Editing Caroline of Ansbach (section)

==Princess of Wales{{anchor|Provision for Princess of Wales Act 1714}}==
[[File:Caroline Wilhelmina of Brandenburg-Ansbach by Sir Godfrey Kneller, Bt.jpg|thumb|right|The Princess of Wales, painted by [[Sir Godfrey Kneller]] in 1716]]
George Augustus sailed to England in September 1714, and Caroline and two of her daughters followed in October.<ref>Arkell, pp. 64–66; Van der Kiste, p. 36.</ref> Her journey across the [[North Sea]] from [[The Hague]] to [[Margate]] was the only sea voyage she took in her life.<ref>Arkell, p. 67; Hanham, p. 285; Van der Kiste, p. 38.</ref> Their young son, Prince Frederick, remained in Hanover for the rest of George I's reign, and was brought up by private tutors.<ref name=Fryer34/>

On the accession of George I in 1714, George Augustus automatically became [[Duke of Cornwall]] and [[Duke of Rothesay]]. Shortly afterwards, he was invested as [[Prince of Wales]], whereupon Caroline became Princess of Wales. She was the first woman to receive the title at the same time as her husband received his.<ref name=Fryer33/> She was also the first Princess of Wales in over two hundred years, the previous one being [[Catherine of Aragon]] in the 16th century. Since George I had repudiated his wife, [[Sophia Dorothea of Celle]], in 1694 before he became King of Great Britain, there was no [[queen consort]], and Caroline was therefore the highest-ranking woman in the kingdom.<ref name=Fryer34/> George Augustus and Caroline made a concerted effort to "anglicise" by getting to know England's language, people, politics and customs.<ref>Hanham, p. 284.</ref> Two separate and very different courts developed: the old king's court had German courtiers and government ministers, while the Wales's court attracted English nobles who were out of favour with the King, and was considerably more popular with the British people. George Augustus and Caroline gradually became centres of the political opposition to the King.<ref>Fryer ''et al''., p. 34; Hanham, pp. 286–287.</ref>

Two years after their arrival in England, Caroline suffered a stillbirth, which her friend the Countess of Bückeburg blamed on the incompetence of English doctors,<ref>Van der Kiste, p. 60.</ref> but the following year she had another son, [[Prince George William of Great Britain|Prince George William]], in November. At the baptism, George Augustus fell out with his father over the choice of godparents, leading to the couple's placement under house arrest at [[St James's Palace]] prior to their banishment from court.<ref>Arkell, p. 102.</ref> Caroline was originally allowed to stay with their children, but refused as she believed her place was with George Augustus.<ref>Hanham, p. 289; Hichens, p. 23.</ref> The couple moved into [[Leicester House, Westminster|Leicester House]], while their children remained in the care of the King.<ref>Arkell, pp. 102–105; Van der Kiste, p. 64.</ref> Caroline fell sick with worry, and fainted during a secret visit to her children made without the King's approval.<ref>Van der Kiste, p. 66.</ref> By January, the King had relented and allowed Caroline unrestricted access. In February, Prince George William fell ill, and the King allowed both George Augustus and Caroline to see him at [[Kensington Palace]] without any conditions. When the baby died, a post-mortem was conducted to prove that the cause of death was disease (a polyp on the heart) rather than the separation from his mother.<ref>Van der Kiste, p. 67.</ref> Further tragedy occurred in 1718, when she miscarried at [[Richmond Lodge]], her country residence,<ref>Arkell, p. 112; Van der Kiste, p. 68.</ref> after being startled by a violent storm.<ref>Dennison, p. 185.</ref> Over the next few years, Caroline had three more children: [[Prince William, Duke of Cumberland|William]], [[Princess Mary of Great Britain|Mary]] and [[Louise of Great Britain|Louise]].<ref>Fryer ''et al''., p. 37.</ref> In July 1725, her 11th and final pregnancy ended in a second miscarriage.<ref name="Dennison2">Dennison, p. 211.</ref>

Leicester House became a frequent meeting place for the ministry's political opponents. Caroline struck up a friendship with politician Sir [[Robert Walpole]], a former minister in the [[Whig (British political party)|Whig]] government who led a disgruntled faction of the party. In April 1720, Walpole's wing of the Whig party reconciled with the governing wing, and Walpole and Caroline helped to effect a reconciliation between the King and George Augustus for the sake of public unity.<ref name=odnb/><ref>Quennell, pp. 79–81; Van der Kiste, pp. 72–73.</ref> Caroline wanted to regain her three eldest daughters, who remained in the care of the King, and thought the reconciliation would lead to their return, but negotiations came to nothing. George Augustus came to believe that Walpole had tricked him into the reconciliation as part of a scheme to gain power. The prince was isolated politically when Walpole's Whigs joined the government,<ref>Arkell, pp. 125–126.</ref> and Leicester House played host to literary figures and wits, such as [[John Arbuthnot]] and [[Jonathan Swift]], rather than politicians.<ref>Arkell, pp. 135–136.</ref> Arbuthnot told Swift that Caroline had enjoyed his ''[[Gulliver's Travels]]'', particularly the tale of the crown prince who wore one high-heel and one low-heel in a country where the King and his party wore low heels, and the opposition wore high ones: a barely veiled reference to the political leanings of the Prince of Wales.<ref>Arkell, p. 136; Van der Kiste, p. 82.</ref>

Caroline's intellect far outstripped her husband's, and she read avidly. She established an extensive library at St James's Palace. As a young woman, she corresponded with Gottfried Leibniz, the intellectual colossus who was courtier and factotum to the House of Hanover. She later facilitated the [[Leibniz-Clarke correspondence]], arguably the most important philosophy of physics discussion of the 18th century. She helped to popularise the practice of [[variolation]] (an early type of [[immunisation]]), which had been witnessed by [[Lady Mary Wortley Montagu]] and [[Charles Maitland (surgeon)|Charles Maitland]] in [[Constantinople]]. At the direction of Caroline, six condemned prisoners from [[Newgate Prison]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Giblin |first=James Cross |title=When plague strikes: the Black Death, smallpox, AIDS |date=1995 |publisher=HarperCollins |location=New York |isbn=0064461955 |page=81 |edition=HarperTrophy}}</ref> were offered the chance to undergo variolation instead of execution: they all survived, as did six orphan children given the same treatment as a further test. Convinced of its medical value, Caroline had her children Amelia, Caroline and Frederick inoculated against smallpox in the same manner.<ref>Arkell, pp. 133–135; Van der Kiste, p. 83.</ref> In praising her support for smallpox inoculation, [[Voltaire]] wrote of her, "I must say that despite all her titles and crowns, this princess was born to encourage the arts and the well-being of mankind; even on the throne she is a benevolent philosopher; and she has never lost an opportunity to learn or to manifest her generosity."<ref>Voltaire's "Eleventh Letter: On Smallpox Inoculation" in ''Philosophical Letters, Or Letters Regarding the English Nation'' (1733/4).</ref>