Picture Section

George I: ‘ordinarily neither cheerful nor friendly, dry and crabbed’ (oil on copper, after Godfrey Kneller, c. 1714).

Sophia Dorothea of Celle: a high-maintenance beauty married to an undemonstrative man (mezzotint, by William Faithorne Jr, after Johann Kerseboom, early 18th century).

George II: passionate, forthright, irritable, but with ‘fewer sensations of revenge … than any man who ever sat upon a throne’ (oil on canvas, by or after Thomas Worlidge, c. 1753).

Queen Caroline: clever, energetic, managing, and said to possess the best bosom in Europe (oil on canvas, by Jacopo Amigoni, 1735).

Frederick, Prince of Wales: ‘I think this is a son I need not be much afraid of ’ (oil on canvas, by Philip Mercier, 1736).

Augusta, Princess of Wales: admired by her husband for her apparently obedient, docile nature – ‘that all-consenting tongue,/that never puts me in the wrong’ (oil on canvas, attributed to William Hogarth, c. 1736).

Prince George and Prince Edward with their tutor Francis Ayscough: an image of learning at its most chilly and severe (oil on canvas, by Richard Wilson, c. 1749).

John, 3rd Earl of Bute: tall, dark and brooding, the earl displays to advantage the legs of which he was so proud (oil on canvas, by Joshua Reynolds, 1773).

Queen Charlotte: ‘not a beauty’, but ‘amiable, and her face rather agreeable than otherwise’ (watercolour on ivory, unknown artist, c. 1761).

George, Prince of Wales: ‘tall and robust, more graceful than genteel … he had now and then a few pimples out’ (pastel on vellum, by Jean-Etienne Liotard, 1754).

Augusta, Dowager Princess of Wales: Augusta as she chose to be depicted in middle age – unflinching and unadorned (pastel on paper, by Jean-Etienne Liotard, 1754).

George III: the defining depiction of the young king – the demand for copies of this picture was immense (oil on canvas, by Allan Ramsay, 1761).

Queen Charlotte: the official portrait in coronation robes – a less flattering image of the teenage queen (oil on canvas, by Allan Ramsay, 1761).

Queen Charlotte with Charlotte, Princess Royal: ‘The Queen, fine; the Child, incomparable’ – this picture was still hanging in the king’s private apartments in 1813, during his final illness (pastel, by Francis Cotes, 1767).

Queen Charlotte with George, Prince of Wales, and Frederick, Duke of York: maternal affection expressed in the midst of looming grandeur – John Locke’s Some Thoughts Concerning Education can be seen among the queen’s papers (oil on canvas, by Allan Ramsay, c. 1764).

Prince Ernest, Prince Augustus, Princess Augusta, the infant Princess Mary, Prince Adolphus and Princess Elizabeth: the growing brood of royal children, with the princes wearing the open-collared, relaxed clothes of the modern, natural child (oil on canvas, by Benjamin West, 1776).

Princess Mary, Princess Amelia and Princess Sophia: the pleasures of boisterous play, which even princesses could now enjoy (oil on canvas, by John Singleton Copley, 1785).

George III: a confident, unpretentious image of kingship that was much to George’s taste and considered ‘very like’ (oil on canvas, by Johann Zoffany, 1771).

Queen Charlotte: the queen stands before her tribe of healthy children – her great dynastic achievement (oil on canvas, by Benjamin West, 1779).

Frances (Fanny) Burney: reluctant courtier, astute diarist (oil on canvas, by Edward Burney, c. 1785).

Mary Delany: model of cultured femininity and much-admired royal family friend (oil on canvas, by John Opie, 1782).

Charlotte, Princess Royal: ‘Always shy and under restraint with the queen’ (watercolour on ivory, attributed to Mrs Joseph Mee, possibly 1790).

Princess Augusta: ‘She looks as if she knew more than she would say’ (watercolour on ivory, unknown artist, c. 1798).

Princess Elizabeth: ‘Though brought up at court, I could never form my mouth to make compliments’ (oil on canvas, by William Beechey, 1797).

George, Prince of Wales: in his own words, ‘too fond of Wine and Women’, with ‘too great a penchant to grow fat’ (oil on canvas, by John Russell, 1791).

Princess Augusta, Princess Charlotte and Princess Elizabeth: the three eldest sisters depicted in a very tender light (oil on canvas, by Thomas Gainsborough, 1784).

Princess Mary: the most elegant of the sisterhood, with a surprisingly tart wit (oil on canvas, by William Beechey, 1797).

Princess Sophia: ‘If a sinner, [she] has the demeanour of a very humble and repentant one’ (oil on canvas, by William Beechey, 1797).

Prince Octavius: ‘There will be no Heaven for me if Octavius is not there’ (oil on canvas, by Benjamin West, 1783).

Princess Amelia: ‘an air of modest candour and a gentleness so caressingly inviting’ (oil on canvas, by William Beechey, 1797).

Caroline, Princess of Wales: ‘If her education had been what it ought, she might have turned out excellent’ (oil on canvas, by Thomas Lawrence, 1804).

Princess Charlotte of Wales: ‘There is a tone of romance in her character, which will only serve to mislead her’ (watercolour, by Thomas Heaphy, c. 1815).

Queen Charlotte: painted immediately after the king’s first illness, the horror of the experience shows clearly on the queen’s strained face (oil on canvas, by Thomas Lawrence, 1789).

George III: the king during his last illness, a Lear-like figure, isolated and alone (mezzotint, by Samuel Reynolds, c. 1820).