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.

December 14, 1861: Death of Prince Albert, The Prince Consort.

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House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld., Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, The Prince Consort, Trent Affair, Typhoid

Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Francis Albert Augustus Charles Emmanuel; August 26, 1819 – December 14, 1861) was the husband of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Albert was born at Schloss Rosenau, near Coburg, Germany, the second son of Ernest III, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and his first wife, Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. Albert’s future wife, Victoria, was born earlier in the same year with the assistance of the same midwife, Charlotte von Siebold. Albert was baptised into the Lutheran Evangelical Church on 19 September 1819 in the Marble Hall at Schloss Rosenau with water taken from the local river, the Itz.

The Prince Consort by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, oil on canvas,  (1859)

His godparents were his paternal grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld; his maternal grandfather, the Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg; the Emperor of Austria; the Duke of Teschen; and Emanuel, Count of Mensdorff-Pouilly. In 1825, Albert’s great-uncle, Frederick IV, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, died. His death led to a realignment of the Saxon duchies the following year and Albert’s father became the first reigning duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

At the age of twenty, he married his cousin, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. They had nine children. Initially he felt constrained by his role of prince consort, which did not afford him power or responsibilities. He gradually developed a reputation for supporting public causes, such as educational reform and the abolition of slavery worldwide, and was entrusted with running the Queen’s household, office and estates. He was heavily involved with the organisation of the Great Exhibition of 1851, which was a resounding success.

Victoria came to depend more and more on Albert’s support and guidance. He aided the development of Britain’s constitutional monarchy by persuading his wife to be less partisan in her dealings with Parliament—although he actively disagreed with the interventionist foreign policy pursued during Lord Palmerston’s tenure as Foreign Secretary.

August 1859, Albert fell seriously ill with stomach cramps. His steadily worsening medical condition led to a sense of despair. He lost the will to live, says biographer Robert Rhodes James. He had an accidental brush with death during a trip to Coburg in October 1860, when he was driving alone in a carriage drawn by four horses that suddenly bolted. As the horses continued to gallop toward a wagon waiting at a railway crossing, Albert jumped for his life from the carriage. One of the horses was killed in the collision, and Albert was badly shaken, though his only physical injuries were cuts and bruises. He confided in his brother and eldest daughter that he had sensed his time had come.

Victoria’s mother and Albert’s aunt, the Duchess of Kent, died in March 1861, and Victoria was grief-stricken. Albert took on most of the Queen’s duties, despite continuing to suffer with chronic stomach trouble. The last public event he presided over was the opening of the Royal Horticultural Gardens on 5 June 1861. In August, Victoria and Albert visited the Curragh Camp, Ireland, where the Prince of Wales was attending army manoeuvres. At the Curragh, the Prince of Wales was introduced, by his fellow officers, to Nellie Clifden, an Irish actress.

HRH The Prince Consort

By November, Victoria and Albert had returned to Windsor, and the Prince of Wales had returned to Cambridge, where he was a student. Two of Albert’s young cousins, brothers King Pedro V of Portugal and Prince Ferdinand, died of typhoid fever within five days of each other in early November. On top of this news, Albert was informed that gossip was spreading in gentlemen’s clubs and the foreign press that the Prince of Wales was still involved with Nellie Clifden.

Albert and Victoria were horrified by their son’s indiscretion, and feared blackmail, scandal or pregnancy. Although Albert was ill and at a low ebb, he travelled to Cambridge to see the Prince of Wales on 25 November to discuss his son’s indiscreet affair. In his final weeks Albert suffered from pains in his back and legs.

Also in November 1861, the Trent affair—the forcible removal of Confederate envoys from a British ship by Union forces during the American Civil War—threatened war between the United States and Britain. The British government prepared an ultimatum and readied a military response.

Albert was gravely ill but intervened to defuse the crisis. In a few hours, he revised the British demands in a manner that allowed the Lincoln administration to surrender the Confederate commissioners who had been seized from the Trent and to issue a public apology to London without losing face. The key idea, based on a suggestion from The Times, was to give Washington the opportunity to deny it had officially authorised the seizure and thereby apologise for the captain’s mistake.

