Johan Zoffany and the King’s New Clothes

When George III succeeded to the throne on October 25th, 1760 an inevitable flurry of activity followed. In particular the search for a suitable consort was stepped up, putting an end once and for all to the 22-year-old George’s passion for Lady Sarah Lennox. Various princesses were named and dismissed before Sophie Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was settled upon. George appears to have been content with this decision, if not exactly enthusiastic about the account he received of his bride-to-be prior to their meeting: ‘I owne ’tis not in every particular as I could wish, but yet I am resolv’d to fix here.’ The couple were married in September the following year and the coronation took place just two weeks later. This lavish event at Westminster Abbey was commemorated in two popular and much reproduced paintings of the new king and queen by Allan Ramsay (see page 12). These imposing full-length portraits incorporate the usual monarchical elements of crown, column and drapes, paying careful attention to the state robes. As Horace Walpole, that ever reliable source of 18th-century gossip and barbed comment, noted: ‘The gold stuff and ermine are highly finished; rather too much, for the head does not come out so much as it ought.’ Indeed Ramsay used a special size of canvas when producing some of the many replicas of the portraits purely to accommodate the expanse of the royal costume.