[Sidenote: 1760--Princess Charlotte Sophia]

The young Princess whom George married was in many ways well and even
excellently qualified to make a good queen. It is said that she was
discovered for her young husband after a fashion something resembling a
tale from the "Arabian Nights." The Princess Dowager, eager to
counteract the fatal effect of the beauty of Lady Sarah Lennox, was
anxious to have the young King married as soon as possible. Her own
wishes were in favor of a daughter of the House of Saxe-Gotha, but it
is said that fear of a disease hereditary in the family overruled her
wishes. Then, according to the story, a Colonel Graeme, a Scotch
gentleman upon whose taste Lord Bute placed great reliance, was sent on
a kind of roving embassy to the various little German Courts in search
of the ideal bride. The lady of the quest was, according to the
instructions given to Colonel Graeme, to be at once beautiful, healthy,
accomplished, of mild disposition, and versed in music, an art to which
the King was much devoted. Colonel Graeme, with this pleasing picture
of feminine graces ever in his mind, found the original of the portrait
in Charlotte Sophia, the second daughter of Charles Lewis Frederick,
Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

There is another version of the manner of George's wooing which
nullifies the story of Colonel Graeme's romantic mission. According to
this other version George fell in love with his future queen simply
from reading a letter written by her. The tale sounds as romantic as
that of the Provencal poet's passion for the portrait of the Lady of
Tripoli. It is true, however, that the letter of Charlotte Sophia was
something of the nature of a state paper. The Duchy of
Mecklenburg-Strelitz, of which the Princess Charlotte's brother was the
sovereign, had been overrun by the troops of the King of Prussia. The
young Princess wrote a letter to the Prussian King, which came to
George's notice and inspired him, it is said, with the liveliest
admiration for the lady who penned it. Whatever the actual reason,
whether the report of Colonel Graeme or the {12} charms of her
epistolary style, the certain thing is that George was married, first
by proxy and afterwards in due form, to the young Princess in 1761.
The young Princess was not remarkably beautiful. Even the courtiers of
the day, anxious to say their strongest in her praise, could not do
much more than commend her eyes and complexion and