bavarikon4UDescription
Margravine Wilhelmine Charlotte Caroline von Brandenburg-Ansbach (1683-1737), later Queen Caroline as the wife of King George II of England (ruled 1727-1760), learned the English language based on this hand-drawn royal ABC from 1715. Caroline married George, son of the Elector of Hanover, in Herrenhausen on 2 September 1705. Crowned in Westminster Abbey in 1727, she often represented her royal husband together with Prime Minister Walpole in government affairs and exerted considerable influence on the affairs of state. Caroline had many scientific and artistic interests. She corresponded with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Christian Thomasius, among others. She is also considered to be one of the greatest patrons of the composer Georg Friedrich Händel, who dedicated his 'Water Music' to her. The royal ABC shown here, written by a French clergyman, was given to Caroline as Princess of Wales. It contains a coloured drawing of Great Britain's coat of arms in front of the cover page. At the same time it served as spiritual instruction in the new land, for example through the Our Father or the Creed in English. How it came back to Germany and how it came into the possession of the Historische Verein von Mittelfranken (Historical Association of Middle Franconia) is unclear. The latter owner assigned it to the Ansbach library on permanent loan. Datum: 2018
Author
Ute Kissling