WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.740 In 1821, the British government was they were 00:00:03.740 --> 00:00:06.240 so terrified of a dead woman that they literally 00:00:06.240 --> 00:00:09.019 deployed armed cavalry to hijack her funeral 00:00:09.019 --> 00:00:11.380 procession. Yeah, they actually tried to smuggle 00:00:11.380 --> 00:00:13.919 her corpse out of London. Right. Just to prevent 00:00:13.919 --> 00:00:16.460 a revolution and the resulting street battles 00:00:16.460 --> 00:00:19.339 between the military and the public. They left 00:00:19.339 --> 00:00:21.559 two people dead. Which is just incredible. What 00:00:21.559 --> 00:00:23.480 do you think about it? It really is. And the 00:00:23.480 --> 00:00:25.760 woman in the coffin. That was the Queen of England. 00:00:26.120 --> 00:00:28.699 Welcome to today's deep dive. Thanks for having 00:00:28.699 --> 00:00:31.300 me. I am really excited to dig into this one. 00:00:31.500 --> 00:00:34.719 Same here. So today we are exploring the spectacularly 00:00:34.719 --> 00:00:37.780 disastrous life and marriage of Caroline of Brunswick. 00:00:37.780 --> 00:00:40.560 We're basing this on historical accounts of her 00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:43.179 life. And our mission today for you, the listener, 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:47.539 is to uncover how a highly personal, messy relationship 00:00:47.539 --> 00:00:51.079 transformed into a massive, basically a political 00:00:51.079 --> 00:00:53.579 proxy war. Exactly. We're looking at how a royal 00:00:53.579 --> 00:00:56.679 marriage became so incredibly toxic that it quite 00:00:56.679 --> 00:00:58.810 literally caused riots in the streets. Yeah. 00:00:58.990 --> 00:01:01.630 If you think modern tabloid celebrity drama is 00:01:01.630 --> 00:01:04.290 wild, wait until you hear about this 19th century 00:01:04.290 --> 00:01:07.090 PR battle. I mean, it's just off the charts. 00:01:07.489 --> 00:01:09.530 It really is. Yeah. And I think it's important 00:01:09.530 --> 00:01:11.969 to stress that this isn't just historical gossip. 00:01:12.230 --> 00:01:14.730 You know, it's a really fascinating case study 00:01:14.730 --> 00:01:19.829 in power dynamics, media manipulation, and the 00:01:19.829 --> 00:01:22.530 consequences of profound social isolation. Definitely. 00:01:22.909 --> 00:01:25.390 It shows how public opinion and personal vendettas 00:01:25.390 --> 00:01:29.390 shaped history. So to understand this catastrophic 00:01:29.390 --> 00:01:31.370 marriage, I feel like we first have to understand 00:01:31.370 --> 00:01:34.129 Caroline's early life, right? Right. Because 00:01:34.129 --> 00:01:36.530 you have to look at the extreme isolation and 00:01:36.530 --> 00:01:38.709 honestly, the financial desperation that forced 00:01:38.709 --> 00:01:41.030 these two entirely incompatible people together. 00:01:41.209 --> 00:01:44.349 Yeah. Carolyn was born in 1768, and she actually 00:01:44.349 --> 00:01:46.730 described herself later as a shuttlecock, caught 00:01:46.730 --> 00:01:49.049 between her feuding parents. Which is such a 00:01:49.049 --> 00:01:51.890 telling phrase. Her father had an official minterist 00:01:51.890 --> 00:01:54.150 installed right in the court, and her mother, 00:01:54.150 --> 00:01:57.049 she deeply resented it. So Carolyn is basically 00:01:57.049 --> 00:01:59.810 watching this volatile territorial dispute from 00:01:59.810 --> 00:02:02.609 day one, but her own upbringing was insanely 00:02:02.609 --> 00:02:04.390 restricted, wasn't it? Oh, completely. She was 00:02:04.390 --> 00:02:06.609 constantly supervised. She was kept away from 00:02:06.609 --> 00:02:08.949 windows, she had basically zero contact with 00:02:08.949 --> 00:02:11.330 men, and she was even forbidden to d - Wait, 00:02:11.650 --> 00:02:14.150 forbidden to dance? Like at a royal court? Yeah. 00:02:14.750 --> 00:02:17.389 If music started playing, her handlers would 00:02:17.389 --> 00:02:20.310 literally force her to sit at a card table with 00:02:20.310 --> 00:02:22.969 three older ladies just to keep her off the floor. 