forali.blogg.se

Tension between Kent and his eldest brother spilled over at the infant's baptism on 24 June 1819, when at the last moment the prince regent as godfather refused to allow her to be named Victoire Georgiana Alexandrina Charlotte Augusta after her mother and godparents, but he eventually agreed to Alexandrina Victoria (after her godfather, the tsar of Russia, and her mother). Relationships between the duke and duchess of Kent and the court of King George IV determined the character of the princess's early years. Unsubstantiated rumours that Victoria was not her father's child surface periodically. Charlotte's death in 1817 had precipitated the efforts to produce a new heir for the throne. Among the duchess's brothers were Ernest, duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, who was the father of the future prince consort, and the future king of the Belgians Leopold I (1790–1865), who had been the husband of Princess Charlotte of Wales. His wife was a young widow: born Princess Victoire of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1786–1861), she had married the prince of Leiningen, with whom she had two children, Prince Charles and Princess Feodore, before his death in 1814. She was the only legitimate child of the fourth son of King George III, Edward, duke of Kent (1767–1820), who in 1818 had abandoned Julie de St Laurent, his mistress of many years, in order to join his brothers in the attempt to provide an heir to the throne. Victoria ( 1819–1901), queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and empress of India, was born on at Kensington Palace, London. The Royal Collection © 2004 HM Queen Elizabeth II