December 16, 1790: Birth of Leopold I, King of the Belgians.

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King George IV of the United Kingdom, King Leopold I of the Belgians, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Princess Charlotte of Wales, Princess Louise of Orléans, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, The Prince Regent

Leopold I (December 16, 1790 – December 10, 1865) was the first king of the Belgians, reigning from July 21, 1831 until his death in 1865.

Leopold was born in Coburg in the tiny German duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld in modern-day Bavaria on 16 December 16, 1790. He was the youngest son of Franz, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and Countess Augusta of Reuss-Ebersdorf. In 1826, Saxe-Coburg acquired the city of Gotha from the neighboring Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and gave up Saalfeld to Saxe-Meiningen, becoming the Duchy Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Leopold I, King of the Belgians

Leopold took a commission in the Imperial Russian Army and fought against Napoleon after French troops overran Saxe-Coburg during the Napoleonic Wars.

After Napoleon’s defeat, Leopold moved to the United Kingdom where he married Princess Charlotte of Wales, who was second in line to the British throne and the only legitimate child of the Prince Regent (the future King George IV) and Princess Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttle.

The Prince Regent had hoped Charlotte would marry Willem, Prince of Orange, but she favoured Leopold. Although the Regent was displeased, he found Leopold to be charming and possessing every quality to make his daughter happy, and so approved their marriage.

The same year Leopold received an honorary commission to the rank of Field Marshal and Knight of the Order of the Garter. The Prince Regent also considered making Leopold a royal duke, the Duke of Kendal, though the plan was abandoned due to government fears that it would draw Leopold into party politics and would be viewed as a demotion for Charlotte.

Princess Charlotte of Wales

On November 5, 1817, after having suffered a miscarriage, Princess Charlotte gave birth to a stillborn son. She herself died the next day following complications. Leopold was said to have been heartbroken by her death.

Had Charlotte survived, she would have become Queen of the United Kingdom on the death of her father and Leopold presumably would have assumed the role of prince consort, later taken by his nephew Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Despite Charlotte’s death, the Prince Regent granted Prince Leopold the British style of Royal Highness by Order in Council on April 6, 1818.

From 1828 to 1829, Leopold had an affair with the actress Caroline Bauer, who bore a striking resemblance to Charlotte. Caroline was a cousin of his advisor Baron Christian Friedrich von Stockmar. She came to England with her mother and took up residence at Longwood House, a few miles from Claremont House.

But, by mid-1829, the liaison was over, and the actress and her mother returned to Berlin. Many years later, in memoirs published after her death, she declared that she and Leopold had engaged in a morganatic marriage and that he had bestowed upon her the title of Countess Montgomery.

Leopold I, King of the Belgians

He would have broken this marriage when the possibility arose that he could become King of Greece. The son of Baron Stockmar denied that these events ever happened, and indeed no records have been found of a civil or religious marriage with the actress.

After the Greek War of Independence (1821–1830), Leopold was offered the throne of Greece under the 1830 London Protocol that created an independent Greek state, but turned it down, believing it to be too precarious.

Instead, he accepted the throne of Belgium in 1831 following the country’s independence in 1830. The Belgian government offered the position to Leopold because of his diplomatic connections with royal houses across Europe, and because as the British-backed candidate, he was not affiliated with other powers, such as France, which were believed to have territorial ambitions in Belgium which might threaten the European balance of power created by the 1815 Congress of Vienna.

Leopold took his oath as King of the Belgians on July 21, 1831, an event commemorated annually as Belgian National Day. His reign was marked by attempts by the Dutch to recapture Belgium and, later, by internal political division between liberals and Catholics.

Second Marriage

Princess Louise of Orléans was the second child and eldest daughter of King Louis Philippe I of the French and his wife, Princess Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies.

On August 9, 1832, the twenty-year-old Louise married King Leopold I of the Belgians, who was twenty-two years her senior, at the Compiègne Palace. Since Leopold was a Protestant, he and Louise had both a Catholic and a Calvinist ceremony.

Louise of Orléans, Queen of the Belgians

The marriage had been suggested already when Leopold was considered for the throne of Greece, and was repeated when he was elected king of the Belgians instead of Louise’s brother, Louis, Duke of Nemours.

The marriage created an alliance between two newly elected and less established monarchs, her father and spouse, and was thus seen suitable. Louise’s mother disliked the marriage because Leopold was a Protestant, but since Louise’s father was a new monarch and his position weak in the eyes of other monarchs, the marriage was considered favorable for the new French Orléans dynasty, as it might then become easier for Louise’s siblings to marry members of established dynasties.

While the marriage was arranged against Louise’s will, and she was unhappy to leave France and her family, Leopold was very careful to treat her with consideration and respect from the beginning, which was appreciated by Louise, and soon their relationship came to be described as a harmonious one.

Leopold I, King of the Belgians

Leopold was particularly known as a political marriage broker. In 1835–1836, he promoted the marriage between his nephew Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and the Queen of Portugal, Maria II. He promoted the marriage of his niece, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, to his nephew, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Even before she succeeded to the throne, Leopold had been advising Victoria by letter, and continued to influence her after her accession.

As a Protestant, Leopold was considered liberal and encouraged economic modernisation, playing an important role in encouraging the creation of Belgium’s first railway in 1835 and subsequent industrialisation. As a result of the ambiguities in the Belgian Constitution, Leopold was able to slightly expand the monarch’s powers during his reign.

Leopold also played an important role in stopping the spread of the Revolutions of 1848 into Belgium. He died in 1865 and was succeeded by his son, Leopold II.

