Caroline of Ansbach, Queen of England

The first queen consort of England to bear the name  of Caroline was the wife of George II. Wilhelmina Charlotte Caroline of Ansbach was always known by her last name and was queen consort from 1727 to 1737.  

She was also the daughter of minor German royalty - in her case daddy was Margrave John Frederick of Brandenberg-Ansbach and mummy was a princess called Eleonore Erdmuthe of Saxe-Eisenach.  Her father died when she was three and her mother entered into a very unhappy second marriage before being widowed again soon afterwards and dying herself when Caroline was just thirteen. 

The future queen had been ferried around Europe up until this point and experienced a fragmented and sad childhood.  But at this point, things took a happier turn.  She went to live with one of her mother's friends, Sophia Charlotte of Brandenburg, whose husband Frederick had just become king of Prussia.  In this new home, Caroline was given an education in a court renowned for its intellectual prowess and daring.  She became very close to Queen Sophia Charlotte and within a few years had gone from being a sad, lonely teenager to one of the most sought after brides in Europe.  A real Cinderella.

Caroline ended up choosing the man who would become George II as her husband - they married in 1705 when his father was still the heir to Hanover and in the middle of negotiations that would secure the English crown for his family as well.  Caroline and George had a large family and by 1714, when his father became King of England, they left Germany for their new home and soon established themselves as popular members of the new English royal family.

A later portrait of Caroline of Ansbach, queen of England, by Joseph Higmore

But her reign was far from plain sailing.  She became queen consort in 1727 at the age of 44.  By then her eldest son, Frederick, was 20 years old but had been kept in Hanover by his grandfather, George I, as a future rule of that state while his parents had lived in England as heirs to that throne.  But Caroline's husband became ruler of both Hanover and England on George I's death and when they brought Frederick to London they found him head of a large opposing court.  George II didn't trust his son and made his wife regent whenever he needed to leave England.

But Caroline was queen consort for only a decade.  In 1737 she became seriously ill with complications from the birth of her last child over thirteen years earlier.  Her womb ruptured leading to massive internal complications and she endured operations without anaesthetic over the next two weeks before dying of a ruptured bowel.  There was widespread mourning at her death - she had proved to be a popular queen through her reign for her sensible nature, education and desire to integrate into the life of her adopted country.