00:02:23.370 --> 00:02:26.050 That is... I mean, that's just a psychological 00:02:26.050 --> 00:02:28.689 pressure cooker. And it clearly created this 00:02:28.689 --> 00:02:31.750 massive rebellious streak in her. Oh, for sure. 00:02:32.210 --> 00:02:35.169 There's this one amazing anecdote where her parents 00:02:35.169 --> 00:02:38.819 refuse to let her attend a ball. Oh, right, the 00:02:38.819 --> 00:02:42.219 fake labor story. Yes. She didn't just pretend 00:02:42.219 --> 00:02:45.699 to have a headache. She simulated being in severe 00:02:45.699 --> 00:02:48.560 active labor just to force her parents to leave 00:02:48.560 --> 00:02:50.800 the ball in an absolute panic. Which is just 00:02:50.800 --> 00:02:53.120 such an extreme reaction. Right. They rush home. 00:02:53.180 --> 00:02:55.759 They send for a midwife. And the second the medical 00:02:55.759 --> 00:02:58.500 help arrives, Carolyn just drops the act. She 00:02:58.500 --> 00:03:00.159 looks at her mother and says, no, madam, will 00:03:00.159 --> 00:03:03.500 you keep me another time from a ball? Whoa. That 00:03:03.500 --> 00:03:05.479 is, I mean, it's manipulative, but it's also 00:03:05.479 --> 00:03:07.840 kind of brilliant. It really is. It shows this 00:03:07.840 --> 00:03:10.159 sharp intelligence that was just completely starved 00:03:10.159 --> 00:03:12.500 of any healthy outlet. But unfortunately, her 00:03:12.500 --> 00:03:14.960 exit from that environment was arranged by people 00:03:14.960 --> 00:03:17.180 who were just as trapped as she was. Yeah. Enter 00:03:17.180 --> 00:03:19.419 George, the Prince of Wales, who, by the way, 00:03:19.520 --> 00:03:22.020 was her first cousin. And he only agreed to marry 00:03:22.020 --> 00:03:25.439 her because he was drowning in debt, right? Like, 00:03:25.539 --> 00:03:27.900 Parliament basically bribed him. Exactly. They 00:03:27.900 --> 00:03:30.400 offered to increase his allowance if he married 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:33.409 an eligible Protestant princess. But the kicker 00:03:33.409 --> 00:03:36.270 is, George was already secretly married to a 00:03:36.270 --> 00:03:39.110 woman named Maria Fitzherbert. Yeah, but because 00:03:39.110 --> 00:03:41.370 that marriage was illegal under the Royal Marriages 00:03:41.370 --> 00:03:44.949 Act, he was legally single. But emotionally, 00:03:45.310 --> 00:03:47.930 he was completely unavailable. OK, let's unpack 00:03:47.930 --> 00:03:50.629 this. Because this is essentially the worst arranged 00:03:50.629 --> 00:03:53.009 Tinder date in history, but with geopolitical 00:03:53.009 --> 00:03:55.629 consequences. That's a great way to put it. The 00:03:55.629 --> 00:03:59.270 British Crown... sends this envoy, Lord Malmesbury, 00:03:59.849 --> 00:04:02.930 to fetch Caroline from Brunswick. And his diaries 00:04:02.930 --> 00:04:05.289 are just brutal. He notes her complete lack of 00:04:05.289 --> 00:04:07.169 decorum, that she doesn't wash her clothes, and 00:04:07.169 --> 00:04:10.430 that she has no acquired morality. But he also 00:04:10.430 --> 00:04:13.189 notes that she's incredibly brave. On the journey 00:04:13.189 --> 00:04:15.449 back to England, they actually get fired upon 00:04:15.449 --> 00:04:17.730 by French cannons. Right, and her chaperones 00:04:17.730 --> 00:04:20.670 are freaking out, but Caroline