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Thursday 11 September 2014

Princess Caroline's bath ... abandoned for all the world to see in Greenwich Park ...

I had to pop down to Greenwich on Monday to visit an old chum. Now it has to be said: I LOVE Greenwich. I'm a north-of-the-river, west-end-of-town sort of girl, but I could forget all of my prejudices to go and live in Greenwich tomorrow. It totally rocks!

Old Naval College, Greenwich
Old Naval College, Greenwich

As it happens this week I've also been researching Princess Caroline of Brunswick, one time Princess of Wales, Queen Consort to King George IV and Ranger of Greenwich Park. You may have read my post earlier in the week about her great defender Spencer Perceval, who lived just around the corner from me in Ealing.

Caroline, born a Princess of Brunswick, came to England to marry George without ever having set eyes on him before. That was how it was often done back then. Unfortunately, as luck would have it, curmudgeonly old George couldn't stand the sight of her. He told everyone that she was a total minger, with some acute personal hygiene issues, and refused to have anything more to do with her after they'd consummated their union.

Now Caroline was, admittedly, far from being an angel, but in my book she deserves some serious respect for standing up for herself in an age when girls generally weren't encouraged to give as good as they got. A lot has been written about how the whole women's rights movement started with her. For my part I think that's a wild exaggeration. Caroline didn't dally much in the finer details of political philosophy and universal suffrage, and I suspect her refusal to capitulate had more to do with natural obstinacy and the confidence in her position that came from having been born a princess. Even a couple of centuries earlier high born women from powerful dynastic families, such as Catharine of Aragon and Anne of Cleeves, tended to fare rather better than their contemporaries of more humble birth, such as Anne Boleyn and Catharine Howard.


Royal Observatory, Greenwich
Royal Observatory, Greenwich

Caroline was a lively girl who enjoyed huge popularity with the common people, a bit of a Queen of  Hearts if you like. Grumpy old George on the other hand was pretty much universally disliked. Both of them, however, suffered from a general difficulty in making ends meet. And in a bid to help her meet her overheads Caroline was made Ranger of Greenwich Park.


The Docklands and Canary Wharf from Greenwich Park
The Docklands and Canary Wharf from Greenwich Park

The Prince of Wales had been persuaded that Greenwich would be a salubrious environment in which to bring up their little daughter, Princess Charlotte, and had taken a lease over Montague House, which bordered the park in 1798. Caroline moved in and set about creating her own alternative court. It was by all accounts a lively, jolly sort of a place, although rumours circulated about orgies and all manner of inappropriate behaviour that allegedly took place within its grounds.

Greenwich Park
Greenwich Park

In 1807 Caroline's mum, Augusta, the Dowager Duchess of Brunswick moved in next door in what is now known as the Ranger's House. She was also the sister of George III, Caroline's father-in-law, who was also her uncle. It was all just a little bit incestuous way back then.

Augusta appears to have been a rather frosty, disapproving character with whom Caroline didn't always see eye to eye.

The Ranger's House, Greenwich Park
The Ranger's House, Greenwich Park


Now I'd like to think that mother and daughter (and even grandma) may have enjoyed some happy hours romping around in the grounds, which are truly spectacular with their splendid old trees ...

Greenwich Park
Greenwich Park

... and the little woodland creatures who live in them.

Greenwich Park

Neglected by her husband Caroline kept herself busy with a succession of ill-advised affairs and some solid home-improvements. She extended the house, building a glass conservatory. They were all the rage. And this one connected rather splendidly with the blue room, the principal entertaining room in the house. She enclosed 6 hectares (15 acres) of the park as her personal garden, and had it planted with pretty flowers for her and her little daughter to enjoy. At the risk of stating the obvious, all these things cost money, quite a lot of money in fact.

The Rose Garden, Greenwich Park
The Rose Garden, Greenwich Park

Which led her to examine all the ways in which she could make as much money as possible out of being the Ranger of Greenwich Park. She'd done rather nicely leasing a property to the Royal Naval College, and so fell upon the idea of serving notice on her other existing tenants around the park with a view to letting out their properties at inflated rents to some new naval tenants.

The Rose Garden, Greenwich Park
The Rose Garden, Greenwich Park


Amongst this group of neighbour-tenants were Sir John and Lady Douglas. The Douglases had been friends - of a sort - up until that point. When the goings on at Montague House had gotten a bit out of hand Caroline had worried that they might spread rumours about her at Court, and so she had engaged in a bit of a one-woman guerrilla campaign of her own spreading unflattering rumours about them and generally trying to discredit them.

Noses were already a little bit out of joint, but when the notice to quit arrived it was the last straw. The Douglases were now very firmly in the Prince of Wales's camp, and Lady Douglas got her own back by informing him about all the dastardly goings-on down at Montague House. She was the principal witness in the ensuing Parliamentary inquiry into the Princess's allegedly adulterous conduct, which you can read a little more about here: the Delicate Investigation.

The Rose Garden, Greenwich Park
The Rose Garden, Greenwich Park

Caroline was acquitted of the central charges, but was still largely excluded from Court at the behest of her estranged husband. She would have loved nothing more than to have returned to her native Brunswick, but Europe was at that stage in the throes of the Napoleonic Wars, Brunswick had been overrun by the French and her father had been killed in the battle of Jena-Auerstadt. 

