Flora Fraser
I knew little then of George and Martha but a substantial amount about the characters of both monarch and consort. They are central figures in two books that I had researched over the previous 15 years in the Royal Archives at Windsor: “The Unruly Queen: The Life of Queen Caroline,” the king’s daughter-in-law, and “Princesses: The Daughters of George III.”
It was unorthodox in 2004 to imagine the patriot Washingtons receiving in friendship the royal despot and his queen. Obediently, I followed other tourists through the elegant interiors and out onto the breathtaking views of Maryland across the Potomac. I could not shake the feeling, however, that there was much that the two couples had in common, despite obvious differences, and much that they would have relished discussing.
Martha Washington and Queen Charlotte, those most supportive of wives, were also sensitive to beauty and shared a keen interest in portraiture and porcelain. The former’s fashionable silk and lace apparel, as well as the rooms in the house adorned with Washington’s likenesses, would have excited the latter’s approval.
George III, meanwhile, was known as “Farmer George” at home, an epithet arising from the close attention that he gave to his Windsor farms and to agricultural innovation elsewhere. The American George, I learned, was as assiduous and pioneering when managing his estate on the Potomac. The housing at Mount Vernon for field hands is a somber reminder of a workforce long enslaved. Nor is Windsor Castle without its dark side. From 1811 until his death in 1820, the king, increasingly blind, deaf and senile and suffering from mental instability, lived in isolated apartments there.
Returning home to London, I resolved, with some trepidation, to write about America’s first couple. New resources, including the Papers of George Washington Digital Edition, the Library of Congress’ Manuscript Reading Room, the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon and collections at the Virginia Historical Society claimed me. Immersed in Colonial, Revolutionary and Federal America, focused on writing “The Washingtons: George & Martha,” I forgot about my fantasy in which George III and Queen Charlotte visited Mount Vernon.
But lo! This spring sees the opening of “The Two Georges,” an exhibition at this Library. Treasures from the Library and the Royal Collection and elsewhere on show will include Gen. Washington’s commission of 1775. Moreover, the exhibition will draw on recent discoveries in documents, covering the reign of George III, in the Royal Archives, now being digitized as part of a Georgian Papers Programme.
And so, 20 years on, president and first lady, king and queen will stand shoulder to shoulder, cheek by jowl, in this Library, if not at Mount Vernon. Mystic Meg was a celebrated astrologer, whose predictions were devoured by British readers. I feel inclined to offer my own column to this magazine: Fraser Foretells!