Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of I Heart Radio
Speaker 1: and Grim and Mild from Aaron Mankie. Listener discretion advised.
Speaker 1: Just after midnight on November sixth, eighteen seventeen, Princess Charlotte
Speaker 1: of Wales, aged twenty one, died in childbirth. The sun
Speaker 1: she had delivered was dead as well a stillborn. To
Speaker 1: say it was a shocking tragedy would be an understatement.
Speaker 1: England plunged into mourning, shops ran out of black cloth. Eventually,
Speaker 1: ribbon stores would have to beg the government to shorten
Speaker 1: the official mourning period for fear that people going without
Speaker 1: adornment in the Princess's honor would put them out of business.
Speaker 1: Princess Charlotte had been the only child of a deeply
Speaker 1: unhappy marriage. She was the daughter of the very unpopular
Speaker 1: Prince of Wales, the Prince Regent future King George the Fourth.
Speaker 1: Charlotte finally found bliss in her own marriage to Prince Leopold,
Speaker 1: only to be struck down less than eighteen months after
Speaker 1: their fairy tale wedding. It was a story out of
Speaker 1: a dark fairy tale, one that I told more in
Speaker 1: depth in the episode The Princess that England lost. But
Speaker 1: there's more to the story, namely what happened next. The
Speaker 1: royal family, like the public, was devastated at the loss
Speaker 1: of the vivacious, progressive and popular princess. For them, however,
Speaker 1: the loss was more than just a personal one. Though
Speaker 1: King George the Third had fifteen children at the time
Speaker 1: of Charlotte's death, she was the king's only legitimate grandchild.
Speaker 1: If none of her many many uncles produced legitimate children,
Speaker 1: quickly the Hanoverian line, which had ruled England for more
Speaker 1: than a century, would be over. It was a terrifying proposition,
Speaker 1: especially for a family to whom their royal inheritance meant everything.
Speaker 1: Given the importance of passing the crown down, it may
Speaker 1: seem surprising that the Hanovers were even in that position. Again,
Speaker 1: King George the Third and his wife, Queen Charlotte had
Speaker 1: had fifteen children, thirteen of whom had survived to adulthood.
Speaker 1: And yet, though the primary duty of royal children seems
Speaker 1: to basically be to marry and procreate, when Charlotte died
Speaker 1: in eighteen seventeen, not only were there no more living
Speaker 1: legitimate grandchildren, most of the by then middle aged princes
Speaker 1: and princesses weren't been married. If you think this is unusual,
Speaker 1: you would be right. George the Third's many royal children
Speaker 1: were themselves unusual. Raised by strict proper parents who demanded perfection,
Speaker 1: the princesses were stifled and kept close long past marriageable age.
Speaker 1: The princes found the freedom of adulthood intoxicating and ran
Speaker 1: wild with their mistresses through the gambling halls of Europe.
Speaker 1: The sons perhaps were enjoying the eighteen hundreds version of
Speaker 1: what we think of as trust fund syndrome. They had
Speaker 1: racked up scores of illegitimate children, tens of thousands of
Speaker 1: pounds of public debt, and the disdain of the general public.
Speaker 1: But now, with the fate of the family line at stake,
Speaker 1: the princes and princesses would have to grow up and fast.
Speaker 1: They were now in a race to arrange good marriage
Speaker 1: is and produce airs. This, of course, was easier said
Speaker 1: than done. I'm Danish schwartz, and this is noble blood.
Speaker 1: From the beginning of his reign, George the Third planned
Speaker 1: to do things differently. His great grandfather and grandfather, George
Speaker 1: the First and George the Second, had both been born
Speaker 1: and raised in the German Principality of Hanover, and they
Speaker 1: spoke German as their first language, which meant that they
Speaker 1: were perceived as German by their British subjects. Their family
Speaker 1: had gained the British throne thanks to seventeen o one's
Speaker 1: Act of Settlement, which declared that only a Protestant could
Speaker 1: rule England. When the childless Queen Anne died in seventeen fourteen,
Speaker 1: who you might know from the movie The Favorite, the
Speaker 1: throne passed to her nearest Protestant relative, George the First,
Speaker 1: who began what became known as the Hannoverian line of
Speaker 1: British monarchs from his Hanoverian predecessors. George the Third inherited
Speaker 1: the throne of Great Britain and also a unique tradition
Speaker 1: of hatred between father and son. George the First and
Speaker 1: his son George the Second fought bitterly over matters both
Speaker 1: political and personal, and the pattern repeated itself with George
Speaker 1: the Second and his eldest son, Frederick, Prince of Wales.