is just completely 00:04:20.670 --> 00:04:23.009 unfazed. She was totally fearless. But I have 00:04:23.009 --> 00:04:25.509 to ask, was Caroline's lack of hygiene and her 00:04:25.509 --> 00:04:28.670 wild behavior an active rebellion, or was it 00:04:28.670 --> 00:04:30.850 just profound ignorance because of how she was 00:04:30.850 --> 00:04:34.029 raised? What's fascinating here is that Malmesbury's 00:04:34.029 --> 00:04:37.250 comment about no acquired morality perfectly 00:04:37.250 --> 00:04:40.449 answers that. Her isolation meant she had absolutely 00:04:40.449 --> 00:04:43.269 no tools to navigate a place like the British 00:04:43.269 --> 00:04:45.550 court. She just didn't know the rules. Exactly. 00:04:45.720 --> 00:04:48.180 She didn't know the subtle etiquette or how to 00:04:48.180 --> 00:04:50.879 hide her feelings, which made her an incredibly 00:04:50.879 --> 00:04:53.180 easy target from the moment she arrived. And 00:04:53.180 --> 00:04:55.199 the actual meeting between her and George is 00:04:55.199 --> 00:04:57.720 just a disaster. Oh, it's painful. George takes 00:04:57.720 --> 00:05:00.279 one look at her, turns around and immediately 00:05:00.279 --> 00:05:03.560 ask for a glass of brandy. He is visibly repulsed. 00:05:03.699 --> 00:05:05.699 And Caroline doesn't back down. She turns to 00:05:05.699 --> 00:05:08.519 Malmesbury and says, George is very fat and looks 00:05:08.519 --> 00:05:10.399 nothing like his handsome portrait. I mean, you 00:05:10.399 --> 00:05:12.759 kind of have to respect the audacity. You really 00:05:12.759 --> 00:05:15.360 do. Yeah. But because that initial meeting was 00:05:15.360 --> 00:05:18.800 built on such intense mutual disgust, the marriage 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:21.399 was doomed upon arrival. Right. And so we get 00:05:21.399 --> 00:05:24.680 to the wedding in April 1795. George is apparently 00:05:24.680 --> 00:05:28.000 drunk out of his mind. He was. Caroline later 00:05:28.000 --> 00:05:30.139 claimed that on their bridal night he was so 00:05:30.139 --> 00:05:32.319 drunk he actually passed out under the grate. 00:05:32.439 --> 00:05:34.259 And she just left him there. Just left him on 00:05:34.259 --> 00:05:36.519 the floor. Wow. Yeah. And George later claimed 00:05:36.519 --> 00:05:38.600 they only ever had sex three times in total. 00:05:38.740 --> 00:05:40.920 But I guess those three times were enough, because 00:05:40.920 --> 00:05:43.300 nine months later, Princess Charlotte is born. 00:05:43.459 --> 00:05:46.639 Right. The heir to the throne. You'd think that 00:05:46.639 --> 00:05:48.680 would secure Caroline's position, but George's 00:05:48.680 --> 00:05:51.439 cruelty just escalated. Yeah. This part is wild. 00:05:52.139 --> 00:05:55.420 Just days after their only child is born, George 00:05:55.420 --> 00:05:58.259 rewrites his will. He leaves all his property 00:05:58.259 --> 00:06:01.139 to Maria Fitzherbert. His illegal wife. Right. 00:06:01.290 --> 00:06:04.490 And he leaves Caroline exactly one shilling. 00:06:04.790 --> 00:06:07.709 One single shilling. It's so unbelievably vindictive. 00:06:07.790 --> 00:06:10.649 So by 1796, they're living apart. Caroline moves 00:06:10.649 --> 00:06:13.269 to Blackheath. And because she's so isolated, 00:06:13.589 --> 00:06:16.050 she starts trying to build her own family. Exactly. 00:06:16.110 --> 00:06:18.389 She starts adopting and fostering children, including 00:06:18.389 --> 00:06:20.910 this three -month -old boy named William Austin. 00:06:21.329 --> 00:06:24.629 But this attempt at, like, a normal domestic 00:06:24.629 --> 00:06:28.050 life directly triggers a massive crisis. Yes, 00:06:28.050 --> 00:06:31.860 the delicate investigation of 1806. Right. Her 00:06:31.860 --> 00:06:34.939 neighbors, the Douglases, basically go to the 00:06:34.939 --> 00:06:37.060 authorities and accuse Caroline of infidelity. 