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Karoline Wilhelmine verlor ihren Vater, den Markgrafen Johann Friedrich von Brandenburg-Ansbach, bereits im Alter von drei Jahren an den Pocken. Ihre Mutter, die Prinzessin Eleonore von Sachsen-Eisenach, starb im Jahr 1696. Seit dieser Zeit lebte sie bei Sophie Charlotte von Hannover (1668-1705), der Kurfürstin von Brandenburg und seit 1701 Königin in Preußen, die sich fortan um ihre Erziehung und Bildung kümmerte. Karoline Wilhelmine war sehr schön, und daher gab es eine Reihe von hohen adligen Männern, die um ihre Hand baten wie z. B. der zukünftige Kaiser Joseph I. (1678-1711) und der Sohn ihrer Pflegemutter Sophie Charlotte selbst, der zukünftige König in Preußen, Friedrich Wilhelm I. (1688-1740). Letztendlich heiratete sie den zukünftigen Kurfürsten von Hannover und König von England Georg II. (oder Georg II. August von Lüneburg-Braunschweig) (1683-1760), dem sie acht Kinder schenkte.
"She [Karoline Wilhelmine] grew up a princess of extraordinary parts and accomplishments; she had a ready and quick apprehension; a lively and strong imagination, with a large compass of thought. She excelled in conversational powers; was by nature vivacious, mirthful, and humourous; and being skilled in several languages, invariably expressed her ideas in words and sentences the most apt, forcible, graceful, and elegant. She loved a repartee, was happy in making one herself, and hearing it from others; and, as the talent was rendered inoffensive by an amiable, cheerful disposition, which may not inaptly be styled one the ornaments of virtue, she was (without respect to the dignity of her rank) the life of every company - the delight of every person who had the honour to approach, or to be approached by her. Her memory was excellent; her discernment of personal character and ability, remarkable; and her historical and genealogical learning, considerable. She was an excellent judge of books; well skilled in politics and polemics; and although more partial to philosophy and philosophers than to any other pursuit or persons, was neither pedantic, grave, nor vain of her superior gifts and acquirements." (in: Francis Lancelott: The Queens of England and Their Times: Matilda, Queen of William the Conqueror, to Adelaide, Queen of William the Fourth, Volume 2, New York 1858, pp. 916-917).
Wilhelmine von Preußen (1709-1758), Markgräfin von Bayreuth, berichtet über Karoline Wilhelmine von Brandenburg-Ansbach Folgendes: "Die Prinzessin von Wales [Karoline Wilhelmine von Brandenburg-Ansbach] hatte außerordentlich vielen Geist, viele Kenntnisse, Belesenheit und große Geschäftsfähigkeit. So wie sie nach England kam, erwarb sie sich alle Herzen. Ihr Benehmen war anmuthig, sie war leutselig, besaß aber nicht das Glück, sich die Liebe des Volkes zu erhalten ... Sie war herrschsüchtig, falsch und ehrgeizig. Man hat sie stets mit der Agrippina verglichen, und sie hätte auch wie diese Kaiserin ausrufen können: 'möge Alles untergehen, wenn ich nur herrsche.'" (in: Memoiren der Markgräfin Wilhelmine von Bayreuth, Schwester Friedrichs des Großen, 1. Band, ebenda, S. 55-56).
"At this period [um 1721], Lady Mary Wortley Montague introduced inoculation to England from Turkey, and Dr. Mead, by command of Prince George Augustus [dem Gatten von Karoline Wilhelmine], tested its efficacy upon several condemned criminals. The experiment succeeded to admiration, and the doctor was permitted in the subsequent April to inoculate the Prince's two daughters Amelia and Caroline, whose speedy recovery was followed by the inoculation of several of the young nobility; but withal, public prejudice for years afterwards denounced the practice as dangerous, and even sinful. Dr. Mead was ultimately appointed physician in ordinary to the Prince of Wales [Georg August]." (in: Francis Lancelott: The Queens of England and Their Times: Matilda, Queen of William the Conqueror, to Adelaide, Queen of William the Fourth, Volume 2, id., p.921).