Speaker 1: Frederick died in seventeen fifty one before his father, but
Speaker 1: Frederick's widow, Augusta, continued the estrangement with the King and
Speaker 1: so the young of future George the Third grew up
Speaker 1: barely knowing his grandfather. When in seventeen sixty the twenty
Speaker 1: two year old George the Third learned that his grandfather
Speaker 1: was dead, he vowed to break the pattern set by
Speaker 1: his forebearers. He would be a truly English king of
Speaker 1: the English, and he would have a close relationship with
Speaker 1: his children. He would be more successful on the first
Speaker 1: count than the second. On the first count, he nailed it.
Speaker 1: In fact, he is the only British monarch to never
Speaker 1: once leave England. But his relationship with his children, well
Speaker 1: we'll get to that. On August twelfth, seventeen sixty two,
Speaker 1: Queen Charlotte gave birth to the couple's first child, a son,
Speaker 1: whom they named George Augustus Frederick. I know there are
Speaker 1: a lot of George's in this story, so for clarity's sake,
Speaker 1: will refer to this newborn baby child George the future
Speaker 1: regent future George the fourth as the Prince of Wales,
Speaker 1: which is the ideal that he had during when this
Speaker 1: story takes place, and will refer to his father, King
Speaker 1: George the Third as King George. So over the next
Speaker 1: twenty one years. King George's wife, Queen Charlotte, would give
Speaker 1: birth to fourteen more children, six girls and nine boys,
Speaker 1: and almost all of them would reach adulthood. The King
Speaker 1: and Queen raised their children in relative simplicity. Both had
Speaker 1: frugal tastes. Cartoons of the day regularly lampooned them for
Speaker 1: drinking the cheapest wine and eating the worst cuts of meat.
Speaker 1: They were a pretty wholesome couple. George never took a mistress,
Speaker 1: and he was sometimes affectionately referred to as Farmer George
Speaker 1: for his interest in agriculture. The couple hoped to instill
Speaker 1: the same wholesome habits in their children. They also hoped
Speaker 1: to raise well educated, well disciplined children, and to this end,
Speaker 1: the king created a strict, highly structured educational curriculum for
Speaker 1: his princes. If the boys misbehaved or they didn't pay
Speaker 1: attention in lessons, they were whipped by their tutors. The
Speaker 1: princess's education was focused mostly on art and music, but
Speaker 1: like their brothers, they were raised strictly. The queen instructed
Speaker 1: their governesses to never allow any quote, incivilities or lightness
Speaker 1: in their behavior unquote. Though the king had hoped to
Speaker 1: create a warmer relationship with his children than he had
Speaker 1: shared with his own parents and grandparents. He was unwilling
Speaker 1: to bend royal protocol enough to actually allow that the
Speaker 1: Royal children were not allowed to speak to their parents
Speaker 1: unless spoken to, They had to walk backwards when leaving
Speaker 1: their parents presence, and as soon as they left infancy,
Speaker 1: they almost never saw their parents in informal settings. The
Speaker 1: pressure placed on them was enormous, and affection from their
Speaker 1: parents was explicitly tied to obedience and perfection. When the
Speaker 1: Prince of Wales and his younger brother Frederick were sixteen
Speaker 1: and fifteen, respectively, King George wrote to them, quote, act
Speaker 1: uprightly and show the anxious care I have had of
Speaker 1: you has not been misspent, and you will ever find
Speaker 1: me not only an affectionate father, but a sincere friend unquote,
Speaker 1: so not exactly unconditional love. Similarly, the Queen, writing to
Speaker 1: her third son William, told him quote, I love you
Speaker 1: so well that I cannot bear the thought of you
Speaker 1: being only mediocre. Perfection is the thing you should aim
Speaker 1: at end quote. The result of this demanding, joyless upbringing
Speaker 1: created children who would, as the historian John vander Kist
Speaker 1: would write quote yearned to be everything. They're stolid, stayed dutiful.
Speaker 1: Parents were not endquote. As the children emerged from the
Speaker 1: cloistered world their parents had built for them, they began
Speaker 1: to run wild. The Prince of Wales was the first
Speaker 1: to disappoint their parents. At age seventeen, in love with
Speaker 1: his sister's twenty three year old governess Mary Hamilton's, he
Speaker 1: wrote her a letter describing his own character pretty honestly, saying,
Speaker 1: quote he was rather too fond of wine and women unquote.
