sparkamovement: sparkamovement: Let’s talk about Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Sh

sparkamovement:

sparkamovement:

Let’s talk about Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. She was a descendant of Black Portugese and was married to King George III. Her portraits are reaaaally whitewashed so many don’t know of her African ancestry. #DontWhitewashHistory

we’ve posted this before but we’re gonna do it AGAIN because ATTN: QUEEN CHARLOTTE WAS BLACK -alice

I cannot take on too much time on this right now, but I noticed huge differences in the tone of the wiki article in the English and the German version.

As a starter, the introduction in English is about her role to the men around her and how many children she had. The German one collects her titles and positions.

All in all, the English version is way more negative, quoting nearly only negative comments while leaving behind the positive ones. It even uses offensive adjectives to describe her, hidden behind quotation marks, which at this point is a deliberate choice to just insult her again.

Let me give you some examples:

English:
(1) According to diplomatic reports at the time of her engagement to George III, Charlotte had received “a very mediocre education”.

(2) It was noted by many observers that she was “ugly”, had a dark complexion and flared nostrils. “She is timid at first but talks a lot, when she is among people she knows”, said one observer.

German:
to (1)
Charlotte erhielt eine vorzügliche Ausbildung. Unter ihren Lehrern befand sich auch die Dichterin Friderike Elisabeth von Grabow, genannt die „Sappho von Deutschland“. Charlotte beherrschte bald mehrere Sprachen und wurde in naturwissenschaftlichen, musischen und hauswirtschaftlichen Fächern gleichermaßen ausgebildet. Zudem war sie eine geistvolle Briefschreiberin. Ein Brief an den preußischen König, in dem sie sich über das Betragen der preußischen Armee in Mecklenburg beschwerte, erlangte Berühmtheit, wurde gedruckt und gelangte so nach England, wodurch Prinz Georg auf die Prinzessin aufmerksam wurde.

• Charlotte had an excellent education. Amongst her teachers was also the poet Friderike Elisabeth von Grabow (…) Charlotte spoke several languages and got equally instructed in science, music and home economics. Furthermore she was a witty penpal. One letter adressed to the prussian king, in which she complained about the behaviour of the military in her home region, got famous, was printed and therefore got spread in England, where Prince George first got notice of the princess.

to (2)
No mentioning of her apparance of what people thought of her looks. Especially really no need to call her “ugly” even if it is in question marks, and especiafuckingly not calling her “ugly” followed closely by the complexion of her skin and her nostrils. But then again it fails to mention the topic completely.

Someone else maybe want to take over and look more into it? And also maybe investigate how other POC figures in history are presented differently in other languages?

IDK what you people think of that, but for me this looks like the English version is trying to pull her down in character, persona and significance. I wonder why?