“Unhygienic!” That’s what Prince George, later King George IV, thought of his wife, Caroline of Brunswick. Right here, we stand at the remains of Queen Caroline’s Bath. It is a testament to a scandalous royal life.
Caroline’s marriage to Prince George in 1795 was a disaster from the start. He was already illegally married and drowning in debt. She found him fat and nothing like his portraits. Their wedding night ended with him drunk under the grate. They separated soon after their daughter’s birth. Caroline moved to Montagu House in Greenwich.
At Montagu House, Queen Caroline built a bathhouse with a sunken bath. Bathhouses were popular then, believed to ward off sickness. But Caroline’s bath was more than a health spa.
Rumors swirled about wild parties and scandalous affairs. Queen Caroline was accused of taking lovers and having an illegitimate child. A secret investigation tried to prove her adultery. No evidence was found, but the rumors damaged her reputation.
Some say she was hopelessly adulterous. They also said she never washed and had bad breath from eating raw garlic. Her ladies-in-waiting whispered tales of automated Chinese figures performing obscene movements. Sea captains reportedly blushed at her revealing dances.
In 1814, Queen Caroline left England for exile in Italy. Her husband, delighted to be rid of her, ordered Montagu House demolished. Only the wall and her bath remained. He likely sought revenge.
When King George III died in 1820, Caroline became Queen. She returned to England, defying her husband. She tried to attend his coronation in 1821 but was turned away. Soon after, she died from an intestinal obstruction.
The bath was rediscovered in 1909. It was covered again in the 1980s and re-excavated in 2001. Today, you can still see blue tiles and steps into the plunge pool. The hedges mark where the bathhouse walls once stood.
Queen Caroline’s Bath whispers tales of infidelity, scandalous parties and royal revenge. It is a window into the turbulent life of a queen. Her story is forever etched in this quiet corner of Greenwich Park. Next to the bath, a plaque commemorates Ignatius Sancho. He was a former slave who worked at Montague House. He became a writer and a symbol of the fight against slavery.