On December, 9, one of Albert’s doctors, William Jenner, diagnosed him with typhoid fever. Albert died at 10:50 p.m. on December 14, 1861 in the Blue Room at Windsor Castle, in the presence of the Queen and five of their nine children. The contemporary diagnosis was typhoid fever, but modern writers have pointed out that Albert’s ongoing stomach pain, leaving him ill for at least two years before his death, may indicate that a chronic disease, such as Crohn’s disease, kidney failure, or abdominal cancer, was the cause of death.

May 24, 1819: Birth of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom

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King George III of the United Kingdom, King George IV of the United Kingdom, King William IV of the United Kingdom, Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent, Princess Charlotte of Wales, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld., Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Royal Marriages Act of 1772, The Duke of Kent, the Duke of York, The Prince Regent

Following the death of Princess Charlotte-Augusta of Wales, only child of the Prince Regent and his wife, Princess Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel in November 1817, the royal succession began to look uncertain. Princess Charlotte-Augusta had been the only legitimate grandchild of George III at the time. The Prince Regent was estranged from his wife and had no other legitimate children.

Princess Charlotte-Augusta of Wales

Next in line after the Prince Regent was Prince Frederick the Duke of York and Albany. Prince Frederick had married his cousin, Princess Frederica-Charlotte of Prussia, the daughter of King Friedrich-Wilhelm II of Prussia and Elisabeth-Christine of Brunswick-Lüneburg at Charlottenburg, Berlin on September 29, 1791 and again on November 23, 1791 at Buckingham Palace. The marriage was not a happy one and the couple soon separated. Frederica retired to Oatlands, where she lived until her death in 1820.

Prince Frederick the Duke of York and Albany

King George III’s surviving daughters were all likely past childbearing age. The unmarried sons of King George III, the Duke of Clarence (later King William IV), the Duke of Kent, and the Duke of Cambridge, all rushed to contract lawful marriages and provide an heir to the throne. The fifth son of King George III, the Duke of Cumberland, was already married but had no living children at that time, whilst the marriage of the sixth son, the Duke of Sussex, was void because he had married in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act 1772.

However, it was not that simple. For the HRH Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, providing for the succession was not his sole motivator in finding a wife. Even before he disposed of his mistress, the amiable Madame de Saint Laurent, the Duke of Kent had been secretly looking for a legitimate wife for financial reasons rather than dynastic reasons. The Duke of Kent knew that once he contracted a legitimate marriage he would be granted a steady income by Parliament. Princess Charlotte-Augusta was still alive at this time and he promised her, along with her consort, Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, to furnish continuity for the throne of Hanover.

Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn

The Duke of Kent also realized that in Hanover, where the Salic Law applied to the German kingdom, only male heirs could reign in Hanover, therefore, if Princess Charlotte-Augusta became Queen of the United Kingdom this would separate the personal union of the two countries and a secession of her oldest surviving childless uncles would, one after another, become the King of Hanover. The Duke of Kent envisioned that he would one day be the King of Hanover. For that he would need a Queen and an heir.

The Duke of Kent’s idea of a suitable bride was a wealthy woman with proper Royal Ancestry for an approved royal marriage. Because the Duke of Kent had been helpful to his niece, Princess Charlotte-Augusta of Wales, and her husband Prince Leopold, they were eager to match the Duke with Leopold’s younger sister the Dowager Princess of Leiningen.

Princess Victoria, Duchess of Kent and Strathearn

The Duke agreed to visit the widowed Princess Victoria in Darmstadt, one of the larger cities close to the borders of Amorbach, after which he dispatched a lengthy letter expressing his affection and proposing marriage, believing she would make an appropriate Queen of Hanover. With the death of Princess Charlotte-Augusta of Wales, who died giving birth to a stillborn son in November 1817, the Duke of Kent realized that the succession to the British throne was now in jeopardy and this expediated his marriage to the Dowager Princess of Leiningen.

In Coburg Germany, on May 29, 1818 at 9:30 in the evening the Dowager Princess of Leiningen (aged 32) was married in the Lutheran right to the Duke of Kent (aged 52) a man she had only met once before. The Duke was arrayed in his English field marshal’s uniform, while the Princess was resplendent in pale silk lace. Afterwards, the new Duchess of Kent wrote in her diary that she had hoped that in her second marriage she would find the happiness that she never found in the first.

Within four days after the wedding the Duke and Duchess of Kent left for England, and at Kew Palace on July 13, 1818 at four in the afternoon, they were married again this time in accordance to the Church of England. However, the ceremony was doubled for there was also two brides for the Prince Regent to give away. Not only was the Duke of Kent marrying Princess Victoria, Prince William, Duke of Clarence and the 25 year old Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen (August 13, 1792 – December 2, 1849) [the daughter of Georg I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen and Luise-Eleonore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg] were united as well.

