Charlotte Papendiek
Charlotte Louise Henriette Papendiek was a lady-in-waiting to Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, consort to George III of Great Britain.Life
Charlotte was the daughter of Friedrich Albert, who in 1755 had entered the service of Adolphus Frederick IV, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. When Adolphus Frederick's 17-year-old sister Charlotte married George III in 1761, Friedrich Albert followed her to Britain as a page, barber and hairdresser. Friedrich's daughter Charlotte married Christopher Papendiek, a violinist, flautist and court musician to George III, on 16 January 1783 in St George's Hanover Square. They had six children, including the diplomat and painter George Ernest Papendiek and the architect Charles Edward Ernest Papendiek
On 16 October 1794 she became Assistant Keeper of the Queen's Wardrobe and she later also became Queen Charlotte's reader. In 1833 Charlotte Papendiek began to write an extensive set of memoirs – they remained unfinished and were published by her granddaughter in 1887. Alongside the diaries of Fanny Burney, another lady-in-waiting, they are a major source on family and artistic life within the British court at that time. They also contain much information on musicians active in London at this time, such as Johann Christian Bach, George Bridgetower, Muzio Clementi, Joseph Haydn and Johann Peter Salomon, and were used as such by Rita Dove for her Sonata Mulattica on Bridgetower's life.Works