Speaker 1: Rebuffed by Hamilton's, the prince turned his attention to the
Speaker 1: actress Mary Robinson. Robinson, married with an infant daughter, saw
Speaker 1: the prince's affections as a chance to secure her family's fortunes,
Speaker 1: and shrewdly she held down to the prince's effusive love letters,
Speaker 1: many of which promised her money. When the affair ended
Speaker 1: a year later, the letters were brought to the King's attention.
Speaker 1: Few Curious, he had his courtiers negotiate a payoff with Robinson.
Speaker 1: He then sent the prince's two younger brothers, Frederick and William,
Speaker 1: out of the country to keep them away from the
Speaker 1: bad influence of their older brother William, Duke of Clarence,
Speaker 1: the third son, was sent into the navy, where he
Speaker 1: gained a taste for practical jokes and a hearty, casual manner,
Speaker 1: which endeared him to his shipmates but didn't serve him
Speaker 1: as well in refined royal circles. The second son, Frederick,
Speaker 1: Duke of York, was the father's favorite, and he was
Speaker 1: sent to the family seat in Hanover for military training.
Speaker 1: Though King George had vowed to always put England first,
Speaker 1: he saw Germany as an excellent training ground for his sons,
Speaker 1: and Frederick was eventually joined there in five by the
Speaker 1: fourth in line, Edward, and then a year later by
Speaker 1: three more brothers, Ernest, August and Adolphus, who went to
Speaker 1: study at the University of go Engen. If the king
Speaker 1: thought that separation from the scandalous Prince of Wales would
Speaker 1: keep the younger brothers in line, he was mistaken. The
Speaker 1: duchies of Germany had young noblewomen and gambling halls of plenty.
Speaker 1: Though the king only gave his son's modest allowances, merchants
Speaker 1: and casino proprietors were only too willing to extend the
Speaker 1: young men enormous lines of credit. Because of their royal name.
Speaker 1: In short order, they all wrecked up thousands of pounds
Speaker 1: of debt. The King begrudgingly paid off their debts and
Speaker 1: admonished the boys harshly, only for the cycle to begin again.
Speaker 1: The princes were no more responsible in their conduct with women, although,
Speaker 1: as with their extravagance spending, their romantic affairs could be
Speaker 1: seen as a former rebellion against the restrictions placed on
Speaker 1: them by their father. In sventeen seventy two, King George
Speaker 1: the Third had proposed a parliament in Act regulating royal marriages,
Speaker 1: which was eventually passed as the originally titled Royal Marriages Act.
Speaker 1: The king was motivated by the shocking marriages of his siblings,
Speaker 1: including his brother Prince Henry's seventeen seventy one marriage to
Speaker 1: a widowed commoner named Anne Horton, and his sister Caroline
Speaker 1: Matilda's disastrous, scandal written marriage to the mentally ill King
Speaker 1: of Denmark, which is a story that I covered in
Speaker 1: the episode Queen Caroline Matilda's Personal Doctor. That marriage led
Speaker 1: to a very scandalous affair. So George was understandably nervous
Speaker 1: when it came to the idea of his children's marriages.
Speaker 1: With the new provisions of the Act, any descendants of
Speaker 1: King George the Second could not marry without the consent
Speaker 1: of the reigning monarch. There was an exception if a
Speaker 1: descendant was older than twenty five and permission was refused
Speaker 1: by the monarch, the descendant could still marry, but only
Speaker 1: with one year's notice and an assent of Parliament. However,
Speaker 1: it was thought unlikely that Parliament, knowing that the monarch disapproved,
Speaker 1: would ever consent to the marriage. Previous acts further limited
Speaker 1: who the royal family could marry. Most importantly, any royal
Speaker 1: family member who married a Catholic would be removed from
Speaker 1: the line of succession. Though the purpose of all of
Speaker 1: these restrictions, especially the Royal Marriages Act, was to promote good,
Speaker 1: beneficial marriages within the royal family, many even at the time,
Speaker 1: believed it would have the opposite effect. If the royal
Speaker 1: children weren't allowed to marry who they loved, it seemed
Speaker 1: likely that they would simply go unmarried, and, as the
Speaker 1: saying goes quote, live in sin. One member of Parliament
Speaker 1: went so far as to joking, we call the Royal
Speaker 1: Marriages Act quote an act to encourage fornication and adultery
Speaker 1: in descendants of George the Second. His prediction would quickly
Speaker 1: prove true. In December seen, the Prince of Wales secretly
Speaker 1: married Maria fitz Herbert, a twice widowed Catholic commoner. You
Speaker 1: can hear more about that doomed relationship in the episode
Speaker 1: of this podcast called What I Has Wept For George
Speaker 1: the Fourth and the Prince of Wales wasn't the only
Speaker 1: brother to secretly wed. Prince Augustus, Duke of Sussex, the
Speaker 1: sixth son, married Lady Augusta Murray, a Scottish noblewoman, in
Speaker 1: seventeen first in Italy and then again in England. Their
Speaker 1: marriage was annulled by the court in sevente because of
Speaker 1: its violation of the Royal Marriages Act, but the couple
Speaker 1: stayed together until eighteen o one and had two children.
