00:00:00.000Hello, and welcome to the Vulgar History Podcast. This is Season 1, Episode 1. My name is Anne
00:00:16.300Foster, and this is a feminist women's history comedy podcast where I'm just going to share
00:00:22.580some stories with you about women whose stories are not super well known, or even if you've
00:00:27.880heard of them. You might not know all the details, but what they got up to exactly. It's a sort of
00:00:32.460history podcast where I just have these stories that I've run into that I read about that I feel
00:00:37.220like are really interesting. And I just really want to share them with lots of people. And I've
00:00:41.620already shared them with all the people who I know in life. So I figured why not start a podcast so
00:00:46.720even more people can learn all these bonkers, like scandalous stories of all these amazing women.
00:00:52.980And when I was thinking about, you know, making a little theme for my first season, what I fell upon, thanks to especially one of my Twitter mutuals, and I'm sorry, I didn't write down what your name was.0.92
00:01:06.180But one of my wonderful Twitter mutuals suggested, well-behaved women seldom make history podcasts.
00:01:12.280So sort of inspired by the famous quote from Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, who was a historian who was writing about Puritan burial rituals, like funerals in oldie Puritan times in America.0.93
00:01:26.060And just casually in the middle of one of the paragraphs, this historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich just mentioned, well-behaved women seldom make history.
00:01:33.860She was saying it in the middle of a bunch of other sentences. And she was basically saying, she's looking at these records and there's not a lot written about women because back in the day, and it's not super different now in a lot of places in the world, a woman was seen as being most successful if she just sort of like stayed out of the limelight, stayed potentially inside the house, raising the children, not bringing any attention to herself.
00:01:59.940So what Laurel Thatcher-Ellrich is saying by this quote, well-behaved women seldom make history. She's not saying like, so get out there and misbehave women. She's just saying like, we don't know a lot about a lot of women from the last several centuries, millennium of patriarchal Western culture. And that's because that was the culture was designed to not know about them.0.56
00:02:21.780So the women who we do know about are the women who didn't, quote unquote, behave themselves. And that's who we're going to be looking at this season, just women who made a spectacle of themselves in various ways, who just sort of weren't just status quo.0.90
00:02:38.060and we know about them because of how they were different from other people and we're gonna look
00:02:43.920at one of my most favorite women from history and I've only just learned about her in the last
00:02:48.860year or so through a convoluted series of just you know when you read about something and then
00:02:55.520that makes you read about something else and you're just in this deep rabbit hole and you
00:02:58.340start learning about all these amazing facts. The woman who we're looking at today for our first
00:03:03.640episode is a woman named Caroline of Brunswick. And her story is especially, I think, resonant
00:03:12.380these days because there's been a lot of, well, I mean, we all are in our own sphere. So I'm not
00:03:18.100sure what information you're seeing in your various social media, but where I exist, sort of
00:03:23.400at the crossroads of British history and modern celebrity gossip is the whole tabloid culture and
00:03:32.060what that has to do with the British royal family has been under discussion, again, for various
00:03:37.580reasons. I won't get into in this episode of this podcast. But the thing with Caroline of Brunswick
00:03:43.680is she was kind of the first real tabloid member of the royal family. And from then on, that's just
00:03:49.760kind of been part of what the British royal family's whole deal is. So I'll just explain the
00:03:55.980story. It's got twists. It's got turns. There's a cameo appearance by Jane Austen. And this is one
00:04:04.740of my favorite women from history, currently, who I know about. So her name was Caroline Amelia
00:04:13.700Elizabeth of Brunswick. She was born on May 17th, 1768. Her mother was Princess Augusta of Great
00:04:22.480Britain. So her mother was the sister of King George III of Britain. So Caroline was the niece
00:04:32.220of the British king, but her father was basically German. So she grew up in basically Germany. This
00:04:41.700was in the time period before Germany was called Germany, but basically she spoke German. She lived
00:04:47.720in a place that is now considered part of Germany. So her father was called the Duke of Brunswick
00:04:53.540Wolfenbeutel. So her father was a duke, her mother was a princess, so she's basically royalty,
00:05:01.700sort of like minor royalty. She wasn't a princess, but her mother was. The thing is that her parents,
00:05:08.400Caroline's parents, Augusta and the Duke of Brunswick Wolfenbeutel, did not get along with
00:05:14.320each other very well. They in fact seemed to quite dislike each other. So the Duke had a mistress
00:05:21.400whose name was Louise Hertford. And this is a sort of time and culture and class of people where
00:05:27.240like you just had your mistress and your mistress just hung out with you and you didn't really hide
00:05:31.260it. And that's kind of what was going on. Princess Augusta, Caroline's mother, was not a fan of that
00:05:36.240whole situation. And so Caroline just kind of got caught in the middle of this not great
00:05:42.420relationship between her parents so she was sort of like the father would be like oh your mother's
00:05:48.020so terrible and the mother would be like oh your father's so terrible like send him a message from
00:05:51.460me send her a message from me and she was just kind of like stuck in the middle of all that so
00:05:55.360like in terms of relationship role modeling she didn't have the best um role models to learn about
00:06:04.420what being a married couple was like as i mentioned she grew up in basically germany
00:06:10.500um her first language was german but she was spoke taught english partially because her mother
00:06:15.660was british but also because she was a minor royal and she was similar age to the british king's son
00:06:22.820whose name was also george and he was unmarried at this point so basically sort of like in a
00:06:28.820cinderella scenario every eligible young woman was being raised to be maybe the wife of the prince
00:06:36.580and even though if you're got like a mental family tree in your head caroline was the niece of the
00:06:43.980british king the prince is the son of the british king the two of them are first cousins but that
00:06:48.720was like not super weird at the time it was a little weird but at the same time she lived in
00:06:57.800germany it's not like they grew up together so like we're gonna get into other stories in other
00:07:02.620episodes. Like this could be a lot weirder, but it's basically sort of like a Targaryen
00:07:07.740Game of Thrones, sort of like staying within your own family sort of situation. Anyway, so Caroline
00:07:14.760being raised to be maybe the wife when she grows up of her first cousin, Prince George.
