Caroline of Ansbach: Fashion and Style

Dr. Joanna Marschner, Senior Curator, Historic Royal Palaces

Caroline of Ansbach (1683-1737), the wife of King George II, enjoyed variously the titles Princess of Wales, Queen Consort, Electress of Hanover, and Regent. Educated at the culturally ambitious courts in Berlin and Hanover, she arrived in London in 1714, in the wake of the Hanoverian Succession, determined to play her part in embedding the new regime. As commissioner, patron and promoter she would engage with artists, architects and musicians, scientists, philosophers and theologians, as well as the leading politicians of the day. Sir Robert Walpole claimed: ‘ madam, without you I can do nothing …. ‘.

How did a woman of power and influence construct her image in the early eighteenth century? How were Caroline’s sartorial choices informed by political agenda? How did her involvement with the medical world shape her attitudes to dress, make-up and hygiene?