In February my first book – Carolina of Orange-Nassau, Ancestress of the Royal Houses of Europe – was released. Today is the 232nd anniversary of Carolina’s death at the early age of 44. Here are 44 facts about her life – one for each year of her life.
- She was her parents’ first child to survive childbirth.
- She was named for her grandmother Caroline of Ansbach upon the request of her grandfather, King George II of Great Britain.
- Her sister named Anna Maria would live for just one month.
- Carolina received two “African moors” as a present when she was a child.
- She lost both her parents before she was an adult.
- Carolina stayed by her mother’s bed when she lay dying.
- Her marriage to Charles Christian, Prince of Nassau-Weilburg was feared to leave her “in mediocrity.”
- She married Charles Christian, Prince of Nassau-Weilburg on 5 March 1760.
- Her first child was born on 18 December 1760 but he would die young.
- Her cousin King George III of Great Britain was the godfather of her first son.
- The newlyweds lived at Huis Honselaarsdijk, which unfortunately no longer exists.
- Her departure to Weilburg shortly after her wedding was the first time she was separated for any length of time from her younger brother William and she missed him terribly.
- All of her letters to her brother start with “My (very) dear brother”
- Carolina’s letters are mostly in French but she often joked in Dutch like “weeds do not perish” when referring to herself.
- She suffered at least one miscarriage.
- Carolina acted as regent for the last few months of her brother’s minority after the death of their grandmother Marie Louise of Hesse-Kassel.
- During her regency, she was several months pregnant.
- She and Charles Christian began the building of their own palace in The Hague but it was never finished. It is now a theatre.
- Her favourite palace was The Loo Palace in Apeldoorn where she knew all the best places to play music.
- She once received her first cousin, Prince Edward, Duke of York and Albany and she found him very VRIENDELIJK (kind).
- After a visit to houses belonging to regular people, she described them as “dollhouses.”
- Her many pregnancies affected her body and she found herself “ugly” and her growing belly interfered with her singing, much to her annoyance.
- She once compared The Hague to the Sinai Peninsula because her brother was not there.
- She became acquainted with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart when he was 9 years old.
- Mozart’s father found he could not refuse her invitation because “one does not refuse a pregnant woman.”
- She saved the lives of both Mozart and his sister by sending her personal physician when they were ill with typhoid fever.
- Mozart wrote several sonnets for her.
- At her court in Kirchheimbolanden, she set up her own orchestra.
- She wrote several pieces of music herself, including a march for her brother.
- She was an accomplished pianist.
- She did not like sad music.
- Mozart estimated she had around 300 musicians at her court in 1778.
- The death of her eight-year-old son William Louis hit her hard and she went to recuperate with her aunt Mary of Great Britain, Landgravine of Hesse-Kassel.
- She was godmother to her niece Louise, her brother’s eldest surviving child.
- She was also named godmother to her nephew, who would become the first King of the Netherlands long after Carolina had died.
- In 1778, she had a painting made of her and the children as a surprise for her husband.
- Her eldest children were getting married while Carolina herself was still falling pregnant.
- In total, she had given birth to 15 children of which 7 would survive to adulthood.
- Her eldest grandchild was stillborn.
- Carolina died suddenly after an illness of just two days.
- She was buried in the reformed Peterskirche in Kirchheimbolanden.
- Her husband was buried close by in the Lutheran Paulskirche.
- Their palace in Kirchheimbolanden has mostly disappeared and is now in use as a senior residence.
- Carolina and Charles Christian’s descendants sit on the thrones of Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Spain.
Carolina of Orange-Nassau, Ancestress of the Royal Houses of Europe is available now in both the UK and the US.
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