The waspish advocate

Posterity’s version of Caroline as a woman of unbridled ambition married to a buffoon is largely the creation of George Augustus’s vice chamberlain, John, Lord Hervey. Hervey’s sparkling, waspish memoirs paint a bravura picture of Caroline: he claims that “her power was unrivalled and unbounded”. Caroline doted on Hervey. His court appointment, added to his privileged access to Caroline in private and public, lends credence to his viewpoint. But Hervey preferred rhetorical flourishes to strict accuracy.