May 2nd, 1816: Marriage of Princess Charlotte of Wales and Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Part I

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King George III of the United Kingdom, King George IV of the United Kingdom, Napoleonic Wars, Prince Leopard of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Prince Willem of Orange, Princess Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Princess Charlotte of Wales, The Prince of Orange, The Prince Regent, Willem VI of Orange

Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales (January 7, 1796 – November 6, 1817) was the only child of George, Prince of Wales (later George IV), and his wife, Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Had she outlived both her grandfather George III and her father, she would have become Queen of the United Kingdom, but she died at the age of 21, predeceasing them both.

Charlotte’s parents disliked each other from before their arranged marriage and soon separated. The Prince of Wales left most of Charlotte’s care to governesses and servants, only allowing her limited contact with Caroline, who eventually left the country.

Her father George, Prince of Wales and later The Prince Regent, had been raised under strict conditions, which he had rebelled against. Despite this, he attempted to put his daughter, who had the appearance of a grown woman at age 15, under even stricter conditions. He gave her a clothing allowance insufficient for an adult princess, and insisted that if she attended the opera, she was to sit in the rear of the box and leave before the end.

With the Prince Regent busy with affairs of state, Charlotte was required to spend most of her time at Windsor with her maiden aunts. Bored, she soon became infatuated with her cousin George FitzClarence, illegitimate son of Prince William, Duke of Clarence.

FitzClarence was, shortly thereafter, called to Brighton to join his regiment, and Charlotte’s gaze fell on Lieutenant Charles Hesse of the Light Dragoons, reputedly the illegitimate son of Charlotte’s uncle, Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany.

Hesse and Charlotte had a number of clandestine meetings. Lady de Clifford feared the Prince Regent’s rage should they be found out, but Princess Caroline was delighted by her daughter’s passion. She did everything that she could to encourage the relationship, even allowing them time alone in a room in her apartments.

These meetings ended when Hesse left to join the British forces in Spain. Most of the Royal Family, except the Prince Regent, were aware of these meetings, but did nothing to interfere, disapproving of the way George was treating his daughter.

In 1813, with the tide of the Napoleonic Wars having turned firmly in Britain’s favour, George began to seriously consider the question of Charlotte’s marriage.

The Prince Regent and his advisers decided on Willem, Hereditary Prince of Orange, son and heir-apparent of Prince Willem VI of Orange. Such a marriage would increase British influence in Northwest Europe. Willem made a poor impression on Charlotte when she first saw him, at George’s birthday party on August 12, when he became intoxicated, as did the Prince Regent himself and many of the guests.

Although no one in authority had spoken to Charlotte about the proposed marriage, she was quite familiar with the plan through palace whispers. Dr. Henry Halford was detailed to sound out Charlotte about the match; he found her reluctant, feeling that a future British queen should not marry a foreigner.

Believing that his daughter intended to marry Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, the Prince Regent saw his daughter and verbally abused both her and Gloucester. According to Charlotte, “He spoke as if he had the most improper ideas of my inclinations. I see that he is compleatly [sic] poisoned against me, and that he will never come round.”

She wrote to Earl Grey for advice; he suggested she play for time. The matter soon leaked to the papers, which wondered whether Charlotte would marry “the Orange or the Cheese” (a reference to Gloucester cheese), “Slender Billy” [of Orange] or “Silly Billy”.

The Prince Regent attempted a gentler approach, but failed to convince Charlotte who wrote that “I could not quit this country, as Queen of England still less” and that if they wed, the Prince of Orange would have to “visit his frogs solo”.

However, on December 12, the Prince Regent arranged a meeting between Charlotte and the Prince of Orange at a dinner party, and asked Charlotte for her decision. She stated that she liked what she had seen so far, which George took as an acceptance, and quickly called in the Prince of Orange to inform him.

March 16, 1861: Death of Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Duchess of Kent. Part I.

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Duchess of Kent, Duke of Kent, King George IV of the United Kingdom, King William IV of the United Kingdom, Prince Edward, Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld., Sir John Conroy

Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (August 17, 1786 – March 16, 1861), later Princess of Leiningen and subsequently Duchess of Kent and Strathearn, was a German princess and the mother of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. As the widow of Charles, Prince of Leiningen (1763–1814), from 1814 she served as regent of the Principality during the minority of her son from her first marriage, Carl, until her second wedding in 1818 to Prince Edward, fourth son of King George III of the United Kingdom.

Early life

Victoria was born in Coburg in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation and was named Marie Louise Victoire. She was the fourth daughter and seventh child of Franz Friedrich, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and Countess Augusta of Reuss-Ebersdorf.

One of her brothers was Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and another brother, Leopold, future king of the Belgians, married, in 1816, Princess Charlotte of Wales, the only legitimate daughter of the future King George IV, and heiress presumptive to the British throne.

Marriages

First marriage

On December 21, 1803 at Coburg, a young Victoria married (as his second wife) Charles, Prince of Leiningen (1763–1814), whose first wife, Countess Henrietta of Reuss-Ebersdorf, had been her aunt. The couple had two children, Prince Charles, born on September 12, 1804, and Princess Feodora of Leiningen, born on December 7, 1807.

Through her first marriage, she is a direct matrilineal ancestor to various members of royalty in Europe, including King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, King Felipe VI of Spain, and King Constantine II of Greece.

Regency

After the death of her first spouse, she served as regent of the Principality of Leiningen during the minority of their son, Carl.

Second marriage

The death of Princess Charlotte of Wales, the wife of Victoria’s brother Leopold, in 1817, prompted a succession crisis. With Parliament offering them a financial incentive, three of Charlotte’s uncles, sons of George III, were prepared to marry.

Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld

One of them, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (1767–1820) proposed to Victoria and she accepted. The couple were married on May 29, 1818 at Amorbach and on July 11, 1818 at Kew, a joint ceremony at which Edward’s brother, the Duke of Clarence, later King William IV, married Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen.

Shortly after their marriage, the Kents moved to Germany, where the cost of living would be cheaper. Soon after, Victoria became pregnant, and the Duke and Duchess, determined to have their child born in England, raced back.

