The German princesses who married into the British royal family in the 18th century were intellectually curious and forward-thinking

在18世纪，嫁入英国皇室的德国公主不仅求知好学还能高瞻远瞩。

CAROLINE OF ANSBACH, Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz—who? Charlotte (played by Helen Mirren) may ring a bell as the queen in Nicholas Hytner’s 1994 film, “The Madness of King George”. But the others?

来自勃兰登堡的卡洛琳皇后、萨克森科堡的奥古斯塔皇后，还有梅克伦堡的夏洛特皇后，你可能不知道她们是谁吧？你或许会想起1994年尼古拉斯•希拿指导的电影《疯狂的乔治王》中的王后夏洛特，那另外两位呢？

These princesses were imported from Germany to provide heirs for the Hanoverian dynasty which succeeded to the British throne in 1714. Caroline was the wife of George II, Augusta of his son Frederick, and Charlotte (pictured) of the mad king, George III. Their chief selling point was their Protestantism and their fertility, both crucial to the nation’s harmony after the civil and religious conflicts and reproductive failures of the Stuarts before them.

这些从德国远嫁来的公主为汉诺威皇室养育子嗣，这个家族在1714年继承了王室政权。卡洛琳是乔治二世的妻子，奥古斯塔嫁给了乔治二世的儿子弗雷德里克，而前边图片上的是夏洛特，她是疯王乔治三世的妻子。但她们最吸引人的地方在于她们信仰的新教和哺育后代的能力。她们对于内战和宗教冲突后国家的和谐，及改变之前斯图亚特王朝时期的低生育力而言都至关重要。

“Enlightened Princesses”, a new exhibition at Kensington Palace in London, shows that their significance reached beyond Protestantism and progeny. Intellectually curious, they threw themselves into British life as collectors and patrons of the sciences, arts and music, and promoters of trade and manufacturing. In the process they reshaped the monarchy. As the queues form elsewhere in the building for an exhibition about Princess Diana and fashion, “Enlightened Princesses” shows where it all started.

伦敦的肯辛顿宫举行了一场名为“启蒙公主”的新展，由此不难看出她们远嫁英国意义非凡，远远大于传播宗教和养育子嗣。求知好学的她们，将自己完全融入到英国的生活中去。发掘并支持科学技术研发及音乐艺术创造。促进贸易往来和工业制造。在这一过程中他们重塑了君主政体。展厅另一处，有很多人在“戴安娜王妃与时尚”的展览前排起了长队。而“启蒙公主”这一展览正是说明了这一新风原自何处。

This essentially intimate exhibition reflects how cannily these women walked the line between private and public. Their portraits meet the visitor without ceremony—plenty of silk and lace, even a touch of ermine, but the grandeur, the symbolism and allegory of their more formal portraits (discussed, among other things, in the accompanying book), are absent. The same informality goes for the paintings of the royal children, a little untidy some of them, others busy with their books and instruments, their drawings and bits of handiwork nearby.

在这场与王后们近距离接触的展览中，你可以看到女性是如何精明的主内又主外的。她们的肖像直接展现在参观者面前，没有任何仪式。画中人物的服饰是一层层叠加的丝绸和蕾丝，还配上一点白釉毛皮。与她们的官方肖像相比，这些肖像没有那般富丽堂皇，具有代表性又富有宗教和政治寓意。同样的，王室子嗣的画像也不是很正式，有一些画像的布局凌乱。其他的画中人物有些在读书或者把玩乐器，周围摆着他们自己的画作或者是一些手工艺品。

These are some of the most charming and eye-catching exhibits. But across the room something different catches the eye—a book open at a coloured illustration of smallpox pustules. It is one of the places where the show shifts from private to public. For although it was Lady Mary Wortley Montagu who first introduced the inoculation procedure to Western medicine, it was Caroline who, in the new spirit of scientific empiricism, arranged experiments, and who, by inoculating her own children, spread the practice more widely. This was part of the approach taken by all of them to the question of public health and welfare—particularly of women and children. It led to patronage of a mass of hospitals, orphanages and children’s charities, among them Thomas Coram’s Foundling Hospital. Some of the foundlings’ tokens—a notched coin, a little padlock, a coral necklace—are touchingly displayed here.

这些是该展览最具魅力而又博人眼球的地方，但整间屋子里有另外一些不同的令人驻足的东西——一本翻开的书，停滞在有天花脓包彩绘插画那页。整个展览在这一部分由私人话题转向了公众话题。尽管第一位将疫苗接种引入西医的是玛丽•蒙塔古•沃特利夫人，可卡洛琳皇后，凭着当时最新的科学实验精神，安排实验，将抗体接种到了自己孩子体内，因此让这一方法得到了更广泛的传播。这是几位皇后解决公共医疗和福利问题的措施之一，尤其是有关妇女和儿童的问题。这也引导了社会对大量的医院，孤儿院和儿童慈善机构的支持和赞助。其中一所是托马斯考勒姆的弃婴医院。展览上有一些有关这家医院的纪念品，都那般让人动容：缺角的硬币，一把小挂锁，还有一串珊瑚项链。

These were solid projects. But the exhibition captures something else too: an enthusiasm, an energy in these women, that seems at times almost outlandish. As the visitor moves among their books and engravings, their landscape designs and botanical drawings, the portraits of the men they knew and admired—including Sir Isaac Newton, George Frideric Handel and William Hunter, whose book on the uterus lies open at a minutely detailed full-term fetus in the womb—there is a sense that there was nothing they were unwilling to try. People laughed at the hermitage and Merlin’s cave that Caroline built in her gardens at Richmond, and at Augusta’s mosque and Alhambra in her gardens at Kew. In fact there are walls here covered with the satires and caricatures they attracted generally.

这些都是实实在在的东西。但展览也捕捉到了其它的一些东西：那就是这些女性所体现的热情与能量，这些品质在那一时期看来都是十分荒唐的。参观的人们看着他们的书、版画、景观设计、植物画还有他们仰慕或是了解的男人的肖像，比如牛顿、乔治•弗里德里希•亨德尔和威廉•亨特。威廉那本有关子宫的书，静静的打开着，展示的是子宫在妊娠期的细节图。可以看出，他们什么都愿意尝试。卡洛林在她里士满花园里建的隐居空间和梅林洞，还有奥古斯塔在裘园花园里建的清真寺和阿兰布拉宫，都成了当时人们的笑料。事实上，整个展览更吸引人的是墙壁上的讽刺和丑化漫画。

The princesses may have been a little obsessed, but at least they were intellectually alive—and they deserve to be remembered for more than their link to mad King George.

这些公主都求知好学到了痴迷的程度，但至少她们能明辨是非。她们值得被铭记,不仅仅是与那些与疯王乔治有关。

译者：陆雯昕

审核：刘迪& Lvnan

编辑：翻吧君

英文来源：经济学人