00:07:22.780So they taught her English and that's kind of, one gets the sense that's sort of like the main
00:07:28.320thing that she was taught. Her parents weren't big into education in general of her. So she didn't
00:07:36.980get taught a lot of, she just didn't get a lot of education. So she wasn't as book smart as other
00:07:44.860people might've been around her. She also was very much kept away from socializing, especially with
00:07:51.420boys and men so sort of like a rapunzel ish situation where she's like literally kept in
00:07:58.040her room not allowed to visit like she couldn't even know like as a girl she couldn't play with0.64
00:08:02.280boys as a young woman she couldn't like dance with boys she could only the only servants she0.57
00:08:07.060ever interacted with were female but the thing is that sort of like rapunzel in the movie tangled
00:08:15.240she's got like a really spirited sort of personality and so even though she's being
00:08:19.420stuck in a room she's like that's not going to stop her but also she's nothing like rapunzel
00:08:24.360entangled because you'll find out um she's somewhat less wholesome than that but basically1.00
00:08:32.540so she was allowed to go to balls sometimes like she begged and begged and finally let her go to1.00
00:08:36.840balls but she wasn't allowed to dance um she had to sit and play cards with the older women
00:08:42.220so it's just sort of like of course she's going to rebel against this like she's got this like
00:08:47.640huge opinionated spirit she's not being educated very much she doesn't have an outlet for her
00:08:52.960energy she's not allowed to dance or interact with men so she just kind of builds up a whole
00:08:58.400lot of rebellion sort of personality type traits so what happened is when she was about
00:09:07.100when she was a teenager i want to say like around 15 years old but don't quote me on that
00:09:12.480but basically her parents are at a ball i feel like the ball might have been in her own house
00:09:17.040because they were able to get to her pretty quickly but basically she was tired of not being
00:09:21.940allowed to go to balls and so she started she pretended that she was going into labor now she
00:09:27.520was a young unmarried teenager who had as far as anyone knows like never interacted with any
00:09:34.480male person other than her own father so that was surprising but she was like pretending she0.84
00:09:41.240was in labor she was like crying and screaming i don't know how she knew what labor looked like0.88
00:09:45.460but she was apparently impersonating it very well. So her parents rushed to her side. They
00:09:50.880called a midwife. And then as soon as the midwife got there, Caroline basically stopped pretending1.00
00:09:55.620to be in labor. And she was like, guess what? I'm not having a baby. I just want you to pay0.50
00:10:01.340attention to me. I'm going to keep doing stuff like this if you don't let me go to the ball
00:10:05.400and dance. So like, this is the sort of person we're dealing with. Like when she doesn't get
00:10:09.860what she wants, she might use unusual methods to get her point across. Unconventional, one might
00:10:18.780say. And I also just, that was the sort of detail where I was first reading a biography of Carolina
00:10:23.380Brunswick. And I just thought like she, she pretended to be going into labor to make a
00:10:28.180point to her parents is sort of like, I just respect that a lot as like a teenage girl power0.98
00:10:34.760move basically what did she look like apparently she was really cute there's portraits of her like0.77
00:10:42.580contemporaneous portraits she had a round face curly blonde hair and just sort of like generally0.71
00:10:49.720sort of just a sweet pretty looking sort of person and then because of who her parents were
00:10:55.040her mother being a princess the sister of the british king her father being this duke
00:10:59.580she was an eligible young bachelorette so her mother was busy trying to find like the right0.98
00:11:06.440person for her to marry but also like secretly hoping that maybe Caroline would marry her cousin
00:11:11.120Prince George which again was not as weird as it might be it was still weird basically but in the1.00
00:11:19.400meantime Caroline who like we know about her she did this like fake giving birth scenario to get0.86
00:11:24.400attention from her parents like they tried to trap her in her room but she is clever she's smart
00:11:29.580She would go like horseback riding around the town, and apparently while she was doing that, she fell in love with a man who may or may not have been an Irish soldier.
00:11:37.980We're not sure, but basically her parents forbid her from marrying this guy, whoever he was, because of his quote-unquote low status.
00:11:47.180Now, rumors, a lot of what we know about Caroline is like documented fact, but a lot of what has been documented are rumors written by people who, because of what she did later,
00:11:58.740were sort of slandering her and sort of making fun of her and sort of trying to make paint her
00:12:04.180to be this crazy monster person. Basically, a rumor exists in some writing from around that time,
00:12:10.380not when she was a teenager, but from later, that she secretly gave birth to a baby.
00:12:15.140And the father was this Irish soldier. But my guess, I mean, she might have given birth to a
00:12:21.200baby. She might have, like, entirely plausible. But also, I feel like the whole pretending to
00:12:26.720give birth is so weird and so unusual that somebody might have just sort of confused that
00:12:32.540whole story. Basically, for whatever reason, she did not get engaged until she was 26 years old
00:12:40.840in the year 1794. And I just want to like give her a little hot take, which is it's sort of a
00:12:49.500common perception that people in olden times got married when they were like 12 or whatever and a
00:12:56.940lot of times like an engagement might happen or betrothal when someone was really young but the0.95
00:13:01.960average age for women getting married in this time period was around 26 like so she wasn't like an1.00
00:13:07.920old maid type person that she didn't get married till then that's not weird like she was super0.99
00:13:13.020eligible lots of people wanted to marry her and they just kind of tried to wait until they found1.00
00:13:16.600the right person. And they did. And who did she get engaged to in 1794, age 26? Her first cousin,
00:13:24.180Prince George of Britain. So this was not a love match to begin with, in that Caroline and George
00:13:32.200had never met at this point. And also, I just need to like, side note, Prince George at this time
00:13:41.320was like maybe the least popular member of the british royal family and the british royal family
00:13:48.800itself was like really unpopular so he was kind of like technically a catch quote unquote but like
00:13:57.160oh let's get into it so 1794 this is shortly after the american revolution so it was prince
00:14:05.800George's father, King George III, who had been, he's the king from Hamilton, et cetera, who was
00:14:11.580the king when the Americans did the whole Hamilton thing. You know, I'm not American, but you know,
00:14:19.480the whole thing, Betsy Ross flag, et cetera. So basically the British people were mad at the
00:14:24.200British Royal family because they had lost this colony that was like providing them with lots of
00:14:28.240goods and materials. And that was one reason why the British people were mad at the British Royal