Arriving at Dover on April 23, 1819, they moved into Kensington Palace, where Victoria gave birth to a daughter on May 24, 1819, Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent, later Queen Victoria. An efficient organiser, Sir John Conroy, ensured the Kents’ speedy return to England in time for the birth of their first child.

Widowhood

The Duke of Kent died suddenly of pneumonia in January 1820, six days before his father, King George III. His widow the Duchess had little cause to remain in the United Kingdom, since she did not speak the language and had a palace at home in Coburg where she could live cheaply on the revenues of her first husband.

However, the British succession at this time was far from assured – of the three brothers older than Edward, the new king, George IV, and Prince Frederick, Duke of York were both estranged from their wives, who were in any case past childbearing age.

The third brother, the Duke of Clarence, had yet to produce any surviving children with his wife. The Duchess of Kent decided that she would do better by gambling on her daughter’s accession than by living quietly in Coburg and, having inherited her second husband’s debts, sought support from the British government.

After the death of Edward and his father, the young Princess Victoria was still only third in line for the throne, and Parliament was not inclined to support yet more impoverished royalty.

The provision made for the Duchess of Kent was mean: she resided in a suite of rooms in the dilapidated Kensington Palace, along with several other impoverished members of the royal family, and received little financial support from the Civil List, since Parliament had vivid memories of the late Duke’s extravagance.

In practice, a main source of support for her was her brother, Leopold. The latter had a huge income of fifty thousand pounds per annum for life, representing an annuity allotted to him by the British Parliament on his marriage to Princess Charlotte, which had made him seem likely to become in due course the consort of the monarch. Even after Charlotte’s death, Leopold’s annuity was not revoked by Parliament.

In 1830, with George IV dead and the new King William IV (formerly the Duke of Clarence) being over 60 without any surviving legitimate issue, and whose nearly 40-year-old wife was considered to be at the end of childbearing age, the young princess’s status as heir presumptive and the Duchess’s prospective place as regent led to major increases in British state income for the Kents.

The Duchess of Kent and Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent

Parliament agreed an annuity for the Duchess and her daughter in August 1831. A contributing factor was Leopold’s designation as King of the Belgians, upon which he surrendered his British income.

Royal feud

Together in a hostile environment, John Conroy’s relationship with the Duchess was very close, with him serving as her comptroller and private secretary for the next nineteen years, as well as holding the unofficial roles of public relations officer, counsellor, confidant and political agent.

While it is not clear which of the two was more responsible for devising the Kensington System, it was created to govern young Victoria’s upbringing. The intention was for the Duchess to be appointed regent upon Victoria’s (assumed youthful) ascension and for Conroy to be created Victoria’s private secretary and given a peerage.

The Duchess and Conroy continued to be unpopular with the royal family and, in 1829, the Duke of Cumberland spread rumours that they were lovers in an attempt to discredit them. The Duke of Clarence referred to Conroy as “King John”, while the Duchess of Clarence wrote to the Duchess of Kent to advise that she was increasingly isolating herself from the royal family and that she must not grant Conroy too much power.

The Duchess of Kent was extremely protective, and raised Victoria largely isolated from other children under the so-called “Kensington System”. The system prevented the princess from meeting people whom her mother and Conroy deemed undesirable (including most of her father’s family), and was designed to render her weak and dependent upon them.

The Duchess avoided the court because she was scandalised by the presence of King William’s illegitimate children, and perhaps prompted the emergence of Victorian morality by insisting that her daughter avoid any appearance of sexual impropriety. Victoria shared a bedroom with her mother every night, studied with private tutors to a regular timetable, and spent her play-hours with her dolls and her King Charles Spaniel, Dash.

Perhaps because of Conroy’s influence, the relationship between the Duchess’s household and King William IV soon soured, with the Duchess regarding the King as an oversexed oaf.

As far as she dared, the Duchess denied the King access to his niece. She prevented her daughter from attending William’s coronation out of a disagreement of precedence, a decision attributed by the Duke of Wellington to Conroy.

In 1831, the year of William’s coronation, Conroy and the Duchess embarked on a series of royal tours with Victoria to expose her to the people and solidify their status as potential regents. Their efforts were ultimately successful and, in November 1831, it was declared that the Duchess would be sole regent in the event of Victoria’s young queenship.

The Duchess further offended the King by taking rooms in Kensington Palace that the King had reserved for himself, and she snubbed his illegitimate children, the FitzClarences, before and during his reign.

Both the King William IV and Queen Adelaide were fond of their niece, but their attempts to forge a close relationship with the girl were frustrated by the conflict with the Duchess of Kent.

The King, angered at what he took to be disrespect from the Duchess to his wife, took the opportunity at what proved to be his final birthday banquet in August 1836 to settle the score. Speaking to those assembled at the banquet, who included the Duchess and Princess Victoria, William expressed his hope that he would survive until Princess Victoria was 18 so that the Duchess of Kent would never be regent.

January 22, 1901: Death of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, Empress of India

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Empress of India, German Emperor Wilhelm II, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, King George IV of the United Kingdom, King William IV of the United Kingdom, Osbourne House, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom

Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; May 24, 1819 – January 22, 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from June 20, 1837 until her death. On May 1, 1876, she adopted the additional title of Empress of India. Known as the Victorian era, her reign of 63 years and seven months was longer than that of any of her predecessors. It was a period of industrial, cultural, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire.

Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (the fourth son of King George III and Duchess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz), and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, the fourth daughter and seventh child of Franz Friedrich, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and Countess Augusta of Reuss-Ebersdorf.

After both her father the Duke of Kent and his father, King George III, died within a week of one another in January 1820, she was raised under close supervision by her mother and her comptroller, John Conroy. She inherited the throne aged 18 after her father’s three elder brothers died without surviving legitimate issue (King George IV died 1830, Frederick, Duke of York died 1827, King William IV died 1837).