00:06:37.639 --> 00:06:39.699 And they claim that baby William is actually 00:06:39.699 --> 00:06:42.779 Caroline's illegitimate son. Which was a huge 00:06:42.779 --> 00:06:45.660 deal. Four of the most eminent men in the country, 00:06:45.899 --> 00:06:47.959 including the prime minister, are brought in 00:06:47.959 --> 00:06:50.660 to investigate this. They interrogate her servants. 00:06:50.899 --> 00:06:53.379 They look into rumors about her having affairs 00:06:53.379 --> 00:06:55.860 with an admiral and a politician. And what happens? 00:06:56.060 --> 00:06:59.029 They find absolutely nothing. the real mother 00:06:59.029 --> 00:07:01.790 of the child, a woman named Sophia Austin, comes 00:07:01.790 --> 00:07:05.860 forward and proves the baby is hers. So the commission 00:07:05.860 --> 00:07:08.079 formally concludes there is no foundation to 00:07:08.079 --> 00:07:10.240 the rumors. She is totally cleared. But here's 00:07:10.240 --> 00:07:13.259 where it gets really interesting. She is completely 00:07:13.259 --> 00:07:15.139 cleared by the top officials in the country, 00:07:15.160 --> 00:07:17.959 but she is still punished. George restricts her 00:07:17.959 --> 00:07:20.180 access to her daughter, Charlotte, to just once 00:07:20.180 --> 00:07:22.680 a week. And only under strict supervision. Right. 00:07:22.980 --> 00:07:25.220 So it feels like this investigation wasn't actually 00:07:25.220 --> 00:07:27.360 about finding the truth at all. It was just about 00:07:27.360 --> 00:07:30.379 establishing control. Why did George go to such 00:07:30.379 --> 00:07:32.750 extreme lengths? Well, it's a mix of dynastic 00:07:32.750 --> 00:07:35.750 paranoia and extreme double standards. Even a 00:07:35.750 --> 00:07:38.610 rumor of Caroline taking lovers theoretically 00:07:38.610 --> 00:07:42.089 threatened the royal bloodline. Because an illegitimate 00:07:42.089 --> 00:07:44.170 child could mess up the succession. Exactly. 00:07:44.550 --> 00:07:46.930 But the actual punishment keeping her from her 00:07:46.930 --> 00:07:49.329 daughter, that was purely vindictive. It just 00:07:49.329 --> 00:07:51.470 highlights the hypocrisy because George was constantly 00:07:51.470 --> 00:07:53.850 having affairs and drowning in debt with zero 00:07:53.850 --> 00:07:55.790 consequence. While Caroline is stripped of her 00:07:55.790 --> 00:07:58.050 maternal rights just for being suspected of something. 00:07:58.149 --> 00:08:01.160 Right. So. Realizing she could never win against 00:08:01.160 --> 00:08:03.639 George in England, she eventually leverages her 00:08:03.639 --> 00:08:06.529 situation. to buy her freedom. Yeah, she teams 00:08:06.529 --> 00:08:09.430 up with this Whig politician, Henry Braum, and 00:08:09.430 --> 00:08:12.649 starts a massive propaganda war. And it works. 00:08:12.889 --> 00:08:15.649 She negotiates a buyout of 35 ,000 pounds a year 00:08:15.649 --> 00:08:18.449 to just leave Britain. Which is a massive sum 00:08:18.449 --> 00:08:20.170 of money at the time. So she essentially takes 00:08:20.170 --> 00:08:23.870 a 35k buyout to become a 19th century digital 00:08:23.870 --> 00:08:27.050 nomad and travel influencer. That is, yeah, that's 00:08:27.050 --> 00:08:29.170 actually pretty accurate. She moves to Italy 00:08:29.170 --> 00:08:32.750 and hires a servant named Bertolomeo Pergami. 00:08:32.940 --> 00:08:35.759 who very quickly becomes her closest companion, 00:08:36.379 --> 00:08:38.259 and pretty much everyone assumes they're lovers. 