Karoline Wilhelmine wurde am 2. September 1705 mit Georg August von Hannover, dem zukünftigen König Georg II. von Großbritannien, verheiratet, dem sie folgende Kinder schenkte: 1. ihren Sohn Friedrich Ludwig (1707-1751), seit 1716 Herzog von Gloucester und seit 1728 Prince of Wales; 2. ihre Tochter Anna (oder Anne) (1709-1759), seit 1734 mit dem zukünftigen Wilhelm IV. von Oranien, Statthalter der Vereinigten Provinzen der Niederlande, verheiratet; 3. ihre Tochter Amalia (oder Amelia) (1711-1786), die unverheiratet blieb; 4. ihre Tochter Caroline Elizabeth (1713-1759), ihr Lieblingskind, die ebenfalls unverheiratet blieb; die Totgeburt eines Sohnes am 20. November 1716; 5. ihren Sohn Georg Wilhelm (1717-1718); eine Fehlgeburt im Jahr 1718; 6. ihren Sohn Wilhelm August (1721-1765), Herzog von Cumberland; 7. ihre Tochter Maria (1723-1772), seit 1740 mit dem Landgrafen Friedrich II. von Hessen-Kassel verheiratet; und 8. ihre Tochter Louise (1724-1751), seit 1743 mit dem König Friedrich V. von Dänemark und Norwegen verheiratet; und eine Fehlgeburt im Juli 1725.
"That the Queen [Karoline Wilhelmine], whilst affecting to be led by the will of her husband, really ruled him, and that Walpole [the Premier Sir Robert Walpole] ruled the nation through the Queen, now became evident to every one save the King himself, who, poor silly mortal as he must have been, so little dreamed that his clever consort seriously interfered with public matters, or influenced him by her counsel, that to those about him he perpetually repeated, 'she never meddles with business;' and to show how independent he believed himself to be, he 'one day,' says Lord Hervey, 'remarked, Charles I. was governed by his wife, Charles II. by his mistress, King James by his priests, King William by his men, Queen Anne by her favourite woman, his father by anybody who could get to him;' and then, with an air of triumph, he exclaimed, 'and who do they say governs now?' The courtiers present replied, as all good courtiers would have done, with a compliment; but shortly afterwards, a wit, with more rudeness, but greater truth wrote - 'You may strut, dapper George, but 'twill all be in vain, You know 'tis Queen Caroline, not you, that reign; You govern no more than Don Philip of Spain, Then if you would have us fall down and adore you, Lock up your fat spouse, as your dad did before you.'" (in: Francis Lancelott: The Queens of England and Their Times: Matilda, Queen of William the Conqueror, to Adelaide, Queen of William the Fourth, Volume 2, id., p. 923).
"Again, on the fifth of June, 1735, the King [George II.] set out on a visit to Hanover, and whilst he was there, basking in the deceptive sunshine of pleasure and illicit love, the Queen [Karoline Wilhelmine], as Regent, in conjunction with Sir Robert Walpole, the premier, ruled the nation with laudable ability and success. Caroline viewed her husband's departure with pleasure, for it freed her during his absence from the trouble of ruling through him, and from the annoyance of his almost unbearable petulancy. But her pride was wounded by intelligence which he forwarded to her shortly after his arrival, and from which she learned that he had found a new mistress in Madame Walmoden [Amalie Sophie Marianne von Wallmoden-Gimbon (1704-1765), geborene von Wendt], a young married German lady, who deserted her husband for the King, and, after the Queen's death, was created Countess of Yarmouth. Lord Hervey, after asserting that the pride of the Queen was much more hurt than her affections on this occasion, proceeds - 'It is certain, too that from the very beginning of this new engagement, the King acquainted the Queen, by letter, of every step he took in it, of the growth of his passion, the progress of his applications, and their success - of every word as well as every action that passed; so minute a description of her person, that had the Queen been a painter, she might have drawn her rival's picture at six hundred miles' distance; he added, too, the account of his buying her, and what he gave her, which, considering the rank of the purchaser, and the merits of the purchase, as he set them forth, I think he had no great reason to brag of, when the first price, according to his report, was only 1000 ducats, a much greater proof of his economy than his passion.'" (in: Francis Lancelott: The Queens of England and Their Times: Matilda, Queen of William the Conqueror, to Adelaide, Queen of William the Fourth, Volume 2, id., pp. 928-929).