The United Kingdom was an established constitutional monarchy in which the sovereign held relatively little direct political power. Privately, she attempted to influence government policy and ministerial appointments; publicly, she became a national icon who was identified with strict standards of personal morality.

In February of 1840 Queen Victoria married her cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the second son of Ernst III, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and his first wife, Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg.

Their nine children married into royal and noble families across the continent, earning Victoria the sobriquet “the grandmother of Europe” and spreading haemophilia in European royalty. After Albert’s death in 1861, Victoria plunged into deep mourning and avoided public appearances.

As a result of her seclusion, republicanism in the United Kingdom temporarily gained strength, but in the latter half of her reign, her popularity recovered. Her Golden and Diamond Jubilees were times of public celebration.

In July 1900, Victoria’s second son Alfred (“Affie”) died. “Oh, God! My poor darling Affie gone too”, she wrote in her journal. “It is a horrible year, nothing but sadness & horrors of one kind & another.”

Following a custom she maintained throughout her widowhood, Victoria spent the Christmas of 1900 at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. Rheumatism in her legs had rendered her lame, and her eyesight was clouded by cataracts.

Through early January, she felt “weak and unwell”, and by mid-January she was “drowsy … dazed, [and] confused.” She died on Tuesday January 22, 1901, at half past six in the evening, at the age of 81. Her son and successor, King Edward VII, and her eldest grandson, German Emperor Wilhelm II, were at her deathbed. Her favourite pet Pomeranian, Turi, was laid upon her deathbed as a last request.

On January 25, King Edward VII, Wilhelm II and her third son, Prince Arthur, the Duke of Connaught, helped lift her body into the coffin. Her funeral was held on Saturday 2 February 2, in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, and after two days of lying-in-state, she was interred beside Prince Albert in Frogmore Mausoleum at Windsor Great Park.

With a reign of 63 years, seven months and two days, Victoria was the longest-reigning British monarch and the longest-reigning queen regnant in world history until her great-great-granddaughter Elizabeth II surpassed her on September 9, 2015. She was the last monarch of Britain from the House of Hanover. Her son and successor Edward VII belonged to her husband’s House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

When Queen Victoria died on January 22, 1901, her eldest son, Prince Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales became King of the United Kingdom, Emperor of India and, in an innovation, King of the British Dominio. He chose to reign under the name of Edward VII, instead of Albert Edward—the name his mother had intended for him to use —declaring that he did not wish to “undervalue the name of Albert” and diminish the status of his father with whom the “name should stand alone.” The numeral VII was occasionally omitted in Scotland, even by the national church, in deference to protests that the previous Edwards were English kings who had “been excluded from Scotland by battle”.

December 2, 1849: Death of Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, Queen Consort of the United Kingdom.

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Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, King George IV of the United Kingdom, King William IV of the United Kingdom, kings and queens of the United Kingdom, Princess Charlotte of Clarence, Princess Elizabeth of Clarence, Queen Consort

Queen Adelaide, died on December 2, 1849. She was born August 13, 1792  a Princess of Saxe-Meiningen and was the daughter of Georg I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, and Luise Eleonore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. She was titled Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, Duchess in Saxony with the style Serene Highness from her birth until the Congress of Vienna (1814–15), when the entire House of Wettin was raised to the style of Highness. 


Adelaide married William of the United Kingdom and Duke of Clarence in a double wedding with William’s brother, Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, and his bride Victoria, Dowager Princess of Leiningen, on July 11, 1818, at Kew Palace in Surrey, England. They had only met for the first time a week earlier. Within the first few years of their marriage Adelaide gave birth to the Princesses Charlotte and Elizabeth but both died in infancy. 

Adelaide was beloved by the British people for her piety, modesty, charity, and her tragic childbirth history. A large portion of her household income was given to charitable causes. She also treated the young Princess Victoria of Kent (William’s heir presumptive and later Queen Victoria) with kindness, despite her inability to produce an heir and the open hostility between William and Victoria’s mother, the Dowager Duchess of Kent.

William, Duke of Clarence ascended the throne as King William IV of the United Kingdom upon the death of his brother George IV in 1830. After a reign of seven years William IV died and was succeeded by his niece who became Queen Victoria. Adelaide became the Dowager Queen.

Semi-invalid by 1847, Adelaide was advised to try the climate of Madeira for the winter that year, for her health. Queen Adelaide’s last public appearance was to lay the foundation stone of the church of St John the Evangelist, Great Stanmore. She gave the font and when the church was completed after her death, the east window was dedicated to her memory.

She died during the reign of her niece Queen Victoria on December 2, 1849 of natural causes at Bentley Priory in Middlesex. She was buried at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor. 

November 3, 1777: Birth of Princess Sophia of the United Kingdom. Part III.

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Frogmore, George III of the United Kingdom, Kensington Palace, King George IV of the United Kingdom, Princess Charlotte of Wales, Princess Mary of Great Britain, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, Sophia Dorothea of Great Britain, Windsor Great Park

Sophia was a favourite of her niece, Princess Charlotte of Wales, as the young princess liked her gentle character and had a certain fascination for the gossip surrounding Sophia’s past. Charlotte detested her other aunts, and once wrote, “I can hardly believe [Sophia] belongs to them- so wholly different is she in thoughts, opinions, matters. Her nobleness and rectitude of mind renders her no favourite here. The constant scenes of intrigue, of tracasseries, she can but ill support.”


 The Prince Regent’s efforts to help his sisters led to the marriages of Mary and Elizabeth, and Queen Charlotte’s death in 1818 allowed Augusta and Sophia their domestic freedom, though it was too late for them to marry. From her mother Sophia inherited Lower Lodge at Windsor Great Park, which she in turn gave to the Prince Regent. The death of Princess Augusta in 1840 resulted in Sophia inheriting Clarence House and Frogmore.

