A marriage not made in heaven

1795 The Prince of Wales, later to become King George IV (1762 - 1830), met his first cousin and future bride, Caroline of Brunswick (1768 - 1821), at St James Palace. He was unimpressed with her, saying to the courtier who introduced them, "Harris, I am not well; pray get me a glass of brandy." George and Caroline were married three days later.

The Prince married his cousin only to convince Parliament to pay off his debts of £650,000. Their marriage was a disaster, both parties being disgusted with one another at their first meeting. After doing their official duty for a period of a few days, they lived apart for the rest of Caroline's life. Caroline was not attractive, but her main shortcomings in the eyes of her new husband were her lack of personal hygiene and the fact that she was apparently not a virgin. For her part, she found him fat, ugly and rude. Recently discovered correspondence of the prince's reveals that the couple only had sexual intercourse three times in the whole of their married life ...

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