William IV (1765-1837) and Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen (1792-1849)

[Grace Angel]

I've read that book but years ago and had forgotten that info on Adelaide. It's so sad that all her children died, or her preganancies ended in miscarriages. Even for a century of high child mortality, it seems a bit high. William on the other hand had had ten healthy illegitimate children with Mrs. Jordan. I believe every child they had together survived.

 

[iowabelle]

I hadn't realized that Adelaide's daughter Princess Elizabeth displaced Queen Victoria in the succession for a brief period of time. Another example of what might have been.

 

[Grace Angel]

Yes, then she would have been Elizabeth II. It's kind of surprising none of Adelaide's children lived. Does anyone else think so? Especially given the fact ten of William's bastard children survived. I guess Victoria was truly meant to get the sucession. I have read that book, but I had forgotten that fact.

 

[iowabelle]

Given that William had numerous illegitimate children who survived, I wonder if we should conclude that Adelaide had fertility issues, or that the combination of the genetic material of the two royals was at fault.

 

[Grace Angel]

That's what I wonder. I'd place the blame if they had fertililty issues on Adelaide, since William had a proven record of many living children, and he was older than her but capable of fathering a child right up to close before his death. It's likely good for the history of England that their children didn't survive, but who knows. Victoria was a very good Queen, it's hard to imagine one of their children doing better or even the same.

 

[Vasillisos Markos]

It seems that Queen Victoria remembered her aunt's kindnesses by christening her firstborn daughter Victoria Adelaide Mary Louise

 

[Warren]

Queen Adelaide c1831

painted by Sir William Beechey

from Wikipedia Commons, copyright expired
​

 

[iowabelle]

That is a very attractive portrait IMO. I wonder if it was fairly realistic or flattered its sitter. I don't think I've ever read a good description of Adelaide.

 

[Warren]

Posts relating to the enquiry about possible descent from William IV (or Hesse, or Austria) has been moved to the Help with family histories & mysteries thread.

 

[Grandduchess24]

I love his speech insulting victoria's mother about her using her daughter and not letting Victoria see her paternal family .
The speech Is even said in "the young Victoria" and apparently most of it was from the real one!

 

[XeniaCasaraghi]

I think the speech is both funny immature. I can see the situation from both sides. William should have had more time with his heir; but the Duchess of Kent, while wanting to control and manipulate her daughter, also knew how vile and low class her in laws were. If I recall correctly, most foreigners and Germans especially the German relations looked down on the behavior of George IV and William V while they were king. I can imagine that Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, would not have looked kindly on the behavior of the Hanover's either.

 

[Vasillisos Markos]

Yes, but wasn't the Duchess of Kent acting at the behest of Conroy? And wasn't it he who wished to keep Victoria separate from the King as a way to control her or to wheedle concessions from the throne in exchange for allowing Victoria to come to Court?

I don't think the Duchess of Kent behaved sensibly in this matter at all. It resulted in hurt feelings and caused a rift between mother and daughter.

 

[Zonk]

I agree..the Duchess of Kent (regardless of the King's past) did take certain liberities that caused unnecessary conflict with the King IMO.

Yes, Conroy did attempt to separate Victoria from the King (and others) in order to cement his power. He wanted Victoria to name her mother (and thus thru the mother he would hold power) Regent.

Thankfully the Regency wasn't necessary as the King died after Victoria reached the age of majority. I also read somewhere that Conroy mismanaged the Duchess as well as one of the old Princesses (Amelia or Sophia one of them) money.

Victoria from what I have read did get along with her her uncle, William and was very supportive of Adelaide after the King's death.

 

[MAfan]

Conroy also managed Princess Sophia's finances, or better he mismanaged Sophia's finances; she received an huge income from the Civil List, she was unmarried and lived rather modestly and retired, also due to some health issues (she was blind, if I recall correctly) but at her death it came out that she was almost penniless.

 

[jungleboy_oz]

Adelaide was not William IV's first choice. He had proposed to a couple of other princesses who did reject him with their family's approval. William was desperate to get married and Adelaide of Saxe-Meinigen was a "spinster" princess at the age of 26. She, not wanting to remain a spinster, and the possibility of having a child who would succeed to the throne, led her to accept William. She couldn't completely foretell she would be Queen because Frederick, The Duke of York, was still alive then but childless. His wife was barren.

At 65 years of age and overweights William would not have been any woman of child bearing ages first choice.

Apparently when Princess Adelaide had the preposal of marraige put to her she locked her self away in Elizabethburg Castle and cried for several days before accepting due to lack of suiters and as a matter of duty and to allow for the smallest and poorest of german ducy of Meiningen, ruled by her brother Bernard II to benifit by the marriage to the future King of England. She did apparentley have one other suiter at the time; a german soldier who had lost a leg during the Nepoliantic wars but she wasn't too keen on this gentleman either.

 

[XeniaCasaraghi]

The Duchess of Kent was not very happy with the Hanovers before Conroy appeared, his prescence exacerbated the situation and led to the isolation of Victoria. But part of said isolation was because the Duchess did not approve of the Kings personal life and his behavior; long after Conroy, Prince Albert expressed disdain for some of Victoria's court for their lax morals as well.
As for Johnny C., it would also serve him to isolate Victoria from her paternal family and fan the Duchess' disdain for them so he alone would be the only man to control the regent.

 

[Grandduchess24]

I like him and I am sure was sweet to Victoria and had his reasons for not liking the duchess of Kent.