00:14:33.580family, but also the country was like massively in debt, but the royal family was just kind of like
00:14:39.660spending like money was no issue at all. It's the sort of thing where like when the economy is doing
00:14:45.460really badly, if the people in charge are just like lavishly spending money on luxuries, that's
00:14:52.120going to make the like everyday person a little bit mad at your royal family. And of the whole
00:14:58.820royal family the person who was the most sort of shopaholic like just not paying attention to
00:15:06.920the mood of things was prince george who was like even considering this is like the 18th century
00:15:14.280britain royal family the whole family spending too much money like even he was spending so much
00:15:20.900money that even the rest of the royal family was like whoa he's spending too much money so basically
00:15:26.680parliament cut off his allowance. And they said, and this is like exactly like the beginning of
00:15:32.540sort of like Cinderella slash maybe a Regency era romance novel. And we are going to get into
00:15:37.840the Regency era in like 10, 15 years from now. Basically they said, you won't get your money
00:15:43.900back until you marry someone, ideally a princess. So Prince George was like, okay, well then I need
00:15:51.540to set up some sort of marriage of convenience so I can get my money so I can get back to buying
00:15:56.700like, I don't even know, you know, expensive shoes or whatever he was doing. So he had a
00:16:03.160mistress at this time. He had lots of mistresses. He was like not a monogamous sort of guy. So his
00:16:09.560main mistress was named Frances Villiers, the Countess of Jersey. And she was pretty amazing0.80
00:16:15.940herself and so he was like Francis I need to choose a wife and she's like like winding her
00:16:22.320fingers together like you know like lightning strikes like mood lighting like she's just like
00:16:28.020oh I'll help you find a mistress so basically Francis Villiers is the mistress she knows that
00:16:34.120she can never be the wife for various reasons so she wanted to help him find a wife who would not
00:16:41.100take away too much of her power she wanted to be like how Caroline's father had the mistress who1.00
00:16:45.800Like he took us his date to parties and stuff.1.00
00:16:47.640Frances wanted to be like the main number one mistress.0.97
00:16:51.360So she sort of felt like, well, we need to find a wife for my lover who is like sort of a pushover and sort of like sort of maybe sort of like not well educated and just somebody who like will just sit around and have babies.
00:17:06.160Well, I, Frances Villiers, can just live this amazing life.
00:17:10.040So she sort of like snooped around and she had lots of friends and they're all good at gossip.
00:17:14.140and they told her word on the street was that carolina brunswick was uneducated and sort of0.85
00:17:20.980like socially awkward and seemed like she'd be sort of like a good easy to control puppet type
00:17:27.620person so she was like george i think you should marry your first cousin carolina brunswick and he
00:17:32.900was like great because i want to get more money to buy curtains or whatever um and then also
00:17:40.140parliament was like this is great because they wanted to make an alliance with Brunswick which
00:17:45.420was where Caroline was from and so everything's great the king sent a man over to Brunswick to
00:17:52.580pick up Caroline just make sure everything's okay and like escort her back for the wedding and the
00:17:57.920man who he sent over was called Lord Malmesbury and this is where it gets even more sort of like
00:18:04.880the setup for a really amazing Regency romance novel. So Lord Malmesbury arrives in Brunswick
00:18:14.360and he finds Caroline. She's just like really cute, 26 year old, little ringlet hair,0.99
00:18:20.700full of life, just like really interesting, kind of weird, and also super sheltered and not super1.00
00:18:27.780well-educated. And as it turns out, she was in no condition to marry the heir to the throne of
00:18:35.260Great Britain. It's sort of like the beginning of the Princess Diaries where it's just like,
00:18:39.120oh my gosh, just know which fork is which fork. Her hair is kind of frizzy. She like makes these0.53
00:18:44.140sort of like weird and appropriate jokes, like slash the beginning of My Fair Lady, basically.
00:18:50.840So Lord Malmesbury was like, okay, I'm not going to bring her back to England right now. I'm just
00:18:56.540going to stay here in Brunswick and like teach her table manners and like how to have good
00:19:02.600dinner conversation. So he was giving her princess lessons. But the thing is, Caroline was like,
00:19:09.720I don't really feel like learning this stuff. Like I'm engaged to Prince George. So let's just
00:19:15.360get on with it. And eventually, like her just weird, interesting charm was so much the mom's
00:19:20.440Burry was like, you know what? Like, I'm into this. Like, I think she's pretty great. And also
00:19:26.120she's clearly doesn't care about learning manners. And so I guess we're just going to head back to
00:19:32.580England. The two of them didn't fall in love, but like, let's get some fan fiction going. Because
00:19:37.700I think that would be an interesting story. Basically, Momsbury was like, well, this is the
00:19:42.740best we're gonna get um so let's go back to england so he accompanied her back to england
00:19:50.240where she met um francis villiers who became one of her ladies-in-waiting because of course she did
00:19:57.560and then she went to meet prince george she said about him that he was nothing like as handsome
00:20:06.160him as his portrait which is like a total reverse Anne of Cleves scenario and I love it so she met
00:20:13.680him and she's like this guy and then he saw her and he was like this person I think she made some
00:20:20.100like off-color jokes or whatever because she's Caroline just got a Caroline and so basically it
00:20:25.620was like loathing at first sight like they're both like it's not just like oh I don't know if I want
00:20:32.020to marry this person they were both like oh my god like i literally hate this person but they
00:20:38.080were royals and the engagement had been announced and so they couldn't call it off so prince george
00:20:42.820basically just got drunk for three days um and they were married three days after they met
00:20:48.460their marriage was on april 8th 1795 um george was literally drunk throughout the ceremony
00:20:54.620and this is where we get to one of our big plot twist moments which is that he had been married
00:21:01.360a before so prince george before he met francis the like scheming lady-in-waiting
00:21:10.780slash mistress he had secretly and illegally married a woman named maria fitzherbert and
00:21:16.480there was an episode of the podcast noble blood about this a bit ago but basically george had
00:21:23.780fallen in love with a woman named maria fitzherbert who was a catholic they basically lived as like
00:21:28.680quote unquote, man and wife for eight years. They had some children together, but he hadn't
00:21:35.380gotten his father's permission to marry her. And she's Catholic. So it was not like officially
00:21:39.560recognized as a marriage, but they were like, they had had a marriage ceremony. So he was
00:21:45.500sort of married, but not really. Anyway, so he was drunk for the wedding. He hated her.