After the queen’s death, Sophia lived in Kensington Palace during her final years, next to her niece Princess Victoria of Kent, the future Queen Victoria. As a result, Princess Sophia was one of the few paternal relatives that Victoria saw often. Like her sister-in-law the Duchess of Kent, Sophia fell under the spell of Victoria’s comptroller Sir John Conroy and let him manage her money. The princess became a part of the Duchess of Kent’s social circle and, in return, Sophia spied for Conroy when he was absent from Kensington Palace. 

Sophia also reported to Conroy on what she heard at St. James’s Palace, as she had privileged access to courtiers as well as to her two elder brothers. Gossipmongers speculated that Conroy’s successful ability to deal with the “bullying inopportunities” of Sophia’s illegitimate son endeared her to him, while some historians write that Conroy took advantage of Sophia, who in her last years had become “dizzy, easily muddled… mourning her fading looks” and a “confused, nearly blind aunt.”

 Sophia often dined with the household, but the Duchess of Kent despised her. Princess Victoria was aware her aunt was a spy and the two never became close. Sophia’s wealth allowed Conroy to live a rich lifestyle, acquiring for himself a house in Kensington for £4,000, as well as two other estates for £18,000. Sophia was also responsible for certain members of Victoria’s household gaining higher statuses; Victoria’s governess Louise Lehzen, for instance, was made a Hanoverian baroness on the orders of George IV, and Conroy was named a Knight Commander of the Hanoverian Order.

Death
After having been blind for over ten years, on the morning of 27 May 1848, Princess Sophia became ill at her residence at Vicarage Place, Kensington; she was visited by her sister Mary, sister-in-law Queen Adelaide, and nephew-in-law Prince Albert. Sophia’s death occurred at 6:30 later that day, when Mary, the Duchesses of Kent and Cambridge were present.

The princess was buried at Kensal Green Cemetery in London, immediately in front of (east of) the central chapel rather than at Windsor Castle, as she wished to be near her brother, Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex (who lies on the opposite side of the path). After her death, it was discovered that Conroy had squandered most of her money and that the princess had virtually no estate to bequeath. Charles Greville wrote an entry in his diary on 31 May:

“The Princess Sophia died a few days ago, while the Queen [Victoria] was holding the Drawing-room for her Birthday. She was blind, helpless, and suffered martyrdom; a very clever, well-informed woman, but who never lived in the world.”

November 3, 1777: Birth of Princess Sophia of the United Kingdom. Part II.

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Charles Greville, Charlotte Sophia of Mecklenburg- Strelitz, Duke of Cumberland, Illegitimate Child, King George III of the United Kingdom, King George IV of the United Kingdom, Queen Charlotte of Great Britain, Sophia of Great Britain, The Prince Regent, Thomas Garth

The Princess Royal was the only daughter who was able to marry while relatively young. The rest of the princesses were not without suitors, but most of the various men’s efforts were stopped by Queen Charlotte. Most of the girls longed for families and children of their own, and often asked the Prince of Wales, to whom they remained close, for help, either in finding spouses, allowing them to marry their loves, or allowing them to live outside of Queen Charlotte’s household.

A grateful Sophia once jokingly wrote to her brother, saying “I wonder you do not vote for putting us in a sack and drowning us in the Thames.” Before George became regent, he had little power to oblige his sisters. His ascension to the regency in 1811 led to Sophia and the other remaining unmarried princesses to receive increases in their allowances, from £10,000 to £13,000. He also supported their desire to venture out into society. Queen Charlotte was outraged at these attempts, and the Prince-Regent had to reconcile the two parties carefully so that his sisters could still enjoy some independence.

During Sophia’s lifetime, there were various rumours about her alleged incestuous relationship with her brother, Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, who later became the King of Hanover. The Prince Regent supposedly warned his sisters not to be alone in the same room with the Duke, and Cumberland was deeply unpopular with the British people.

It is unclear whether there was truth to these rumours or whether they were circulated by the Duke’s numerous political enemies.

Limited in exposure to eligible men, Sophia and several of her sisters became involved with courtiers and equerries. Sophia entered into a relationship with her father’s chief equerry, Major-General Thomas Garth, a man thirty-three years her senior. He had a large purple birthmark on his face, causing Sophia’s sister Mary to refer to him as “the purple light of love” and courtier and diarist Charles Greville to call him a “hideous old devil”.

Despite this, one lady-in-waiting noted “the princess was so violently in love with him that everyone saw it. She could not contain herself in his presence.” Greville wrote about Sophia and her sisters’ affairs in a diary entry, “women fall in love with anything – and opportunity and the accidents of the passions are of more importance than any positive merits of mind or of body… [The princesses] were secluded from the world, mixing with few people – their passions boiling over and ready to fall into the hands of the first man whom circumstances enabled to get at them.”

Gossip soon spread of the existence of an illegitimate child. Some historians contend that, sometime before August 1800 in Weymouth, Sophia gave birth to a child fathered by Garth. Flora Fraser believes the rumours that Sophia had a child, but has questioned whether the child was fathered by Garth, or Sophia’s brother the Duke of Cumberland. Historians further write that the child, baptised Thomas Garth like his father, was raised by his father in Weymouth, where his mother would visit him occasionally. In 1828 he apparently tried to blackmail the royal family with certain incriminating documents from his father about his supposed parents’ relationship, though this ended in failure.

Conversely, Anthony Camp challenges the belief that Sophia had a child and provides a detailed summary of the available evidence. In his book Royal Babylon: the Alarming History of European Royalty, author Karl Shaw writes of the possibility that the Duke raped his sister, citing evidence from Charles Greville’s diaries, as well as other factors. Historian Gillian Gill believes that Sophia secretly gave birth to the child and that this is the reason Sophia never married. Alison Weir and others, however, write of a possible marriage between Sophia and Garth the same year as the child’s birth, but there is no evidence to back this assertion other than the presence of a wedding ring in a portrait of an aged Sophia.

