| Adelaide of
Saxe-Meiningen |
| Queen (consort) of the United Kingdom and of Hanover
(more...) |
 |
| 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 |
| Full name |
Adelaide Amelia Louise Theresa Caroline Amelia
German: Adelheid Amalie Luise Therese Caroline |
|
Titles |
HM Queen Adelaide
HM The Queen
HRH The Duchess of Clarence
HH Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen
HSH Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen |
| Royal house |
House of Hanover
House of Wettin |
| Father |
Georg I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen |
| Mother |
Luise Eleonore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg |
| Born |
13 August 1792(1792--)
Meiningen, Thuringia, Germany |
| Died |
2 December 1849 (aged 57)
 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 consort, she was known as Her Royal Highness
The Duchess of Clarence.
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, Duchess in Saxony from her birth until the Congress of Vienna, when the
entire House of Wettin was raised to the style of Highness.
Marriage
Adelaide married Prince William, Duke of Clarence, a son of
George III, in a double marriage with William's brother,
Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and his bride,
Victoria, the Dowager Princess of Leiningen on
11 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. The sixth of 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 incentive on
William's part was the likelihood of considerable allowances being voted by Parliament to both Duke and Duchess. Parliament, in
fact, voted only a small increase to the couple, and the outraged Duke stated that he considered the marriage plans at an end.
However, Adelaide sent word that she still desired to go through with the marriage. Despite these unromantic circumstances (the
Duke refused the increase for three years, eventually accepting the accrued balance--a large increase was finally voted when the
Duke became heir presumptive in 1827), 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.
Queen consort
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 was crowned on 8 September 1831, at Westminster Abbey.
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 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 |
 |
| Reference style |
Her Majesty |
| Spoken style |
Your Majesty |
| Alternative style |
Ma'am |
Namesakes
The Australian city of Adelaide, capital of the state of South Australia, was named in her honour, as was Queen's Park, Brighton.
Adelaide Street in Toronto is named in her honour.
Queen Victoria, who never forgot her aunt Adelaide's kindness to her as a child, remembered her at the christening of her
firstborn child, Victoria Adelaide Mary Louise, later the Princess Royal.
Queen dowager
Adelaide survived her husband by twelve years. She died during the reign of her niece Queen Victoria, on 2 December 1849 of natural causes at Bentley Priory in Middlesex and was buried at St. George's Chapel,
Windsor.
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Titles
- 1792-1815: Her Serene Highness Princess Adelaide of
Saxe-Meiningen, Duchess in Saxony
- 1815-1818: Her Highness Princess Adelaide of
Saxe-Meiningen, Duchess in Saxony
- 1818-1830: Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Clarence and St Andrews
- 1830-1837: Her Majesty The Queen (of the United Kingdom and of Hanover)
- 1837-1849: Her Majesty Queen Dowager Adelaide
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. |
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
|
Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen
Born: 13 August 1792 Died: 2 December 1849 |
Preceded by
Caroline of Brunswick |
Queen-consort of the United Kingdom
1830 — 1837 |
Succeeded by
Albert of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha
(as Prince Consort) |
Queen-consort of Hanover
1830 — 1837 |
Succeeded by
Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz |
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
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