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The life and reign of Elizabeth II

Background:

In November 1817 Princess Charlotte of Wales died in childbirth along with her child. The Princess had been the only legitimate grandchild of George III, the only daughter of the Prince Regent, and her death meant for the first time in a century the British throne faced a succession crisis.

Charlotte's numerous uncles were all childless and with her death there was a mad dash to the altar as they fought to provide a much needed heir to the throne.

The Prince Regent was unable to remarry given he was still tied to his estranged wife and the Duke and Duchess of York were estranged and childless.

A marriage and a baby:

William Duke of Clarence, third in line of succession, would spend several months trying to find a suitable Protestant princess who would have him and cope with his brood of illegitimate children by his former mistress Dorothy Jordan. In July 1818 he would finally marry the Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen - a sensible young woman, with a kind disposition.

The couple's first attempt at a child were initially unsuccessful though - a daughter Princess Charlotte was born and died in March 1819. But at St James' Palace on 10 December 1820 the Duchess of Clarence was delivered of a second daughter.

Her Highness Princess Elizabeth Georgina Adelaide of Clarence was christened the same day as the infant Princess was several weeks premature and perhaps unkind people might have assumed she would not have survived.
Careful nursing and a devoted mother saw the infant thrive - at her birth she was third in line to the throne (behind her uncle Frederick Duke of York and her father William Duke of Clarence).

It is easy to assume that her parents in naming her were dreaming of a second Elizabeth I however it was perhaps unlikely.
Although The Duke of Clarence was likely to ascend the throne, the Duchess was still a young woman and Elizabeth was her third pregnancy and more children and perhaps even a boy might be expected. She would deliver stillborn twin boys in 1822.

The little girl at Bushy house was a year or more younger than the other three children (Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent (b1819), Prince George of Cumberland (b1819) and Prince George of Cambridge (B1819)) that had resulted from her uncle's hasty marriages but she was by far the most important.

Childhood to accession:

Princess Elizabeth as largely raised by her pious and conservative mother Adelaide in an atmosphere of cozy informality at Bushy House at Teddington.
Her childhood companions would include the youngest of her half siblings (the children of her father by the actress Mrs Jordan).
It was by her own later account shortly after her mother's death the "happiest of childhoods".

There would also be visits to Bushy by her cousin Princess Alexandrina Victoria (Drina) but they were rare as the Duchess of Kent objected to the presence of the Duke's illegitimate children and feared the "lax" moral influence of the Duke's unusual family.

Eliza as she was known was a pretty and intelligent child by the accounts of her half sisters and her parents doted on her. Her lessons included French, German, Italian, and Latin - she spoke English with her father and siblings and a mixture of German and English with her mother.

After her father's accession her formal governess was the King's close friend Charlotte Duchess of Northumberland. Although it was a nominal role the Duchess kept an eye on the Princess' education and often raised household issues with the King and Queen in relation to their daughter.

From birth she had been third in line to the throne after her uncle, the Duke of York, and her father but in 1827 she became second in line to the throne and by order of her uncle was now addressed as Royal Highness.

When she was 9 her father succeeded his brother as King and the young Princess became heiress presumptive. There was considerable interest by newspapers in the little princess particularly during the turbulent time of the Great Reform Act when the Times described her as Britain's hope for the future.

The change in her family life certainly meant an end to the cozy life at Bushy House. Her mother established a household for the Princess at Marlborough House from 1831, though invariably she was lodged wherever her parents were. Parliament aware of the age of the King and her youth also moved to establish a regency act in the event she was not of age at her accession it also provided a regency in the event she died before her father leaving the throne to her cousin Alexandrina Victoria.

Another consideration which dominated her father's mind was who she would marry - The Duke of Cumberland (whose reactionary views were pretty similar to Queen Adelaide's) was hopeful she would marry his son Prince George thus keeping the thrones of Britain and Hanover united, her father who disliked his brother Cumberland was more favourably inclined to his other nephew Prince George of Cambridge.
Other suitors were also considered by her father - Prince Alexander and Prince Henry of The Netherlands (favoured strongly by William IV), Louis Duke of Nemours (son of Louis Philippe) was briefly considered after his visit to England in 1835 but was thought unlikely on grounds of religion, along with a raft of minor German princelings (who might it was said be more willing to play second fiddle to the British Queen).

The King of The Belgians was keen to promote the interests of his own nephews writing to his sister the Duchess of Kent that perhaps she could mention them to both the King and Queen as "their admirable qualities" would surely recommend them well to the young Princess. It was perhaps a bit unlikely given the Duchess of Kent's poor relationship with the King and his wife.

King William IV personally favoured Alexander of The Netherlands largely based on his knowledge of the boy's father the Prince of Orange who had served in the British Army and had once been considered as a groom for Princess Charlotte - the Prince and his Russian wife were also keen on such an illustrious match for their second son and little was done to discourage the idea. William also believed a non-German match would perhaps have more appeal to Parliament and the populace.

Little had been decided though when in June 1837 William IV finally died.

Accession and a second regency:

In her diary the new 16-year-old Queen would write:

"Was woken by Mama at 11 of the evening and went with her to Papa's rooms and sat by his bed with the others. Poor dear man I think he never recovered from dearest Sophy's death and he passed just after two. He was such a good, dear and kind father to me and I feel this loss deeply. We were all struck dumb until Mama rose and curtsied to me before kissing my hand. I am ashamed I burst into tears at that and Mama had to hold me until I could compose myself. Then went to Papa's sitting room where Lord Coyninham and the Archbishop bowed before me most low and told me that Mama was to be regent."

The first issue facing the Royal Family was where they would live - Queen Adelaide was all for remaining at Windsor and continuing to use Marlborough House and Bushy House - her daughter the new Queen would of course live with her she told Lord Melbourne, the Prime Minister.

King William had continued the rebuilding of Buckingham Palace begun by his brother but notably more parsimonious than his brother he had tried to give it away to the Government and the army. With work nearing completion it was now expected that the young Queen would occupy the building. Queen Adelaide refused pointedly to consider moving though so the matter was dropped and the Palace would remain empty for the time being.

Elizabeth herself quite liked the building and would write to her sister Lady Falkland:
"Accompanied Mama to look at the rooms proposed for us at Buckingham House. Even Mama admitted they are nicely proportioned and all in elegance however she kept muttering in that way of hers about the cost, the waste and so forth. I liked it well enough and thought it very fitting for a Queen. The gardens have the potential to be quite lovely and it certainly has more rooms than dear old Bushy."

The Queen's Coronation it was decided would not wait until after she attained her majority on 10 December 1838 and would instead take place earlier in June.
Queen Adelaide also insisted that her daughter be with her in meetings with Ministers and officials to better understand her duties unless unseemly or inappropriate matters were to be discussed.

The little Queen's household would initially be little more than that which she had as heiress presumptive - Queen Adelaide was convinced her daughter should enjoy a little freedom and be surrounded by "all that is familiar to her" before she took full control of her duties. Lord Melbourne, the Prime Minister, was also keen to spend time with the young Queen and shortly after her accession would spend several hours explaining things to her in detail prompting some gossip about his attentions.

Melbourne himself was concerned about the Queen's accession and was worried that she would be "very much of her mother's mind and opinion" referring to the well known opposition of Queen Adelaide to reform which to be fair to the Queen has been overstated as she was by no means as reactionary as her brother in law the new King of Hanover.
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