The Adult Sons of the Hanover Line in Crisis

England plunged into mourning, shops ran out of black cloth. Eventually, ribbon stores would have to beg the government to shorten the official mourning period for fear that people going without adornment in the Princess's honor would put them out of business. Princess Charlotte had been the only child of a deeply unhappy marriage. She was the daughter of the very unpopular Prince of Wales, the Prince Regent future King George the Fourth.

Charlotte finally found bliss in her own marriage to Prince Leopold, only to be struck down less than eighteen months after their fairy tale wedding. It was a story out of a dark fairy tale, one that I told more in depth in the episode The Princess that England lost. But there's more to the story, namely what happened next. The royal family, like the public, was devastated at the loss of the vivacious, progressive and popular princess. For them, however,

the loss was more than just a personal one. Though King George the Third had fifteen children at the time of Charlotte's death, she was the king's only legitimate grandchild. If none of her many many uncles produced legitimate children, quickly the Hanoverian line, which had ruled England for more than a century, would be over. It was a terrifying proposition, especially for a family to whom their royal inheritance meant everything. Given the importance of passing the crown down, it may

seem surprising that the Hanovers were even in that position. Again, King George the Third and his wife, Queen Charlotte had had fifteen children, thirteen of whom had survived to adulthood. And yet, though the primary duty of royal children seems to basically be to marry and procreate, when Charlotte died in eighteen seventeen, not only were there no more living legitimate grandchildren, most of the by then middle aged princes and princesses weren't been married. If you think this is unusual,

you would be right. George the Third's many royal children were themselves unusual. Raised by strict proper parents who demanded perfection, the princesses were stifled and kept close long past marriageable age. The princes found the freedom of adulthood intoxicating and ran wild with their mistresses through the gambling halls of Europe. The sons perhaps were enjoying the eighteen hundreds version of

what we think of as trust fund syndrome. They had racked up scores of illegitimate children, tens of thousands of pounds of public debt, and the disdain of the general public. But now, with the fate of the family line at stake, the princes and princesses would have to grow up and fast. They were now in a race to arrange good marriage is and produce airs. This, of course, was easier said than done. I'm Danish schwartz, and this is noble blood.

From the beginning of his reign, George the Third planned to do things differently. His great grandfather and grandfather, George the First and George the Second, had both been born and raised in the German Principality of Hanover, and they spoke German as their first language, which meant that they were perceived as German by their British subjects. Their family had gained the British throne thanks to seventeen o one's Act of Settlement, which declared that only a Protestant could

rule England. When the childless Queen Anne died in seventeen fourteen, who you might know from the movie The Favorite, the throne passed to her nearest Protestant relative, George the First, who began what became known as the Hannoverian line of British monarchs from his Hanoverian predecessors. George the Third inherited the throne of Great Britain and also a unique tradition

of hatred between father and son. George the First and his son George the Second fought bitterly over matters both political and personal, and the pattern repeated itself with George the Second and his eldest son, Frederick, Prince of Wales. Frederick died in seventeen fifty one before his father, but Frederick's widow, Augusta, continued the estrangement with the King and so the young of future George the Third grew up

barely knowing his grandfather. When in seventeen sixty the twenty two year old George the Third learned that his grandfather was dead, he vowed to break the pattern set by his forebearers. He would be a truly English king of the English, and he would have a close relationship with his children. He would be more successful on the first count than the second. On the first count, he nailed it. In fact, he is the only British monarch to never

once leave England. But his relationship with his children, well we'll get to that. On August twelfth, seventeen sixty two, Queen Charlotte gave birth to the couple's first child, a son,

whom they named George Augustus Frederick. I know there are a lot of George's in this story, so for clarity's sake, will refer to this newborn baby child George the future regent future George the fourth as the Prince of Wales, which is the ideal that he had during when this story takes place, and will refer to his father, King George the Third as King George. So over the next

twenty one years. King George's wife, Queen Charlotte, would give birth to fourteen more children, six girls and nine boys, and almost all of them would reach adulthood. The King and Queen raised their children in relative simplicity. Both had frugal tastes. Cartoons of the day regularly lampooned them for drinking the cheapest wine and eating the worst cuts of meat.

