GEORGE IV AND CAROLINE OF BRUNSWICK

Today's media would have had a field day with this marriage! Caroline was the first British monarch to be tried for adultery. After an affair with Mrs Mary Robinson, an actress, George had a secret marriage to Mrs Maria Fitzherbert, who was a Catholic widow. This marriage had to remain a secret as the Royal Marriages Act would have deemed it illegal.

Therefore, in 1795, he entered a marriage with his cousin, Caroline of Brunswick. This was forced because George was in debt and Parliament would only pay these off if he got married and produced an heir to the throne. As he did not want to marry her, he drank himself into a stupor before the marriage and passed out on the bedroom floor! However, astonishingly a child was conceived - Princess Charlotte - and George was saved.

George refused to live with his wife and then, after a year, told her she could go and do what she liked! Therefore she did. Unfortunately, they had not divorced and her behaviour was unbecoming of a future Queen. Parliament decided to dissolve the marriage, but after a brilliant defense, the Lords dropped the case.

When his father died and George became King on 29 April 1821, Caroline was still adamant that she would be crowned Queen. She turned up at the ceremony but the door was shut in her face. She died nineteen days after the coronation.

The Coronation procession of King George IV was an equally important day in the King's life.

Above left and right: George IV reigned for a decade between 1820 and 1830.

Left: Caroline of Brunswick and George were married in 1795 but the marriage was not a happy one and the couple spent much of their married lives separate.

Caroline returned to Britain when George was crowned, determined to be recognised as Queen.

Many political cartoons and caricatures were made of the obviously unhappy couple. The top image depicts Caroline on George IV's sedan chair, trying with the help of Cupid to attract George again. Below is shown George IV as Don Giovanni, surprised by the sudden arrival of his wife, Caroline, as Donna Anna, lately returned from Italy, during the wedding feast scene, at which a number of bare breasted women are present; on the left, Lord Castlereagh, playing the role of Leporello, holds a long list of the King's female conquests.

The Trial of Queen Caroline. George tried to get rid of Caroline using the law, but only succeeded when she died in 1821.