In 15th century Flemish masterpieces depicting the Adoration of the Magi, the imagery of the Black de Sousas was utilized as both religious and political propaganda to support Portugal's expansion into Africa. However, People reports, one painter, Sir Allan Ramsay, who was against slavery, did not hide the Queen’s real features. Copyright © 2021 Heavy, Inc. All rights reserved. Queen Charlotte was the wife of King George III of England, and she is also regarded by many as England’s first black queen, although her possible mixed race heritage is not proven. In 1752, when she was eight years old, Sophie Charlotte's father died. The reference to King George as king of “the north” is an allusion to Charlotte as queen of the south, which in biblical terms is the black Queen of Sheba and, by inference, her husband King Solomon. ... Search results for 'Margarita de Castro y Sousa' (newsgroups and mailing lists) 6 replies Petkoff vs. Peña Esclusa. I have been. Her African bloodline in the British royal family is not common knowledge. Though she was born in Germany, the daughter of a Duke, Queen Charlotte was directly descended from Margarita de Castro y Sousa, which was the black branch of the Portuguese Royal House. Does anyone know how to connect her to Margarita from there? He had three children with her.”, According to the Smithsonian, “The queen, who lived from 1744 to 1818,​ was the eighth child—also the youngest daughter—of Duke Charles Louis Frederick and Duchess Elizabeth Albertine.”. For the initial work into Queen Charlotte's genealogy, a debt of gratitude is owed the History Department of McGill University. Cocom traces a long maze of genealogical roots to claim that “Queen Charlotte, wife of the English King George III, was directly descended from Margarita de Castro y Sousa, a Black branch of the Portuguese Royal House. Because of its "scientific" source, the most valuable of Dr. Hedley's references would probably be the one published in the autobiography of the royal family's physician, Baron Stockmar, where he described her as having "... a true mulatto face.". 47 replies … Six different lines can be traced from Princess Sophie Charlotte back to Margarita de Castro y Sousa. Several relatives had accompanied their cousin Princess Isabella to the Netherlands when she arrived there in 1429 to marry the grand duke, Philip the Good of Burgundy. WGBH educational foundation, In Fight Against ISIS, a Lose-Lose Scenario Poses Challenge for West. Queen Charlotte, wife of the English King George III (1738-1820), was directly descended from Margarita de Castro y Sousa, a black branch of the Portuguese Royal House. It should be noted too that by the time Sir Ramsay was commissioned to do his first portrait of the Queen, he was already, by marriage, uncle to Dido Elizabeth Belle, the black grandniece of Lord Mansfield.Made from the highest … ISIS is in Afghanistan, But Who Are They Really? web site copyright 1995-2014 At least 492 lines of descent can be traced from Queen Charlotte through her triple ancestry from Margarita de Castro y Sousa to Martin Alfonso de Sousa Chichorro, the illegitimate son of King Alfonso of Portugal and his Moorish mistress, Oruana/Madragana. Such images had been used to represent not only the Biblical Mary — evidence of which can be found in the cult of the Black Madonna that once proliferated in Europe — but in heraldic traditions, Jesus Christ himself. Queen Charlotte was directly descended from Margarita de Castro y Sousa, a Black branch of the Portuguese Royal House. Enough evidence has been accumulated to propose that the models were, in all probability, members of the Portuguese de Sousa family. Consort of George III and Queen Victoria's grandmother possibly “VICTORIA’S SECRET” The Royal couple had fifteen…. Cocom traces a long maze of genealogical roots to claim that “Queen Charlotte, wife of the English King George III, was directly descended from Margarita de Castro y Sousa, a Black branch of the Portuguese Royal House. '” She added to the newspaper: “The word ‘blackamoor’ in Shakespeare’s time meant Muslim. able. Interestingly enough, in a gene pool that was comparatively miniscule due to royal inbreeding, it was from Martin Alfonso's de Sousa wife, Ines de Valladares, that the British queen inherited most of her African Islamic ancestry. A couple of art historians had suggested that they must have been portraits of actual contemporaries since the artist, without seeing them, would not have been aware of the subtleties in coloring and facial bone structure of individuals of African descent, which these figures invariably represented. Portraits of the Queen had been reduced to fiction of the Black Magi, until two art historians suggested that the definite African features of the paintings derived from actual subjects, not the minds of painters Sophie Charlotte was descended directly from an African branch of the Portuguese Royal House, Margarita de Castro y … Ramsay's anti-slavery sentiments were well known. She married George III of England on September 8, 1761, at the Chapel Royal in St James’s Palace, London, at the age of 17 years of age … Six different lines can be traced from Princess Sophie Charlotte back to Margarita de Castro y Sousa. Finally, it should be noted that in 1956, three years after Queen Elizabeth II's coronation, the Crown referred to both her Asian and African bloodlines, the latter through Zaida, the wife of Alfonso VI of Castille, in an apologia defending her position as head of the British Commonwealth and “mother of a quarter of the population of the world.” Entitled “Blood Royal,” it is by Sir Rupert Iain Kay Moncreiffe, and Don Pottinger. Revendication : Queen Charlotte of Britain was a mixed-race woman of African ancestry. Portugal (1291-1357). It didn’t mean black necessarily. This myth expanded over time into varied claims that sh… Queen Charlotte (1744-1818), wife of the English King George III (1738-1820), was directly descended from Margarita de Castro y Sousa, a Black branch of the Portuguese royal house. Lord Mansfield's Black grand-niece, for example, Ms. Lindsay, was the subject of at least two formal full-sized portraits. The wedding of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle, who is biracial, is bringing new attention to the heritage of Queen Charlotte. Her personal physician, Baron Stockmar described her as having “…a true mulatto face,” according to Africa