notorious set that clustered around her uncle George at Carlton House, his opulent London residence. She would have met Lord Melbourne and Lord Palmerston, her future prime ministers, when they were dashing young men about town. She would have matched wits over dinner with some of the great minds of the day. She would have had an education in art, architecture, and design from her uncle George who was in the process of building the Royal Pavilion in Brighton and transforming Windsor Castle into a modern royal residence. She would have grown up with her uncle William’s bastards, the FitzClarences, and enjoyed the rough and tumble of a house filled with children. A Hanoverian Victoria would have been a very different woman, a very different queen. History would have been different.
But those who clustered around the deathbed of Edward, Duke of Kent, were quite determined that Victoria should not be given into the care, or negligence, of her paternal relatives. They wanted her to grow up a Coburg, not a Hanoverian. The proud Hanoverian Kent was weak and fearing death, no match for the men at the bedside who shaped the course of events.
The court at Windsor did keep an eye on events in Sidmouth. Kent’s brothers York and Sussex both came down to Devon to wish him well and assess the situation for the royal family. When Kent’s death seemed imminent, a letter came for him from the prince regent. Expressing deep sorrow and affection, the regent requested the guardianship of Victoria for himself or one of his brothers. But the letter came too late, and the prince regent was not free to go down to Sidmouth for a final reconciliation with his brother Kent. The regent was obliged to remain at Windsor where his father George III was finally dying.
The Duke of Kent’s will was probably drafted by none other than Christian Stockmar. This gentleman providentially found himself in Sidmouth with the Kents when the duke fell ill and was in constant communication with his employer, Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg. Apprised of the Duke of Kent’s serious illness, the prince himself traveled posthaste back from a shooting party in Berkshire and arrived in Devon in time for the signing of the will. The trustee named under the will was the Duke of Kent’s chief aide-de-camp, Lieutenant General Frederick Augustus Wetherall. The appointed executors were Wetherall and Captain John Conroy.
THE DUKE OF KENT died on January 23, 1820. On January 29, George III died. The new king George IV then fell desperately ill with an inflammation of the lungs, and for a few terrible weeks, it was feared he too would die.
When he regained his strength and replenished the 150 ounces of blood taken by his doctors, George IV became absorbed in two major projects. He would stage the most magnificent coronation England had ever seen, spending the fabulous sum of 243,000 pounds that parliament had voted him and a great deal more. At the same time, he would secure a divorce from his wife, Caroline of Brunswick, the details of whose scandalous conduct and obscene attire in Italy had long been reported to him by spies, German relatives, and traveling Englishmen. The royal divorce proceedings of 1820 brought Queen Caroline to trial in the House of Lords on a charge of “licentious, disgraceful, and adulterous intercourse” with an Italian groom. The trial ended in catastrophic failure for the King and his ministers. No divorce was possible, and George IV’s coronation of July 19, 1821, was marred by Caroline, who hammered at the doors of Westminster Abbey in a vain attempt to take her rightful place as queen. The King’s only comfort came when, a few weeks later, Caroline fell ill and died.
During this frenzied public activity by the King in London, the Duchess of Kent coped with death and debt. With her husband’s embalmed body stretched out in a velvet-shrouded coffin amid ostrich plumes and tall silver candlesticks, the Duchess of Kent discovered that
But those who clustered around the deathbed of Edward, Duke of Kent, were quite determined that Victoria should not be given into the care, or negligence, of her paternal relatives. They wanted her to grow up a Coburg, not a Hanoverian. The proud Hanoverian Kent was weak and fearing death, no match for the men at the bedside who shaped the course of events.
The court at Windsor did keep an eye on events in Sidmouth. Kent’s brothers York and Sussex both came down to Devon to wish him well and assess the situation for the royal family. When Kent’s death seemed imminent, a letter came for him from the prince regent. Expressing deep sorrow and affection, the regent requested the guardianship of Victoria for himself or one of his brothers. But the letter came too late, and the prince regent was not free to go down to Sidmouth for a final reconciliation with his brother Kent. The regent was obliged to remain at Windsor where his father George III was finally dying.
The Duke of Kent’s will was probably drafted by none other than Christian Stockmar. This gentleman providentially found himself in Sidmouth with the Kents when the duke fell ill and was in constant communication with his employer, Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg. Apprised of the Duke of Kent’s serious illness, the prince himself traveled posthaste back from a shooting party in Berkshire and arrived in Devon in time for the signing of the will. The trustee named under the will was the Duke of Kent’s chief aide-de-camp, Lieutenant General Frederick Augustus Wetherall. The appointed executors were Wetherall and Captain John Conroy.
THE DUKE OF KENT died on January 23, 1820. On January 29, George III died. The new king George IV then fell desperately ill with an inflammation of the lungs, and for a few terrible weeks, it was feared he too would die.
When he regained his strength and replenished the 150 ounces of blood taken by his doctors, George IV became absorbed in two major projects. He would stage the most magnificent coronation England had ever seen, spending the fabulous sum of 243,000 pounds that parliament had voted him and a great deal more. At the same time, he would secure a divorce from his wife, Caroline of Brunswick, the details of whose scandalous conduct and obscene attire in Italy had long been reported to him by spies, German relatives, and traveling Englishmen. The royal divorce proceedings of 1820 brought Queen Caroline to trial in the House of Lords on a charge of “licentious, disgraceful, and adulterous intercourse” with an Italian groom. The trial ended in catastrophic failure for the King and his ministers. No divorce was possible, and George IV’s coronation of July 19, 1821, was marred by Caroline, who hammered at the doors of Westminster Abbey in a vain attempt to take her rightful place as queen. The King’s only comfort came when, a few weeks later, Caroline fell ill and died.
During this frenzied public activity by the King in London, the Duchess of Kent coped with death and debt. With her husband’s embalmed body stretched out in a velvet-shrouded coffin amid ostrich plumes and tall silver candlesticks, the Duchess of Kent discovered that
Similar Books