00:21:52.320she hated him as well she should he sounded awful basically uh he was super drunk he like tripped
00:22:01.400and fell on the ground and she just like left him there and that was their wedding night yet
00:22:06.580but somehow well i mean i guess we know how nine months later caroline gave birth to a baby like
00:22:13.140nine months after the wedding so like these two people sounds like had sex once spoiler ever so
00:22:21.300she had a daughter who was named Charlotte, which was the name of her aunt slash mother-in-law,
00:22:29.060the wife of the king. Anyway, so Princess Charlotte was born. And by then they'd been
00:22:35.280married for nine months. Prince George had come to just like profoundly hate Caroline even more
00:22:42.840than when he'd first met her. After the baby was born, he changed his will. And he said he wanted
00:22:47.900to leave everything to his wife, Maria Fitzherbert, the Catholic who he sort of was married to already0.98
00:22:54.060and left Caroline one shilling, which was just like making some sort of stupid point to his like0.99
00:23:01.960postnatal wife. Anyway, she had a baby, hated her. But remember how everybody in England hated the1.00
00:23:10.240royal family and especially Prince George? And so the tabloids were just sort of coming into being
00:23:16.900at this point. And so people from around the castle started like spilling secrets to them
00:23:22.840saying like, guess what? So you know how Caroline just had this baby? Like it turns out that Prince
00:23:29.480George is like being really mean to her. The whole royal family kind of hates her. And the tabloids
00:23:34.460started publishing this. And so then the public started being like, oh my God, the royal family
00:23:38.420is being really mean to Caroline. And they all basically took her side, partially because she
00:23:43.920was amazing but also more likely partially because they just hated the royal family
00:23:49.020they saw her being mistreated by them and then she became like a figurehead for their all0.97
00:23:53.540sort of like nascent rebellion feelings so like this got to a point where caroline would take
00:24:00.740baby charlotte out like walking in like their little baby stroller and people would like
00:24:05.780cheer for her so she did this more and more often because probably made her feel good0.55
00:24:09.840probably made the royal family feel annoyed like basically she was in this family that hated her
00:24:15.980being isolated from literally everybody but the public was was there they were on her side
00:24:22.860and so just like today if you read laney gossip the courtiers the people who were hanging around
00:24:30.720the palace just like kept spilling more and more secrets to the tabloids to try and make
00:24:34.480whoever they supported the courtiers supported look better or worse so basically francis
00:24:42.020villiers her name started coming up in the story so it's like a real life soap opera situation
00:24:46.800where people just like the everyday people read the newspapers or people who couldn't read people
00:24:51.160would tell them about it they're just like oh my god what did caroline do and then francis did this
00:24:55.380prince george did this and basically the more the royal family treated caroline badly the more the
00:25:02.280people of britain loved her and then that made the royal family hate caroline even more but
00:25:10.960basically these were two married people who like hated each other and so they legally separated
00:25:16.720which is like for late 18th century like not a common thing to happen for the heir to the throne0.97
00:25:24.960at all but this is great caroline got to be free she headed off to live in her own residence like
00:25:32.800out of town she wasn't in london she got to live in the country and she grew up trapped in this
00:25:37.900room not allowed to dance and then she got into this like toxic awful family marriage relationship
00:25:43.400and now she got to just like live her own beautiful life and so again this is where it's like what did
00:25:49.620she do? What are rumors? Who's to say? It sounds like Caroline just like leaned into her freedom
00:25:56.540and started having the most amazing time. She flirted with like literally every man she met,
00:26:01.840perhaps had flings with the various men who she had over as houseguets. She was just like0.99
00:26:06.540throwing parties, having an amazing time. But she missed her daughter, Charlotte, who she had to
00:26:14.100leave. So Charlotte was off being raised by like governesses and nannies, back with the royal
00:26:20.080family. They had a shared custody arrangement, but she didn't get to see her daughter as much
00:26:26.800as she wanted to, which is where Caroline, this takes another turn you might not expect,0.98
00:26:32.760which is that she starts sort of collecting other people's babies. But so just stick with me for
00:26:40.780this. So basically, so Caroline made a friend, sort of a frenemy in her little country home,
00:26:48.900whose name was Lady Douglas. And so she told Lady Douglas in 1802, she said that she was like,
00:26:57.440can I tell you a secret Lady Douglas? And Lady Douglas is like, yeah, girl, yeah. And Caroline
00:27:02.540was like, I am secretly pregnant. Don't tell anybody. But she didn't look especially pregnant
00:27:08.880as per Lady Douglas. And then shortly after that, this baby boy named William Austin came on the
00:27:15.200scene, who was three months old. It was sort of like unclear had it been Caroline's baby she had
00:27:22.660three months ago, or did she just like adopt someone else's baby? But like, who is this baby
00:27:28.120and where did he come from? She adopted other children as well. Eventually she had collected
00:27:33.540nine orphan children, but Willie Mostyn was always her favorite. A few years later, Caroline and Lady
00:27:40.140Douglas had, they just, you know, their friendship sort of crumpled into a horrible bonfire. So Lady
00:27:48.780Douglas, and this is all, again, like in the tabloids, like people were telling these secrets
00:27:55.900because like the people of Britain just like loved hearing about Caroline. So Lady Douglas said that
00:28:00.500Caroline had been like sending her mean letters. And then she also alleged that Caroline had1.00
00:28:05.480committed infidelity on her husband and that William Austin was Caroline's son. Um, the father
00:28:10.620was someone who's not her husband. So Caroline wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper
00:28:16.180and you know, she wrote it because the grammar is like not perfect. The writing style is kind of
00:28:22.340odd. Like she's got her own way of writing. That's like, again, she was not like her education was
00:28:29.080not like top tier. And also English is not her first language. So it's like, yeah, she wrote
00:28:33.360this. This is like her style. So basically the royal family was like, oh my God, how is she back
00:28:38.940in the tabloids? Did we not get rid of her? And so what they decided to do, which was kind of the
00:28:43.840worst possible idea if they wanted to like make this scandal go away, is they launched an official
00:28:48.440investigation into whether or not Caroline was the mother of baby William Austin. So this whole
00:28:55.780situation became known as the delicate investigation. And it was supposed to be
00:29:01.900secret, but obviously everybody was telling everything to the tabloids and they kept doing
00:29:06.160that. So the commission who were investigating the delicate investigation, the delicate investigators
00:29:12.760were all old white men. Like literally the prime minister was part of it, the Lord Chief Justice,0.80
00:29:18.720like just men in their like, you know, British judge wigs and whatever, just being like,
00:29:24.020hmm let's just like investigate the sex life of this woman anyway so they called lady douglas to
00:29:31.460testify and just remember that lady douglas at this point hates caroline um had been leaking1.00
00:29:37.920stories to the press about caroline and basically this whole thing was her fault and so she testified
00:29:43.760and she was like caroline is basically a nymphomaniac she sleeps with literally every0.99
00:29:47.420man even the servants she tried to seduce me i think she's like like she's an out of control0.96
00:29:53.900nymphomaniac but then caroline's servants came to testify and they were all like we didn't see0.91
00:29:58.940anything weird also she's our boss and she pays us well and then surprise final witness like how0.80
00:30:06.160to get away with murder moment a woman named sophia austin appeared and she was like hey my
00:30:11.460name is sophia austin william austin is my son it's not caroline's son let's just all move on
00:30:17.480And so they did, sort of. The delicate investigation ended with them finding that Caroline had not cheated on her husband. This was not her illegitimate baby. But she was forbidden to see Charlotte, her daughter, while the investigation was going on. And when the investigation ended, she was only allowed to see Charlotte once a week on supervised visits.