The Duchess of Kent and Strathearn and Princess Alexandrina-Victoria of Kent

Charles Manners-Sutton, the Archbishop of Canterbury, officiated the ceremony, assisted by William Howley, Bishop of London, himself Archbishop of Canterbury from 1828 to 1848. Since King George III was blind and incapacitated, fragile old Queen Charlotte, mother of both of the Dukes, was the chief celebrant at the wedding banquet.

Because of the Duke of Kent’s financial situation the newlyweds moved back to Germany. By November 18, 1818 the Duke of Kent sent a letter to the Prince Regent’s private secretary, Sir Benjamin Bloomfield, indicating that the Duchess of Kent was pregnant and that the child was due in May the following year. The Duke of Kent believed it would be his duty to bring the Duchess back to England early in April so that the Royal birth could take place in England. The Duke also petitioned his brother the Prince Regent to allocate funds sufficient for the move and the care of his growing family.

The Duke and Duchess of Kent’s only child was born at 4.15 a.m. on May 24, 1819 at Kensington Palace in London. The new Princess of Kent was christened privately by the Archbishop of Canterbury, on June 24, 1819 in the Cupola Room at Kensington Palace. She was baptised Alexandrina after one of her godparents, Emperor Alexander I of Russia, and Victoria, after her mother. Additional names proposed by her parents—Georgina (or Georgiana), Charlotte, and Augusta—were dropped on the instructions of Kent’s eldest brother, George, the Prince Regent.

Alexandrina-Victoria of Kent aged 16.

At birth, Princess Alexandrina-Victoria of Kent, was fifth in the line of succession after the four eldest sons of George III: George, the Prince Regent (later George IV); Frederick, the Duke of York; William, the Duke of Clarence (later William IV); and Victoria’s father, Edward, the Duke of Kent. The Prince Regent had no surviving children, and the Duke of York had no children; further, both were estranged from their wives, who were both past child-bearing age, so the two eldest brothers were unlikely to have any further legitimate children.

With Princess Alexandrina-Victoria of Kent being fifth in line to the succession to the throne, her ascending the British throne was not assured. She could have been supplanted by a brother born to the Duke and Duchess of Kent, or any children from the union of the Duke and Duchess of Clarence. However, the Duke of Clarence’s legitimate daughters died as infants. The first of these was Princess Charlotte of Clarence, who was born and died on March 27, 1819, two months before Victoria was born.

Coronation portrait of Queen Victoria

Following the birth of Princess Alexandrina-Victoria in May 1819, the Duke and Duchess, concerned to manage the Duke’s great debts, sought to find a place where they could live inexpensively. After the coast of Devon was recommended to them they leased from a General Baynes, intending to remain incognito, Woolbrook Cottage on the seaside by Sidmouth.

Death of the Duke of Kent

The Duke of Kent died of pneumonia on January 23, 1820 at Woolbrook Cottage, Sidmouth, and was interred in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. He died six days before his father, George III, and was succeeded by his eldest son as George IV. Alexandrina-Victoria was then third in line to the throne after her uncles the Dukes of York and Clarence.

The Duke Clarence’s second daughter was Princess Elizabeth of Clarence who lived for twelve weeks from December 10, 1820 to 4 March 1821 and, while Elizabeth lived, Alexandrina-Victoria was fourth in line. The Childless Duke of York died in 1827 which paved the way for Alexandrina-Victoria’s own succession after the reigns of her uncles, George IV (1820-1830) and William IV (1830-1837).

Official documents prepared on the first day of her reign described her as Alexandrina-Victoria, but the first name was withdrawn at her own wish and not used again, hence she became Queen Victoria for the entirety of her reign.