Speaker 1: The Duke of Sussex later took up with another woman,
Speaker 1: Lady Cecilia Underwood, who he married after the death of
Speaker 1: Lady Augusta in eighteen thirty one. Other brothers chose a
Speaker 1: less formal but no less scandalous approach to romance. William,
Speaker 1: Duke of Clarence had a twenty year relationship with the
Speaker 1: Irish actress Dorothea Bland, known as Mrs Jordan's. The couple
Speaker 1: had ten children together and they lived together in relative
Speaker 1: happiness until eighteen eleven, when the Duke's mounting debts meant
Speaker 1: that he needed to marry someone for income. He spent
Speaker 1: the next few years unsuccessfully pursuing a number of young heiresses.
Speaker 1: Another brother, Edward, Duke of Kent, also had a long
Speaker 1: term relationship with his mistress Julie St. Laurent. After meeting
Speaker 1: in sev The couple remained together for more than twenty
Speaker 1: five years. Their life together was good, though they had
Speaker 1: to live abroad where expend as were lower given the
Speaker 1: Duke's surprise surprise large debts. Frederick, Duke of York, the
Speaker 1: favorite son remember, unlike most of his brothers, actually married legally.
Speaker 1: In seventeen he married Frederica Charlotte of Prussia, at the
Speaker 1: behest of his father, who hoped that his favorite second
Speaker 1: son could provide the legitimate air that the then illegally
Speaker 1: wed Prince of Wales would not. Unfortunately, Frederick and Frederica,
Speaker 1: despite their names, were an ill suited match, and by
Speaker 1: seventeen ninety four, they were amicably separated, with Frederica moving
Speaker 1: to their country home Oatlands, where she would live surrounded
Speaker 1: by a menagerie of pets until her death. They had
Speaker 1: no children. After the failure of Frederick's marriage, the Prince
Speaker 1: of Wales reluctantly agreed to leave Maria fitz Herbert and
Speaker 1: pursue a legitimate Mary. The King's promise to pay off
Speaker 1: his debts certainly helped to motivate him to in sev
Speaker 1: The Prince of Wales married Caroline of Brunswick woofin Bottle.
Speaker 1: This arranged couple hated each other nearly instantly, but they
Speaker 1: did have one daughter, Charlotte in January, the princess whose
Speaker 1: tragic death twenty one years later would set the succession
Speaker 1: crisis in motion. Given nearly all of the Prince's scandalous
Speaker 1: behavior and outrageous debts, they were nearly universally despised by
Speaker 1: the English public. Percy Shelley wrote of them, quote princes
Speaker 1: the dregs of their dull race, who flow through public
Speaker 1: scorn mud from a muddy spring. Rulers who neither see,
Speaker 1: nor feel, nor no but each like to their fainting
Speaker 1: country Kling unquote a pretty devastating poem. The Duke of Wellington,
Speaker 1: remarking on the enormous sums the princes frequently requested from
Speaker 1: the parliament, called them quote the damnedest millstones around the
Speaker 1: neck of any government that can be imagined unquote, and
Speaker 1: what if the princesses Of the six girls, only one
Speaker 1: married while of childbearing age, largely because their parents preferred
Speaker 1: to keep them close by as companions. Charlotte, the eldest
Speaker 1: daughter apologies, I know there are a lot of Charlotte's
Speaker 1: two in this story. This is not Charlotte the granddaughter
Speaker 1: who died at one, nor Queen Charlotte. This is a
Speaker 1: different Charlotte. The Queen's eldest daughter, married Frederick, Crown Prince
Speaker 1: of Wurteinberg In, but they had no children. The next
Speaker 1: or to wed would be Mary, who nearly twenty years
Speaker 1: later married her cousin, William, Duke of Gloucester in eighteen sixteen.