They were a pretty wholesome couple. George never took a mistress, and he was sometimes affectionately referred to as Farmer George for his interest in agriculture. The couple hoped to instill the same wholesome habits in their children. They also hoped to raise well educated, well disciplined children, and to this end, the king created a strict, highly structured educational curriculum for his princes. If the boys misbehaved or they didn't pay

attention in lessons, they were whipped by their tutors. The princess's education was focused mostly on art and music, but like their brothers, they were raised strictly. The queen instructed their governesses to never allow any quote, incivilities or lightness in their behavior unquote. Though the king had hoped to create a warmer relationship with his children than he had

shared with his own parents and grandparents. He was unwilling to bend royal protocol enough to actually allow that the Royal children were not allowed to speak to their parents unless spoken to, They had to walk backwards when leaving their parents presence, and as soon as they left infancy, they almost never saw their parents in informal settings. The pressure placed on them was enormous, and affection from their

parents was explicitly tied to obedience and perfection. When the Prince of Wales and his younger brother Frederick were sixteen and fifteen, respectively, King George wrote to them, quote, act uprightly and show the anxious care I have had of you has not been misspent, and you will ever find me not only an affectionate father, but a sincere friend unquote,

so not exactly unconditional love. Similarly, the Queen, writing to her third son William, told him quote, I love you so well that I cannot bear the thought of you being only mediocre. Perfection is the thing you should aim at end quote. The result of this demanding, joyless upbringing created children who would, as the historian John vander Kist would write quote yearned to be everything. They're stolid, stayed dutiful.

Parents were not endquote. As the children emerged from the cloistered world their parents had built for them, they began to run wild. The Prince of Wales was the first to disappoint their parents. At age seventeen, in love with his sister's twenty three year old governess Mary Hamilton's, he wrote her a letter describing his own character pretty honestly, saying, quote he was rather too fond of wine and women unquote. Rebuffed by Hamilton's, the prince turned his attention to the

actress Mary Robinson. Robinson, married with an infant daughter, saw the prince's affections as a chance to secure her family's fortunes, and shrewdly she held down to the prince's effusive love letters, many of which promised her money. When the affair ended a year later, the letters were brought to the King's attention. Few Curious, he had his courtiers negotiate a payoff with Robinson.

He then sent the prince's two younger brothers, Frederick and William, out of the country to keep them away from the bad influence of their older brother William, Duke of Clarence, the third son, was sent into the navy, where he gained a taste for practical jokes and a hearty, casual manner, which endeared him to his shipmates but didn't serve him

as well in refined royal circles. The second son, Frederick, Duke of York, was the father's favorite, and he was sent to the family seat in Hanover for military training. Though King George had vowed to always put England first, he saw Germany as an excellent training ground for his sons, and Frederick was eventually joined there in five by the fourth in line, Edward, and then a year later by three more brothers, Ernest, August and Adolphus, who went to

study at the University of go Engen. If the king thought that separation from the scandalous Prince of Wales would keep the younger brothers in line, he was mistaken. The duchies of Germany had young noblewomen and gambling halls of plenty. Though the king only gave his son's modest allowances, merchants and casino proprietors were only too willing to extend the young men enormous lines of credit. Because of their royal name. In short order, they all wrecked up thousands of pounds

of debt. The King begrudgingly paid off their debts and admonished the boys harshly, only for the cycle to begin again. The princes were no more responsible in their conduct with women, although, as with their extravagance spending, their romantic affairs could be seen as a former rebellion against the restrictions placed on

them by their father. In sventeen seventy two, King George the Third had proposed a parliament in Act regulating royal marriages, which was eventually passed as the originally titled Royal Marriages Act.

