written by DG Martin"Harry Jones, the Mecklenburg County Manager is going to Mecklenburg in May," Catherine Hansen called to tell me the news. As Chief of Protocol for Charlotte-Mecklenburg she manages the connective links between her city and county and the rest of the world. So the "Mecklenburg" that Harry Jones is planning to visit is not Mecklenburg County North Carolina, but Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, a state in Germany. "He is going to meet with officials of the state and local government over there including the Prime Minister and members of the state parliament. And he will spend a day in Mirow and visit the Charlotte Mecklenburg Room in the gatehouse to the castle." Hansen told me of all the plans, knowing that I like to hear every detail of the growing partnership between the two Mecklenburgs. And Hansen knew that these exciting developments would remind me of the time right after the Berlin Wall came down, when, for the first time in 50 years an ordinary Mecklenburg County citizen could visit the Mecklenburg region of the former East Germany.
She knew I had a story that I love to tell over and over again. It is the adventure that I had tracking down the home of Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg, who became Queen Charlotte of England and gave her name and the name of her native region to our state's largest city and county.
Friedrich Franz, the grand duke of Mecklenburg, spoke to me in German. I was in his Hamburg home, explaining that I was from Charlotte, North Carolina-named after a certain Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg.
Please, I asked, could he help me in my search for information about this woman who married King George III, became Queen Charlotte, and eventually gave her name to the largest city in North Carolina and the name of her German homeland to the state's largest county?
The grand duke did know about Queen Charlotte. Her picture is on his wall. And he had heard of Charlottesville, Virginia. But he knew nothing of Mecklenburg County or Charlotte, and he did not know where North Carolina was.
"But you should know about the wonderful city of Charlotte," I said.
"In Charlotte there is a new Lufthansa flight direct to Frankfurt. At the airport there is a beautiful statue of Queen Charlotte. "In Charlotte, there is a trade market in the center of downtown, and in the middle of it, another new statue of Queen Charlotte.
"In Charlotte, there is a new professional basketball team. The team plays in a 25,000-person arena that was designed to look like a crown-in honor of Queen Charlotte."
"In Charlotte, there is a wonderful art museum, and its centerpiece is a portrait of the queen."
I had his attention. "You've got to help me find out where she lived."
I had looked for Queen Charlotte's home throughout Mecklenburg, formerly a German grand duchy ruled by the grand duke's family, more recently a part of East Germany, and now one of the federal states of a united Germany.
First I had gone to the capital city of Mecklenbug-Schwerin, which is an easy two hours from Hamburg by car or train. The center of Schwerin is charming. Its public square opens to a vista of a lovelycastle - could it be home to Princess Charlotte? The castle is impossible to type. The guidebooks say it is 16th century French Renaissance. But there are may elements - onion domes that could have come from Russia, Gothic gages and towers, facades from Italy - that my untrained eye could not identify. Inside, thanks to the restoration efforts of the old East German government, the formal rooms of the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg glow.
The interior colors of gold and red frame views of the endless water that surrounds Schwerin.
Portraits of Mecklenburg's grand dukes and their families hanging on the castle walls gave me hope that I could find some evidence of Princess Charlotte. But no luck. There was no picture of our Charlotte and no mention of her name. In Schwerin, I learned there were other towns where the Mecklenburg grand dukes lived. "Check out the castle in Gustrow," someone said.
Sure enough, 50 miles east of Schwerin, I found Gustrow and another castle where Mecklenburg's grand dukes had held court. Perhaps our Princess Charlotte had spent some time here. Though not as charming as Schwerin's castle, the building is solid and strong. Begun in 1558, it is said to be a good example of Renaissance architecture. But there was no sign of Charlotte on the bleak castle walls "Perhaps on the coast you can find what you are looking for," someone said. "The grand dukes vacationed on the seacoast."
First I went to Wismar, a small market and seaport town north of Schwerin on the Baltic coast. Its ancient marketplace, now free of communist regulations, was full again. New entrepreneurs enthusiastically sold their wares, vegetables, and services. In Wismar's shopping district, redevelopment was taking place in front of our ryes, side by side with those that have been made into bright new stores selling everything imaginable. Wismar seemed to be full of everything-except evidence of Queen Charlotte. "Of course there is nothing about your queen here," a friend advised as we sat down to eat in a famous Wismar restaurant. Der Alte Schwede (the old Swede). "This very restaurant should remind you that Wismar was ruled by Sweden during the lifetimeof Queen Charlotte. She couldn't have lived here. Try Rostock. It's a big port and a big city. You may find what you're looking for."
Rostock, about 40 miles from Wismar, is an ancient city and the biggest port in old East Germany. In the Middle Ages, it joined a league of other Baltic and North German seaports. This group of "free" cities jealously guarded their independence from kings, princes, and dukes. Although Rostock and the other cities have long since been incorporated by the nations of northern Europe, that old tradition of independence may explain why I could find nothing about Queen Charlotte there.