Speaker 1: Though the Duke loved Mary, her own motives for marriage
Speaker 1: were more complicated, as her niece, Princess Charlotte recorded marriage
Speaker 1: gave Mary an opportunity to escape her parents grasp quote
Speaker 1: being her own mistress, having her own house and being
Speaker 1: able to walk in the streets all delight her in
Speaker 1: their several ways end quote. Unfortunately, William would prove to
Speaker 1: be even more controlling than Mary's parents, the King and Queen.
Speaker 1: The next Princess, Elizabeth, married Frederick Lane, Grave of hesse Homburg,
Speaker 1: for similar reasons to marry, though their marriage would actually
Speaker 1: be much happier. Some of her sisters found other outlets
Speaker 1: to evade the control of their parents. Sophia is rumored
Speaker 1: to have had an illegitimate child by her father's chief equerry,
Speaker 1: Thomas Garth, while Augusta had a long term relationship with
Speaker 1: an army officer, Sir Brent Spencer. Outside their romantic entanglements
Speaker 1: and financial problems, the princes and princesses also had to
Speaker 1: confront their fathers increasingly unstable physical and mental health, which
Speaker 1: had begun to deteriorate by the early seventeen nineties. His
Speaker 1: incapacity caused inter family power struggles, which would largely be
Speaker 1: resolved by making the Prince of Wales the Prince Regent,
Speaker 1: a role in which he would serve as ruler because
Speaker 1: the monarch was unable to do so. If you ever
Speaker 1: wondered why that period is called the regency. This is
Speaker 1: why the prince was the regent. All of this is
Speaker 1: to say that by eighteen seventeen, when Princess Charlotte died,
Speaker 1: the thirteen living children of King George the Third and
Speaker 1: Queen Charlotte had weathered unhappy childhood's, illicit relationships, family drama,
Speaker 1: and unsuccessful marriages. They were almost all immature, impetuous, sheltered,
Speaker 1: scandal ridden, and altogether uniquely unsuited for the responsibility of
Speaker 1: carrying on the family line. Unfortunately, their family and their
Speaker 1: country now desperately needed them to produce an air. As
Speaker 1: we enter into the frenzied royal marriage market of eighteen eighteen,
Speaker 1: let's review our not so eligible bachelors. As all of
Speaker 1: the princesses were past childbearing age, the focus was exclusively
Speaker 1: on the princes. Of the seven living sons, four were
Speaker 1: already married but with no living or legitimate issue. That
Speaker 1: left us with three middle aged dukes on the hunt
Speaker 1: for princesses, William, Duke of Clarence, Edward, Duke of Kent,
Speaker 1: and Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge. One other brother, Ernst Duke
Speaker 1: of Cumberland, had recently married Frederica of Mecklenburg Strelitz, a
Speaker 1: German princess who had previously broken the heart of one
Speaker 1: of Ernest's younger brothers. Queen Charlotte hated Frederica because of
Speaker 1: this rejection and refused to accept her into court. Ernest
Speaker 1: himself was a deeply controversial figure, accused at various times
Speaker 1: of murder, incest, and election interference, all of which I
Speaker 1: discussed on this podcast. Seems like ages ago, truly in
Speaker 1: the episode the Butler in the Bedroom with a Saber.
Speaker 1: If you're wondering why I've covered so many HANNOVERI intangents
Speaker 1: on this podcast, it is because there are just so
Speaker 1: many scandals. But the Cumberlands were not thought of often
Speaker 1: during the succession crisis due to their unpopularity, and though
Speaker 1: they would eventually have children, they were low in the
Speaker 1: line of succession. They would later become the rulers of Hannover.
