Professor Butter Beard and Queen Charlotte
“I care not for his sanity. I care for his happiness. I care for his soul. Let him be mad, if mad is what he needs.” – Queen Charlotte (as quoted by Shonda Rhimes)
I am smitten with Bridgerton. More specifically, Queen Charlotte (both the younger and the elder). I respectfully smile when my friends refer to the show as “Diet Downton,” but how can you resist when the first voice you hear is Dame Julie Andrews as “Lady Whistledown,” the saucy author of a scandalous society newsletter, as she invites you, dear reader, into her Regency realm. I have cheered on Daphne as she dances a love duet with Duke Simon and reprimanded Viscount Anthony and he squirms around Lady Kate Sharma. But it was the the rise of Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz to prominence and power, against all odds (including her gorgeous king fighting for his sanity), that won my soul’s commitment forever (or at least for five more seasons).
My first real introduction to the German Charlotte was watching Helen Mirren portray her in the cinematic version of “The Madness of King George.” I immediately purchased the theatrical script from an actual bookstore and vowed to mount a production before I finally wither away to mumbles behind a professor’s lectern. Dame Helen encouraged a growing craving for more of her story, her passions, her internal drive, and her unparalleled endurance.
Princess Sophia Charlotte was born into the ruling family of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, a duchy in northern Germany. In 1760, the young and unmarried George III inherited the British throne. As Charlotte was a minor German princess with no interest in politics, George considered her a suitable consort, and they married in 1761. The marriage lasted 57 years and produced 15 children, 13 of whom survived to adulthood (included two future British monarchs, George IV and William IV; as well as Charlotte, Princess Royal, who became Queen of Württemberg; and Prince Ernest Augustus, who became King of Hanover).
Upon her wedding day, Charlotte spoke little English. However, she quickly learned the language, albeit speaking with a strong German accent (cue Helen Mirren). One close friend commented, “She is timid at first but talks a lot, when she is among people she knows.” St. James's Palace functioned as the official residence of the royal couple, but the King had recently purchased a nearby property, Buckingham House, located at the western end of St James's Park. The queen came to favor this residence, spending so much of her time there that it came to be known as “The Queen's House.”
When the King experienced his first temporary bout of mental illness in 1765, Charlotte’s mother-in-law did her best to keep Charlotte unaware of the situation. The Regency Bill of 1765 stated that if the King should become permanently unable to rule, Charlotte was to become regent. The King's more serious bout of physical and mental illness in 1788 could not be kept hidden from his wife and children, and his torment distressed and terrified the Queen. The writer Frances Burney, at that time one of the queen's attendants, overheard her moaning to herself with “desponding sound:” “What will become of me? Dear lord, what will become of him?”
When told by the Prince of Wales that the King was to be removed to the house at Kew Gardens, but that she should move to Queen's House or to Windsor, Charlotte successfully insisted that she accompany her spouse to Kew. However, she and her daughters were taken to Kew separately from the King and lived secluded from him during his illness. They regularly visited him, but the visits tended to be quick and quite uncomfortable, as he had a tendency to embrace them and refuse to let them go.
After the onset of his permanent madness in 1811, King George was placed under the guardianship of his wife in accordance with the Regency Bill of 1789. She was committed to being by his side as much as possible, but the meetings were often cut short., due to his erratic behavior and occasional violent reactions. The queen died in the presence of her eldest son, the Prince Regent, who was holding her hand as she sat in an armchair at the family's country retreat, Dutch House in Surrey (now known as Kew Palace). Her husband died just over a year later. It is said that he asked for her daily: “Please call for my good wife. I cannot breathe without her.”
King George III and Queen Charlotte were music connoisseurs with German tastes, who gave special honor to German artists and composers. In 1764, the eight-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart accompanied the queen in an aria which she sang and played a solo work on the flute under the instruction of the music-master to the Queen - Johann Christian Bach (the eleventh son of Johann Sebastian). Queen Charlotte has been credited with introducing the Christmas tree to Britain and its colonies. She also founded orphanages and, in 1809, became the patron (providing new funding) of the General Lying-in Hospital, a hospital for expectant mothers.
Charlotte was a favorite of portrait painters of the day. In 1768, just three years into the King’s madness, she was painted by Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland, one of the founding members of the Royal Academy and the court painter of King George III. Here she is portrayed as young, contented and warm with a maternal glow. Thomas Gainsborough’s version in 1781 marks a transition point, after which she looks much older and strained in her portraits. The assistant keeper of Charlotte's wardrobe, Charlotte Papendiek, wrote that the queen was “much changed, her hair quite grey.”
But for me, she has now become the Queen of Bridgerton – ever proud, slightly sarcastic, secretly tender and absolutely internally aware of her strengths and passions. My thoughts were of her as I designed this year’s Easters cake. Proud columns of lemon coconut cake firmly support a layer of scrumptiously tart and saucy lemon curd garnished with a slight breeze of toasted coconut flakes.
And now, after all the Easter baking is complete and delivered, I can sit and enjoy my second helping and rewatch Queen Charlotte as she looks deep into the breathtaking eyes of her troubled King and whispers, “No George, I did not go over the wall.”
Professor Butter Beard’s “Queen Charlotte”
One delicious cake (using a 6-cup Nordic Ware Charlotte Pan)
12 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
Zest of one large lemon
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla paste
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup sweetened coconut flakes (plus ¼ cup more toasted for garnish)
¾ tsp baking powder
½ tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp ground ginger
½ cup unsweetened coconut milk
Lemon Curd (makes 2 cups):
1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
1 Tbsp light corn syrup
4 large eggs
¾ cup fresh lemon juice (about 4-5 lemons)
8 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into Tbsp size pieces
1) The night before, make your lemon curd. In a heavy saucepan, off the heat, whisk together the sugar, corn syrup and eggs. Whisk in the lemon juice and then turn on the burner heat to medium. Add the butter pieces and bring to a simmer slowly, stirring constantly – especially the edges of the pan. Once the curd coats the spoon, remove from the heat. Strain into a container, cover it and refrigerate overnight.
2) When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and spray a 6-cup Nordic Ware Charlotte Pan with cooking spray with flour.
3) In the bowl of a standing mixer, whisk together the sugar and lemon zest until evenly distributed and the sugar appears a bit damp. Add the butter and cream together on medium-high until light and fluffy – about 5 minutes.
4) In another bowl, whisk together the flour, coconut flakes, baking powder, fine sea salt and ginger.
5) Once the butter/sugar is creamed, add in the eggs, one at a time, and then the vanilla paste. Alternately add the dry mix and the coconut milk, beginning and ending with the dry mix. Spread the batter into the pan and bake on the center rack for 30-35 minutes, just until a wooden skewer comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
6) When the cake is cool, top with lemon curd (to fill the well created by the pan). Toast the remaining coconut flakes and sprinkle around the edges. Serve with fresh blueberries or raspberries.