Oh, well. At least I still had more friendly advice: "Go back toward Wismar, along the coast. Check out the cathedral at Bad Doberan and visit the seaside resorts where the dukes vacationed. Maybe you'll find a clue."
I finally struck pay dirt at Bad Doberan's gigantic ancient gothic brick cathedral. Or so I thought. Inside, the walls were covered with monuments to the Mecklenburg ducal families from the beginning of the dynasty in the 12th century. I checked every entry, every status, every plaque about the royal family. No clues about our Queen Charlotte.
Back in Hamburg with the duke, I said he was my last hope. "Is it possible," I asked, "that Queen Charlotte's connection with Mecklenburg is a hoax?"
Thank goodness the duke filled in a key piece of information. He took me to a painting on his wall-a picture of the same Queen Charlotte that hangs in the Mint Museum-and explained, "I know about Queen Charlotte because she is my great-great-great-grandmother. Her son became king of Hanover, and my mother came from the house of Hanover. This Charlotte surely came from Mecklenburg.
”But you must understand that for a time, from 1701 until 1918, there were two Mecklenburgs. One, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, was ruled by my family. Queen Charlotte came from the other Mecklenburg, the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
"If you only look in my family's part of Mecklenburg, you will surely find nothing about the Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. If you want to find the home of your Queen Charlotte, you must go to the territory of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. I made my way to the castle park in Neustrelitz, the old capital of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The castle had burned down long ago. But the old church next to it still stands. Surely Charlotte must have worshipped there. I found the graveyard where her royal cousins' graves mingle with recent stones marked with red stars-for Soviet soldiers. There was other evidence that Charlotte's family had been royalty: the castle park with statues lining its walkways, an island retreat connecting castle grounds with a beautiful Mecklenburg lake, a large status of Charlotte's nephew, Grand Duke George. "So," I thought, "the trip has been a success."
I had found Queen Charlotte's family home. But I had to be honest with myself. I hadn't really found anything specific about our queen. Then I remembered a book the duke had given me about his family. In it I discovered that Queen Charlotte grew up in a tiny town called Mirow, a few miles from Neustrelitz. The drive there-through forest, farms, and by countless lakes-showed me again the beauty of Queen Charlotte's Mecklenburg homeland. There are no tourists or tourist direction signs to anything in Mirow. But on a small moated island there, I found something that caught my attention. I saw two very old, though somehow elegant, buildings facing each other across a yard full of abandoned equipment and cars. Groups of chickens clucked through the yard. "Not very promising," I thought. I made my way through the muddy yard to the door of the building. I knocked. No answer, but inside a dog was barking. I knocked again. No answer. I tried the door. It opened. The hallway was full of dust and dirt. "This can't be it," I thought. "Go home before you get in trouble." The dog barked again from upstairs. I called out. No answer. The dog stopped barking. I climbed the stairs to the second floor and called out again. A door on the third floor creaked open. The dog raced down the stairs toward me. All bark, no bite, thank goodness. The dog's master was close behind. Stern and annoyed, he asked in rapid-fire German, "What do you want in here?" Pushing aside my fear, I stood up straight, looked him in the eye and said, as if sent by higher authority, "I am seeking the castle of a Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg, who married King George III of England in about 1761." "You are in the right place," my new host replied, speaking with new respect and an obvious interest that put me quickly at ease. "This castle was the home of Duke Adolphus Frederick IV of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and his mother, Elisabeth Albertina. "The duke also had a sister living here who was named Charlotte-and who married an English king." My host, Herr Zimmermann, was a painter who had been engaged during the former regime to supervise the restoration of the castle. More than 10 people had been at work on the project. Since the reunification, however, there had been no money for such projects. But the painter remained, living in the castle and hoping that someday the work could begin again. Herr Zimmermann loved his castle and the royal family who had lived there. He told stories of Charlotte's strong-willed mother and her brother, the boy duke, who was so frightened of storms that he could seldom sleep. Zimmermann tried to explain restoration details. But I lost touch with his technical German words and drifted into a happy state of satisfaction. Here in this castle in Mirow.
In 1227, the Order of St. John founded a commandry on the shore of Lake Mirow after Duke Borwin II had given them land there. In 1701, the town became part of the duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. In 1919, it gained town privileges. Castle Mirow is the birthplace of Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen consort of George III "the Mad" of the United Kingdom. Sophia Charlotte was born on 19 May 1744. She was the youngest daughter of Duke Charles Louis Frederick of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Prince of Mirow and his wife, Princess Elizabeth Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen. The children of the duke were all born at Castle Mirow, a modest palace, or rather country house. The daily life at Mirow was nearly that of the family of some simple English country gentleman. The morning was devoted to study and instruction in needlework, embroidery, and lace-making, in which the daughters were very skilful. They were brought up in the most careful way, receiving an admirable education, and were grounded in religious principles under the direction of their mother. They were further directed by M. Gentzner, a Lutheran minister of many accomplishments, who had a particular knowledge of botany, mineralogy, and science.
