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. 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 typically recorded each day in the diary.
This diary sees the Royal Family splitting their time between Windsor and London as follows: Windsor 1, January; London, 2 - 3 January; Windsor, 4 - 15 January; London, 16 - 24 January; Windsor, 25 - 27 January; London, 28 - 31 January; Windsor, 1 - 3 February; London, 4 - 7 February; Windsor, 8 - 10 February; London, 11 - 14 February; Windsor, 15 - 17 February; London, 18 -21 February.
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.
1 January (f 2 - f 3 r) - breakfasts with the Princesses, Prince of Wales, Prince Augustus, Prince Adolphus, the Duchess of York, Lady Elgin, Lady Charlotte Bruce, Lady Frances Howard, Lady Waldegrave; travels to London from Windsor; visit from [Prince William Henry] the Duke of Gloucester and Field Marshal Freytag; visit from Lord Ailesbury and Lady Cremorne; visit from the Prince of Wales who attends dinner; visit from Lord Harcourt; attends play 3 January (f 4) - leaves London for Windsor. Visit of General Bruce to Lady Elgin 6 January (f 5 r, f 6, f 7 v) - visit to Frogmore; visit from the Duke of Gloucester and family; goes to Ball held at the Castle; retires to Queen's Lodge. List of those present at the Ball 7 January (f 6 r, f 7 r, f 8 v) - visit from the Duke of Clarence, the Duke of Gloucester, and his son [Prince William Frederick]; visit from Lord and Lady Cathcart 8 January (f 7 r, f 8 r) - departure of Lady Frances Howard; the King gives audience to Turkish Ambassador [Yusuf Agâh Efendi] 12 January (f 10 - f 11) - dines at Frogmore; visit from [James Wyatt] with plan 'of a Stair for House the [King] intends for Richmond'. Departure of Field Marshal Freytag 13 January (f 11 - f 12 r) - Prince of Wales and Duke of Clarence attend dinner; attends play 14 January (f 12, f 13 v) - visit to Frogmore. Departure of Prince Augustus and Prince Adolphus; news of suspected rebellion in Sweden 15 January (f 12 r, f 13, f 14 v) - leaves Windsor for the Queen's House; visit from Lord Ailesbury 17 January (f 14 r) - preparations for official birthday 18 January (f 14 - f 15) - official birthday; goes to St James; Prince of Wales and Duke of Clarence to dinner; attends the Ball; returns to Queens House. List of presentations at Court 20 January (f 16) - 'unpacked the Muslins sent by the Nabob of Arcot' 21 January (f 16 - f 17) - visit to Kew; walks to 'the Cottage in Richmond Garden to see the Young Cangeroo'; returns to Kew; goes to St James's to see the King go to open Parliament; returns to the Queen's House. Stones thrown at the King 25 January (f 20 r, f 21 v) - Report on the marriage of Prince Augustus 28 January (f 22 r, f 23 v, f 24 v, f 25 v, f 26 v) - report on the Examination of the marriage of Prince Augustus 29 January (f 22 r, f 23 r, f 26 v, f 27 v, f 28 v, f 29 v) - 'acquainted the Princesses of their Brother Augustus impending match with Ldy Augusta Murray'. List of people presented to the King. Further report on the marriage of Prince Augustus 31 January (f 24 r, f 25 r, f 30 v, f 31 v) - Election at Windsor
4 February (f 27 r, f 28 r, f 32 v) - views pictures and prints over breakfast; visits Kew; visit from the Duke of Clarence. Report of an accident at the Theatre at Haymarket 5 February (f 28 r, f 29 r, f 33 v) - 'went to the Antient Concert in Tottenham court road' singers named 9 February (f 31 r, f 32 r, f 35 v) - goes to Frogmore; visit from [James Wyatt]; visit from the Prince of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of York 12 February (f 34 r, f 35 r, f 36 v) - visit from [James Wyatt]; goes to 'Antient Concert Under the direction of Lrd Chesterfield' 13 February (f 35 r, f 36 v, f 37 v, f 38 v) - goes to St James's; goes to the Queen's House. Views pictures by Mather Brown; list of people presented at Court 14 February (f 38 v, f 39 r) - leaves London for Windsor. Duke of York brings Standards to the King including l'Oriflamme 17 February (f 39 v, f 40 v, f 41 r) - leaves Windsor for London; Prince of Wales goes to the House of Lords; goes to the 'little Theatre in the Haymarket' 19 February (f 40 v, f 41 v, f 42 r, f 43 r) - visit from the Duke of Clarence; visit from the Duke of York; visit from the Duchess of Hamilton regarding her divorce; goes to 'the Antient Concert which was under the Direction of Lord Uxbridge' |
Custodial History | Transferred from the Royal Library, 1965 |