00:30:41.900And now we're just going to take a break for a word from our sponsors.
00:37:26.620Jane Austen was around because it's the Regency era and that was her time to shine.
00:37:31.800And she was entirely on Team Caroline in the whole scenario.
00:37:35.960She wrote, I think this was in her journals or something or in a letter.
00:37:39.300She wrote about Caroline, quote, poor woman, I shall support her as long as I can because
00:37:44.960she is a woman and because I hate her husband.
00:37:48.000like if you're not sure whose side to be on in this story like Jane Austen thinks Prince George
00:37:54.160is the worst supports Caroline so you know there's some information for you the other notable
00:38:01.220literati of the time also had opinions on this like for instance Lord Byron um was against
00:38:07.480Caroline which again if you're like which side should I be on it's like well Jane Austen's on
00:38:11.620Caroline's side Lord Byron is on the prince's side so just like you know choose choose your fighter
00:38:17.160so basically everything was just intense and crazy and like not great for her mental health
00:38:25.140and finally caroline sorted out away with her ally um the politician who was helping her out
00:38:30.780she negotiated a deal with the foreign secretary where she got to move to italy um and they would
00:38:36.620give her generous allowance if she just basically stayed away forever and she was like yeah yeah
00:38:42.360let's do this. So she purchased a villa on Lake Como, famously now the place where Amal and George
00:38:49.380Clooney live. So just like glamorous. She hired new servants to go help her out there, including
00:38:55.260a man named Bartolomeo Pargami. So she and Bartolomeo became very close and everyone
00:39:04.140basically assumed they were lovers, even though they were both technically married to other people.
00:39:08.740and there's a certain philosophy in history that i i just find simplifies things where it's like
00:39:17.120if you find people in history and it's like it seems like they might have been sleeping together
00:39:21.900like they probably were so let's just like go ahead with that assumption so this is all alleged
00:39:27.060but like i hope carolyn was sleeping with him because she deserves everything good so she and
00:39:35.400her servants, including Bartolomeo. They basically lived in Lake Como and they went on these amazing
00:39:39.960fabulous vacation adventures. Like they went on a Mediterranean cruise. They visited Malta and
00:39:46.000Constantinople and Nazareth. So remember she grew up like trapped in a room, like literally trapped
00:39:51.560in a room. She had to play cards with old women instead of dancing. Like she was just like living1.00
00:39:57.000her best life. There is a description of when she and Bartolomeo visited Jerusalem. She entered the
00:40:03.880city riding on a donkey among a convoy of camels which is just like do it Caroline like yes just0.99
00:40:10.360like you like you escaped your horrible husband the British royal family which were being the
00:40:16.180worst to you and now you're just like living your life I love it but then as per ever she's being
00:40:23.180so amazing that um people had to write about it and then stories of her adventures got back to
00:40:27.880England the people were like oh my god she's amazing like hashtag goals and the British royal
00:40:33.540family was just like, ugh, her again. Why won't she go away? And Prince George was just at this
00:40:38.500point, like fully obsessed with how much he hated her and wanted to destroy her. So while she was
00:40:43.940traveling around Europe, et cetera, her daughter, Princess Charlotte had grown up in this period of
00:40:49.120time. And she got married to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Salfeld in 1816. And then she died
00:40:57.900a year later in childbirth complications so charlotte remember she had grown up like she
00:41:04.400was in the stroller being pushed around and everybody cheered like she was like the people's
00:41:09.120princess the like original people's princess and so when she died it became like based like a
00:41:14.760national tragedy percy shelley the husband of mary shelley published a pamphlet called an address to
00:41:20.960the people on the death of the princess charlotte basically a tribute to her like everyone was so
00:41:25.160upset this 18 year old princess had died and now like also there was no heir to the throne which
00:41:30.920complicated everything and also everybody hated the british royal family like the only people that
00:41:36.560people liked were caroline and charlotte and caroline was in italy charlotte was now dead
00:41:43.580so basically prince george is like okay he needs an heir like he he's not the king but he's basically
00:41:50.360acting as a king he's the regent and he needs to have a legitimate child to become king after him
00:41:56.880so he's like oh but i'm married to caroline like i'm never gonna have sex with her ever again i0.90
00:42:01.400hate her like so viciously so he's like what i need to do is divorce her so i can marry someone
00:42:07.320else so i can have a new baby who can be my heir so he tried to um get parliament to agree to let
00:42:14.480him get a divorce and they're like you're not henry the eighth hashtag also henry the eighth
00:42:19.420didn't actually get divorced they're all just annulments and also this the government was
00:42:24.960unpopular everybody loves caroline they're like no we're not going to let you divorce caroline
00:42:28.400so caroline was just like all right you know what i'm just going to come back to england0.73
00:42:32.680sort this shit out she bid farewell to bartolomeo her maybe lover and hopped on a boat back to
00:42:40.300england when she arrived literal riots broke out everyone was so excited to see her she was like0.98
00:42:45.380the main character and their telenovela there for real everybody freaked out about it also the
00:42:53.400british people were just like hating the british royal family more and more and more and more which
00:42:57.180made them love her more and more and more and more so they're all just like really excited
00:43:00.820to have her back there um a bunch of members of the royal guard like the soldiers like they
00:43:06.220mutinied like they they gave up being soldiers because they loved her so much like anyway0.98
00:43:13.960prince george was just like how can i get rid of this goddamn woman and he was like well there's0.99
00:43:20.240rumors that she's been having an affair with a servant called bartolomeo so if she had adultery0.99
00:43:24.680then they could get a divorce and so he's like okay i'm gonna hold a public trial
00:43:30.600because god like of course what else can happen at this point so witnesses from all across europe
00:43:37.900and like the mediterranean from caroline and bartolomeo's cruise came by and they and like
00:43:44.000they're all probably being paid by somebody or the other to say whatever but some of them said
00:43:47.420they'd seen the two caroline and bartolomeo kissing they'd seen them together like semi-naked
00:43:52.700but with every like new scandal just made the British people love Caroline even more
00:44:00.080more than 800 petitions were circulated with more than 1 million signatures from people who
00:44:05.220wanted the case against her to be dismissed but Prince George would not stop trying to divorce her
00:44:11.340so he was like we need to find more witnesses better witnesses so he like sent people to
00:44:18.800Milan to try and basically pay off people to say like 100% we saw her sleeping with Petar Lameo.
