By George! The Duke of Clarence Wants a Wife

After George IV’th daughter died. leaving no heir, England turned to George’s brothers. Unluckily, it was slim pickings there.

If the Duke of Clarence knew what he was getting into while searching for a wife, he might have had second thoughts. Fortunately for you, dear reader, he didn’t, so…First to be asked was Catherine Tylney-Long, a “lovely nice little angel worth 40,000 pounds a year.” She held out for the Duke of Wellington’s nephew. Next up was the equally wealthy Margaret Mercer Elphinstone, whom we met earlier as the woman the Prince Regent chose to look after Charlotte while she was held incommunicado at Cranbourne Lodge.

Miss Elphinstone, “in the most decided and peremptory terms, rejected him.” Onward to Princess Caroline’s good chum Lady Charlotte Lindsey. Miss Lindsey, “turned him down with similar promptitude.” Further down the list was the Dowager Lady Downshire. No sale. Then the widow of the Earl of Berkeley.

This was a double barreled rejection. First, the Prince Regent told him in no uncertain terms that a “butchers daughter” was totally unacceptable as a sister in law. Then the good Lady herself told him to go soak his head. Gathering up the tattered remnants of his ego, the Duke next went after…are you ready for this…the Grand Duchess of Oldenburg! Yes, THAT Grand Duchess of Oldenburg! The Tsar’s sister.

Not only did the Duke wish to pay court to her, but he went to the Prince Regent for the money to do so. Something of a necessity since the government rejected his request for funds out of hand. The really amazing thing is, the Prince gave him the money! I assume he did so secure in the knowledge that the Grand Duchess would find the Duke no more suitable than any of the other women that he had approached had. The Prince gave his brother 1,000 pounds and wished him happy hunting.

The Grand Duchess found him, “awkward, not without wit, but definitely unpleasant and wholly wanting in delicacy.” It then occurred to the Duke that his new brother in law, the Duke of Gloucester, had an unmarried sister. She stayed that way. The Duke returned to the Prince Regent with a new strategy.

He would pop over to the Continent and look for a bride there. He had, “not any doubt that the eldest daughter of Landgrave Frederick of Hesse was a lady in every respect fit to be his wife, provided pecuniary matters could be arranged and the lady’s consent obtained.” More money down the rat hole. The lady’s consent was not obtained.

Since he was already in Germany, he decided to have a shot at Caroline, the eldest daughter of the Electoral Prince of Hesse-Cassel. He missed. Although the youngest daughter of this worthy gentleman, Augusta, later married the Duke of Cambridge.

At this point, the Duke’s wife-hunting was becoming something of a spectator sport. Lord Auckland concluded that the “doctors” looking after the King might have a new patient. However, early in 1818, the Duke finally hit pay dirt. Or so he thought.

Princess Mary came to the Prince Regent with the news that mom was “half distracted by a letter from the Duke in which he announced that he had proposed, and been accepted by Miss Wyckham.” Miss Wyckham, “a fine, vulgar miss” was heiress to the Oxfordshire estate of Lord Wenman. According to Lady Jerningham; “On this being told to the Regent, his Royal Highness groaned, which is, it seems, his way of disapproving.”

He wasn’t the only one who disapproved. The Duke informed Mary that he didn’t care if no one approved, he was In Love, let the world think what it may. Alas for the Duke, Parliment’s approval was a prerequisite for his happy union and parliament told him that it was, “their indispensable duty to declare that it would not be in the best interests of the State to accede to the Duke’s request.”

Hard to argue with that. And, to everyone’s surprise, he didn’t. He dropped it, and Miss Wyckham. He did ask that a barony be conferred on Miss Wyckham. He didn’t tell anyone why although many suspected that he had made the offer as a bribe to get her to say “yes.” The State said “NO.” And that was the end of that.

He didn’t stay unhappy for long. He had finally found the girl of his dreams in the person of Princess Adelaide, oldest daughter of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Meiningen. According to Charles Greville she was “frightful, very ugly with a horrid complexion.” But she was breathing! And unmarried! That’s all the Duke needed to know.

It helped enormously that the Queen knew her and her mum personally. A very nice girl, even tempered and modest, no unsavory past and, at twenty six, way overdue for a husband. Too bad about her face. Adelaide’s mom was tickled pink to have her girl marry into the English Royal Family. She obviously hadn’t heard about the Duke’s gambling debts yet. Speaking of which…

Hardly had his proposal been proposed than the Duke ran to Parliament to ask a little favor. He wanted an additional 10,000 pounds a year on top of his 18,000 pound annual allowance. Also…a townhouse. Also…extensive repairs to his house at Bushey. Also…ALL of his gambling debts paid off. Also… a “handsome provision” for his ten illegitimate kids. No word on the woman who bore them.

Parliament “declined to grant so large an addition to his present income.” The Duke was ready for that. If Parliament wouldn’t grant his modest requests then…then… he wouldn’t get married! There! Put THAT in your pipe and smoke it! According to one historian; “the problem was eventually settled.”

On July 11, 1818, the Duke of Clarence was married at Kew. And it was a Grand Royal “Twofer” because on that very same day and in that very same place, The Duke of Kent was also married.

– Mr. Al