Genealogy of Princess Marie Melita of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1899-1967)

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Alexandra of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Alfred Duke of Edinburgh, Alfred of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Christoph of Schleswig-Holstein, Ernst II of Hohenlohe-Lagenburg, Marie Melita of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, Peter of Schleswig-Holstein, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Prince Edward Duke of Kent, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld., Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, Wilhelm Friedrich of Schleswig-Holstein

Yesterday I wrote about the death of Princess Alexandra of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Today I’d like to examine the genealogy of her daughter, Princess Marie Melita of Hohenlohe-Langenburg.

https://europeanroyalhistory.wordpress.com/2020/04/16/april-16-1942-death-of-princess-alexandra-of-edinburgh-and-saxe-coburg-and-gotha-prince-of-hohenlohe-langenburg-by-marriage/

Princess Marie Melita of Hohenlohe-Langenburg

Princess Marie Melita of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (Marie Melita Leopoldine Viktoria Feodora Alexandra Sophie; January 18, 1899 – November 8, 1967) was the Duchess consort of Schleswig-Holstein as the wife of Wilhelm Friedrich, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein. She was the eldest daughter of Ernst II, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg and his wife Princess Alexandra of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

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Ancestors: Part I.

Princess Marie Melita of Hohenlohe-Langenburg descended twice from Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1786 – 1861), mother of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.

Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld

Her first line of descent was through Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld’s first marriage to Emich Carl, 2nd Prince of Leiningen (1763-1814). Their daughter, Princess Feodora of Leiningen (1807-1872) was a half sister to Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. Princess Feodora married in early 1828 at Kensington Palace to Ernst I, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1794–1860) The match was arranged by Queen Adelaide of the United Kingdom (Consort of King William IV), as Prince Ernst I was her first cousin. Prior to that, she had only met him twice.

Princess Feodora of Leiningen

Their son was Hermann, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1832-1913). On September 24, 1862 at Karlsruhe, Prince Hermann married Princess Leopoldine of Baden, the fourth and youngest daughter of Prince William of Baden (1792-1859) and Duchess Elisabeth Alexandrine of Württemberg (1802-1864). They had three children (one son and two daughters).

Their eldest son was Ernst II, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1863 – 1950) and he married Princess Alexandra of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha on April 20, 1896. They have five children, among them was Princess Marie Melita of Hohenlohe-Langenburg.

Ernst II, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg and Princess Alexandra of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

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Ancestors Part II.

Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn

Princess Marie Melita of Hohenlohe-Langenburg’s second line of descent from Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld was through her second marriage to Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, (1767 – 1820). He was the fourth son and fifth child of King George III of the United Kingdom and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Victoria and Edward were married on May 29, 1818 at Schloss Ehrenburg, Coburg, in a Lutheran rite, and again on July 11, 1818 at Kew Palace, Kew, Surrey.

Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom

Their only child was Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (1819-1901). On February 10, 1840 Queen Victoria married her maternal first cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1819 – 1861) the second son of Ernest III, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, (later Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha) and his first wife, Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg.

Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had nine children, four sons and five daughters. Alfred (Alfred Ernest Albert; 1844 – 1900) was their second son and fourth child. He was known as the Duke of Edinburgh from 1866 until he succeeded his paternal uncle Ernest II as the reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in the German Empire.

On January 23, 1874, the Duke of Edinburgh married the Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, the second (and only surviving) daughter of Emperor Alexander II of Russia and his first wife Marie of Hesse and by Rhine, daughter of Ludwig II, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and Wilhelmine of Baden, at the Winter Palace, St Petersburg.

Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and Reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

Princess Alexandra of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was the fourth child and third daughter of Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia. On April 20, 1896 Princess Alexandra married Ernst II, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1863 – 1950). Alexandra’s grandmother, Queen Victoria, complained that she was too young. Alexandra’s father objected to the status of his future son-in-law. The House of Hohenlohe-Lagenburg was mediatized – a formerly ruling family who had ceded their sovereign rights to others while (in theory) retaining their equal birth.

Marie Melita of Hohenlohe-Langenburg was their eldest daughter.

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Marriage and Descendants

On February 5, 1916 at Coburg, Marie Melita married her second cousin, Wilhelm Friedrich, Hereditary Prince of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (1891 – 1965) the only son of Friedrich Ferdinand, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein and his wife Princess Karoline Mathilde of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg.

Wilhelm Friedrich’s mother, Princess Karoline Mathilde of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (1860 – 1932) was the second-eldest daughter of Friedrich VIII, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein and his wife Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. Princess Karoline Mathilde was the younger sister of Augusta Victoria and both sisters were also descendants of Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld’s first marriage to Emich Carl, 2nd Prince of Leiningen. Princess Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg was the wife of German Emperor Wilhelm II who was also the eldest grandson of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.