 

[CyrilVladisla]

As king William IV acted on the advice he had received from the Marquis of Anglesey, a veteran of Waterloo, in 1830:

Your Royal Highness must bear this in mind - you must keep a brilliant court ... without making yourself too common, you must nevertheless frequently show yourself amongst your subjects.
​

When King William IV lived at Clarence House, he liked to walk about unguarded and unattended.
He disapproved of lavish spending.
​

William IV had an open-air banquet for 3,000 impoverished locals to mark his birthday on August 21, 1830.
William sat with his people to eat from a menu of veal, ham, beef, and plum pudding.




​

In Long to Reign?, A. W. Purdue wrote:

Queen Adelaide increased considerably the number of charities and worthy causes supported by the monarchy. She was particularly attached to charities concerned with providing for children and making provisions for maternal care.
​

 

[GracieGiraffe]

Adelaide was not William IV's first choice. He had proposed to a couple of other princesses who did reject him with their family's approval. William was desperate to get married and Adelaide of Saxe-Meinigen was a "spinster" princess at the age of 26. She, not wanting to remain a spinster, and the possibility of having a child who would succeed to the throne, led her to accept William. She couldn't completely foretell she would be Queen because Frederick, The Duke of York, was still alive then but childless. His wife was barren.

At 65 years of age and overweights William would not have been any woman of child bearing ages first choice.

Apparently when Princess Adelaide had the preposal of marraige put to her she locked her self away in Elizabethburg Castle and cried for several days before accepting due to lack of suiters and as a matter of duty and to allow for the smallest and poorest of german ducy of Meiningen, ruled by her brother Bernard II to benifit by the marriage to the future King of England. She did apparentley have one other suiter at the time; a german soldier who had lost a leg during the Nepoliantic wars but she wasn't too keen on this gentleman either.

I did not know this. Poor Adelaide! And of course she lost her two little infants so tragically! Some people just have lousy lives, no matter how highly born.

 

[Lee-Z]

He disapproved of lavish spending.
​

Did he? I always thought that he was very much in debt because of his spending habits, and that that was one of the incentives to get married later in life (apart from trying to father a legitimate heir, parliament payed more money if the princes were married i think..)
His wife seems to have been rather modest and preferring the simple life, so maybe something of that rubbed off on him?

 

[eya]

Top 10 facts about King William IV | Top 10 Facts | Life & Style | Daily Express

 

[CyrilVladisla]

When Earl Grey asked King William IV to create enough new peers to stack the House of Lords with reformers, William refused to take that step. The King accepted the resignations of Earl Grey's cabinet in protest.

 

[Curryong]

Yes, this was during the long and fierce struggle to reform the rotten in all senses English electoral system for the first time. The Electoral Reform Act of 1832 was the result.

 

[Denville]

I think the speech is both funny immature. I can see the situation from both sides. William should have had more time with his heir; but the Duchess of Kent, while wanting to control and manipulate her daughter, also knew how vile and low class her in laws the behavior of the Hanover's either.

William was an idiot, but a goodnatured idiot, who had settled down with his younger wife and was perfectly respectable (apart form his numerous bastards). the Duchess of Kent was an idiot who alieinated not only her husband's family but Vic herself,

 

[CyrilVladisla]

King William IV refused to name the Duchess of Kent as Victoria's regent. The Duchess of Kent petitioned Parliament. She won approval as Victoria's sole regent in 1831. Did not King William IV have any power of his own to reverse the decision?

 

[Ish]

King William IV refused to name the Duchess of Kent as Victoria's regent. The Duchess of Kent petitioned Parliament. She won approval as Victoria's sole regent in 1831. Did not King William IV have any power of his own to reverse the decision?

Where are you getting any of this from?

In 1830, Parliament passed the Regency Act 1830, which named the Duchess of Kent as the Regent if Victoria came to the throne while underage, while Queen Adelaide would serve as Regent if an as of then unborn child of William IV came to the throne while underage. The Act also stipulated that if William IV died and Adelaide later gave birth to his child, then that child would immediately become monarch with Adelaide as the Regent. This Act received Royal assent on 23 December 1830.

William IV did not like the Duchess of Kent and announced in 1836 that it was his intention to live until Victoria had turned 18 just so the Duchess would never be regent.

In 1831, the Duchess of Kent was able to use her daughter's status as heir presumptive in order to increase her income; previously she had received very little financial support, but when the Duchess' brother, Leopold, gave up his British incomes after becoming King of the Belgians (he had previously been Princess Charlotte of Wales' husband, and retained his income after her death) she was able to increase her income.

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Knowing that his niece Princess Victoria was eighteen was one fact that probably brought elated joy to King William IV.

 

[Lucy63]

Queen Adelaide was still very much a part of the royal family after King William's death. She attended many events with the new Queen, her niece, and Prince Albert, as well as her sister-in-law, the Duchess of Kent.

I hadn’t realized that Adelaide was still fairly young when she died...late fifties?

 

[Gawin]

I hadn’t realized that Adelaide was still fairly young when she died...late fifties?

She was five years younger than the Duchess of Kent who survived her by 12 years.

 

[theroyalfly]

Today in Royal History is the 227th birthday of Queen Adelaide of the United Kingdom, wife of King William IV of the United Kingdom, born Princess Adelaide Louise Theresa Caroline Amelia of Saxe-Meiningen at the Elisabethenburg Palace in Meiningen, Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen. She died on 2 December 1849 (aged 57)