chamberlain Oulton stated that Charlotte was the 'idol of the people' in her early years but that she 'seemed to outlive those people by whom she was thus idolized and it must be acknowledged that her popularity considerably declined previous to her decease'. 93 Despite the hopes of Charlotte's contemporary supporters, it was perhaps unrealistic to believe that the public reputation of a royal individual could remain perfectly positive for a period of almost sixty years.

VI. Conclusion
This article has shown that Queen Charlotte's contemporary image evolved significantly between 1786 and her death. The queen's reputation was greatly impacted by factional politics during the Regency Crisis, but it appears that popular media continued to pillory her long after she ceased to be a genuine threat to the prince of Wales or to the political status quo of Britain. Queen Charlotte did not exist only as a colourless 'totem of morality' to the British people, as suggested by Colley: a close examination of newspaper articles and satirical prints shows that the queen possessed a complex and multifaceted reputation in the British public sphere. 94 The reliability or veracity of the sources examined cannot be measured accurately, but the value of the sources lies in their ability to show us how Queen Charlotte was represented in popular media throughout her reign: positive and negative, sober and outlandish; they all form a complex image of a woman who existed at the heart of British society for almost sixty years. Extant scholarship has overwhelmingly labelled Charlotte as a domestic, moral and maternal figure adored by the British public throughout her life, and there is certainly evidence to support this viewpoint in many of the sources examined here. There was also, however, an alternate image of the queen, one that emerged from the Hastings scandal of 1786 and endured until her death. In this alternate image, Charlotte's reputation was that of an avaricious and domineering woman who longed for political power. Queen Charlotte may have been admired by many people during her lifetime, but it certainly cannot be argued that she was admired by all.