The Death of Queen Caroline

By Thomas Noon Talfourd (1795–1854)

Queen Caroline was the wife of George IV., who after leaving her, while Prince of Wales, accused her later on of adultery. She was tried before the House of Lords, but the trial was abandoned after causing much excitement in English politics. She died on August 7, 1821.

WHO shall lament to know thy aching head

Hath found its pillow?—that in long repose

Great Death, the noblest of thy kingly foes,

Hath laid thee, and, with sacred veil outspread,

Guards thee from basest insults? Thou hast led

A solitary course,—among the great

A regal hermitress, despoiled of state,

Or mocked and fretted by one tattered shred

Of melancholy grandeur: thou didst wed

Only to be more mournfully alone!

But now, thy sad regalities o’erthrown,

No more an alien from the common fate,

Thou hast one human blessing for thine own—

A place of rest in Nature’s kindliest bed.

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