Wednesday, June 20, 2012

The Dowager Queen Adelaide

June 20, 1837

The Times has "great pleasure in learning that Her Majesty Queen Adelaide sustains the cruel bereavements which she has experienced with Christian resignation and piety.  She mourns, but not as one having no hopes; on the contrary, her grief, though violent, is tempered by the recollection that the sufferings of her departed consort, which occasionally were most acute are terminated."

Queen Adelaide remains at Windsor Castle, and has "no intention of leaving, " nor has she been "requested to leave the princely pile in which the mortal remains of her dead husband are now deposited."

Two of the late King's "beloved daughters have felt, rightly or wrongly it is not for us to say," that Windsor Castle was a "place in which they were no longer likely to be welcome visitants, and have in consequence abandoned it."
The late King's eldest son, the Earl of Munster, who is Governor of the Castle, has an official residence there, and he has already announced his "intention of staying till the funeral rites over over."  His younger brothers "have intimated their intention" to follow his example.

The marriage between the then Prince William, Duke of Clarence, and Princess Adelheid Luise Therese Caroline Amalia, daughter of the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, took place on July 11, 1818.  Princess Adelaide has been "strongly recommended" to William by his mother Queen Charlotte.
They spent the first year of their marriage in Hanover, due to the financial constraints of the Duke's parliamentary allowance.  They returned to England in late 1819.

On March 21, 1819, the Queen gave birth to a daughter, Princess Charlotte, who lived for only a few hours.  In December 1820,  she gave birth prematurely to a daughter, who was named Elizabeth.  The little princess died three months later on March 4, 1821.   On three other occasions, "twice in 1818, and, again in 1821, the Duchess had the misfortune to be prematurely confined."

The Duke of Clarence succeeded his older brother, George IV, on June 26, 1839.  He also succeeded as King of Hanover.  This crown passed to Prince Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, as Salic law (males only) applies to the Hanover throne.

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