THE GENDERED DISCOURSE OF A ROYAL SCANDAL by MARGARET ANNE SWANSON (Under ...

160 Pages·2007·19.13 MB·English

by  Margaret Dykes

GEORGE & CAROLINE:
THE GENDERED DISCOURSE OF A ROYAL SCANDAL
by
MARGARET ANNE SWANSON
(Under the Direction of Laura Mason)
ABSTRACT
1n 1820, George IV accused his wife, Caroline, of adultery with a lowborn
foreigner, instigating a Bill of Pains and Penalties to divorce and degrade her. The
proceeding generated intense public debate, mobilizing people along class lines. The
middle class defended Caroline while the aristocracy backed George. Both sides used
print media to argue for their chosen royal. This study examines pamphlets, caricatures,
and newspapers to highlight the gendered discourse prevalent in such media. Kingites
and Queenites alike used the scandal to express their views on gender relations.
Carolinites used bourgeois gender ideals to defend the Queen while spreading their
beliefs nationally. Strikingly, loyalists used the same middle-class language to neutralize
Caroline’s threat to the political and social orders. Despite trying to defend patriarchy,
Kingites ended up advocating bourgeois gender ideas. Ultimately, the gendered debate
revealed the changing social context of the period, witnessing the emergence of Victorian
ideologies.

INDEX WORDS: George IV, Caroline of Brunswick, Scandal, Monarchy, Adultery,
Gender, Nineteenth-Century British Society, Nineteenth-Century
Caricatures, Popular Politics
GEORGE & CAROLINE:
THE GENDERED DISCOURSE OF A ROYAL SCANDAL

By

MARGARET ANNE SWANSON
B.A., Millsaps College, 2004

A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of The University of Georgia in Partial
Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree

MASTER OF ARTS

ATHENS, GEORGIA
2007
© 2007
Margaret Anne Swanson
All Rights Reserved
GEORGE & CAROLINE:
THE GENDERED DISCOURSE OF A ROYAL SCANDAL

by

MARGARET ANNE SWANSON

Major Professor: Laura Mason

Committee: Kathleen Clark
Kirk Willis

Electronic Version Approved:

Maureen Grasso
Dean of the Graduate School
The University of Georgia
December 2007
iv

DEDICATION
For Addison.
v

ACKNOWLEDMENTS
I would like to thank those who have helped me finish this project. Dr. Mason’s
guidance helped me strengthen my work, never letting me settle for less than my best. I
would also like to thank Dr. Willis and Dr. Clark for their contributions as committee
members. Thanks to Dr. Kwass, whose thoughtful question prompted the thought
process that led to my argument. I want to thank Dr. Soper for his generosity in bringing
me a primary source all the way from London. Finally, I would like to thank my
husband, Drew. He put up with my stress, my scattered papers, and my grumpiness
without complaint. And he always found a way to make me laugh through the
frustration, for which I will always be grateful.
vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.................................................................................................v
LIST OF FIGURES..........................................................................................................vii
CHAPTER
1 THE QUEEN CAROLINE AFFAIR..................................................................1
2 QUEENITE ARGUMENTS.............................................................................24
3 LOYALIST ATTACKS....................................................................................86
4 CONCLUSION...............................................................................................130
REFERENCES................................................................................................................145
vii

LIST OF FIGURES
Page
Figure 2.1: Sultan Sham and His Seven Wives..................................................................35
Figure 2.2: A Leap Year Drawing Room, or, the Pleasures of Petticoat Government......36
Figure 2.3: K—g Cupid in the Corner – Playing Bopeep..................................................37
Figure 2.4: State Mysteries, a Vision of Pall Mall.............................................................40
Figure 2.5: Exculpation......................................................................................................41
Figure 2.6: How to get un-married – ay, there’s the rub!..................................................42
Figure 2.7: Alteration.........................................................................................................45
Figure 2.8: Boadicea, Queen of Britain, Overthrowing her Enemies................................54
Figure 2.9: Justice Miraculously Delivered from the Voracious Jaws of her Crying
Enemy...............................................................................................................55
Figure 2.10: The Queen that Jack Found...........................................................................56
Figure 2.11: Ah! Sure Such a Pair was Never Seen so Justly Form’d to Meet by Nature 71
Figure 2.12: Which is the Dirtiest – So Foul the Stains Will Be Indelible.........................72
Figure 2.13: The Royal Foraging Cap or New Windsor Uniform.....................................77
Figure 2.14: A Struggle for the Horns...............................................................................78
Figure 2.15: Royal Gambols, or, The Old Oak in Danger.................................................80
Figure 3.1: A R-Y-L Visit to a Foreign Capital, or, The Ambassador Not at Home..........91
Figure 3.2: Grand Entrance to Bamboozl’em....................................................................97
Figure 3.3: Radical Ladder................................................................................................98
viii
Figure 3.4: The Genius of History, or, Dressing for a Masked Ball at Naples...............112
Figure 3.5: The Como-cal Hobby.................................................................................... 113
Figure 3.6: Bergami Pears, or, Choice Fruit...................................................................114
1

Chapter 1
The Queen Caroline Affair
With George III’s death on 29 January 1820, the Prince Regent became George
IV and his wife became Queen of England. Although Caroline had lived abroad for over
six years, she returned to assume her role as Queen Consort. George opposed the idea,
instigating a Bill of Pains and Penalties in Parliament:
A Bill to deprive her Majesty, Caroline Amelia Elizabeth of the title,
prerogatives, rights, privileges, and pretensions, of Queen-Consort of this
realm, and to dissolve the marriage between his Majesty and the said
Queen.
Whereas in the year 1814, her Majesty, Caroline Amelia Elizabeth, then
Princess of Wales, and now Queen-Consort of this realm, at that time
residing in Milan, took into her service one Bartholomew Bergami, alias
Pergami, a foreigner in a low situation . . . and whereas, after the said
Bartholomew Bergami . . . had so entered her service, a most improper
intercourse took place between them. . . . forgetful of her rank and station,
and wholly regardless of her honour and character she conducted herself
towards the said Bartholomew Bergami, alias Pergami, with indecent and
offensive familiarity and freedom, and carried on with him in a scandalous
and adulterous intercourse—by which great scandal and dishonour were
brought on her Royal Highness, as well as on the kingdom. And the said
scandalous and adulterous conduct towards his Majesty having rendered
the said Caroline-Amelia-Elizabeth unworthy of the situation of Queen of
this realm.1

Using this archaic procedure, Tories sought to distract public attention from the King’s
notoriously immoral behavior while removing Caroline from the throne. A scandal
immediately ensued, engulfing the populace in a heated debate. Men and women
defended their chosen royal with divisions following class lines. The bourgeoisie and
working class supported Caroline while the aristocracy backed the King. With popular

1 T.C. Hansard, ed., The Parliamentary Debates: The Parliamentary History of England From the Earliest
Period to the Year 1803 (London: T .C. Hansard, 1821) Ser. II, Vol. II, 212.