Prince Wilhelm Friedrich’s father, Friedrich Ferdinand, was the eldest son of Friedrich, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and a nephew of Christian IX of Denmark. (The Augustenburg and Glücksburg families were collateral branches of the House of Schleswig-Holstein, which itself was a branch of the even larger Danish-German House of Oldenburg).

Upon the death of his father in 1885, Wilhelm Friedrich succeeded to the headship of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and the title of duke. As mentioned above, Friedrich married his second cousin, Princess Marie Melita of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, daughter of Ernst II, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg and his wife Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Friedrich and Marie Melita had four children.

Peter, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein (Friedrich Ernst Peter; 1922 – 1980); was the third and youngest son of Wilhelm Friedrich, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein and his wife, Princess Marie Melita of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. As we have seen he was a great-great-grandson of Queen Victoria through her second son, Prince Alfred. Prince Peter was the Duke of Schleswig-Holstein and Head of both the House of Glücksburg and the entire House of Oldenburg from February 10, 1965 until his death on September 10, 1980.

Prince Peter married Princess Marie Alix of Schaumburg-Lippe, daughter of Prince Stephan Alexander Viktor of Schaumburg-Lippe and his wife, Duchess Ingeborg Alix of Oldenburg, on October 9, 1947 in Glücksburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Peter and Marie Alix had four children, all of whom bore the style Highness.

Christoph, Prince of Schleswig-Holstein, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein and Duke of Glücksburg

There eldest son is Christoph, Prince of Schleswig-Holstein, born August 22, 1949 and has been the head of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (commonly known as the House of Glücksburg) and, by agnatic primogeniture, he has been Head of the entire House of Oldenburg since 1980. He is the current titular Duke of Schleswig-Holstein and Duke of Glücksburg. He is a male-line descendant of Christian I of Denmark, and is also descended cognatically from numerous more recent monarchs, including Queen Victoria, Emperor Alexander II of Russia and several more recent Danish kings.

Christoph married Princess Elisabeth of Lippe-Weissenfeld (b. 1957), daughter of Prince Alfred of Lippe-Weissenfeld and Baroness Irmgard Julinka Wagner von Wehrborn, at Glücksburg civilly on September 23, 1981 and religiously on October 3. Christoph and Elisabeth have four children:

Their eldest son is His Highness Prince Friedrich Ferdinand, Hereditary Prince of Schleswig-Holstein (born July 15, 1985 in Eckernförde, Schleswig-Holstein, West Germany) is the heir apparent of Christoph, Prince of Schleswig-Holstein, current head of the House of Schleswig-Holstein, the senior extant line of the House of Oldenburg.

As a 4th-great-grandson of Queen Victoria, Friedrich Ferdinand is in the line of succession to the British throne. He is heir-apparent to the headship of a Royal House that includes Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, King Harald V of Norway, the deposed King Constantine II of Greece and, patrilineally, Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales.

200th Anniversary of the Birth of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom: May 24, 1819.

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Birthday, Duchess of Kent, Empress of India, George III, George IV, King William IV of the United Kingdom, Kingdom of the Belgians, kings and queens of the United Kingdom, Leopld of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Leopold I, Prince Regent, Princess Charlotte of Wales, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld., Queen Victoria, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, The Duke of Kent

Following the death of Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales in November 1817, the only legitimate grandchild of George III at the time, the royal succession began to look uncertain. The Prince Regent and his younger brother Frederick, the Duke of York, though married, were estranged from their wives and had no surviving legitimate children. King George’s surviving daughters were all past likely childbearing age. The unmarried sons of King George III, the Duke of Clarence (later King William IV), the Duke of Kent, and the Duke of Cambridge, all rushed to contract lawful marriages and provide an heir to the throne. The fifth son of King George III, the Duke of Cumberland, was already married but had no living children at that time, whilst the marriage of the sixth son, the Duke of Sussex, was void because he had married in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act 1772.

However, it was not that simple. For the Duke of Kent providing for the succession was not his sole motivator in finding a wife. Even before he disposed of the amiable Madame de Saint Laurent, the Duke of Kent had been secretly looking for a legitimate wife for financial reasons rather than dynastic reasons. The Duke of Kent knew that once he contracted a legitimate marriage he would be granted a steady income by Parliament. Princess Charlotte was still alive at this time and he promised her, along with her consort, Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, to furnish continuity for the throne of Hanover.

