Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld - Widowhood

Widowhood

The Duke of Kent died suddenly of pneumonia in January 1820, a few days before his father, King George III. The widowed Duchess had little cause to remain in the United Kingdom, not speaking the language and having a palace at home in Coburg, where she could live cheaply on the incomes of her first husband, the late Prince of Leiningen. However, the British succession at this time was far from assured – of the three brothers superior to Edward in the line of succession, the new King, George IV, and the Duke of York were both estranged from their wives (both wives being past the age when they were likely to bear any children) and the third, the Duke of Clarence (the future William IV) had yet to produce any surviving children through his marriage. The Duchess decided that she would do better by gambling on her daughter's accession than by living quietly in Coburg, and sought support from the British government, having inherited her husband's debts. After the death of Edward and his father, the young Princess Alexandrina Victoria was still only third in line for the throne, and Parliament was not inclined to support yet another impoverished royal. The Duchess of Kent was allowed a suite of rooms in the dilapidated Kensington Palace, along with several other impoverished nobles. There she brought up her daughter, Victoria, who would become Queen of the United Kingdom, and eventually Empress of India.

The Duchess was given little financial support from the Civil List, though she inherited little but debts from her husband. Parliament was not inclined to increase her income, remembering the Duke's extravagance. Her brother, Prince (later King of the Belgians) Leopold, was a major support, since he had a huge income of fifty thousand pounds per annum for life, which Parliament allotted to him on his marriage to Princess Charlotte of Wales, as he was expected to become the consort of the monarch in due course; that is, until Princess Charlotte died in childbirth (nonetheless, Parliament never revoked Prince Leopold's annuity).

In 1831, with George IV dead and the new King, William IV, still without legitimate issue, the young princess' status as heiress-presumptive and the Duchess's prospective place as Regent led to major increases in income. A contributing factor was Leopold's designation as King of the Belgians (he surrendered his British income on election) and the perceived impropriety in having the heiress-presumptive to the Crown supported by a foreign sovereign.