In Charlotte's Crowning Glory

I agree with Vicki. It has been rather quiet here at the FBP! Long weekends are great, but I never get my regular things done. The block for this week is finished, however. I took a photo using the flash, but I think the colours are okay. A nice block, this one. But for anyone who hasn't done it yet and is planning to, I would recommend that you lay out all the pieces before completing the block since those HST seem to have a mind of their own and want to go in all different directions!

I use the internet to look up information almost every day. I am sort of an information geek! Usually the information is very precise. But I was kind of disappointed with what I found for Queen Charlotte. There was a lot of discrepancy.

Queen Charlotte was the queen consort of the United Kingdom as the wife of King George III. She was born on May 19th, 1744 as Her Serene Highness, Duchess Sophia Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. She was the eighth child of the Prince of Mirow, Charles Louis Frederick and his wife, Elisabeth Albertina of Saxe-Hildburghausen. She is said to have been directly descended from Margarita de Castro y Sousa, a black branch of the Portuguese Royal House. Her mother arranged for her to marry King George III when she was only 17. She was not George's first choice and was considered rather plain and not very pretty. She was not well liked by George's mother. Regardless, she was brought to England and was married. Charlotte and George grew to be very happy together. Their marriage lasted for 57 years and 70 days until her death. They had 15 children in the first 21 years of their marriage, 13 of whom reached adulthood.

Queen Charlotte was an amateur botanist and helped to establish Kew Gardens in England. She was interested in fine arts and had a great love for music. At her request, Mozart, at the age of eight, dedicated his Opus 3 to her. Her pen pal was Queen Marie Antoinette of France. Charlotte also founded orphanages and a hospital for expectant mothers. She believed in a sound education for women and her own daughters were better educated than was the norm for women of that era. King George III reigned during a turbulent era. As a result, Charlotte witnessed the execution of Marie Antoinette and the bloody events that followed.

The more I learned about Queen Charlotte, the more I like this block!