By George! Who Can Provide?

When Prince Goerge IV’s only children died, England turned to his siblings for a new heir. There were certainly plenty to chose from, but who could produce?

The duke of Kent was in the same boat as his brother, wife-wise. He needed to marry, but unlike the Duke of Clarence he was in no hurry to put aside his mistress, Mme de St Laurent. He considered himself so far down the list of heirs to the throne that perhaps no one would ever notice or care if he never did get married.

That would have suited he and Mme de St Laurent very well indeed. They were living together quite happily in Brussels, under rather modest circumstances since the Duke had turned over most of his properties, and hence, much of his income, to his creditors. Since 1816 he had been wife hunting in a rather dilatory manner, unlike his brothers frenzied, desperate behavior, and there was no real pressure from London to do otherwise.

That changed radically one day. According to one historian; “The Duke did not particularly want to marry. He was perfectly happy with Mme de St Laurent, who choked convulsively over her breakfast one morning soon after Princess Charlotte’s death, when she read an article in the Morning Chronicle on the subject of her lovers duty to marry and provide an heir.”

I don’t know why, Anastasia, but I thought of you when I first read that. Be that as it may, the Duke suddenly found himself front and center on the issue of providing an heir. This came to be because no one held out any hope of the Prince Regent ever producing more children, even in the unlikely event of his re-marrying. The Duke and Duchess of York had produced no children and didn’t seem likely to. Ditto with the Duke of Clarence.

The business at hand was producing an heir, and the Duke intended to proceed in a business-like manner. The first item on his agenda was making sure Mme de St Laurent was provided for. He wrote to his friend, Thomas Creevey; “Before anything is proceeded with in this matter, I shall hope and expect to see justice done by the nation and the Ministers to Mme de St Laurent. She is of very good family and has never been an actress, and I am the first and only person who ever lived with her.”

It says much about the Duke that he put that item first. He moved on to item two, what he expected for himself; “As to my own settlement, as I shall marry (if I marry at all) for the succession, I shall expect the Duke of York’s marriage to be considered the precedent. That was a marriage for the succession and 25,000 pounds for income was settled, in addition to all his other income,purely on that account. I shall be contented with the same arrangement…You have heard the names of the Princess of Baden and the Princess of Saxe-Coburg mentioned. The latter connection would perhaps be the better of the two, from the circumstances of Prince Leopold being so popular with the nation.”

And so it was decided. The Duke of Kent would marry Leopold’s sister, Victoria. She was thirty-one, the widow of the Prince of Leiningen-Dachsburg-Hardenburg. Although she was already considered middle-aged for that time, she was still young enough to produce an heir. In May 1818 the Duke sailed to Germany and married the Princess in Coburg. The following July, the marriage was solemnized by the Anglican Church at Kew. As the world knows, the Duchess of Kent did have a child and heir, a girl, she took mum’s name, Victoria. And the rest, as they say, was history.

– Mr Al