Queen Adelaide is one of those historical figures who is in the background of several well-known people and associated period dramas but is not particularly well-known. Theoretically, she could have shown up in a second season if Queen Charlotte had continued on Netflix and she is a supporting character in The Young Victoria. However, she also deserves to have her own story in the spotlight. Let’s get into our Consort of the Month: Queen Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen!
Consort of the Month: Queen Adelaide Fast Facts
Birth Date: 13 August 1792
Death Date: 2 December 1849
Tenure (Queen): 26 June 1830 – 20 June 1837
Birth Name: Adelaide Amelia Louise Theresa Caroline
Spouse: King William IV of Great Britain
House: Saxe-Meiningen
Father: Georg I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen
Mother: Princess Louise Elenore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
Why Do We Know Queen Adelaide?
Unfortunately, there is a good chance that you don’t know about Queen Adelaide. Her husband’s reign is rather remembered solely for being the reign before Queen Victoria. She was a beloved member of the British Royal Family in the first half of the nineteenth century, though, and navigated some difficult times in their history.
Queen Adelaide’s Early Life
Adelaide was born to the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen and Princess Louise Elenore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg in 1792. (Both of those places are part of modern day Germany, very much fitting the BRF’s marriage plan in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.) She was a fairly well-connected infant and her twenty-one godparents included The Queen of Naples and Sciliy and the Holy Roman Empress.
The Princess was lucky enough to have a well-rounded education for a female royal; her education included religious education. She would remain a dedicated Christian throughout her life.
In addition to the upheaval sweeping Europe at the beginning of the nineteenth century, Adelaide’s family also saw some notable changes. While the current Swedish Royal Family made news for moving away from primogeniture in the 1970s/1980s and the Crown Prince/ss title was taken from Pince Carl Philip and given to his elder sister Princess Victoria, Adelaide had the opposite happen. There was no legal primogeniture in Saxe-Meiningen until the birth of he brother in 1800, meaning that prior to that she was first in line to her father’s title.
A Princely Proposal
In March 1818, Adelaide received a proposal from the second-eldest son of King George III and Queen Charlotte, The Duke of Clarence. William was not an overwhelmingly impressive prince, in spite of being the eldest unmarried Prince in the British Royal Family. He was in his early fifties when he proposed and already had ten illegitimate children with actress Dorothea Jordan. (Jordan had died in 1816.) However, William had specifically proposed as his elder brother, The Prince of Wales, had just lost his only heir and daughter, so William was very possibly going to take the throne.
Adelaide and William took part in a double wedding ceremony with The Due of Kent (Prince Edward) and Dowager Princess Victoria of Leiningen on 11 July 1818 after for the first time a week earlier.
A Quiet and Difficult Start
Like many of his brothers, William was somewhat strapped for cash. He decided that he and Adelaide would live in Hanover to save money. (His father, George III, was also King of Hanover, which was rather convenient.) They lived a quiet and peaceful life together but did struggle to have children. In 1819, Adelaide gave birth to a premature baby girl who died after only a few hours. She would have a miscarriage, stillborn twins, and one daughter who did live through the birth but died before she reached three months.
The Unlikely but Poised Queen
While the Prince of Wales’ daughter had died and was completely estranged from his wife (meaning another heir was highly unlikely), many still thought it was questionable whether or not William would inherit the throne. Upon King George IV’s death in 1830, William did inherit the throne and become King William IV. That meant that Adelaide became Queen.
William wanted to forego his Coronation as he thought it was ridiculous and a waste of money, but obviously that was not an option. He had a… budget-friendly coronation which he mocked throughout. Adelaide however took the ceremony seriously and remained poised and serious. Interestingly, Adelaide was the first consort to have a crown made since Mary of Modena since the 1680s.
A Beloved Consort
Adelaide was incredibly popular with the public. While many in the Ton were not a fan of her as she was pious and serious, quite a different from King George IV’s court (and Regency before that), the public thought she was a wonderful consort. She spent much of her time raising money and spreading awareness for different charitable organisations- this was quite a different path from George IV’s wife. It is thought that she donated nearly a third of her total income to those in need.
Pro-Princess Victoria
Although The King was largely opposed to the Duchess of Kent, The Queen took an interest in her niece, Princess Victoria. Although the Duchess would not acknowledge Adelaide higher precedence as Queen, Adelaide continued to spend as much time as possible with Victoria.
The now-Dowager Queen lived a quiet life once her niece took the throne as Queen Victoria. Adelaide suffered from many health issues, and travelled to Malta among other places to try and recuperate. She died in December of 1849 and was buried with her husband at Windso.
Queen Adelaide: Interesting Facts
– Queen Adelaide has an asteroid named after her, Asteroid 525 Adelaide.
– She also has a city named after her- Adelaide, Australia was named in her honour.
– Adelaide was a staunch Tory and believed that the 1834 fire that destroyed almost all of the Palace of Westminster was a sign of displeasure from God in response to Whig reforms.
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Further Readings on Queen Adelaide
Norrie, Aidan, Carolyn Harris, J. L. Laynesmith, Danna R. Messer, Elena Woodacre, and Joseph Massey. “Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen: The Childless Queen Mother.” Essay. In Hanoverian to Windsor Consorts: Power, Influence, and Dynasty. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan, 2023.
Sandars, Mary Frances. Life and times of queen adelaide. Nabu Press, 2010.
Looking for my earlier Consort of the Month posts? Read about:
Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
I hope you have enjoyed Consort of the Month: Queen Adelaide!
Cheers,
The Historian
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