#10 BELIEVE IT OR NOT!

#10  B E L I E V E  IT  OR  N O T!

Q U E E N  C H A R L O T T E

O R

C O U S I N  S O P H I A?

(WE BOTH ARE OF AFRICAN DESCENT)

by

Vernon M. Herron

Believe it or not, it is possible that Queen Charlotte Sophia (1744-1818) and persons of African descent are related.

The vast majority of Black Americans and West Indians are descendants from Africans who lived on the western coast of the continent in the area between the mouth of the Gambia River and the Bight of Biafra. The upper portion of the area was the Songhai Empire (sometimes spelled “Songhay). According to Dr. Edward Robinson, a noted African American historian, it was comprised of ten countries in the sixteenth century. Looking at a modern map of Africa today, one would recognize the Songhai Empire to include portions of Algeria, Mauritania, Guinea, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Libya and all of Senegal, The Gambia and Mali1.

The Songhai Empire included the University of Sankora at Timbutu. The University of Jenne was in the City of Jenne which was in the country of Mali. It had 1400 professors. In the University cities, there were Schools of Medicine, Math, Architecture, Law, History, Astronomy, Languages, etc. One would see business, commerce, multistoried homes of polished stoner “without cement”. Women were highly respected and held positions of great authority. Indeed, there were sophistication and beauty2.

This is the western part of Africa from which the overwhelming majority of African Americans came. Thus, persons of African descent in North and South America, are children of the Sonhai Empire. Know this and be proud. Karl Ludwig Friedreich (Charles Louis Friedreich ), Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Germany) was Queen Charlotte’s father3 while her mother was an African4. (A notion/fact you will hardly see in print.) Ivan Van Sertima in his book, Black Women in Antiquity, writes the following of Charlotte Sophia. “One of the well-known examples of a member of royalty with blood of Africa coursing in her veins was Queen Charlotte Sophia, Germon-born consort of the English King George III (1760-1820). She had the broad nostrils and heavy lips of the blond Negroid type mentioned by Brunold Springer. This blond Negroid type is not uncommon even in Nordic Europe where intermixing, as mentioned previously, has never been given exposure in the writings of Europeans for obvious racist reasons”5.

Continuing that line of thought, J. A. Rogers in his book, Nature Knows No Color-Line, writes “Siebmacher’s Wappenbuch of eighty-eight volumes, already mentioned, has a great number of Negroes, some of them with crowns and others as cardinals and archbishops. With these Negroes in German nobility, the evident Negro strain in Queen Charlotte Sophia consort of George III of England, who was a German princess, might be explained.”6

A strong notion contends that the Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz went to the University of Sankora at Timbutu where he met and married an African woman of the Songhai Empire7. Upon returning to Germany with his African bride, a daughter was born in Mecklenburg-Strelitz named “Charlotte”. At the age of seventeen, Charlotte married King George III, whose reign over Great Britain as King was from 1760-1820. (A period which covered the Revolutionary War in the United States.)

When Charlotte was 17 years old, her country was in the midst of war. The deplorable condition touched Charlotte enough for her to write a letter to Fredrick the Great, King of Prussia, expressing her dismay. It was through this letter that Charlotte became known to King George who was immediately impressed with her intelligence and sensitivity8.

Although George ascended to the throne in October 1760, he refused to be crown until he had a queen. Princess Charlotte was chosen, the wedding between the two was arranged and Charlotte set sail for England. During the trip, Charlotte occupied herself with learning English songs on her harpsichord. She arrived in England on September 8,1761. She and George met at 3 in the afternoon and were married at 9in the evening. The coronation was held on the 22rd of the same month9. She was to bear 15 children for the king10:

George (Later prince Regent and then George IV), 1762

Fredrick, 1763

William (Later William IV), 1765

Charlotte, 1766

Edward, 1767

Augustus, 1768

Elizabeth, 1770

Ernest, 1771

Augustus, 1773

Adolphus, 1774

Mary, 1776

Sophia, 1777

Octavius ,1779

Alfred, 1780

Amelia, 1783

Only Octavius and Alfred succumbed in infancy. Amelia died of consumption in her late twenties. 12 children lived pass the age of 50 and 8 children lived pass the age of 50 and 8 children lived pass the age of 70. Two (2) sons became kings of England, the first son George IV and the third son, William IV. Queen Charlotte was the grandmother of Queen Victoria, the great-great grandmother of George VI and the great-great-great-great grandmother of Queen Elizabeth II11.

Queen Charlotte became known for her politeness, charitableness, sensibility and for a sweetness of temper. Graham Weathers, an American sculptor, in his writing on “Queen Charlotte Walks in Her Garden” says, “ she was a small woman ‘easy, genteel and agreeable’…played the harpsichord, learn botany and took pleasure in Kew and Richmond Garden. Her dog, one named Presto, followed her on daily walks. Her appearance and informal apparel are modeled after portraits in English museums. King George III plagued by recurring illness called her ‘my physician, my friend.’ She is remembered as a great benefactor of hospitals.” Banny Burney, court attendant and novelist of the period wrote, “she (Charlotte) is full of sense and graciousness, mingled with delicacy of mind and lividness of temper.” A noblewoman who reported on the Queen’s genteel, with an air notwithstanding her being a little woman, truly majestic.”11

Charlotte, NC and six other cities through the united States were named for the lady, Charlotte Sophia. The city of Charlotte and the county of Mecklenburg both have their origin in the days when America was still a British Colony. Some opportunists in North Carolina, perhaps eager to curry favor with King George III, named their tiny settlement “Charlotte” in honor of his Queen Charlotte Sophia, the former princess of Mecklenburg, Strelitz (Germany). For the same reason they named their county “Mecklenburg”12.

ENDNOTES

1 Robinson, Battle and Robinson, The Journey of The Songhai People.

(Philadelphia: Farmer Press, 1987), p.83



2 Ibid., p.79.ff



3 Burke’s Royal Families of The World. (Publisher, London: 1977)



4 Ivan Van Sertima, Black Women In Antiquity, (New Brunswick, N. J.:

Transaction Book, Inc. 1988),p.136



5 Ibid



6 J. A. Rogers, Nature Knows No Color-Line. (St. Petersburg: Helga M.

Rogers.1980), p. 93.



7 Lecture Dr. Edward Robinson 15 May, 1959 Philadelphia, PA.



8 W. E. Lunt, History of England. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1945



9 Ibid.



10 Ibid.



11 Fredrick, George Marcham, A History of England. NewYork: The

MacMillian Company, 1950.



12 Fact Sheet, “A Brief History of The Name Queen Colllege.”