00:08:38.659 --> 00:08:40.240 Oh, absolutely. And she doesn't just quietly 00:08:40.240 --> 00:08:43.159 retire either. She institutes the Order of Saint 00:08:43.159 --> 00:08:45.779 Caroline, makes Burghami the Grand Master, and 00:08:45.779 --> 00:08:47.379 they just travel all over the Mediterranean. 00:08:47.600 --> 00:08:50.519 They famously enter Jerusalem riding on donkeys 00:08:50.519 --> 00:08:53.399 and camels in this huge procession. Right. But 00:08:53.399 --> 00:08:55.659 seriously, was she just living her best life 00:08:55.659 --> 00:08:59.360 out there? Or was this highly visible theatrical 00:08:59.360 --> 00:09:03.179 public parade with purgami an act of provocation 00:09:03.179 --> 00:09:05.659 against George? This raises an important question 00:09:05.659 --> 00:09:08.240 about how royal women were expected to behave. 00:09:09.179 --> 00:09:11.279 George wanted her to suffer quietly in exile. 00:09:11.879 --> 00:09:14.360 So by mimicking the behaviors of a sovereign, 00:09:14.759 --> 00:09:17.019 instituting chivalric orders and parading around, 00:09:17.539 --> 00:09:20.399 she was absolutely defying him. She was refusing 00:09:20.399 --> 00:09:23.019 to be invisible. Exactly. And it made her a massive 00:09:23.019 --> 00:09:24.879 threat. We know it threatened George because 00:09:24.879 --> 00:09:27.659 he sent international spies like Baron Amtata 00:09:27.659 --> 00:09:30.519 to Italy. Yeah, Amtata is actively bribing her 00:09:30.519 --> 00:09:32.740 servants to search her bedroom for proof of adultery. 00:09:33.139 --> 00:09:35.000 And even Lord Byron is writing back to England, 00:09:35.299 --> 00:09:37.559 spreading gossip about her and Prugami. But they 00:09:37.559 --> 00:09:41.759 find no solid proof. Then a massive tragedy strikes. 00:09:42.419 --> 00:09:45.919 In 1817, Princess Charlotte dies in childbirth. 00:09:46.179 --> 00:09:48.980 It was devastating for the whole country. But 00:09:48.980 --> 00:09:51.519 the way George handled it was just unbelievably 00:09:51.519 --> 00:09:54.580 cruel. He refuses to tell Caroline. He absolutely 00:09:54.580 --> 00:09:57.019 refuses. He delegates it to Charlotte's husband, 00:09:57.419 --> 00:09:59.879 whose letter gets delayed. So Caroline only finds 00:09:59.879 --> 00:10:02.860 out by pure chance. A passing courier just happens 00:10:02.860 --> 00:10:04.639 to have a letter George wrote to the pope about 00:10:04.639 --> 00:10:07.419 the death and Caroline intercepts it. It's heartbreaking. 00:10:08.200 --> 00:10:10.279 And politically, it changes everything. With 00:10:10.279 --> 00:10:13.240 Charlotte gone, Caroline lost her only protective 00:10:13.240 --> 00:10:15.980 shield. She no longer had a daughter who would 00:10:15.980 --> 00:10:18.690 one day be queen. Right. George realizes this 00:10:18.690 --> 00:10:21.149 instantly and sets up the Milan Commission to 00:10:21.149 --> 00:10:23.490 gather enough evidence of her adultery to force 00:10:23.490 --> 00:10:26.730 a legal divorce. But then, in 1820, King George 00:10:26.730 --> 00:10:30.230 III finally does. Which makes George V the king 00:10:30.230 --> 00:10:32.730 and automatically makes Caroline the queen consort. 00:10:33.049 --> 00:10:34.990 Exactly. The government is terrified she'll come 00:10:34.990 --> 00:10:37.389 back, so they offer her 50 ,000 pounds a year 00:10:37.389 --> 00:10:39.570 to just stay away and give up her title. But 00:10:39.570 --> 00:10:42.970 her political allies advise her to refuse. So 00:10:42.970 --> 00:10:46.090 she comes back to England and the public absolutely 00:10:46.090 --> 00:10:49.549 erupts in support. There are literal riots in 00:10:49.549 --> 00:10:52.750 her favor. So George retaliates with the Pains 00:10:52.750 --> 00:10:55.230 and Penalties Bill of 1820. This is the trial 00:10:55.230 --> 