The king was motivated by the shocking marriages of his siblings, including his brother Prince Henry's seventeen seventy one marriage to a widowed commoner named Anne Horton, and his sister Caroline Matilda's disastrous, scandal written marriage to the mentally ill King of Denmark, which is a story that I covered in the episode Queen Caroline Matilda's Personal Doctor. That marriage led

to a very scandalous affair. So George was understandably nervous when it came to the idea of his children's marriages. With the new provisions of the Act, any descendants of King George the Second could not marry without the consent of the reigning monarch. There was an exception if a descendant was older than twenty five and permission was refused by the monarch, the descendant could still marry, but only

with one year's notice and an assent of Parliament. However, it was thought unlikely that Parliament, knowing that the monarch disapproved, would ever consent to the marriage. Previous acts further limited who the royal family could marry. Most importantly, any royal family member who married a Catholic would be removed from

the line of succession. Though the purpose of all of these restrictions, especially the Royal Marriages Act, was to promote good, beneficial marriages within the royal family, many even at the time, believed it would have the opposite effect. If the royal children weren't allowed to marry who they loved, it seemed likely that they would simply go unmarried, and, as the

saying goes quote, live in sin. One member of Parliament went so far as to joking, we call the Royal Marriages Act quote an act to encourage fornication and adultery in descendants of George the Second. His prediction would quickly prove true. In December seen, the Prince of Wales secretly

married Maria fitz Herbert, a twice widowed Catholic commoner. You can hear more about that doomed relationship in the episode of this podcast called What I Has Wept For George the Fourth and the Prince of Wales wasn't the only brother to secretly wed. Prince Augustus, Duke of Sussex, the sixth son, married Lady Augusta Murray, a Scottish noblewoman, in

seventeen first in Italy and then again in England. Their marriage was annulled by the court in sevente because of its violation of the Royal Marriages Act, but the couple stayed together until eighteen o one and had two children. The Duke of Sussex later took up with another woman, Lady Cecilia Underwood, who he married after the death of Lady Augusta in eighteen thirty one. Other brothers chose a

less formal but no less scandalous approach to romance. William, Duke of Clarence had a twenty year relationship with the Irish actress Dorothea Bland, known as Mrs Jordan's. The couple had ten children together and they lived together in relative happiness until eighteen eleven, when the Duke's mounting debts meant that he needed to marry someone for income. He spent the next few years unsuccessfully pursuing a number of young heiresses. Another brother, Edward, Duke of Kent, also had a long

term relationship with his mistress Julie St. Laurent. After meeting in sev The couple remained together for more than twenty five years. Their life together was good, though they had to live abroad where expend as were lower given the Duke's surprise surprise large debts. Frederick, Duke of York, the favorite son remember, unlike most of his brothers, actually married legally.

In seventeen he married Frederica Charlotte of Prussia, at the behest of his father, who hoped that his favorite second son could provide the legitimate air that the then illegally wed Prince of Wales would not. Unfortunately, Frederick and Frederica, despite their names, were an ill suited match, and by seventeen ninety four, they were amicably separated, with Frederica moving to their country home Oatlands, where she would live surrounded by a menagerie of pets until her death. They had

no children. After the failure of Frederick's marriage, the Prince of Wales reluctantly agreed to leave Maria fitz Herbert and pursue a legitimate Mary. The King's promise to pay off his debts certainly helped to motivate him to in sev The Prince of Wales married Caroline of Brunswick woofin Bottle. This arranged couple hated each other nearly instantly, but they did have one daughter, Charlotte in January, the princess whose tragic death twenty one years later would set the succession

crisis in motion. Given nearly all of the Prince's scandalous behavior and outrageous debts, they were nearly universally despised by the English public. Percy Shelley wrote of them, quote princes the dregs of their dull race, who flow through public scorn mud from a muddy spring. Rulers who neither see, nor feel, nor no but each like to their fainting

country Kling unquote a pretty devastating poem. The Duke of Wellington, remarking on the enormous sums the princes frequently requested from the parliament, called them quote the damnedest millstones around the neck of any government that can be imagined unquote, and what if the princesses Of the six girls, only one married while of childbearing age, largely because their parents preferred

to keep them close by as companions. Charlotte, the eldest daughter apologies, I know there are a lot of Charlotte's two in this story. This is not Charlotte the granddaughter who died at one, nor Queen Charlotte. This is a different Charlotte. The Queen's eldest daughter, married Frederick, Crown Prince of Wurteinberg In, but they had no children. The next or to wed would be Mary, who nearly twenty years later married her cousin, William, Duke of Gloucester in eighteen sixteen.