Coronation Crown of George IV of the United Kingdom

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Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach, coronation, Diamond Crown, Jefri Bolkiah, King George IV of the United Kingdom, Prince of Brunei, St. Edward's Crown, State Crown of George I, State Opening of Parliament

Although I have already featured my top 12 Crowns I still will feature other crowns and regalia from time to time.

When King George IV of the United Kingdom was coronated on July 19, 1821 he did not use St. Edward’s Crown for the ceremony, nor did he use the State Crown of George I as had his immediate predecessors; instead he had a new and and extravagantly expensive crown built.

Design

At 40 cm (16 in) tall and decorated with 12,314 diamonds, it was said to make him look like a “gorgeous bird of the east”. The innovative gold and silver frame, created by Philip Liebart of Rundell, Bridge & Rundell, had been designed to be almost invisible underneath the diamonds.

A plan to remove the traditional fleurs-de-lis and introduce the rose, thistle and shamrock, the floral emblems of England, Scotland and Ireland, was abandoned following objections by the College of Heralds. As a general rule, the maintenance caps in British crowns are made of crimson or purple velvet, but this crown differed in having a dark blue cap.

Fate

Because of the postponement of George IV’s coronation due to the trial of his wife, Queen Caroline, the final bill for the hiring of the stones came to £24,425. After his coronation, the king was reluctant to part with his new crown, and lobbied the government to buy it outright so he could use it for the annual State Opening of Parliament, but it was too expensive. The crown was dismantled in 1823 and has not been worn by any other monarch since then.

Emptied of its jewels and discarded by the royal family, the crown was loaned to the Museum of London by the Amherst family from 1933 until 1985. It was purchased by Asprey in 1987 and later acquired by Jefri Bolkiah, Prince of Brunei, who presented it to the United Kingdom. It had been valued at £376,000 in 1995 for the purposes of an application to export the crown to the United States.

The application was withdrawn during a review by the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art. It is part of the Royal Collection and has been on public display in the Martin Tower at the Tower of London since 1996. Diamonds worth £2 million on loan from De Beers are displayed next to the crown to give visitors an idea of how it looked originally.

Although the frame of the crown is the only part that exists, a bronze cast of the crown was made.

A gilt bronze cast of the crown of George IV. The crown is surmounted by a monde and cross pattée above four half arches springing from four crosses, cast with oak leaves and acorns, interspersed with fleurs de lis and a circlet of foliage; with a purple velvet and ermine cap. The crown has a circular gilt-wood base with a glass dome and blue velvet cover Within the monde of the model is a parchment note giving details of its creation.

It was cast from George IV’s Imperial State Crown or Diamond Crown, supplied by Rundell’s for the coronation of 1821. The crown contained an extraordinary 12,314 diamonds. Although the frame of the original survives among the Crown Jewels, the stones were hired only for the coronation ceremony and were later removed from it. This model therefore gives the full impression of how it would have appeared.

George IV did purchase a bronze life-sized model of his crown for £38, on which the inscription reads: “Cast of the Rich Imperial Diamond Crown with which His Most Sacred Majesty King George IV was crowned on 19 July 1821”.

July 8, 1850: Death of Prince Adolphus-Frederick, Duke of Cambridge.

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Adolphus-Frederick of Cambridge, Augusta of Hesse-Cassel, Duke of Cambridge, King George III of the United Kingdom, King George IV of the United Kingdom, King William IV of the United Kingdom, Princess Mary of Teck, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, Viceroy of Hanover

Prince Adolphus-Frederick, Duke of Cambridge, (February 24, 1774 – July 8, 1850) was the tenth child and seventh son of the British king George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. He held the title of Duke of Cambridge from 1801 until his death. He also served as Viceroy of Hanover on behalf of his brothers George IV and William IV.

Early life

Prince Adolphus-Frederick was born at Buckingham House, then known as the “Queen’s House”, in the City and Liberty of Westminster, now within Greater London. He was the son of King George III of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King of Hanover and his wife Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the youngest daughter of Duke Charles of Mecklenburg (1708–1752; known as “Prince of Mirow”) and of his wife Princess Elisabeth-Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen (1713–1761).

Prince Adolphus-Frederick, Duke of Cambridge

On March 24, 1774, the young prince was baptized in the Great Council Chamber at St James’s Palace by Frederick Cornwallis, Archbishop of Canterbury. His godparents were Prince Johann-Adolphus of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (his great-uncle, for whom the Earl of Hertford, Lord Chamberlain, stood proxy), Landgrave Charles of Hesse-Cassel his first cousin once removed, for whom the Earl of Jersey, Extra Lord of the Bedchamber, stood proxy) and Princess Wilhelmina of Orange (the wife of his first cousin once removed, for whom Elizabeth Howard, Dowager Countess of Effingham, former Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Charlotte, stood proxy).

He was tutored at home until summer 1786, when he was sent to the University of Göttingen in Germany, along with his brothers Prince Ernest (created Duke of Cumberland in 1799) and Prince Augustus (created Duke of Sussex in 1801).

Prince Adolphus-Frederick was made honorary Colonel-in-Chief of the Hanoverian Guard Foot Regiment 1789–1803, but his military training began in 1791, when he and Prince Ernest went to Hanover to study under the supervision of the Hanoverian commander Field Marshal Wilhelm von Freytag. He remained on Freytag’s staff during the Flanders Campaign in 1793. His first taste of action was at Famars on May 23.

