The daughter of Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, and Princess Augusta of Great Britain, Caroline was engaged in 1794 to her cousin George, Prince of Wales, whom she had never met.

She was the daughter of Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, and his wife Princess Augusta of Great Britain, eldest sister of King George III.

Her mother resented her father's open adultery with Baroness Luise von Hertefeld, whom he had installed as his official mistress in 1777, and Caroline was later to confide to Lady Charlotte Campbell that she was often tired of being a "shuttlecock" between her parents, as whenever she was civil to one of them, she was scolded by the other.

[2] From 1783 until 1791, Countess Eleonore von Münster was her governess, and won her affection, but never managed to teach her to spell correctly, as Caroline preferred to dictate to a secretary.

[5] In 1784, she was described as a beauty, and two years later, Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, comte de Mirabeau described her as "most amiable, lively, playful, witty and handsome".

[2] She was reportedly constantly supervised by her governess and elder ladies, restricted to her room when the family was entertaining and ordered to keep away from the windows.

"[2] Her mother early favoured a match between one of her children and a member of her English family, and when her nephew Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany visited Brunswick in June 1781, she lamented the fact that Caroline, because of her age, could not be present very often.

The identity of this man is not clear, but contemporaries point out an officer who was referred to at the time as the "Handsome Irishman" who lived in Brunswick, and with whom Caroline was said to have been in love.

[7] In his diary, Malmesbury recorded his reservations about Caroline's suitability as a bride for the prince: she lacked judgement, decorum and tact, spoke her mind too readily, acted indiscreetly, and often neglected to wash, or change her dirty clothes.

"[20] Caroline claimed George was so drunk that he "passed the greatest part of his bridal night under the grate, where he fell, and where I left him".

[33] It seems that a single daughter was not sufficient to sate Caroline's maternal instincts, and she adopted eight or nine poor children who were fostered out to people in the district.

[37] She further alleged that Caroline had been rude about the royal family, touched her in an inappropriately sexual way, and had admitted that any woman friendly with a man was sure to become his lover.

Perhaps Caroline had told Lady Douglas that she was pregnant out of frustrated maternal desire, or as part of a foolish prank that, unfortunately for her, backfired.

Lord Byron wrote to his publisher that Caroline and Pergami were lovers,[64] and Sir Francis Ronalds described and made a sketch of their sleeping arrangements in Karlsruhe.

[68] The previous year, Caroline's daughter, Princess Charlotte, had married Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and the future of the British monarchy looked bright.

George did, however, write to the Pope of the tragedy, and by chance the courier carrying the letter passed by Pesaro, and so it was that Caroline heard the devastating news.

[71] George was determined to press ahead with a divorce and set up a commission chaired by the Vice-Chancellor John Leach to gather evidence of Caroline's adultery.

[75] Both keen to avoid publicity, the Broughams and the Government discussed a deal where Caroline would be called by a lesser title, such as "Duchess of Cornwall" rather than "Princess of Wales".

[83] Nevertheless, the King still adamantly desired a divorce and, the following day, he submitted the evidence gathered by the Milan commission to Parliament in two green bags.

[19][87] Even during the trial, the Queen remained immensely popular, as witnessed by over 800 petitions and nearly a million signatures that favoured her cause.

[92] Despite the King's best attempts, Caroline retained a strong popularity among the masses, and pressed ahead with plans to attend the coronation service on 19 July 1821 as queen.

[95] Caroline then proceeded back to an entrance near Poets' Corner, where she was met by Sir Robert Inglis, who held the office of "Gold Staff".

Caroline lost support through her exhibition at the coronation; the crowds jeered her as she rode away,[96] and even Brougham recorded his distaste at her undignified behaviour.

[97] The night following Caroline's failed attempt to attend her husband's coronation, she fell ill and took a large dose of milk of magnesia and some drops of laudanum.

She wrote a new will, and settled her funeral arrangements: she was to be buried in her native Brunswick in a tomb bearing the inscription "Here lies Caroline, the Injured Queen of England [sic]".

[99] Afraid that a procession of the funeral bier through London could spark public unrest, Lord Liverpool decided the Queen's cortège would avoid the city, passing to the north on the way to Harwich and Brunswick.

The scene soon descended into chaos; the soldiers forming the honour guard opened fire and rode through the crowd with drawn sabres.

People in the crowd threw cobblestones and bricks at the soldiers, and two members of the public—Richard Honey, a carpenter, and George Francis, a bricklayer[101]—were killed.

Eventually, Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sir Robert Baker ordered that the official route be abandoned, and the cortège passed through the city.

The coffin was kept overnight at St Peter's Church, Colchester, where Caroline's executors tried unsuccessfully to replace the official inscription plate with one including the phrase "Injured Queen of England".