Resource.com. Queen Charlotte, the wife of the English King George III (1738-1820), was directly descended from Margarita de Castro y Sousa, a black branch of the Portuguese Royal House. Queen Charlotte (1744-1818), wife of the English King George III (1738-1820), was directly descended from Margarita de Castro y Sousa, a Black branch of the Portuguese royal house. As princess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Sophie Charlotte was descended directly from an African branch of the Portuguese Royal House, Margarita de Castro y Sousa. Historians say portraits of her show African features, as well. It was the director of the Burney Project (Fanny Burney, the prolific 19th century British diarist, had been secretary to the queen), Dr. Joyce Hemlow, who obtained from Olwen Hedly, the most recent biographer of the Queen Charlotte (1975), at least half a dozen quotes by her contemporaries regarding her features. However, the queen’s African lineage is not certain. Since 1940, there have been claims made about the African ancestry and ethnicity of Charlotte. Castro y Sousa, a black branch of the Portuguese Royal House. It should be noted too that by the time Sir Ramsay was commissioned to do his first portrait of the queen, he was already, by marriage, uncle to Dido Elizabeth Lindsay, the Black grand-niece of Lord Mansfield. Though she was born in Germany, the daughter of a Duke, Queen Charlotte was directly descended from Margarita de Castro y Sousa, which was the black branch of the Portuguese Royal House. He'd also married the niece of Lord Mansfield, the English judge whose 1772 decision was the first in a series of rulings that finally ended slavery in the British Empire. In the Lifetime movie, Harry and Megan: a Royal Romance, Queen Elizabeth II shows Harry and Meghan a portrait of Charlotte and informs them that Meghan would not be the first member of the Royal Family to be of mixed race. Queen Charlotte. ISIS' growing foothold in Afghanistan is captured on film. A. Rogers in his book Sex and Race: Volume I that she must have a "Negro strain" because of her "broad nostrils and heavy lips", as depicted in the 1761 portrait by Allan Ramsay, and a quote by Horace Walpoledescribing her "nostrils spreading too wide; mouth has the same fault". The African characteristics evident in so many of the queen's portraits certainly had political significance, since artists of that period were expected to play down, soften or even obliterate features in a subject's face, especially a woman's, that were not considered to meet the standards of beauty for the times. FRONTLINE reports from Iraq on the miscalculations and mistakes behind the brutal rise of ISIS. Contemporary accounts of her appearance are often cited as evidence that Charlotte was of mixed race heritage. Consort of George III and Queen Victoria's grandmother possibly “VICTORIA’S SECRET” The Royal couple had fifteen…2015-10-07T16:32:07.000Z, According to The Guardian, Queen Charlotte was “said to be Britain’s first black queen.”. Portraits of the Queen had been reduced to fiction of the Black Magi, until two art historians suggested that the definite African features of the paintings derived from actual subjects, not the minds of painters Sophie Charlotte was descended directly from an African branch of the Portuguese Royal House, Margarita de Castro y … The claims about Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz trace to a historian named Mario de Valdes y Cocom, who argued that Charlotte though German, was directly descended from a black branch of the Portuguese royal family, related to Margarita de Castro e Souza, a 15th-century Portuguese noblewoman nine generations removed, whose ancestry she traces from the 13th-century ruler Alfonso III and his lover Madragana, whom Valdes tak… According to PBS, however, Queen Charlotte “directly descended from Margarita de Castro y Sousa, a black branch of the Portuguese Royal House.” She’s the grandmother of Queen Victoria, the great-great-great-great-grandmother of the current Queen Elizabeth and the namesake for the American city of Charlotte, North Carolina.”, According to The New York Post, Margarita de Castro e Souza claimed she “is a descendant of King Alfonso III of Portugal (1210-1279) and his one-named black mistress, Madragana.” Buckingham Palace’s spokesman was once asked about the claim and said, according to The Washington Post, “This has been rumored for years and years. The riddle of Queen Charlotte's African ancestry was solved as a result of an earlier investigation into the black magi featured in 15th century Flemish paintings. On this side of the Atlantic, the slogan: “the Queen of England was a Negro woman” was weaponized by the vice admiral, Sir Alexander Cochrane, in his campaign to persuade enslaved people to defect to the British during the 1812 War. Her African bloodline in the British royal family is not common knowledge. It is perhaps because of this fairly obvious case of pointed portraiture that makes one suspect that Queen Charlotte's coronation picture, copies of which were sent out to all four corners of the Empire, signified a specific stance on slavery held at least by that circle of the English intelligentsia to which Ramsay belonged. This is because Margarita de Castro y Sousa’s ancestors could be traced back to 13th century monarch Alfonso III, the first ruler to be called the emperor of all Spain and Alfonso’s lover Madragana. Ania Loomba, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania, told The Philadelphia Inquirer “that it can’t be assumed that a person is black if they were once described as Moor, or ‘blackamoor. discussions | blurred racial lines | audio stories | june's family tree | bi-racial portraits | how to search family trees | readings | reactions You can learn more about Meghan’s mom here: Doria Ragland (Radlan), Meghan Markle’s Mother: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know. at the age of 17 years of age becoming the Queen of England and Ireland. to trace Margarita’s ancestry back to King Alfonso IV, O Osado, of. “The Most Risky … Job Ever.” Reporting on “ISIS in Afghanistan”. According to People Magazine, “Charlotte was married to King George III and was queen for nearly 60 years, until she died in 1818. Netflix tells us: “Queen Charlotte, played by G olda Rosheuvel , is widely regarded to be the first mixed-race member of the British Royal family.