00:44:25.600So the number of witnesses he was able to buy slash maybe they were real witnesses,
00:44:30.180like the whole thing just doesn't seem very legitimate to me. Anyway, things were not looking
00:44:34.680good for Caroline. So she was like considering maybe taking a deal, like a payoff to like maybe
00:44:41.920get a divorce, but she could only get a divorce if one of the other of them admitted to adultery
00:44:48.640and she's like, well, I'm not going to do that. But then everything changed. Ultimate plot twist,
00:44:53.920January 19th, 1820, the king died. And so Prince George now became King George IV,
00:45:01.460which meant because they were still married, Caroline was now the queen. Sort of. Like she
00:45:08.420wouldn't be officially the queen until she had a crown put on her head at the coronation. And so he
00:45:14.160was basically at this point it's just like just looking for like loopholes he's just like well if
00:45:19.700i if she doesn't come to coronation then she'll never get a crown on her head then she'll never
00:45:23.020be the queen like he's just like give up like god i hate this guy so his coronation was planned
00:45:29.140and he was like what if we just don't invite caroline um but she found out about it obviously
00:45:36.520the date is publicly known so it was being held at Westminster Abbey so she just like showed up
00:45:44.440crashed the coronation to presumably just like march down the aisle grab a crown put it on her
00:45:50.320head so she tried to get in but the like staff there stopped her they're like no you're not on
00:45:55.660the guest list so then she was like guess what there's more doors so she ran around the building
00:46:00.460and tried another set of doors which these doors didn't open so then she ran around again and tried
00:46:05.820to enter through the main door just like sliding in among the crowd like how do you do fellow crowd
00:46:11.860but she would not be deterred they kicked her out again um she ran around again and she found yet
00:46:18.280another door in the back she snuck in but then one of the kings the new king her husband's staff
00:46:24.400somehow persuaded her to go back outside which she did and all this like running around
00:46:31.240Westminster Abbey just was like pretty undignified. It was like a step too far for the adoring public
00:46:37.360and they're all just like, you know what, we don't love her anymore. So they jeered and booed her as
00:46:44.100she left in her carriage. And then she fell ill that night, sort of like, and again, I'm not
00:46:49.540American, but this happened to one of your presidents. I saw it on Drunk History. He gave
00:46:53.840a speech and it was raining and then he got sick and died. So basically she got sick. She got sick
00:46:59.760from being locked out of Westminster Abbey. And it was the early 1800s, so medicine was not
00:47:05.000amazing. Her condition got worse and worse and worse over the next three weeks. And it started
00:47:09.900to look like she was not going to get better. Carolyn was like, got it. I accept this. And so
00:47:16.060she burned all of her papers, letters, and memoirs, which is just like, ugh, if only those
00:47:23.180hadn't been burned, this would have been some great writing, I bet. She wrote a new will and
00:47:29.000organize her own funeral arrangements. And this is just like, of course she did this.
00:47:35.120So she requested to be buried back in Brunswick, not in England, which had not been a great place
00:47:40.040for her. And she wanted to have the following inscription put on her tomb, quote, here lies
00:47:45.400Caroline, the injured queen of England. So Caroline of Brunswick died on August 7th, 1821,
00:47:51.900aged 53 it seems like she died of some sort of cancer type situation but rumors were flying
00:48:01.160around that she was maybe poisoned which is like i feel like not impossible given everything that's
00:48:09.100been going on in the story so she had been kind of the queen even though she was never coronated
00:48:15.260so it was just like polite for her to get the a funeral procession through the streets of london
00:48:21.140but the whole thing the people of england like loved her again you know they didn't like her
00:48:27.280for the running around the castle but then she died so now she's like people's princess again
00:48:30.500people's queen so the people planning her funeral were like like we're pretty close to like
00:48:36.640rebellion slash riots in london so like having the like effigy of queen caroline go through the town
00:48:45.480would probably lead to more riots so what if so basically usually the funeral procession goes
00:48:50.760like through London, but they're like, what if our funeral procession goes like around London
00:48:55.320to try and make it be not a riot? But of course that didn't work because everybody wanted to pay
00:49:01.560tribute to their fallen heroine the best way they knew how, like in her honor to throw one final
00:49:07.620riot. So people threw stones and bricks at the soldiers who were in the procession. So the
00:49:13.900soldiers shot back into the crowd. And when that didn't work, they waved their sabers around while
00:49:17.760riding on their horses basically it was chaos and two people ended up dying a carpenter named
00:49:24.020richard honey and a bricklayer named george francis so after everything simmered down this
00:49:29.920is just an interesting side note um just sort of like the everyday people they raised money in a
00:49:35.800kind of regency era kickstarter to erect a tomb in memory of these two men richard honey and george
00:49:41.520francis both of whom had died leaving children behind so just sort of showed like the spirit of
00:49:46.740unity among the working classes. Caroline's supporters were good people. So the riot happened
00:49:54.440and the penal procession organizers were like, okay, let's just go through the city. Hopefully
00:49:58.840that will stop the riot. They did. And it did basically. And the route ended at the waterfront
00:50:05.320and her body was placed on a ship to be sent back to Brunswick for her to be buried in Brunswick
00:50:09.920Cathedral. Her body is sailing over to Brunswick Cathedral and some English ministers are in a
00:50:16.360different boat like heading over to like just go check in the tomb to make sure everything's okay
00:50:20.200and when they showed up they found that the tomb had already been inscribed with
00:50:23.720here lies caroline the injured queen of england and they were like oh what if it doesn't say that
00:50:32.000um and the people in brunswick were like but we carved it like we're the grave carvers and this
00:50:36.840is what we did so then a huge fight broke out between the brunswick church people and the
00:50:41.760english ministers which is just like her whole life all it's been like caroline just like instigates
00:50:48.100such passion in people ultimately the grave was changed and so they put a boring latin verse on0.99
00:50:54.560it like all queens get but anyway just like one last fuck you from caroline to the royal family0.99
00:51:01.180so sort of like queen anne from the favorite um whose story was written by people who hated her0.99
00:51:10.600And so for a long time, we just kind of thought she was like useless and whatever.
