A Most Beguiling Accomplishment

December 30, 1786 In the twelfth Book of the first Year, we showed four new Buckles, seen from the side, to mark the effect on the instep; we show three newer ones here, shown in full-face, to show the length and width. While we showed the four in the twelfth Book of the first Year, hardly anyone wore oval buckles, today, round, square, and oval buckles are worn. The oval one that we have drawn is silver, with gold sequins in the middle, and with little lozenges connected around the edges. The round one is in love-locks, silver, with gold sequins in the middle. The square one is silver, with pearls on the edges, with large steel lozenges, cut in facets in the middle, and with six large rosettes in gold. These buckles were drawn from the Shop of M. GRANCHER, at the Little Dunkirk , which has a full assortment of them, of all types and in the latest taste. The full selection there renews itself each day at his Shop. In this Shop can be found Rings and Bracelets with talisma...

Queen Charlotte presented the young George III as a hard-working man with no interest in love or marriage, requiring his mother to seek out a spouse for him to ensure the continuation of the British monarchy. You might be interested to know that the real George in fact sought out his own romance at this stage in his life, with a young woman of the British peerage — Lady Sarah Lennox. Lady Sarah Bunbury Sacrificing to the Graces by Joshua Reynolds, ca. 1764; Art Institute of Chicago 1922.4468 Lady Sarah Lennox was one of the famous Lennox sisters (“famous” if you’re into aristocratic Georgian England, anyway): the daughters of Sarah Cadogan and Charles Lennox, Duke and Duchess of Richmond, Lennox, and Aubigny. The Duke was the grandson of Charles II via his mistress Louise de Kérouaille; Charles II was a decent father to his many illegitimate children, granting them titles, incomes, and estates to set them up as part of the upper rank of his subjects. Charles Lennox’s father arranged h...

  Disclaimer: Lady Whistledown makes it very clear at the opening of the show that this is an alternate universe from reality, so I never expected it to line up with real history and I do not fault it as “wrong” for not doing so! But I will be comparing what happens on the show with reality for discussion purposes. A lot of this show revolves around dynastic politics, particularly of the House of Hanover. A brief background on the Hanoverians, which the show doesn’t get into: Queen Anne of Great Britain (that is, Olivia Colman in  The Favourite  (2018)) had no heirs. Because her nearest relations were Catholic and the British state was officially Protestant, the succession stepped around them and went to her nearest Protestant cousin, Sophia - Sophia was a granddaughter of King James I/VI of England and Scotland, and was married to the Elector of Hanover. By the time Anne died, Sophia had also died, and so the throne went to her eldest son, George I in 1714. George I was ...

This was originally posted at Substack, but as Substack's decided to stand behind its policy to allow Nazis to post and monetize on their platform, I'm coming back to Blogger! Synopsis A spin-off of the hit show,  Bridgerton  (2020- ),  Queen Charlotte  focuses on the eponymous consort and her history. The main action of the plot takes place in the early 1760s, involving the betrothal and wedding of Charlotte to George III and the first years of their marriage: the forthright and confident Charlotte comes to Great Britain and is flummoxed by her kind but distant husband until she learns of his mental illness, which she is determined to help him with. Slimmer subplots are set in the Regency period of  Bridgerton , with Charlotte and her children dealing with the loss of her granddaughter, Princess Charlotte, and Agatha Danbury and Violet Bridgerton talking about new love after the end of a marriage. Overall, I was impressed with the show, to an extent that was a ...