What is the luckier life? The one where you get to do what you want and live authentically, or the one that lasts longer? For much of history, much of humanity had neither of these options, but for the mother-daughter royal pair featured here, the options were split.
In Denmark during the age of the European Enlightenment, the young King Christian VII was insane (likely due to schizophrenia), but his courtiers managed to get him married off to the British Princess Caroline Matilda, the younger sister of King George III (himself eventually the victim of mental illness). Caroline was only 15 years old when she left her homeland. Her personality was open and informal, and she didn’t fit in at all in the Danish court.
Eventually, she struck up a magnificent love affair with her husband’s doctor (her spouse never liked her and preferred to frequent brothels). Their relationship became widely talked about, but Caroline continued to do as she pleased, which included riding horses in men’s clothing (second image), making friends with non-nobles, and supporting her lover in issuing Enlightenment-style reforms like banning the slave trade and stopping torture. Eventually, the tide turned against Caroline, and her lover was executed and her children removed from her. She died of Scarlet Fever at age 23.
Caroline Margaret’s daughter, however, followed a different path. Princess Louise Augusta (first image) was likely the progeny of Caroline and her lover, but because she was not in the line of direct royal ascent, the gaze upon her conduct was perhaps not as exacting as it had been for her mother. Nevertheless, Louise too was forced to marry for political reasons and did so at age 14.
Like her mother, she was an extrovert and lively. Unlike her mother, she managed to avoid getting caught up in lethal royal scandals. She may have taken on lovers, but if she had affairs, they were kept secretive. Eventually, she supported her brother against her spouse when the two competed for power, but before Louisa’s husband could act against her, he died. Louisa lived another 30 years, and her son eventually inherited the throne.
