| Collection | Diaries, essays and notes of Queen Charlotte |
| Description | This diary is a factual account of Queen Charlotte's daily activities rather than a record of her thoughts and feelings. Society news is occasionally recorded typically at the end of an entry. The diary has been catalogued to pick out key events or interesting entries as such not every day has an entry recorded below although Queen Charlotte has recorded each day in the diary.
For much of this diary the Royal Family are at Windsor with the King and Queen travelling to London roughly every 10 days as follows: Windsor, 28 October - 3 November; London, 4 - 6 November; Windsor, 7 - 17 November; London, 18 - 19 November; Windsor, 20 November - 1 December; London, 2 - 3 December; Windsor, 4 - 15 December; London, 16 - 17 December; Windsor, 18 - 31 December.
Life at Windsor has a broad routine. After a breakfast at 9 o'clock, Queen Charlotte usually retires to her room while George III often departs on horseback and the elder Princesses for a walk. The Queen tends to make or receive visits late in the morning or early afternoon or takes an 'airing'. In the afternoon, the Reader to the Queen, Monsieur Jean André Deluc, would usually attend the Queen for an hour or two. Dinner appears to have taken place around 4pm with the queen staying downstairs often with the King until around 6pm before returning upstairs and often practising the harpischord. Evening activities began around 8pm and typically include the playing of music, drinking tea, playing card games before supper and retiring to bed. Queen Charlotte typically records who is present in the evenings and who plays with whom at cards.
Due to Charlotte's sometimes idiosyncratic spellings and to enable greater discoverability, the names of people and places have been corrected and expanded in square brackets using the published edition of the diaries (see below) which contains further notes on people, places, and events mentioned. This volume is interleaved with blotting paper: this has only been digitised where writing or significant markings are present. Folio 2 (blank) has been photographed only as an example of the style and layout of this volume.
Written in pencil "Read Oct 1945 O. F. M." [Sir Owen F Morshead, Royal Librarian] on inside front cover
28 October (f 1) - note of visit from [Louis Philippe II] Duke of Orleans to the King
29 October (f 1 v) - visits from 'Monsieur Best the [King's] German Secretary and Miss [Margaret Meen] the Paintress'
31 October (f 3 v - f 4 r) - account received of a rebellion in Flanders; the King to early prayers for the last time this year
2 November (f 5) - visit from [Prince Frederick Augustus] the Duke of York
3 November (f 5 v - f 6) Princess Sophia's birthday
4 November (f 6 v - f 7 r) - travels to Queen's House; visit from [Christopher William] 'Hunneman the Painter' and [Prince Frederick Augustus] the Duke of York; arrival of the Duchess of Biron and Madame de [Cambis]. Note of defeat of Austrian troops
5 November (f 7 - f 8 r) - 'saw whilst at breakfast a variety of Birds lately come from abroad'; goes to St James's; audience given to [Louis Philippe II] the Duke of Orleans. List of people presented this day.
6 November (f 8 v) - chooses 'Winter Cloath'; visit from Mr Best, returns to Windsor
8 November (f 9 v - f 10 r) 'Princess Augustas Birthday which was not kept on account of its being Sunday', visit to 'the Lodge'
10 November (f 10 v - f 11 r) - visit to Lady Egremont at Harefield
12 November (f 11 v - f 12 r) - 'begun to learn to Paint upon Velvet of Monsieur Trottier'
13 November (f 12) - visit from Lady Waldegraves 'just returned from Warwick Castle'; visit from Mr [George] Bolton 'who brought me a Sun Dial'
14 November (f 12 v - f 13 r) - visit to Lady Effingham
15 November (f 13) - sees Sir Andrew Douglas; visit from Lady Effingham
16 November (f 13 v - f 14 r) - visit to Lady Chesterfield at Baylis; visit from the Duke of York; 'The P. of Wales came to Day about 4 to His Apartment at the Castle dined at the White Heart but never came to see Us.'
17 November (f 14) - visit from Lady Chesterfield; 'saw Mr de Luc & Mr Bolton together about the Sun Dial'; finishes chair
18 November (f 14 v - f 15) - leaves for London; goes to 'the Covent Garden Play House' which is the King's 'first appearance at a Public entertainment since His Illness'. List of people who attended the King.