Though the Duke loved Mary, her own motives for marriage were more complicated, as her niece, Princess Charlotte recorded marriage gave Mary an opportunity to escape her parents grasp quote being her own mistress, having her own house and being able to walk in the streets all delight her in their several ways end quote. Unfortunately, William would prove to be even more controlling than Mary's parents, the King and Queen.

The next Princess, Elizabeth, married Frederick Lane, Grave of hesse Homburg, for similar reasons to marry, though their marriage would actually be much happier. Some of her sisters found other outlets to evade the control of their parents. Sophia is rumored to have had an illegitimate child by her father's chief equerry, Thomas Garth, while Augusta had a long term relationship with

an army officer, Sir Brent Spencer. Outside their romantic entanglements and financial problems, the princes and princesses also had to confront their fathers increasingly unstable physical and mental health, which had begun to deteriorate by the early seventeen nineties. His incapacity caused inter family power struggles, which would largely be resolved by making the Prince of Wales the Prince Regent, a role in which he would serve as ruler because the monarch was unable to do so. If you ever

wondered why that period is called the regency. This is why the prince was the regent. All of this is to say that by eighteen seventeen, when Princess Charlotte died, the thirteen living children of King George the Third and Queen Charlotte had weathered unhappy childhood's, illicit relationships, family drama, and unsuccessful marriages. They were almost all immature, impetuous, sheltered, scandal ridden, and altogether uniquely unsuited for the responsibility of

carrying on the family line. Unfortunately, their family and their country now desperately needed them to produce an air. As we enter into the frenzied royal marriage market of eighteen eighteen, let's review our not so eligible bachelors. As all of the princesses were past childbearing age, the focus was exclusively on the princes. Of the seven living sons, four were

already married but with no living or legitimate issue. That left us with three middle aged dukes on the hunt for princesses, William, Duke of Clarence, Edward, Duke of Kent, and Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge. One other brother, Ernst Duke of Cumberland, had recently married Frederica of Mecklenburg Strelitz, a German princess who had previously broken the heart of one of Ernest's younger brothers. Queen Charlotte hated Frederica because of

this rejection and refused to accept her into court. Ernest himself was a deeply controversial figure, accused at various times of murder, incest, and election interference, all of which I discussed on this podcast. Seems like ages ago, truly in the episode the Butler in the Bedroom with a Saber. If you're wondering why I've covered so many HANNOVERI intangents on this podcast, it is because there are just so

many scandals. But the Cumberlands were not thought of often during the succession crisis due to their unpopularity, and though they would eventually have children, they were low in the line of succession. They would later become the rulers of Hannover. But back to our bachelor's Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge was the youngest of the bunch at forty three. He had had no serious romantic attachments, suffered no notable scandals, and was lively musical and energetic relative to his brother's quite

a catch. His older brother William, had asked Adolphus to find him a bride shortly after Charlotte's death, and when Adolphus wrote to William about a young Princess Augusta of hes Cassell, his description was so glowing that William declared Adolphus ought to marry Augusta himself. Adolphus happily took his brother up on the offer, and the couple was married

in May eighteen eighteen. They returned to England three weeks later, where the twenty year old bride, who spoke almost no English, was overwhelmed to be greeted by throngs of cheering crowds at Dover. William, Duke of Clarence, turned his attention to Princess Adelaide of Sacksmen, again twenty seven years younger than he was. Adelaide was said to be plain and sax Mine again was a poor principality, but she was practical and kind hearted, even willing to take the Duke's ten

illegitimate children under her wing. William, if you recall it, was the former navy man, and he had spent much of his life frittering away his privileges. But he seemed to come into a new sense of responsibility in the presence of his young bride. Quote I cannot, I will not, I must not ill use her, he wrote to his

eldest illegitimate son, George FitzClarence. In March eighteen eighteen. He considered calling off the marriage entirely, but the promise of an increased allowance from Parliament, as well as the prospect of a stepmother for his many children, whose mother, the actress Dorothea Jordan, had died in eighteen sixteen, was too

tempting to resist. In July, Adelaide and her mother traveled to England and prepared for the wedding ceremony, which would be a double They were all in such a rush to get married and have legitimate children that William was married alongside his younger brother, Edward, Duke of Kent. Edward, now nearing fifty, was the most straight laced of the brothers. He did not drink or gamble, though he still regularly exceeded his income, spending extravagantly on renovations to his estates

and ealing in Knightsbridge. He had spent time in the military, but his career ended in humiliation after the soldiers under his command in Gibraltar mutinied over his decision to close the city's wine shops. At the time of Princess Charlotte's death, he was living in Brussels with his longtime mistress Julie St. Laurent, but marriage had been on his mind for some time and it was likely the only way to settle his debts.