00:10:57.610 of the century. It really was. George couldn't 00:10:57.610 --> 00:11:00.169 use a normal divorce court because standard law 00:11:00.169 --> 00:11:03.509 allowed for recrimination. Meaning, if he accused 00:11:03.509 --> 00:11:07.009 her... she could legally expose his decades of 00:11:07.009 --> 00:11:09.470 affairs and his illegal marriage. Oh, he definitely 00:11:09.470 --> 00:11:12.149 didn't want that. No. So he uses a parliamentary 00:11:12.149 --> 00:11:14.309 bill to try and strip her title and dissolve 00:11:14.309 --> 00:11:17.149 the marriage by state decree. And so the House 00:11:17.149 --> 00:11:19.850 of Lords basically turns into a sensational public 00:11:19.850 --> 00:11:22.649 trial. They're interrogating witnesses about 00:11:22.649 --> 00:11:25.350 who slept where in Italy, if Caroline and Pragami 00:11:25.350 --> 00:11:27.769 were seen kissing, the state of their bedsheets. 00:11:28.009 --> 00:11:30.889 It's a total media circus. And through it all, 00:11:31.210 --> 00:11:33.909 Caroline is incredibly defiant. I love her famous 00:11:33.909 --> 00:11:35.590 joke from this period. She's in the middle of 00:11:35.590 --> 00:11:38.129 this awful trial. And she jokes to her friends 00:11:38.129 --> 00:11:40.049 that she actually had committed adultery once 00:11:40.049 --> 00:11:42.450 with the husband of Mrs. Fitzherbert, meaning 00:11:42.450 --> 00:11:46.289 the king himself. Yes. She is openly mocking 00:11:46.289 --> 00:11:48.690 his illegal marriage while he's trying to ruin 00:11:48.690 --> 00:11:50.950 her life for supposedly doing the exact same 00:11:50.950 --> 00:11:53.549 thing. It's brilliant. And the public saw right 00:11:53.549 --> 00:11:56.210 through the king's hypocrisy. The radical political 00:11:56.210 --> 00:11:59.210 movement completely adopts her as their figurehead. 00:11:59.419 --> 00:12:02.440 They're churning out pamphlets, political cartoons, 00:12:02.879 --> 00:12:05.220 and they generate nearly a million signatures 00:12:05.220 --> 00:12:07.100 in her favor. The pressure on the government 00:12:07.100 --> 00:12:08.840 is so intense that they actually have to drop 00:12:08.840 --> 00:12:11.139 the bill. They realized it was too unpopular 00:12:11.139 --> 00:12:13.799 and might cause a literal uprising. So what does 00:12:13.799 --> 00:12:16.139 this all mean? Like, why should you, the listener, 00:12:16.419 --> 00:12:19.399 care about this messy royal divorce? How did 00:12:19.399 --> 00:12:22.559 this flawed, chaotic queen become the absolute 00:12:22.559 --> 00:12:25.620 champion of the British working class? If we 00:12:25.620 --> 00:12:27.769 connect this to the bigger picture, It wasn't 00:12:27.769 --> 00:12:29.649 because she was a perfect monarch. It was because 00:12:29.649 --> 00:12:32.169 she was the ultimate victim of a deeply despised 00:12:32.169 --> 00:12:34.490 king. Right. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. 00:12:34.730 --> 00:12:38.070 Exactly. The writer, William Hazlitt, noted that 00:12:38.070 --> 00:12:40.370 her trial was the only topic that took possession 00:12:40.370 --> 00:12:42.649 of every single house in the kingdom. She was 00:12:42.649 --> 00:12:45.549 a blank canvas. People projected their own demands 00:12:45.549 --> 00:12:48.389 for political reform onto her? Defending Caroline 00:12:48.389 --> 00:12:51.429 was the safest, most effective way for the public 00:12:51.429 --> 00:12:53.559 to attack the establishment. But the tragedy 00:12:53.559 --> 00:12:55.960 of being a blank canvas is that once the trial 00:12:55.960 --> 00:12:58.639 is over, the public kind of moves on. They did. 00:12:59.000 --> 00:13:00.740 The government offers her the 50 ,000 pounds 00:13:00.740 --> 00:13:03.899 again, and this time she takes it. But George 00:13:03.899 --> 00:13:07.000 still has one last humiliation for her, the coronation 00:13:07.000 --> 00:13:09.879 in 1821. Right. Her advisors tell her not to 00:13:09.879 --> 00:13:12.279 go, but she shows up anyway. And it is brutal. 