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| Kew Palace |
The two couples who assembled at Kew Palace on that day were Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen and Prince William, Duke of Clarence, and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn. The ceremony took place in the Queen's drawing room and though it was the first for Adelaide and William, Edward and Victoria had previously undertaken a Lutheran ceremony in Coburg on 29th May 1818.
Eventually Adelaide would become the Queen of the United Kingdom and Hanover, remaining devotedly with her husband until his death nineteen years later. For Victoria the marriage was a shorter affair, ended by her husband's death after just two years. Although she was never to hold the title herself, she was, of course mother to Queen Victoria, a monarchical legend.
Life in the Georgian Court, true tales of 18th century royalty, is available at the links below.
9 comments:
To all three couples!
Planning a single ceremony was headache enough for me...
I researched this for my Christmas novella set in London in 1818, The Twelfth Night Wager...the whole race to produce an heir to the British throne that occurred at the time was quite a story!
Happy anniversary, Madame!
A wonderful tale!
Very interesting. It's unusual that two couples would want to share a wedding day, although, from what you say, Edward and Victoria were already married so, strictly speaking, it wasn't their wedding day. It's surprising that William and Adelaide married in a drawing room and not in a church or cathedral, but that's how the Royals did it in those days. Best wishes for your own wedding anniversary. Let's see, according to my little book, the eighth wedding anniversary is "electrical". So you can celebrate by buying an electrical appliance - a toaster or a vacuum cleaner. Very romantic!
Thank you! An electrical anniversary, that's a very modern tradition, isn't it?
Belated anniversary greetings for 2015. The so called gifts for anniversaries seem to have been established to give a couple all sorts of luxuries. It must have started during the depression or for poorer working class families .
If I remember correctly, the Queen was not happy with her son marrying Princess Victoria. I think Victoria was a widow.I think her daughter was the one who started the tradition of big church weddings. It is hard for modern readers and authors to understand how understated most weddings were. Though some were more elaborate and some had extended feasting the gentry and up usually went for quiet and family gatherings. The parries came later.
You're not belated for 2015, happily it's on 19th August. Victoria wasn't popular with the queen at all; I've focussed on her in a post elsewhere, quite a character!
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