Speaker 1: But back to our bachelor's Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge was
Speaker 1: the youngest of the bunch at forty three. He had
Speaker 1: had no serious romantic attachments, suffered no notable scandals, and
Speaker 1: was lively musical and energetic relative to his brother's quite
Speaker 1: a catch. His older brother William, had asked Adolphus to
Speaker 1: find him a bride shortly after Charlotte's death, and when
Speaker 1: Adolphus wrote to William about a young Princess Augusta of
Speaker 1: hes Cassell, his description was so glowing that William declared
Speaker 1: Adolphus ought to marry Augusta himself. Adolphus happily took his
Speaker 1: brother up on the offer, and the couple was married
Speaker 1: in May eighteen eighteen. They returned to England three weeks later,
Speaker 1: where the twenty year old bride, who spoke almost no English,
Speaker 1: was overwhelmed to be greeted by throngs of cheering crowds
Speaker 1: at Dover. William, Duke of Clarence, turned his attention to
Speaker 1: Princess Adelaide of Sacksmen, again twenty seven years younger than
Speaker 1: he was. Adelaide was said to be plain and sax
Speaker 1: Mine again was a poor principality, but she was practical
Speaker 1: and kind hearted, even willing to take the Duke's ten
Speaker 1: illegitimate children under her wing. William, if you recall it,
Speaker 1: was the former navy man, and he had spent much
Speaker 1: of his life frittering away his privileges. But he seemed
Speaker 1: to come into a new sense of responsibility in the
Speaker 1: presence of his young bride. Quote I cannot, I will not,
Speaker 1: I must not ill use her, he wrote to his
Speaker 1: eldest illegitimate son, George FitzClarence. In March eighteen eighteen. He
Speaker 1: considered calling off the marriage entirely, but the promise of
Speaker 1: an increased allowance from Parliament, as well as the prospect
Speaker 1: of a stepmother for his many children, whose mother, the
Speaker 1: actress Dorothea Jordan, had died in eighteen sixteen, was too
Speaker 1: tempting to resist. In July, Adelaide and her mother traveled
Speaker 1: to England and prepared for the wedding ceremony, which would
Speaker 1: be a double They were all in such a rush
Speaker 1: to get married and have legitimate children that William was
Speaker 1: married alongside his younger brother, Edward, Duke of Kent. Edward,
Speaker 1: now nearing fifty, was the most straight laced of the brothers.
Speaker 1: He did not drink or gamble, though he still regularly
Speaker 1: exceeded his income, spending extravagantly on renovations to his estates
Speaker 1: and ealing in Knightsbridge. He had spent time in the military,
Speaker 1: but his career ended in humiliation after the soldiers under
Speaker 1: his command in Gibraltar mutinied over his decision to close
Speaker 1: the city's wine shops. At the time of Princess Charlotte's death,
Speaker 1: he was living in Brussels with his longtime mistress Julie St. Laurent,
Speaker 1: but marriage had been on his mind for some time
Speaker 1: and it was likely the only way to settle his debts.
Speaker 1: He even traveled to Russia in eighteen sixteen to meet
Speaker 1: one perspective bride, but he deemed her too old, even
Speaker 1: though she was eight years younger than he was. After
Speaker 1: Charlotte's death, Edward renewed his hunt for a bride, this
Speaker 1: time with an unlikely wingman, Prince Leopold, Princess Charlotte's widower.
Speaker 1: Leopold thought he knew just the right woman for Edward
Speaker 1: his own sister, Victoire, Dowager, Princess of line Engen. Victoire
Speaker 1: had married the Crown Prince of line Engen, twenty three
Speaker 1: years her senior, when she was seventeen, and she had
Speaker 1: had two children with him before she was widowed eleven
Speaker 1: years later. Like her brother Leopold, Victoire had glossy, dark hair,
Speaker 1: fine features, and a tall frame. Edward went to visit
Speaker 1: her in line Engen, a German principality where Victoire was
Speaker 1: serving as regent for her ten year old son Carl,
Speaker 1: and he proposed only days leader. At first, Victoire was resistant.
Speaker 1: She had a good life in Germany, and she spoke
Speaker 1: no English, and she felt no strong connection to the
Speaker 1: English duke nearly two decades older than her, who I
Speaker 1: guess was her brother's ex uncle in law. More than
Speaker 1: any of that, she worried that marriage to Edward might
Speaker 1: mean losing custody of her children in Germany. But Leopold,
Speaker 1: the widower, hoping to retain his place in the English
Speaker 1: royal family after his wife's death, worked hard to encourage
Speaker 1: his sister. Eventually, after Edward pledged that Victoire would not
Speaker 1: lose her children, she accepted his proposal. In January eighteen eighteen,
Speaker 1: She wrote to him, quote, I am leaving an agreeable,
Speaker 1: independent physician in the hope that your affection will be
Speaker 1: my reward unquote. Edward delightedly replied that he would do
Speaker 1: everything he could to make her happy, and also assured
Speaker 1: her that his relationship with his mistress, Julie Sant Laurent
Speaker 1: was over. As indeed it was He had given his
Speaker 1: partner of twenty plus years a modest pension and set
Speaker 1: her off to Paris, where she quietly mourned her lost love.
