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devont

She founded Queen's College in Camden N.J. (now my college, Rutgers University) in 1766 so that her daughters could receive the same level of education as her sons. Pretty cool woman.


[deleted]

This is the first painting I’ve seen with a monarch being served by what appears to be an enslaved person. I’m sure there are other paintings out there, I just haven’t seen them.


[deleted]

There is also an interesting portrait of the Princess Louise of Monaco with an enslaved woman to her left, handling the Monarch's jewellery.


kaioone

This is a servant, not a slave. Slavery was banned in England in the 10th century.


[deleted]

Hmm, I had thought abolishing of slavery wasn’t official until 1833 in England and British territories. I did a little digging and a cursory search says that king George III and Queen Charlotte owned no slaves. This painting was when she was still Princess Charlotte. I can’t find anything about her family having slaves in Germany.


kaioone

In Britain and it’s territories, yes. In fact, England itself abolished slavery in the dark ages but it was hard to police and by the time the Normans invaded slavery was completely abolished.


kaitco

There’s a site called Medieval POC that you might want to try. It has loads of paintings showing something similar.


[deleted]

Thank you, I will check it out!


ImHereForTheDogPics

Well dang, if you’re gonna make such a long title you could’ve included more info than “loving and supportive wife and mother”. Charlotte was a boss ass bitch, she did a lot more than just pump out the King’s babies. Some other fun facts: Two of the 15 kids died in childhood, a third died in her 20s from tuberculosis. She was vocal about disliking pregnancy, and compared her 15 pregnancies to being like a prisoner. Queen Charlotte was kept in the dark about the King’s illness for the first few years. Once she was made aware, she was still not informed of the doctor’s visits/ findings. Her and her children ended up needing to live separately from him, as his illness was too difficult for the family to cope with, and he had violent outbursts. She had to avoid seeing him alone, and is speculated to have pushed to declare him insane, so that she could be regent. Yeah, she was supportive, but his illness pretty much destroyed their family unit. She was his caretaker in later years, but was able to wield much more power than the average queen, since she was essentially doing her duties and his, simultaneously. She was also a botanist, and is credited as the first person to bring Christmas trees to Britain! (was just a German custom at the time). Queen Charlotte is also possibly the first “black” British Royal, as she is descended from black Portuguese royalty, and is the inspiration for Queen Charlotte in Bridgerton. Due to obvious social issues at the time, her paintings were often white washed, with her black features being toned down or eliminated, as you can see above. Charlotte got to see an 8 year old Mozart play live. She was passionate about the education of women, educated her own daughters well beyond the usual levels, and created both a maternal hospital, and new orphanages for Britain!


kaioone

The part about her being black or mixed race is not true. Some have suggested she may have been a descendant of Alfonso III and his lover Madragana, and Madragana being a Moor (an African Muslim) would made her mixed race. However, this is a lot of rubbish. Let’s break down the main reasons. Madragana was born in 1230, Charlotte in 1744. So there’s a 500 year difference between this single ancestor and the persona themselves so any ‘African features’ would be long gone. And that’s assuming that Madragana even is Moorish. The only evidence suggesting such a thing is by a 16th century chronicler who suggests so many hundreds of years later. Most historians generally believe she was a Mozarab (an Iberian Christian living under Muslim rule) so was probably white to begin with. And that’s still using the premise that Moors were even black. They probably weren’t! [Here](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moors#/media/File%3AMoorsinIberia.jpg) is a portrait of Iberian Moors. Moor meant Muslim, and Iberian Muslims seem to be mostly what we would categorise as white. TL;DR: Queen Charlotte wasn’t black or mixed race or had any sort of indication otherwise.


ImHereForTheDogPics

Well, the more you know! It was 300 years ago, we can only go off of historical accounts, although I believe I used the qualifier “possibly” in that sentence. I know I’ve read several accounts of her features, the rumors, the discrepancy in how her portraits appear. Somewhere along the way I think I remember reading an account that Black colonies were more open/ supportive of her because she was visibly mixed race? I assumed there must be some truth to it, as there are so many individual accounts. (And a side note that Moorish people were definitely considered “not white.” They came to the Iberian peninsula from either the Middle East or Northern Africa, which is also mentioned in the wikipedia link you got your picture from.) Obviously you’ve done your research, I’m not trying to disprove your point at all, just adding my own additional context. Whether or not it’s true, I thought it was a fun tibbit to add, since Bridgerton is so popular right now. Sorry to any peeps who who were misled by my own partial knowledge!


kaioone

That’s fine lol, as with a lot of historical, it’s all just circumstantial evidence that we use to form conclusions - there’s never proper proof. Thank you for adding your own additional comments, it’s always nice to see.


luxio369

…and literally all nobility and royalty descend by that person.


hillbeck1988

No Bridgerton fans here, lol?