He was wounded and captured at the Battle of Hondschoote 6 September, but was quickly rescued. As a Hanovarian General-Major, he commanded a Hessian brigade under his paternal great-uncle, General Johann Ludwig von Wallmoden-Gimborn in Autumn 1794, then commanded the Hanovarian Guards during the retreat through Holland. Remaining in Germany, he commanded a brigade of the Corps of Observation from 22 October 1796 until 12 January 1798.

In 1803, he was appointed as commander-in-chief of the newly founded King’s German Legion, and in 1813, he became field marshal. George III appointed Prince Adolphus a Knight of the Garter on June 2, 1776, and created him Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Tipperary, and Baron Culloden on November 24, 1801.

The Duke served as colonel-in-chief of the Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards (Coldstream Guards after 1855) from September 1805, and as colonel-in-chief of the 60th (The Duke of York’s Own Rifle Corps) Regiment of Foot from January 1824. After the collapse of Napoleon’s empire, he was Military Governor of Hanover from November 4, 1813 – October 24, 1816, then Governor General of Hanover from October 24, 1816 – June 20, 1837 (viceroy from February 22, 1831). He was made Field Marshal 26 November 1813. While he was Viceroy, the Duke became patron of the Cambridge-Dragoner (“Cambridge Dragoons”) Regiment of the Hanoverian army. This regiment was stationed in Celle, and their barracks, the Cambridge-Dragoner Kaserne, were used by the Bundeswehr until 1995. The “March of the Hannoversches Cambridge-Dragoner-Regiment” is part of the Bundeswehr’s traditional music repertoire.

Marriage

After the death of Princess Charlotte of Wales in 1817, the Duke was set the task of finding a bride for his eldest unmarried brother, the Duke of Clarence (later William IV), in the hope of securing heirs to the throne—Charlotte had been the only legitimate grandchild of George III, despite the fact that the King had twelve surviving children. After several false starts, the Duke of Clarence settled on Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen. The way was cleared for the Duke of Cambridge to find a bride for himself.

Princess Augusta of Hesse-Cassel

The Duke of Cambridge was married first at Cassel, Hesse on May 7, and then at Buckingham Palace on June 1, 1818 to his second cousin Princess and Landgravine Augusta of Hesse-Cassel, (July 24, 1797 – April 6, 1889), third daughter of Landgrave Friedrich of Hesse-Cassel and his wife, Princess Caroline of Nassau-Usingen.

Augusta of Hesse-Cassel was born at Rumpenheim Castle, Offenbach am Main, Hesse. Through her father, she was a great-granddaughter of George II of Great Britain, her grandfather having married George II’s daughter Mary. Her father’s older brother was Landgrave Wilhelm IX of Hesse-Cassel. In 1803, her uncle’s title was raised to the dignity of Imperial Elector of Hesse, and became Elector Wilhelm I of Hesse (the territorial distinction of Cassel was dropped) whereby the entire Cassel branch of the Hesse dynasty gained an upward notch in hierarchy.

Issue:

1. Prince George, 2nd Duke of Cambridge, (1819-1904)
illegally married, 1847, Sarah Louisa Fairbrother; had issue

2. Princess Augusta of Cambridge (1822-1916)
married, 1843, Friedrich-Wilhelm, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz; had issue

3. Princess Mary-Adelaide of Cambridge (1833-1897)
married, 1866, Francis, Duke of Teck; had issue, including Mary of Teck, wife of George V of the United Kingdom.

Viceroy

From 1816 to 1837, the Duke of Cambridge served as viceroy of the Kingdom of Hanover on behalf of his elder brothers, George IV and later William IV. When his niece succeeded to the British throne on June 20, 1837 as Queen Victoria, the 123-year union of the crowns of the United Kingdom and Hanover ended, due to Hanover being under Salic Law. The Duke of Cumberland became King of Hanover and the Duke of Cambridge returned to Britain.

Death

The Duke of Cambridge died on July 8, 1850 at Cambridge House, Piccadilly, London, at the age 76 and was buried at St Anne’s Church, Kew. His remains were later removed to St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. His only son, Prince George, succeeded to his peerages.

Through his granddaughter, Mary of Teck, wife of George V of the United Kingdom, Adolphus-Frederick, Duke of Cambridge is the Great-great-great-great grandfather of Prince William, the current Duke of Cambridge.

June 5, 1771: Birth of Ernst-August, King of Hanover.

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Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz., Duke of Cumberland, Ernst August of Hanover, Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia, George III, King Georg V of Hanover, King George III of the United Kingdom, King George IV of the United Kingdom, Kingdom of Hanover, Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain

Ernst-August, King of Hanover (June 5, 1771 – November 18, 1851) was King of Hanover from June 20, 1837 until his death. As the fifth son of King George III of the United Kingdom and Hanover, and Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was the youngest daughter of Duke Charles-Ludwig-Friedrich of Mecklenburg (1708–1752; known as “Prince of Mirow”) and of his wife Princess Elisabeth-Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen (1713–1761). Mecklenburg-Strelitz was a small north-German duchy in the Holy Roman Empire.

Ernst-August, King of Hanover

Initially Ernst-August seemed unlikely to become a monarch, but none of his elder brothers had a legitimate son. Ernest succeeded in Hanover under Salic law, which debarred women from the succession, ending the personal union between Britain and Hanover that had begun in 1714.

Ernst-August was born in London but was sent to Hanover in his adolescence for his education and military training. While serving with Hanoverian forces near Tournai against Revolutionary France, he received a disfiguring facial wound.

After leaving the nursery, he lived with his two younger brothers, Prince Adolphus-Frederick (later Duke of Cambridge) and Prince Augustus (later Duke of Sussex), and a tutor in a house on Kew Green, near his parents’ residence at Kew Palace. Though King George III never left England in his life, he sent his younger sons to Germany in their adolescence.