Speaker 1: Edward and Victoire, the Duke and Duchess of Kent, were
Speaker 1: married in Germany, and then they traveled in England for
Speaker 1: the double wedding with William and Adelaide, the Duke and
Speaker 1: Duchess of Clarence. Now with four royal couples able to
Speaker 1: have children, the Clarences, the Kent's, the Cumberland's and the
Speaker 1: Cambridges in order of succession, the public eagerly awaited news
Speaker 1: of incoming airs. They didn't have to wait long. By
Speaker 1: late eighteen eighteen, all four duchesses were visibly pregnant. On
Speaker 1: March eighteen, nineteen augusta Duke of Cambridge gave birth to
Speaker 1: a son. The baby was an enormous relief and delight
Speaker 1: to the royal family and public alike. Though the Duke
Speaker 1: of Cambridge was the youngest brother of these four, meaning
Speaker 1: that any children his elder brothers might have would now
Speaker 1: supplant his son in the line of succession, and Air
Speaker 1: was an heir and the handover line was now secured.
Speaker 1: The very next day, Adelaide, Duchess of Clarence, went into
Speaker 1: premature labor. The Clarences were at the top of the
Speaker 1: line of succession, at least among the couples who could
Speaker 1: have children at this point. Unfortunately, though their baby, a
Speaker 1: girl they named Charlotte, lived only a few hours following
Speaker 1: her premature birth. The Kents received the news of the
Speaker 1: Cambridge's joy and the Clarence's sorrow while en route to England.
Speaker 1: Edward strongly believed that his child would inherit the throne,
Speaker 1: and he wanted the baby to be born in England,
Speaker 1: as he felt this would strengthen the English people's support
Speaker 1: for his child's claim, and so in late March, Edward
Speaker 1: and the eight months pregnant Victoire embarked on an arduous,
Speaker 1: month long journey from their home where they were living
Speaker 1: in Germany, to England. They had so little money that
Speaker 1: the Duke himself drove their carriage to save costs. The
Speaker 1: rest of the trip was paid for by various supporters.
Speaker 1: The Prince Regent, Edward's brother, refused to help, until fearing
Speaker 1: bad press, he offered the couple the use of the
Speaker 1: Royal yacht to cross the English Channel. The Kents arrived
Speaker 1: at Kensington Palace in late April to find the palace
Speaker 1: in disarray. Their apartments had not been used in five
Speaker 1: years because they were living in Germany. The walls were
Speaker 1: dripping with damp and rot. Edward immediately began a program
Speaker 1: of refurbishment, spending more than two thousand pounds to kid
Speaker 1: out the place, while Victoire prepared for the birth with
Speaker 1: her German ladies in waiting and a j a Men
Speaker 1: physician Charlotte von Seybold, a female physician. On May twenty second,
Speaker 1: Edward completed his renovation projects. The very next evening, Victoire
Speaker 1: went into labor at four am. On May twenty four,
Speaker 1: eighteen nineteen, the Duchess gave birth to a healthy baby girl.
Speaker 1: Over the next few years, other children would be born
Speaker 1: to the Cambridges and the Cumberlands, but none would surpass
Speaker 1: the Kent's daughter in the order of succession. Adelaide, Duchess
Speaker 1: of Clarence, suffered a number of miscarriages. In late eighteen twenty,
Speaker 1: she gave birth six weeks early to an apparently healthy baby,
Speaker 1: but the girl, named Elizabeth, lived only five months. The
Speaker 1: Clarences would never have another surviving child together. Fortunately, their
Speaker 1: marriage was a happy one. Adelaide proved a calming influence
Speaker 1: on William, and she enjoyed warm relationships with his ten
Speaker 1: illegitimate children, as well as relationships with her nieces and nephews.