HRH The Duchess of Kent

The Duke of Kent also realized that in Hanover, where the Salic Law applied to the German kingdom, only male heirs could reign in Hanover, therefore, if Princess Charlotte became Queen of the United Kingdom this would separate the personal union of the two countries and a secession of her oldest surviving childless uncles would, one after another, become the King of Hanover. The Duke of Kent envisioned that he would one day be the King of Hanover. For that he would need a Queen and an heir.

The Duke of Kent’s idea of a suitable bride was a wealthy woman with proper Royal Ancestry for an approved royal marriage. Because the Duke of Kent had been helpful to his niece, Princess Charlotte of Wales, and her husband Prince Leopold, they were eager to match the Duke with Leopold’s younger sister the Dowager Princess of Leiningen. The Duke agreed to visit the widowed Princess Victoria in Darmstadt, one of the larger cities close to the borders of a Amorbach, after which he dispatched a lengthy letter expressing his affection and proposing marriage believing she would make an appropriate Queen of Hanover. With the death of Princess Charlotte of Wales, who died giving birth to a stillborn son in November 1817, the Duke of Kent realized that the succession to the British throne was now in jeopardy and this expediated his marriage to the Dowager Princess of Leiningen.

In Coburg Germany, on May 29, 1818 at 9:30 in the evening the Dowager Princess of Leiningen (aged 32) was married in the Lutheran rights to the Duke of Kent (aged 52) a man she had only met once before. The Duke was arrayed in his English field marshal’s uniform, while the Princess was resplendent in pale silk lace. Afterwards, the new Duchess of Kent wrote in her diary that she had hoped that in her second marriage she would find the happiness that she never found in the first.

Within four days after the wedding the Duke and Duchess of Kent left for England. And at Kew Palace on July 13, 1818 at four in the afternoon, they were married again this time in accordance to the Church of England. However, the ceremony was doubled for there was also two brides for the Prince Regent to give away. Not only was the Duke of Kent marrying Princess Victoria once again, Prince William, Duke of Clarence and the 25 year old Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen (August 13, 1792 – December 2, 1849) [the daughter of Georg I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, and Luise Eleonore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg] were united as well. The Archbishop Bishop of Canterbury officiated the ceremony assisted by the Bishop of London. Since King George III was blind and incapacitated, fragile old Queen Charlotte, mother of both of the Dukes, was the chief celebrant at the wedding banquet.

HRH The Duke of Kent

Because of the Duke of Kent’s financial situation the newlyweds moved back to Germany. By November 18, 1818 the Duke of Kent sent a letter to the Prince Regent’s private secretary, Sir Benjamin Bloomfield, indicating that the Duchess of Kent was pregnant and that the child was due in May the following year. The Duke of Kent believed it would be his duty to bring the Duchess back to England early in April so that the Royal birth could take place in England. The Duke also petitioned his brother the Prince Regent to allocate funds sufficient for the move and the care of his growing family.

The Duke and Duchess of Kent’s only child, Victoria, was born at 4.15 a.m. on May 24, 1819 at Kensington Palace in London. Victoria was christened privately by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Charles Manners-Sutton, on June 24, 1819 in the Cupola Room at Kensington Palace. She was baptised Alexandrina after one of her godparents, Emperor Alexander I of Russia, and Victoria, after her mother. Additional names proposed by her parents—Georgina (or Georgiana), Charlotte, and Augusta—were dropped on the instructions of Kent’s eldest brother, George, the Prince Regent.

At birth, Alexandria-Victoria was fifth in the line of succession after the four eldest sons of George III: George, the Prince Regent (later George IV); Frederick, the Duke of York; William, the Duke of Clarence (later William IV); and Victoria’s father, Edward, the Duke of Kent. The Prince Regent had no surviving children, and the Duke of York had no children; further, both were estranged from their wives, who were both past child-bearing age, so the two eldest brothers were unlikely to have any further legitimate children.

HM Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India.

With Alexandrina-Victoria being fifth in line to the succession to the throne, her ascending the British throne was not assured. She could have been supplanted by a brother born to the Duke and Duchess of Kent, or any children from the union of the Duke and Duchess of Clarence. However, the Duke of Clarence’s legitimate daughters died as infants. The first of these was Princess Charlotte, who was born and died on March 27, 1819, two months before Victoria was born. Victoria’s father died in January 1820, when Victoria was less than a year old. A week later her grandfather, George III died and was succeeded by his eldest son as George IV. Victoria was then third in line to the throne after York and Clarence. The Duke Clarence’s second daughter was Princess Elizabeth of Clarence who lived for twelve weeks from December 10, 1820 to 4 March 1821 and, while Elizabeth lived, Victoria was fourth in line. The Childless Duke of York died in 1827 which paved the way for Victoria’s own succession after her uncles, George IV and William IV.

