The Scarlet Macaw

Although native to South America, scarlet macaws can apparently live up to ninety years in captivity so this magnificent parrot with its colourful plumage may well have outlived his owner, Lady Caroline Herbert.

Born in 1745, Lady Caroline was the daughter of Robert Montagu, 3rd Duke of Manchester and his wife Harriet Dunch. In  1761 she was chosen as an attendant to Queen Charlotte on her wedding day. Caroline married Charles Herbert and lived at Hampton Court in a grace and favour apartment. The couple had no children though she is now known to have had the company of at least one parrot!

The watercolour is inscribed along the top ‘Lady Caroline Herbert’s Macao’ [sic] and is housed in a stained frame with a bronzed slip.