Speaker 1: She was particularly close to the Kent's daughter, once writing
Speaker 1: to Victoire, quote, my children are dead, but your child lives,
Speaker 1: and she is mine too unquote. So who was this
Speaker 1: beloved little Kent girl? On June twenty four, two months
Speaker 1: after her birth, the Prince Regent hosted a christening ceremony
Speaker 1: for her at Kensington Palace. Though the Prince Regent was
Speaker 1: glad to see the family line renewed, the site of
Speaker 1: the healthy baby girl brought to mind his lost daughter
Speaker 1: Charlotte and her stillborn child, and he couldn't help but
Speaker 1: resent the Kents their happiness. His pain bubbled over at
Speaker 1: the christening, where he told the shock parents that he
Speaker 1: would be choosing the baby's name. As the Archbishop of
Speaker 1: Canterbury held the infant over the baptismal font, the Regent
Speaker 1: wavered back and forth before choosing Alexandrina. After the infant sponsor,
Speaker 1: Czar Alexander of Russia, Victori, the baby's mother, burst into
Speaker 1: tears at this. She had given up her homeland and
Speaker 1: her native tongue to become an English duchess, and in
Speaker 1: return she was being denied the chance to name her
Speaker 1: own daughter. The Prince Regent relented lively, declaring give her
Speaker 1: the mother's name also then, but it cannot proceed that
Speaker 1: of the Emperor. The baby was thus christened Alexandrina Victoria,
Speaker 1: though today we of course know her best as Queen Victoria.
Speaker 1: The path to the throne would not be a smooth
Speaker 1: one for the young Victoria. Her family had little money
Speaker 1: to begin with, relatively speaking, and they were put in
Speaker 1: an even more precarious position after her father unexpectedly died
Speaker 1: of pneumonia in January eight teen twenty, when she was
Speaker 1: still an infant. But the Kent's persevered, and eventually, after
Speaker 1: the deaths of Victoria's grandfather, George the Third, her eldest
Speaker 1: uncle George the Fourth, and then another uncle, the Duke
Speaker 1: of Clarence a k a. King William the Fourth, Victoria
Speaker 1: would become Queen of England, and Queen Victoria, perhaps intrinsically
Speaker 1: understanding the need to play the odds when it came
Speaker 1: to royal children, would go on to have nine children
Speaker 1: of her own. The Hanover line had lived to rule
Speaker 1: another day. That's the story of the succession crisis of
Speaker 1: eighteen seventeen. But keep listening after a brief sponsor break
Speaker 1: to hear a little bit more about the journey of
Speaker 1: pregnant Victory to deliver her baby on English soil. To
Speaker 1: keep her baby safe while on the dangerous journey to England.
Speaker 1: In April eighteen nineteen, the heavily pregnant Duchess of Kent,
Speaker 1: Victoire had enlisted the help of a well regarded physician,
Speaker 1: Charlotte von Seybold. Sebald was a prominent figure in the
Speaker 1: German medical community, the daughter of two physicians, her mother,
Speaker 1: Regina von Seybold, was the first woman to receive a
Speaker 1: university degree in Germany. Like Regina, Charlotte attended university, receiving
Speaker 1: her degree in obstetrics from Geeseing University in eighteen seventeen.
Speaker 1: Though Victoire was required to have British doctors at her
Speaker 1: side during the birth, she also insisted on having von
Speaker 1: Siebold present, perhaps in part because she was well aware
Speaker 1: of the way that British male physicians had so grossly
Speaker 1: mismannered Princess Charlotte's tragic fatal childbirth. It would be Von
Speaker 1: Siebold who helped Victoire labor and Von Siebald who would
Speaker 1: announce the birth of the healthy baby girl on May
Speaker 1: twenty four, eighteen nineteen. After the birth, Von Siebald stayed
Speaker 1: in England for several more months before returning to Germany
Speaker 1: to deliver another royal infant. This baby was born on
Speaker 1: August six, eighteen nineteen, in Schlas Rosenau to Earnest the
Speaker 1: third Duke of Saxe Coburg Softfield and Louise of Saxe
Speaker 1: Coburg Altenburg. The delighted parents named their baby boy Francis
Speaker 1: Albert Augustus Charles Emmanuel, but he went simply by Albert.
Speaker 1: This baby would grow up to be Albert of Saxe
Speaker 1: Coburg and Gotha, the kindly patient prince, who would on
Speaker 1: February eighteen forty Mary Queen Victoria. Noble Blood is a
Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio and Grimm and Mild from
Speaker 1: Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted by me Danishwartz. Additional
Speaker 1: writing and researching done by Hannah Johnston, Hannah's Wick, Mirra Hayward,
Speaker 1: Courtney Sunder and Laurie Goodman. The show is produced by
Speaker 1: rema Il Kali, with supervising producer Josh Thane and executive
Speaker 1: producers Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. For more
Speaker 1: podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.