Perhaps the very worst bit of all for Caroline was being denied access to her daugther. During the inquiry Caroline was not allowed to see the little princess at all and, after its conclusion, she was only allowed to see her once a week, and even then those visits had to be supervised by her mother. 

The Rose Garden, Greenwich Park
The Rose Garden, Greenwich Park

I imagine that she must have wandered around in the Park on many a day with a heavy heart, feeling certain that all the world was against her. 

Then in 1814 Napoleon was finally defeated. People could once again think of going to visit mainland Europe without having to worry about getting caught up in a war. And so, on 8th August, 1814, Princess Caroline boarded the frigate HMS Janson, bound for the Continent.

The Rose Garden, Greenwich Park
The Rose Garden, Greenwich Park


Of course, she had her fun ... and she was terribly indiscreet. Rumours drifted back to England of how she was cavorting around Europe with a chain of paramours ... .

In 1815 in a huge fit of pique the Prince of Wales ordered that Montague House be knocked down, razed to the ground as though by obliterating her former home he might wipe away all trace of the wife he loathed, and from whom he wished to be separated forever.

The Ranger's House and the  Rose Garden, Greenwich Park
The Ranger's House and the  Rose Garden, Greenwich Park

The house was officially surveyed and held (very conveniently for George) to be beyond repair. An auction of its parts took place from 11th to 14th September, 1815 during which the fabric of the building, its roof tiles, the bricks, the timbers, the floorboards and its various fixtures and fittings were sold off to the highest bidder. Montague House was dismantled and its parts carried away. The land and the Princess's gardens were then re-absorbed back into the Park.

And, by the time they'd finished, all that remained of the former royal residence was a pagoda-style hunting lodge (still standing today in nearby Pagoda Gardens), a wall and the princess's bath.

Over the years the princess's bath got filled in and became a flower bed, but it was excavated, back at the turn of the millennium, and can now be seen in all its (not very spectacular) glory.

Princess Caroline's bath, Greenwich Park
Princess Caroline's bath, Greenwich Park


A plaque announces that the bath and the section of wall behind it are all that remain of the Princess's old home. 

Princess Caroline's bath, Greenwich Park

It doesn't look much today, but back in Caroline's day her bath would have been the height of domestic chic. It was housed in a bath house built of light lattice and glass, separate from the main body of her residence, but accessed via a covered walkway. It was the equivalent of having a luxury jacuzzi/ swimming pool complex today. And no doubt the Princess was adept at throwing the very best pool parties of the Regency.

In 1995 they also replanted the rose garden in front of the old Ranger's house, and perhaps this is the best memorial to Caroline's time in residence. She was known to have been a keen gardener, and I have no doubt that if she could wander through those rose bushes in the sunshine, as I did on Monday, her heart would sing with delight at the simple beauty of their perfect petals bathed in the warm sunlight of a balmy September day.

The Rose Garden, Greenwich Park

All the best for now,


Bonny x

And if you'd like to see some more spectacular English gardens, why not check out:


Stowe, Buckinghamshire



Tresco Abbey, Isles of Scilly

The Gardens of Heligan, Cornwall


Osterley Park, West London

16 comments:

  1. 'morning Bonny! :) I have been to the Royal Observatory of Greenwich when I was 15, but I honesty don't remember much, so I am glad to rediscover the area with you today. The Park is heavenly, those bushes in the sunshine are a delight!

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    1. Hope you get to go back and see it again soon. All the best and thanks for stopping by, Bonny

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  2. Snap Bonny we were at Greenwich on Monday looking at the tall ships. I love Greenwich too. Thanks for the story of racy Caroline and wicked George don't you just love history ?

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    1. Wow! It would have been lovely to have met you, Viv. It was a glorious day, wasn't it. All the best and thanks for stopping by, Bonny

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  3. Such an interesting story, and gorgeous photos!!

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    1. Thank you, Beverly. Glad you enjoyed it. All the best and thanks for stopping by, Bonny

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  4. Seems like Caroline kind of asked for some of the things that happened. Too about Montague House though, a lovely piece of history lost.

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    1. You're so right, Sarah. She didn't always help her own cause. In fact a lot of what she did fell perfectly within the Barbara Tuchman definition of folly: to knowingly act against your own self-interest. All the best and thanks for stopping by, Bonny

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  5. I love anything about history and your post made for some great reading :-)

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    1. Thank you, Amy. So glad you found it interesting. All the best and thanks for stopping by, Bonny

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  6. Yes, it's a lovely part of London. I'm a north west Londoner, now living in n-w England but I could spend hours in Greenwich; the market, the park, the riverside, the amazing grand buildings.

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    1. Isn't it funny how we cling to the part of London that we come from? I'm the same: definitely a West of town girl. All the best and thanks for stopping by, Bonny

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  7. Looks like a peaceful and beautiful park! Great shots!

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    1. It certainly is beautiful. As to peaceful: well it depends when you go. It can get really busy. All the best and thanks for passing by, Bonny

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  8. That is a great shot through the park

    mollyxxx

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    1. Thank you , Molly. Glad you liked it. All the best and thanks for stopping by, Bonny

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