00:51:14.600Caroline's story has not been reclaimed by people like me who love her until now.
00:51:21.700But the book that I read to get most of this information from was called Caroline and Charlotte,
00:51:27.560Lives of Caroline of Brunswick and Princess Charlotte of Wales by Alison Ploden from 1989.
00:51:33.180It's a good book for informational purposes, but it also leans a lot onto like,0.99
00:51:38.620You get the sense Alison Plodin, the author, kind of believes a lot of the worst rumors about Caroline and thinks she's kind of like useless and stupid.0.94
00:51:47.920There's one movie out about this, and there's a couple other books as well if you want to read more about Caroline.
00:51:54.540But I think the best way to honor her is just by like telling the story to other people.
00:52:00.540And it's sort of like a coda to the whole thing.
00:52:06.280So 16 years after Caroline died, and her husband, George IV, he didn't have any more legitimate children. So the throne went to his younger brother, and then to his younger brother, and none of these brothers had any children. And it's just like, oh my god, who's going to be the next king of England? Plot twist, not a king.
00:52:25.140So 16 years after Caroline died, another high-spirited, opinionated young German princess arrived in England to take on an important role.
00:52:33.700This was Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent, the only legitimate grandchild of King George III.
00:52:40.440She was crowned Queen Victoria in Westminster Abbey, the same place that years earlier her aunt, Caroline of Brunswick, had faced her final humiliation.
00:52:51.000Queen Victoria became known for her strict moral code, stubborn nature, devotion to her country, and to the monarchy.
00:52:57.160Basically, Queen Victoria became one of history's most well-behaved women, while Carolina Brunswick is remembered not much at all.
00:53:09.700So I think, inspired by some of my most favorite other podcasts, I would like to give each of the stories I tell here a score.
00:53:19.460so I'm not scoring the person um I don't think anyone's life is more valuable or important than
00:53:26.440another person's life but just like the story of it like the whole thing of it and so I have uh
00:53:34.400four different categories the first of which is scandalousness so this is like of the whole
00:53:42.460situation not just like how scandalous was this whole story but like how scandalous was it like
00:53:51.540the details of the scandal so this is on a scale of I guess zero to ten and when we're looking at
00:53:59.080Caroline of Brunswick's story we've got the like fake pretending to have a baby to get her parents
00:54:06.480attention as a teenager we've got the rumors that she might have had a baby as a teenager she wanted
00:54:12.240to marry um an irish soldier despite the fact that she was royal and then she wasn't allowed0.95
00:54:17.840to do that um we've got the whole she refused to be taught princess manners but then like oh that's
00:54:27.240just sort of like interestingness i guess like the scandalousness of it like the liciousness
00:54:32.540comes in with the whole bartolomeo situation well actually first no so when she goes to live in the
00:54:38.220country and she's rumored to have all of these flirting with all these men taking all these0.59
00:54:43.320lovers which like I really hope she did I hope she just like had lots of really great sex so
00:54:49.160there's a room she had the lovers then there was like the William Austin situation where it's like
00:54:53.640was that her baby was it not the fact that that went to like a tribunal like the prime minister
00:54:58.720was trying to decide like did she have an extramarital affair and then the Bartolomeo
00:55:04.420of it all going off to Lake Como to live this just sort of like life of like Miss Fisher's
00:55:11.360murder mysteries like just like deliciousness like there's a lot and then coming back like
00:55:20.480the riots this is just like there's a lot of scandalousness to this on a scale of zero to 10
00:55:27.540I'm going to give her a seven in that category. I think a firm seven. I mean, we're going to be
00:55:34.620looking at over the course of this whole podcast series, lots of, lots of interesting women,0.99
00:55:40.380lots of scandalousness. And I think for the first episode, this is like a strong,1.00
00:55:45.520strong start. Seven. The next category is scheminess. Like how crafty was she? Well,
00:55:53.840not just like how smart was she what were her sort of like plans but like how schemey was she
00:55:59.160like on a scale of like zero to Cersei Lannister like where where is she in like secret backroom
00:56:07.140dealings and like secretly manipulating people and stuff and so the thing with Caroline Brunswick1.00
00:56:13.060is that she did have some scheminess for sure the whole like writing letter to the editor like1.00
00:56:18.460leaking stories to the tabloid press like hiring a PR advocate situation like in that respect her1.00
00:56:27.700scheminess was great but in the respect of like she didn't do a lot of like backroom dealing she1.00
00:56:35.460didn't do a lot of like jockeying for power against other people like she just wanted to1.00
00:56:39.280live her own best life she wasn't really out seemingly to me I don't think for like power0.95
00:56:46.140or glory or anything she just wanted to like have some fun so she was schemey I'd say she's medium
00:56:53.240schemey I mean they give her a four a four out of ten for scheminess because there's definitely
00:56:58.260some scheminess there like the tabloid involvement the like going walking with her oh they're going
00:57:04.460for walks they're like really cultivating the British people's anti-monarchist feelings for
00:57:12.440her own ends. That was good. I'm going to bump her. I'm going to give her a five, five for
00:57:18.100scheminess. The next category is significance. And so this is like, again, no one person
00:57:26.920in the history of everything, like everyone's life is everyone's life. But in terms of like,
00:57:34.480you know, if we were looking at somebody, it's like, did she invent penicillin?