He even traveled to Russia in eighteen sixteen to meet one perspective bride, but he deemed her too old, even though she was eight years younger than he was. After Charlotte's death, Edward renewed his hunt for a bride, this time with an unlikely wingman, Prince Leopold, Princess Charlotte's widower. Leopold thought he knew just the right woman for Edward

his own sister, Victoire, Dowager, Princess of line Engen. Victoire had married the Crown Prince of line Engen, twenty three years her senior, when she was seventeen, and she had had two children with him before she was widowed eleven years later. Like her brother Leopold, Victoire had glossy, dark hair, fine features, and a tall frame. Edward went to visit her in line Engen, a German principality where Victoire was serving as regent for her ten year old son Carl,

and he proposed only days leader. At first, Victoire was resistant. She had a good life in Germany, and she spoke no English, and she felt no strong connection to the English duke nearly two decades older than her, who I guess was her brother's ex uncle in law. More than any of that, she worried that marriage to Edward might

mean losing custody of her children in Germany. But Leopold, the widower, hoping to retain his place in the English royal family after his wife's death, worked hard to encourage his sister. Eventually, after Edward pledged that Victoire would not lose her children, she accepted his proposal. In January eighteen eighteen, She wrote to him, quote, I am leaving an agreeable, independent physician in the hope that your affection will be

my reward unquote. Edward delightedly replied that he would do everything he could to make her happy, and also assured her that his relationship with his mistress, Julie Sant Laurent was over. As indeed it was He had given his partner of twenty plus years a modest pension and set her off to Paris, where she quietly mourned her lost love.

Edward and Victoire, the Duke and Duchess of Kent, were married in Germany, and then they traveled in England for the double wedding with William and Adelaide, the Duke and Duchess of Clarence. Now with four royal couples able to have children, the Clarences, the Kent's, the Cumberland's and the Cambridges in order of succession, the public eagerly awaited news of incoming airs. They didn't have to wait long. By

late eighteen eighteen, all four duchesses were visibly pregnant. On March eighteen, nineteen augusta Duke of Cambridge gave birth to a son. The baby was an enormous relief and delight to the royal family and public alike. Though the Duke of Cambridge was the youngest brother of these four, meaning that any children his elder brothers might have would now supplant his son in the line of succession, and Air was an heir and the handover line was now secured.

The very next day, Adelaide, Duchess of Clarence, went into premature labor. The Clarences were at the top of the line of succession, at least among the couples who could have children at this point. Unfortunately, though their baby, a girl they named Charlotte, lived only a few hours following her premature birth. The Kents received the news of the Cambridge's joy and the Clarence's sorrow while en route to England.

Edward strongly believed that his child would inherit the throne, and he wanted the baby to be born in England, as he felt this would strengthen the English people's support for his child's claim, and so in late March, Edward and the eight months pregnant Victoire embarked on an arduous, month long journey from their home where they were living in Germany, to England. They had so little money that

the Duke himself drove their carriage to save costs. The rest of the trip was paid for by various supporters. The Prince Regent, Edward's brother, refused to help, until fearing bad press, he offered the couple the use of the Royal yacht to cross the English Channel. The Kents arrived at Kensington Palace in late April to find the palace in disarray. Their apartments had not been used in five years because they were living in Germany. The walls were

dripping with damp and rot. Edward immediately began a program of refurbishment, spending more than two thousand pounds to kid out the place, while Victoire prepared for the birth with her German ladies in waiting and a j a Men physician Charlotte von Seybold, a female physician. On May twenty second, Edward completed his renovation projects. The very next evening, Victoire went into labor at four am. On May twenty four, eighteen nineteen, the Duchess gave birth to a healthy baby girl.

