Queen Charlotte and the Meck Dec

The first time Charlotte Sophia of Mecklenburg-Strelitz saw her husband, King George III, was on their wedding day.  

The teenage royal from Germany was picked by the newly crowned King for her sweet and good-humored nature, as well as her pretty eyes and ‘white and even teeth.’ One of the conditions of the royal marriage was that Charlotte did not intervene in political affairs—something the young royal was happy to consent to. While her husband dealt with the American Revolution, the queen focused on domestic matters. She raised the couple’s 15 children, expanded the royal botanic gardens, and championed the arts.  

In the 1760s, settlers in North Carolina hoped to win the favor of their English rulers by naming a newly formed county and its subsequent city after Queen Charlotte and her German homeland. However, sentiment towards the crown soured less than a decade later.  

On May 20, 1775, Mecklenburg leaders are said to have penned the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, a document formally renouncing the county’s ties with England and announcing themselves “free and independent” of British rule. Published a full year before the Declaration of Independence, the document is thought to be the first to call for independence from Great Britian.  

This year, the Meck Dec celebrates its 250th anniversary. Learn more about the declaration, its journey to the Continental Congress, and area celebrations—as well as the controversy surrounding the document’s existence.