00:13:12.659 --> 00:13:15.240 She goes to Westminster Abbey and guards literally 00:13:15.240 --> 00:13:17.899 hold bayonets under her chin to stop her. Doors 00:13:17.899 --> 00:13:20.080 are slammed in her face. And the worst part is 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:23.129 the crowd. Yeah. The exact same people who were 00:13:23.129 --> 00:13:24.929 rioting in her defense a few months earlier, 00:13:25.029 --> 00:13:27.509 they actually jeer at her and mock her for being 00:13:27.509 --> 00:13:30.490 undignified. Because her utility as a political 00:13:30.490 --> 00:13:33.730 symbol was over. Without the threat of the King's 00:13:33.730 --> 00:13:36.129 tyrannical bill, she wasn't a martyr for reform 00:13:36.129 --> 00:13:38.710 anymore. She was just an estranged wife crashing 00:13:38.710 --> 00:13:41.610 a party. That physical and emotional rejection 00:13:41.610 --> 00:13:44.809 just breaks her. She falls violently ill the 00:13:44.809 --> 00:13:47.230 very next night and realizes she's dying. But 00:13:47.230 --> 00:13:49.809 even on her deathbed, she's still managing her 00:13:49.809 --> 00:13:53.690 PR. Oh yeah. She orders her papers burned, rewrites 00:13:53.690 --> 00:13:56.690 her will, and demands a very specific inscription 00:13:56.690 --> 00:13:59.350 on her tombstone. She wants it to read, here 00:13:59.350 --> 00:14:02.029 lies Caroline, the injured queen of England. 00:14:02.309 --> 00:14:05.509 Which is just an incredible final move. She dies 00:14:05.509 --> 00:14:08.110 weeks later at age 53. And that brings us right 00:14:08.110 --> 00:14:10.759 back to the start of our deep dive. The funeral 00:14:10.759 --> 00:14:13.460 riots. The government was so scared of her, even 00:14:13.460 --> 00:14:16.019 in death, that they tried to reroute her coffin 00:14:16.019 --> 00:14:18.279 away from the public. And the public responds 00:14:18.279 --> 00:14:20.860 by building barricades. They hurl cobblestones 00:14:20.860 --> 00:14:23.759 at the military. Soldiers open fire. Two men 00:14:23.759 --> 00:14:27.019 are killed. But the public wins. They force the 00:14:27.019 --> 00:14:29.460 coffin through London. She managed to cause a 00:14:29.460 --> 00:14:31.840 massive riot from inside a coffin. It's wild. 00:14:32.059 --> 00:14:34.379 Her final demand for that inscription served 00:14:34.379 --> 00:14:37.159 as an eternal piece of PR, making sure history 00:14:37.159 --> 00:14:39.639 recorded her grievance. They really did. So as 00:14:39.639 --> 00:14:41.120 we wrap up, I want to leave you with a thought 00:14:41.120 --> 00:14:43.539 to mull over. Think about how public figures 00:14:43.539 --> 00:14:46.320 today are still used as proxy battlegrounds for 00:14:46.320 --> 00:14:48.899 much larger political or social movements. Oh, 00:14:49.059 --> 00:14:52.320 concept. Right. When you see a modern celebrity 00:14:52.320 --> 00:14:55.039 scandal completely dividing a nation or tearing 00:14:55.039 --> 00:14:58.429 up the Internet, ask yourself, Are people really 00:14:58.429 --> 00:15:01.090 arguing about the individuals involved? Or are 00:15:01.090 --> 00:15:03.230 they, just like the Crowns back in Carolina of 00:15:03.230 --> 00:15:05.730 Brunswick in 1820, actually fighting about their 00:15:05.730 --> 00:15:07.850 own frustrations with the establishment? That's 00:15:07.850 --> 00:15:09.710 a great question to ask. Thanks for joining us 00:15:09.710 --> 00:15:10.490 on this Deep Dive.