Editing Caroline of Brunswick (section)

==Engagement==
[[File:Dupont - Caroline of Brunswick, Princess of Wales.jpg|thumb|left|Portrait by [[Gainsborough Dupont]], {{circa|1795}}]]
In 1794, Caroline and the Prince of Wales were engaged. They had never met—George had agreed to marry her because he was heavily in debt, and if he contracted a marriage with an eligible princess, Parliament would increase his allowance.<ref>Plowden, p. 3</ref> Caroline seemed eminently suitable: she was a Protestant of royal birth, and the marriage would ally Brunswick and Britain. Although Brunswick was only a small country, Britain was at war with [[revolutionary France]] and so was eager to obtain allies on the European mainland. Brunswick was ruled by Caroline's father, the esteemed soldier [[Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick]], who himself had married [[Princess Augusta of Great Britain|Princess Augusta]], the sister of George III. On 20 November 1794, [[James Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury|Lord Malmesbury]] arrived at Brunswick to escort Caroline to her new life in Britain.<ref>Plowden, p. 5; Robins, p. 5</ref> 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.<ref>Malmesbury's diary quoted in Plowden, pp. 9–18 and Robins, pp. 6–9</ref> He went on to say that she had "some natural but no acquired morality, and no strong innate notions of its value and necessity".<ref>Quoted in Plowden, p. 16</ref> However, Malmesbury was impressed by her bravery; on the journey to England, the party heard cannon fire, as they were not far from the French lines. While Caroline's mother, who was accompanying them to the coast as chaperone, was concerned for their safety, Caroline was unfazed.<ref>Malmesbury's diary quoted in Plowden, p. 15 and Robins, pp. 9–10</ref>

On 28 March 1795, Caroline and Malmesbury left [[Cuxhaven]] on the ''[[HMS Jupiter (1778)|Jupiter]]''. Delayed by poor weather, they landed a week later, on Easter Sunday, 5 April, at [[Greenwich]]. There, she met [[Frances Villiers, Countess of Jersey]], George's mistress, who had been appointed Caroline's [[Lady of the Bedchamber]].<ref>Plowden, pp. 20–22; Robins, pp. 11–12</ref>  Smith concludes that:
: She was chosen as the intended bride of George, Prince of Wales partly because her mother was a favourite sister of George III, partly through the favourable reports of her given by his brothers the Dukes of York and [[William IV of the United Kingdom|Clarence]] when they visited Germany, and partly for lack of a suitable alternative German Protestant princess.<ref>Smith 2004</ref>

On meeting his future wife for the first time, George called for a glass of brandy. He was evidently disappointed. Similarly, Caroline told Malmesbury, "[the Prince is] very fat and he's nothing like as handsome as his portrait."<ref>Malmesbury's diary quoted in Robins, p. 16 (and in the original French ''le Prince est&nbsp;... très gros, et nullement aussi beau que son portrait'' in Plowden, p. 23)</ref> At dinner that evening, the Prince was appalled by Caroline's garrulous nature and her gibes at the expense of Lady Jersey.<ref>Plowden, p. 25; Robins, p. 16</ref> She was upset and disappointed by George's obvious partiality for Lady Jersey over her.<ref>Robins, p. 16</ref>