Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen
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| Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen | |
|---|---|
| Queen Consort of the United Kingdom (more...) | |
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| Portrait by Samuel Diez, c. 1830 | |
| Consort | 26 June 1830 – 20 June 1837 |
| Coronation | 8 September 1831 |
| Consort to | William IV |
| Issue | |
| Princess Charlotte of Clarence Princess Elizabeth of Clarence |
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| Full name | |
| Adelaide Louise Theresa Caroline Amelia German: Adelheid Amalie Luise Therese Caroline |
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| Titles | |
| HM Queen Adelaide HM The Queen HRH The Duchess of Clarence HSH Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen |
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| Royal house | House of Hanover House of Saxe-Meiningen |
| Father | Georg I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen |
| Mother | Luise Eleonore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg |
| Born | 13 August 1792 Meiningen, Thuringia, Germany |
| Died | 2 December 1849 Bentley Priory, Middlesex |
| Burial | St George's Chapel, Windsor |
Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen (Adelaide Louise Theresa Caroline Amelia; later Queen Adelaide; 13 August 1792–2 December 1849) was the Queen Consort of William IV. Prior to becoming Queen, she was known as Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Clarence.
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[edit] Early life
Adelaide was born on 13 August 1792 at Meiningen, Thuringia, Germany. Her father was Georg I Frederick Karl, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. Her mother was Luise Eleonore, the daughter of Prince Christian of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. She was styled Her Serene Highness Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen from her birth.
[edit] Marriage
Adelaide married His Royal Highness The Prince William, Duke of Clarence, a son of George III, in a double marriage with William's brother, His Royal Highness The Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and his bride, Her Serene Highness Victoria Princess of Leiningen on 13 July 1818, at Kew Palace in Surrey, England. It was the first marriage for both William and Adelaide. William was over twenty years her senior, and previously had illegitimate children by the popular actress Dorothy Jordan. 6th November 1817 saw the death, in childbirth, of the heir to the throne, Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales, wife of Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfield (later King Léopold I of the Belgians). This prompted William and his brothers to secure the line of succession, thus marrying quickly late in life with the intent of producing heirs[1]. Another likely incentive on William's part was the likelihood of considerable allowances being voted by Parliament to both Duke and Duchess. Despite these unromantic circumstances (in fact, the increased allowance voted by Parliament was so small that the Duke refused it for three years), the couple settled amicably in Hanover (where the cost of living was much lower than in England), and by all accounts were devoted to each other throughout their marriage.
[edit] Queen
At the time of their marriage, William was not heir presumptive to the throne, but became so when his brother, Frederick, Duke of York, died childless in 1827. Given the small likelihood of his older brothers producing heirs, and William's relative youth and good health, it had long been considered extremely likely that he would become King in due course. In 1830, on the death of his elder brother, George IV, William acceded the throne, and Adelaide was crowned along with him on 8 September 1831, at Westminster Abbey.
Adelaide was beloved by the British people for her 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 own inability to produce an heir and the open hostility between William and Victoria's mother, the Duchess of Kent.
Adelaide was strongly Tory, and attempted to influence the King politically. It is unclear how much of William's attitudes during the crisis over the struggles to pass the Reform Act of 1832 were due to her influence.
| Styles of Queen Adelaide |
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| Image:G3 Arms.png | |
| Reference style | Her Majesty |
| Spoken style | Your Majesty |
| Alternative style | Ma'am |
[edit] Namesake
The city of Adelaide, capital of South Australia, was named in her honour, as was Queen's Park, Brighton.
[edit] Dowagerhood
Adelaide survived her husband by twelve years. She died during the reign of her niece-in-law Queen Victoria, on 2 December 1849 of natural causes at Bentley Priory in Middlesex and was buried at St. George's Chapel, Windsor.
[edit] Titles, styles, honours and arms
[edit] Titles
- 1792-1818: Her Serene Highness Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen
- 1818-1830: Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Clarence and St Andrews
- 1830-1837: Her Majesty Queen Adelaide of the United Kingdom
- 1837-1849: Her Majesty Queen Adelaide, The Queen Dowager
[edit] Issue
| Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adelaide is alternately cited as having four [2] and five [3] pregnancies; however, she suffered at least two miscarriages. | |||
| Princess Charlotte of Clarence | 21 March 1819 | 21 March 1819 | |
| Another pregnancy in the same year caused William to move the household to England so his future heir would be born on English soil, yet Adelaide miscarried in Calais during the journey (5 September 1819). | |||
| Princess Elizabeth of Clarence | 10 December 1820 | 4 March 1821 | |
| William and Adelaide ultimately did not produce an heir to the throne. Twin boys were stillborn on 23 April 1822, and a possible brief pregnancy may have occurred within the same year. Princess Victoria of Kent came to be acknowledged as William's heir, as Adelaide had no further pregnancies. While there were rumours of pregnancies well into William's reign (dismissed by the King as "damned stuff"), they seem to have been just that - rumours. | |||
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Caroline of Brunswick |
Royal Consort of the United Kingdom (Queen consort) 1830-1837 |
Succeeded by Albert, Prince Consort (Prince consort) |
Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (1936-1952) · Mary of Teck (1910-1936) · Alexandra of Denmark (1901-1910) · Albert, Prince Consort (1840-1861) · Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen (1830-1837) · Caroline of Brunswick (1820-1821) · Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1761-1818) · Caroline of Ansbach (1727-1760) · George, Duke of Cumberland (1707-1708)