19 November (f 15 v - f 16) - visit from the Duke of York and [Prince William Henry] the Duke of Gloucester; goes to St James's; audience given to Baron [Kurzleben]; returns to Queen's House. List of people presented
20 November (f 16 v - f 17 r) - visit from Colonel Goldsworthy; leaves the Queen's House for Windsor; 'saw Mr de Luc who unpacked with me the Rain Gage'
22 November (f 17 v) - receives 'account of P. Augustus being arriving at [Frankfurt] the 5th of this Month'
25 November (f 18 v - f 19 r) - paints; goes to the 'Spinning School'
26 November (f 19 v - f 20 r) - paints; sees Lady [Juliana] Penn, [Sophia Margaret Stuart] and [Juliana Baker]; visit from Henrietta Finch
27 November (f 20) - visit to Lady Chesterfield
29 November (f 21) - visit from Duke of Gloucester and family at 'the Lodge'
30 November - (f 21 v - f 22 r) visit to Lady Effingham
1 December (f 22 - f 23 r) - elder Princesses and Lady [Holdernesse] visit Mr [Willilam] Herschel; sits for picture
2 December (f 23) - travels to London; visit from the Duke of York; visit from Lord Ailesbury; visit to Covent Garden Playhouse to see 'The Clandestine Marriage'. List of those attending the King and the Queen
3 December (f 23 v - f 24 r) - goes to St James's. List of people presented at Court
4 December (f 24) - visit from Lord Ailesbury; leaves London for Windsor; Lady Charlotte Finch departs to visit son at Burleigh. Note of a duel fought this morning
5 December (f 24 v - f 25 r) - sits for picture; visit to Lady Effingham; M de Luc 'put up the new Thirmometer'
6 December (f 25) - Lord [Fauconberg] to church; visit from Lady Effingham; visit from Dr [John] Fisher
7 December (f 25 v - f 26 r) - visit to St Leonards with Lady Sidney
8 December (f 26) - draws with Miss Mean
10 December (f 27 r) - draws; visit to Lady Chesterfield; visit to Mrs [Selena Mary] Harvey at [Engelfield] Green; christening of Dr Fisher's son [Edward John Fisher]
11 December (f 27) - travels to Kew; visit to Mrs [Jane] Smelt; returns to Windsor; Princesses Mary and Sophia to dinner
12 December (f 27 v - f 28 r) - 'I saw the Duchess of Ancaster and her Daughter at Salt Hill'; visit from Lady Effingham
13 December (f 28) - visit from the Duchess of Ancaster
16 December (f 29) - travels to London from Windsor; visit from Lord Ailesbury; 'went to Drury Lane Play House for the 1st time since the [King's] Illness & saw the Haunted Tower & whos the Dupe'. 'The [King] received the account of Brussels having Surrendered to the Rebels'
17 December (f 29 v) - goes to St James's; visit from the Duke of Gloucester. List of people presented to the King and Queen. 'returned to the Q[ueen's] House where we found the P[rince of] Wales & D[uke of] York they dined with us & went away at six'
18 December (f 30 r) - visit from the Duke of York; departs London for Windsor
19 December (f 30 r) - visit to Lady Chesterfield
21 December (f 30 r) - 'saw Mr Howard with my Bills'
24 December (f 30 v) - visit to Lady Cremorne; The Messiah performed
26 December (f 30 v) - visit from the Bishop of Salisbury; illness of Lady Caroline Waldegrave; visit to Lady Effingham; visit from the Duke of York
27 December (f 30 v - f 31 r) - visits from Lady Effington and Dr [John] Ford
28 December (f 31 r) - leaves for Kew; visit to Mrs [Jane] Smelt and her daughter Mrs [Dorothy Goulton]; returns to Windsor
29 December (f 31 r) - visit from Captain Waldegrave; visit from Mr [Leonard] Smelt; arrival of Lady [Holdernesse]; departure of Captain Manners
30 December (f 31) - visit from Lady Effingham and Lady Frances Howard
31 December (f 31 v) - visits from Colonel Goldsworthy, Mr Thomas Willis, and Mr [Gabriel] Mathias |
| Custodial History | Transferred from the Royal Library, 1965 |