It’s really hard to imagine, what the 17 years young Princess Sophie Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz went through during the summer months of 1761.
Her mother, the dowager Dutchess Elizabeth Albertine was already very ill, when the British diplomat David Graeme visited their court in behalf of King George III. She contributed in the preparation of Charlotte and George’s upcoming wedding, but when the young King officially announced his wish to marry the German princess in July, her mother was already death. Another month later Princess Sophie Charlotte left her childhoodhome for good, and on the 22th September, as the wife of the king for a fortnight already, shewas crowned as Queen Consort.
Queen Charlotte’s mother Elizabeth Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen was a princes by birth. She was born on the 4th August 1713. In 1735 she married Duke Charles Louis Frederick of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The couple had 10 children. The duke died on the 5th of June in 1752 and his brother inherited the dutchy. He died childless on 11 December 1752. The next in line was Sophie Charlotte’s brother Adolf Friedrich IV, but he was still underaged, thus his mother, Elizabeth Albertine was the de facto ruler for a couple of weeks, till Adolf Friedrich became 14 years old and therefore considered as adult.