200th Anniversary of the Birth of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom: Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld

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Duchess of Kent, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, House of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, House of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Kingdom of the Belgians, Leopold I, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.

On Friday, May 24, is the 200th Anniversary of the birth of Queen Victoria. To honor this occasion I’ll feature some biographical info on her father Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn. Today I feature Queen Victoria’s mother, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and tomorrow I’ll feature Queen Victoria’s Birth itself.

Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld

Her Serene Highness Princess Marie Louise Victoire of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld was born in Coburg on August 17, 1786 in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. She was the fourth daughter and seventh child of Franz-Frederick, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and Countess Augusta of Reuss-Ebersdorf. Her eldest brother was Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and her younger brother, Leopold, future king of the Belgians, married, in 1816, Princess Charlotte of Wales, the only legitimate daughter of the future King George IV of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and heiress presumptive to the British throne.

First marriage

On December 21, 1803 at Coburg, a 17 year old Princess Victoria married (as his second wife) the 40 year old, Emich-Charles, Prince of Leiningen (1763–1814), whose first wife, Henrietta of Reuss-Ebersdorf, had been her aunt. Emich Carl was born at Dürckheim, the fourth child and only son of Carl-Friedrich, Count of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Hartenburg by his wife Countess Christiane of Solms-Rödelheim and Assenheim (1736–1803). On July 3, 1779, his father was made a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, and Emich Carl became Hereditary Prince of Leiningen. On January 9, 1807, Emich-Charles succeeded his father as second Prince of Leiningen.

Emich-Charles, Prince of Leiningen

The couple had two children, Prince Carl-Friedrich 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 Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Felipe VI of Spain, and Constantine II of Greece.

Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld

Regency

Emich-Carl died at Amorbach on July 4, 1814, and was succeeded by his only surviving son, Carl-Friedrich. After the death of her spouse, Victoria, served as regent of the Principality of Leiningen during the minority of their son, Carl-Friedrich.

Carl-Friedrich, Prince of Leiningen

Princess Feodora of Leiningen

June 20, 1837, Princess Alexandrina Victoria becomes Queen

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2nd Viscount Melbourne., Buckingham Palace, Duke of Kent, George III, George IV, HRH Prince Edward, Kings and Queens of England, kings and queens of the United Kingdom, Lord Melbourne, Prime Minister, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld., Queen Victoria, William IV, William Lamb

With the death of King William IV of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King of Hanover, on June 20, 1837, his 18 year old niece ascends the throne as Queen Victoria.

Queen Victoria was christened as Alexandrina Victoria and for a while was known as “Drina” in her youth. The first official documents prepared for her on her first day as queen named her Queen Alexandrina Victoria. However the queen requested it to be changed and stated she wanted to be known as Victoria.

Queen Victoria was the only daughter of HRH Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and   Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Her father was the fourth son of King George III and he died in 1820. With both George IV and William IV leaving no legitimate offspring Victoria was heir to the throne. Her accession to the throne also witnessed the separation of the personal union between the United Kingdom and Hanover. Since women were not allowed to rule in Hanover in their own right the Kingdom of Hanover went to her her uncle, HRH the Duke of Cumberland, who became King Ernst August of Hanover. To this day his descendants still call themselves Princes/Princesses of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (retaining this outdated title) which is not recognized in Britain. 

Early in her reign she was able to remove herself from the influence of her mother HRH The Duchess of Kent and her friend and comptroller Sir John Conroy whom she detested. During her first years of her reign she was greatly influenced by her Prime Minister, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne. 

Here is an excerpt from her journal expressing her thoughts upon her accession. 

“I was awoke at 6 o’clock by Mamma, who told me the Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Conyngham were here and wished to see me. I got out of bed and went into my sitting-room (only in my dressing gown) and alone, and saw them. Lord Conyngham then acquainted me that my poor Uncle, the King, was no more, and had expired at 12 minutes past 2 this morning, and consequently that I am Queen.”