Caroline of Ansbach his father's political beliefs, and complained of his lack of influence in government. The Regency Act 1728 made Caroline rather than Frederick regent when her husband was in Hanover for five months from May 1729. During her regency, a diplomatic incident with Portugal (where a British ship had been seized on the Tagus) was defused, and the negotiation of the Treaty of Seville between Britain and Spain was concluded. From May 1732, she was regent for four months while George II was again away in Hanover. An investigation into the penal system uncovered widespread abuses, including cruel treatment and conspiracy
Caroline of Ansbach her moral example, and even the Jacobites acknowledged her compassion, and her intervention on the side of mercy for their compatriots. During her lifetime her refusal to convert when offered the hand of Archduke Charles was used to portray her as a strong adherent to Protestantism. For example, John Gay wrote of Caroline in "A Letter to A Lady" (1714): She was widely seen by both the public and the court as having great influence over her husband. A satirical verse of the period went: The memoirs of the eighteenth century, particularly those of John, Lord Hervey, fed perceptions that