Over the next few years, other children would be born to the Cambridges and the Cumberlands, but none would surpass the Kent's daughter in the order of succession. Adelaide, Duchess of Clarence, suffered a number of miscarriages. In late eighteen twenty, she gave birth six weeks early to an apparently healthy baby, but the girl, named Elizabeth, lived only five months. The Clarences would never have another surviving child together. Fortunately, their

marriage was a happy one. Adelaide proved a calming influence on William, and she enjoyed warm relationships with his ten illegitimate children, as well as relationships with her nieces and nephews. She was particularly close to the Kent's daughter, once writing to Victoire, quote, my children are dead, but your child lives, and she is mine too unquote. So who was this beloved little Kent girl? On June twenty four, two months after her birth, the Prince Regent hosted a christening ceremony

for her at Kensington Palace. Though the Prince Regent was glad to see the family line renewed, the site of the healthy baby girl brought to mind his lost daughter Charlotte and her stillborn child, and he couldn't help but resent the Kents their happiness. His pain bubbled over at the christening, where he told the shock parents that he would be choosing the baby's name. As the Archbishop of Canterbury held the infant over the baptismal font, the Regent

wavered back and forth before choosing Alexandrina. After the infant sponsor, Czar Alexander of Russia, Victori, the baby's mother, burst into tears at this. She had given up her homeland and her native tongue to become an English duchess, and in return she was being denied the chance to name her own daughter. The Prince Regent relented lively, declaring give her the mother's name also then, but it cannot proceed that

of the Emperor. The baby was thus christened Alexandrina Victoria, though today we of course know her best as Queen Victoria. The path to the throne would not be a smooth one for the young Victoria. Her family had little money to begin with, relatively speaking, and they were put in an even more precarious position after her father unexpectedly died of pneumonia in January eight teen twenty, when she was

still an infant. But the Kent's persevered, and eventually, after the deaths of Victoria's grandfather, George the Third, her eldest uncle George the Fourth, and then another uncle, the Duke of Clarence a k a. King William the Fourth, Victoria would become Queen of England, and Queen Victoria, perhaps intrinsically understanding the need to play the odds when it came to royal children, would go on to have nine children of her own. The Hanover line had lived to rule

another day. That's the story of the succession crisis of eighteen seventeen. But keep listening after a brief sponsor break to hear a little bit more about the journey of pregnant Victory to deliver her baby on English soil. To keep her baby safe while on the dangerous journey to England. In April eighteen nineteen, the heavily pregnant Duchess of Kent, Victoire had enlisted the help of a well regarded physician,

Charlotte von Seybold. Sebald was a prominent figure in the German medical community, the daughter of two physicians, her mother, Regina von Seybold, was the first woman to receive a university degree in Germany. Like Regina, Charlotte attended university, receiving her degree in obstetrics from Geeseing University in eighteen seventeen.

Though Victoire was required to have British doctors at her side during the birth, she also insisted on having von Siebold present, perhaps in part because she was well aware of the way that British male physicians had so grossly mismannered Princess Charlotte's tragic fatal childbirth. It would be Von Siebold who helped Victoire labor and Von Siebald who would announce the birth of the healthy baby girl on May

twenty four, eighteen nineteen. After the birth, Von Siebald stayed in England for several more months before returning to Germany to deliver another royal infant. This baby was born on August six, eighteen nineteen, in Schlas Rosenau to Earnest the third Duke of Saxe Coburg Softfield and Louise of Saxe Coburg Altenburg. The delighted parents named their baby boy Francis Albert Augustus Charles Emmanuel, but he went simply by Albert.

This baby would grow up to be Albert of Saxe Coburg and Gotha, the kindly patient prince, who would on February eighteen forty Mary Queen Victoria. Noble Blood is a production of I Heart Radio and Grimm and Mild from Aaron Mankey. Noble Blood is hosted by me Danishwartz. Additional writing and researching done by Hannah Johnston, Hannah's Wick, Mirra Hayward, Courtney Sunder and Laurie Goodman. The show is produced by rema Il Kali, with supervising producer Josh Thane and executive

producers Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.