Caroline of Ansbach the reconciliation with his father, Caroline advised her husband to retain Walpole as the leading minister. Walpole commanded a substantial majority in Parliament and George II had little choice but to accept him or risk ministerial instability. Walpole secured a civil list payment of £100,000 a year for Caroline, and she was given both Somerset House and Richmond Lodge. Courtier Lord Hervey called Walpole "the Queen's minister" in recognition of their close relationship. For the next ten years, Caroline had immense influence. She persuaded the King to adopt policies at the behest of Walpole, and persuaded Walpole against taking inflammatory
Charles Alexander, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach second cousin, as King George III, when Charles was 24). After the sudden death of his elder brother Charles Frederick August on 9 May 1737, "Alexander", as he later called himself, became Crown Prince of the principality. From 1748 to 1759, he studied at Utrecht. As the young "Count of Sayn" (the county of Sayn-Altenkirchen in the Westerwald having been absorbed into the Principality of Ansbach in 1741) he travelled to Turin and Savoy. On 22 November 1754, in Coburg, Charles Alexander married Princess Frederica Caroline of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1735–1791), daughter of Franz Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and Anne Sophia, Princess