00:57:37.520did she invade a country like what are the long-term repercussions of the events of the
00:57:45.640story that we looked at and so for caroline brunswick regrettably um she was never crowned
00:57:51.980queen her daughter charlotte died young so there's not like a long lineage to look at like
00:57:58.000caroline of brunswick did amazing things for herself um i think she really reached self
00:58:04.840actualization in the course of her just like really interesting bonkers life but in terms of
00:58:11.500like the long-term historical repercussions like okay so if she and her husband had gotten along0.99
00:58:17.500better maybe they would have had more children maybe those children would have become the next
00:58:21.260monarchs of England maybe Queen Victoria would never have become queen you know like there's
00:58:26.860some significance to what she did um the fact that she just she really England got really close
00:58:35.460to a full revolution because of her just sort of like everything she was up to but it didn't have
00:58:42.740a revolution like if there had been an actual like revolution if like a French revolution moment had
00:58:47.660happened with like the end of monarchy that would be huge significance but I'm gonna give her a bit
00:58:53.840for significance like the her very existence in the world everyone gets at least one everyone's
00:59:00.280significant in their own way and the fact that she was so she hated her husband so much that
00:59:07.460they never had any more children did have repercussions for the whole future of the
00:59:11.340royal british royal family but overall um i'm just going to give her i think a three
00:59:17.400three for significance and then the final factor this is a score out of 40 the final factor is what
00:59:26.480I'm just calling is sexism basically so like how much how much was her life thwarted by patriarchy
00:59:36.720and by sexism and by people just like not just letting her live because she was a woman
00:59:42.020you know there's a number we're going to be looking at so many cool people like I can't
00:59:45.800wait to record these other episodes but like there's people who because they were women they
00:59:50.280were able to accomplish great things because they could get into certain spaces okay that's pretty
00:59:54.960rare it's usually people like the people we're looking at will be like they accomplished great
00:59:59.180things despite the fact they were a woman they accomplished great things and then they got burned
01:00:03.260as a witch because they were a woman like sexism is such a huge part of all of this stuff so like
01:00:08.200in terms of significance like if she if the british royal family had let women become heirs
01:00:14.880like Augusta Caroline's mother was the older sister of George so like if it wasn't a son to
01:00:21.660son thing um Augusta could have been the queen and then Caroline would have been the next queen
01:00:27.360like her life would have been totally different and then the whole thing about like her husband
01:00:31.680was just like having a fair as a mistresses and like it was no secret illegitimate children but0.82
01:00:36.380then they're like the fact that he was so just like oh my god did she have sex with another man
01:00:41.580and that was like I mean basically every every woman's story we're going to be looking at this
01:00:47.520podcast sexism is always like I can't think of a story where that's not going to be there so we're1.00
01:00:53.100giving her points it's like making up points it's like a bonus for like how much sexism did she have
01:00:59.460to put up with and yet she still led this interesting life this is tricky on a scale of
01:01:05.720zero to ten. It's definitely at least a five. I think I'm going to stick with a five, a five
01:01:13.360for sexism. So let me just do some quick math. It's 10. It's 20. Carolina Brunswick's score is
01:01:19.980a 20 out of 40 on the vulgar history scale. So that's the story. If you want to read more about
01:01:27.340her, like again, the main book I use for research here is Caroline and Charlotte, Lives of Caroline
01:01:32.740of Brunswick and Princess Charlotte of Wales by Alison Plowden, which again, it's like the
01:01:38.880information is good, but the book is just like really down on her. It's just like a newer
01:01:45.060biography might be better. And if you know of one, hey, let me know. You can email me at
01:01:50.620vulgarhistorypod at gmail.com. I've also got like 7,000 million social media things to tell you
01:01:58.060about. But basically, my name is Anne Foster. This is the Vulgar History Podcast. I have a website
01:02:04.160at AnneFosterWriter.com. And I'm also on Twitter at Anne Foster Writer. I'm on Patreon.com
01:02:12.460slash Anne Foster Writer. And if you enjoy this episode of Vulgar History, like all the podcast
01:02:18.900hosts always say, you know, subscribe, rate and review on your favorite podcast app. And I can't
01:02:24.980wait to tell you another story next time. And take care, everybody.
01:02:31.400Booker History is hosted, written, and researched by Anne Foster, and edited by Christina Lumagi.
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01:03:05.280london and the cyberpunk chaos of cyborg fall in love with our core cast or be awed by our
01:03:18.640incredible guests from familiar shows like Oxventure, Three Black Halflings, and No Rolls
01:03:25.740Barred. Ignite your imagination and discover the Realms of Peril and Glory today. Go to
01:03:33.880RealmsPod.com or search Realms of Peril and Glory wherever you listen to podcasts.
01:03:40.280Welcome to Mick Unplugged, the number one podcast for self-improvement and modern leadership.
01:03:50.440I'm Mick Hunt, your host, and I'm here to challenge your why and fuel your because.
01:03:56.660This is where leaders, entrepreneurs, and go-getters come to level up.
01:04:00.800Each week, I bring you unfiltered conversations, game-changing strategies,
01:04:05.480and the kind of motivation that transforms lives and legacies.
01:04:08.820I've learned from legends like Les Brown, Damon John, and Robert Irvine, and now I'm bringing their lessons, along with mine, straight to you.
01:04:18.700From modern leadership tips to creating unstoppable momentum, this is the podcast that redefines what's possible.
01:04:26.640Hit play, subscribe, and join the millions who've made Mick Unplugged their go-to source for growth and greatness, because your next breakthrough is just one episode away.
01:04:37.800This is Mick Unplugged, the voice and face of modern leadership, entrepreneur, and self-improvement.