The Heirs of King George III of Great Britain
The Royal Succession From King George IV to Queen Victoria
Sep 9, 2009
Although King George III of Great Britain and his wife Queen Charlotte had fifteen children, it was with great difficulty that the next generation of the Hanover dynasty produced legitimate heirs. It was a labyrinthine struggle of reluctant marriages and dead heirs that led to a young Queen Victoria eventually coming to the throne.
The Heir of Prince George, the Prince of Wales
Parliament bribed King George III’s eldest son, George the Prince of Wales, who would later become King George IV, with an increase of his allowance and payment of all his debts if he would make a suitable marriage. He needed the money so he reluctantly married his first cousin Caroline of Brunswick, an unhappy marriage that produced only one child, Princess Charlotte.
Princess Charlotte was a very popular princess, and may have one day become Queen of England if not for her early death. She married Prince Leopold of Coburg, and they had a happy marriage that sadly ended in November 1817, when Princess Charlotte died after giving birth to a stillborn son.
Prince George, now regent for his ailing father King George III, now had no heir and there was no chance of his going back to his hated wife to produce more. So the next generation of heirs would have to come from his siblings.
King George III’s Other Children Race to Produce an Heir
After Princess Charlotte died, King George III had no legitimate grandchildren. His children could still inherit, but they needed to produce heirs if they didn’t want the crown to later go to a distant relation. All of King George III’s daughters were childless and too old to bear children, and all of his sons’ children were illegitimate. So his sons began to marry so they could produce the next generation of heirs.
After Prince George came the second oldest son, Prince Frederick, Duke of York. He was married but childless, and his wife was too old to provide him with a child now anyway.
After Prince Frederick came Prince William, the Duke of Clarence, who would later become King William IV. The Duke of Clarence was in love with his mistress, with whom he had ten illegitimate children, but he could see that it was his duty to produce an heir. So he married Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen in 1818. Their marriage was happy and lasted throughout his reign, but although they had two daughters neither of them survived childhood.
After these three childless princes came the fourth brother Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, who would successfully produce an heir in his daughter Victoria. After Princess Charlotte died, the Duke of Kent decided to get rid of his mistress and dutifully marry. In a double wedding with William and Adelaide, Edward married the widowed Princess Victoire of Leiningen, who had been born a princess of Saxe-Coburg and was the sister of Charlotte’s husband Prince Leopold.
The future Queen Victoria was duly born in May of 1819. The Duke of Kent died a few months later, in January 1820, ensuring that no brothers would be born to precede Victoria to the throne.
The English Royal Succession From King George III to Queen Victoria
Six days after the Duke of Kent died, his father King George III followed him to the grave and Prince George became King George IV. The Duke of York died in 1827, so when King George IV died in 1830 it was the Duke of Clarence who succeeded him as King William IV. King William IV lived just long enough to see his niece turn eighteen years old so she wouldn’t need a regent when she ascended the throne.
Queen Victoria succeeded her uncle in 1837, beginning the longest reign of any British monarch. Unfortunately, since she was female she couldn’t inherit the throne in Hanover, a small German kingdom that had been linked with Great Britain since 1710 when the first Hanover king was brought over to rule. Instead, her uncle the Duke of Cumberland inherited that throne as King Ernest Augustus I. Nevertheless, Queen Victoria’s reign was quite successful, and her large family assured that England and even other European monarchies are still ruled by Queen Victoria’s heirs.
Source:
Packard, Jerrold M. Victoria’s Daughters. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1998.
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