Princess Elizabeth of Clarence (Elizabeth Georgiana Adelaide; 10 December 1820 – 4 March 1821) was an infant member of the British royal family as the second daughter and third child of Prince William, Duke of Clarence and St Andrews (later King William IV) and his wife (later Queen), Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen. She was a granddaughter of King George III of the United Kingdom and a first cousin of Queen Victoria.
After having had one child who died on the day of her birth, Princess Charlotte (27 March 1819) and suffering a stillbirth, the third pregnancy of the Duchess of Clarence also did not go as expected. The Duchess delivered a girl, almost six weeks premature, on 10 December 1820 at St James's Palace. She was christened on the day of her birth at the Palace by William Howley, then Bishop of London.
The Duke and Duchess of Clarence had wanted to name her Georgina, but King George IV requested her to be named Elizabeth instead. The couple agreed and christened her "Elizabeth Georgiana Adelaide" (or Elizabeth-Georgiana-Adelaide).
She lived the remainder of her days at St James's Palace. After "being suddenly seized with the fatal disease, an intro-susception of the bowels" (probably gastroesophageal junction) she died shortly thereafter, aged 12 weeks. After her death, her mother suffered three more stillbirths.
Elizabeth was buried at Windsor Castle, in St George's Chapel, on 10 March 1821. During her short life, she was ahead of her cousin, the future Queen Victoria, in the line of succession.
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“How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary!”
—Bible: Hebrew Lamentations 1:1.
Said of Jerusalem.
“I consider women a great deal superior to men. Men are physically strong, but women are morally better.... It is woman who keeps the world in balance.”
—Mrs. Chalkstone, U.S. suffragist. As quoted in History of Woman Suffrage, vol. 2, ch. 16, by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage (1882)
“Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.”
—Richard Sherman, songwriter, Robert Sherman, songwriter, and Clarence Brown. A Spoonful of Sugar (song)