George and Charlotte truly did get married on the day Charlotte arrived in England.
In the very first episode of Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, Charlotte lands in England and weds King George III. Although she initially considers escaping over a wall to avoid her marriage, she ultimately decides to stay and marry George.
While the real Queen Charlotte likely didn’t attempt to climb over a wall (a detail we may never know), she did indeed marry King George on the same day she arrived in England.
On August 17, 1761, Sophia Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and her brother, Adolphus Frederick IV, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, departed for Great Britain. After a stormy voyage, they arrived in Essex on September 7, 1761. They spent the evening in Wiltham and reached St. James’s Palace in London the next day.
Percy Fitzgerald recounts her arrival in The Good Queen Charlotte, writing, “When the cavalcade drew up before the small private garden gate of the Palace, she was welcomed by the Duke of York. The next moment, she found herself before a large group — the king, his great officers, and ladies. It was an agitating scene for all. It was said that the young princess, seeing a cushion before the old Duke of Grafton, was about to kneel, but he stopped her and kissed her hand. No wonder she trembled as she faced all the grand personages. Yet when the easygoing Duchess of Hamilton smiled at her, the young princess replied smartly, ‘You may laugh; you have been married twice, but it is no joke for me.'”
After her arrival, Charlotte met Princess Augusta, the Princess Dowager, and that night, at 9 p.m., she and George were married at the Chapel Royal by Archbishop Thomas Secker.
Fitzgerald describes the royal wedding: “The pleasant good humor of the bride never deserted her for a moment. When she was told to kiss the peeresses, she seemed pleased, but when she saw the long trains of bridesmaids, she appeared taken aback. ‘Mon Dieu,’ she cried, ‘Such a number of kisses!'”
There were ten bridesmaids, all ladies: Sarah Lennox, Caroline Russell, Caroline Montague, Harriet Bentinck, Anne Hamilton, E. Kerr, Elizabeth Keppel, Louisa Greville, Elizabeth Harcourt, and Susan Fox Strangways.
For her wedding, Charlotte wore “an endless mantle” of rich violet and purple velvet, lined with ermine, over a white satin and silver dress. It was noted that this heavy mantle, which “was attempted to be fastened on her shoulders by a bunch of pearls, dragged itself and almost the rest of her clothes halfway down her waist.” However, the jewels—a tiara of diamonds, a necklet, and a stomacher valued at £90,000—created a dazzling display. (Fitzgerald quoted the letters of Horace Walpole, who was present at the wedding.)
Two weeks after their wedding, their coronation ceremony took place at Westminster Abbey. King George and Queen Charlotte would be married for 57 years and have 15 children together.