Über ihren Tod: "Her own end was fast approaching. She had long been in a declining state of health, and twice during the summer [1737] had suffered from unusually severe attacks of her secret malady; but she was not seized with her mortal illness till Wednesday, the ninth of November, on which day a powerful dose of Daffy's elixir, administered by Dr. Tessier, failed to remove the distressing symptoms under which she laboured, and before noon she took to her bed. [Selbst ihr Gatte machte sich Sorgen und verbrachte die Nacht bei ihr] ... On the twelfth (Saturday), the King whispered to the Queen, that he intended to name to her medical attendants the malady from which she was suffering [sie litt seit der Geburt ihres letzten Kindes an einem Nabelbruch]. She entreated him, in the name of heaven, not to do so; but when next a violent paroxysm of pain came on, Ranby, the surgeon, by his Majesty's orders, approached her, and although she directed his attention to her chest as the source of suffering, he skillfully slipped his hand to the affected part, kept it there till he had satisfied himself, and walking up to the King, by the fire-place, spoke to him in a whisper. Starting suddenly up in bed, Caroline fixed her eyes upon Ranby with a glassy stare, and vehemently exclaimed, 'You blockhead! you are telling the King I have a rupture [Darmdurchbruch];' and on the surgeon assuring her that such was the case, and not a moment's time was to be lost, the discovery caused her to weep, the only tears she was known to shed during her trying illness. ... The treatment was painful, but the Queen bore it with fortitude. Her daughter, Caroline, who had affectionately and assiduously watched and nursed her, became, this same Saturday afternoon, herself so unwell, that Ranby bled her. ...On Sunday, the surgeons pronounced that the wound which caused the Queen's sufferings had begun to mortify, and as a consequence, death must speedily ensue. 'This terrible and dreaded intelligence' was imparted to all, and the Queen herself was the least disconcerted or distressed by it. She took leave of the King and her children - the detested Fritz [Kosename von Friedrich Ludwig] [seine Gegenwart war nicht erwünscht gewesen] and the Princess of Orange excepted - with solemn resignation. To her favourite son, the Duke of Cumberland, she gave wholesome advice. After recommending him to be as a prop to his father in his old age, she enjoined him not to mortify his brother, the Prince, but simply to endeavour to outshine him by superior merit. To the Princess Caroline, she consigned the care of the younger Princesses, Louisa and Mary. She had little to say to the Princess Amelia; and she expressed a desire not to see her daughter Anne, Princess of Orange, who accordingly was excluded from her presence [war Anne überhaupt in London und nicht eher in den Niederlanden?]. Her parting interview with the King was serious, but singular. Taking a ruby ring off her finger, and placing it on the finger of the King, 'she said,' observes Lord Hervey, 'This is the last thing I have to give you; naked I came to you, and naked I go from you. I had everything I ever possessed from you, and to you whatever I have I return. My will you will find a short one; I give all I have to you.' She then enjoined the King to marry again after her death; upon which, he burst into a flood of tears, and sobbing aloud between each word, stammered out, 'No, I will then have mistresses.' "Ah, mon Dieu!" replied the Queen, 'the one need not prevent the other.' 'I know,' observes Lord Hervey, 'this episode will hardly be credited, but it is literally true.'" (in: Francis Lancelott: The Queens of England and Their Times: Matilda, Queen of William the Conqueror, to Adelaide, Queen of William the Fourth, Volume 2, id., pp. 946-948).
Agrippina die Jüngere – Die große römische Politikerin und ihre Zeit
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Frauen in der Renaissance – 30 Einzelschicksale
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