Queen Charlotte

1744-1818

George III’s queen came to Bath to take a course of the waters in November, 1817, the year before her death. A house was taken for her at 93 Sydney Place, and lavishly equipped; and a second house at 103 Sydney Place was reserved for her entourage, and for the Duke of Clarence, who arrived in the city on the same day. Bath welcomed the royal party enthusiastically and a contemporary, after describing the decorations, noted that, ‘tho the streets were crowded to an excess, not the least riot or confusion appeared; nor were groups of well-dressed females annoyed in their perambulations by the throwing of squibs or the firing of guns’.

But the discreet merriment was short lived. A few days after her arrival the Queen was informed of the death, in childbirth, of her granddaughter Princess Charlotte, and the royal party left at once for Windsor. Queen Charlotte returned to Bath three weeks later, and stayed quietly at Sydney Place for nearly a month. She was seventy-three at this time, and in failing health. Her death occurred during the following year, 1818.