George III, King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King of Hanover. (Father)

Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Mother)

This was done to limit the influence Ernest-August’s eldest brother George, Prince of Wales, who was leading an extravagant lifestyle, would have over his younger brothers. At the age of fifteen, Prince Ernst-August and his two younger brothers were sent to the University of Göttingen, located in his father’s domain of Hanover. Ernst-August proved a keen student and after being tutored privately for a year, while learning German, he attended lectures at the university.

The King’s eldest son, George, Prince of Wales (later King George IV), had one child, Charlotte, who was expected to become the British queen, but she died in 1817, giving Ernest some prospect of succeeding to the British throne as well as the Hanoverian one. However, his older brother Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent, fathered the eventual British heir, Victoria, in 1819.

Marriage.

Ernst-August married Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Friederike Louise Caroline Sophie Charlotte Alexandrine) (3 March 3, 1778 – June 29, 1841). She was a German princess who became, by marriage, Princess of Prussia, Princess of Solms-Braunfels, Duchess of Cumberland in Britain and Queen of Hanover (in Germany) as the consort of Ernst-August, King of Hanover (the fifth son and eighth child of King George III).

Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was born in the Altes Palais of Hanover as the fifth daughter of Charles II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, and his first wife, Frederica, daughter of Prince Georg-Wilhelm of Hesse-Darmstadt. Her father assumed the title of Grand Duke of Mecklenburg on June 18, 1815. Duchess Frederica was the niece of her future mother-in-law, Queen Charlotte, through her father.

Charles II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Frederica’s parents were anxious to arrange advantageous marriages for all their daughters, and used family connections to bring this about. Queen Frederika-Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt, wife of King Friedrich-Wilhelm II, was a first cousin of Frederica’s mother. Frederica’s parents broached with the Prussian royal family the idea of marriage between their children, and the Prussians were not averse. On March 14, 1793, the Princesses of Mecklenburg-Strelitz “coincidentally” met the Prussian King Friedrich-Wilhelm II at the Prussian Theatre in Frankfurt-am-Main. He was immediately captivated by the grace and charm of both sisters, Frederica and Louise. The pending marriage negotiations received traction, and within weeks, the matter was settled: Frederica’s elder sister Louise would marry Crown Prince Friedrich-Wilhelm (King Friedrich-Wilhelm III of Prussia) and Frederica would marry his younger brother Prince Ludwig.

Prince Ludwig of Prussia.

Louise and Friedrich-Wilhelm and Frederica and Prince Ludwig of Prussia were all married at the same venue. Unlike her sister, Frederica did not enjoy a happy marriage. Although her husband died from diphtheria in 1796, only three years after the wedding, Ludwig was said to have preferred the company of his mistresses and completely neglected his wife.

Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (sister of Frederica)

King Friedrich-Wilhelm III of Prussia

In 1797, Frederica and her cousin Prince Adolphus-Frederick, Duke of Cambridge, seventh son of King George III of Great Britain by his wife Queen Charlotte (Frederica’s paternal aunt), became unofficially engaged. The Duke of Cambridge asked the consent of his father to the marriage. The King did not refuse his consent but asked his son to wait until the ongoing war with France was over. The relationship eventually ended, with rumors circulating that either Adolphus had offered to release Frederica from the engagement, or – as Queen Charlotte believed – Frederica had jilted him for another man.

In 1798 Frederica became pregnant. The father was Prince Frederick William of Solms-Braunfels, perhaps the man she jilted the Duke of Cambridge for? The prince recognized his paternity and requested her hand in marriage, a proposal that was quickly granted in order to avoid scandal. On December 10, of that year, the couple was married in Berlin and immediately moved to Ansbach.

In May 1813, during a visit to his uncle Duke Charles in Neustrelitz, Prince Ernst-August, Duke of Cumberland, the fifth son of King George III of Great Britain, met and fell in love with Frederica.

Some time later Frederica asked the Prussian king for approval for her divorce from Prince Friedrich-Wilhelm of Solms-Braunfels. All parties agreed, including the Prince of Solms-Braunfels, but Friedrich-Wilhelm’s sudden death on April 13, 1814 precluded the need for a divorce. The prince’s demise was considered by some as a little too convenient, and some suspected that Frederica had poisoned him.

In August, the engagement with Ernst-August was officially announced. After the British Prince Regent gave his consent to the wedding, Frederica and Ernst-August were married on 29 May 29, 1815 at the parish church of Neustrelitz. Some time later, the couple traveled to Great Britain and married again on August 29, 1815 at Carlton House, London.

Ernst-August, King of Hanover.

Queen Charlotte bitterly opposed the marriage, even though her future daughter-in-law was also her niece. She refused to attend the wedding and advised her son to live outside England with his wife. Frederica never obtained the favor of her aunt/mother-in-law, who died unreconciled with her in 1818. During her marriage to Ernest Augustus she gave birth three times, but only a son survived, who would eventually become King Georg V of Hanover.

On April 23, 1799, George III created Prince Ernst-August, Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale and Earl of Armagh, and was granted an allowance of £12,000 a year. Though he was made a lieutenant-general, of both British and Hanoverian forces, he remained in England and, with a seat in the House of Lords, entered politics. Ernst-August was an active member of the House of Lords, where he maintained an extremely conservative record. There were persistent allegations (reportedly spread by his political foes) that he had murdered his valet, had fathered a son by his sister Sophia, and intended to take the British throne by murdering Victoria. Following the death of his brother King William IV, Ernst-August became Hanover’s first resident ruler since George I.

Ernst-August had a generally successful fourteen-year reign but excited controversy near its start when he dismissed the Göttingen Seven, including the two Brothers Grimm, from their professorial positions for agitating against his policies. A revolution in 1848 was quickly put down in Hanover. The kingdom joined the German customs union in 1850 despite Ernest’s reluctance. He died the next year and was succeeded by his son Georg.