Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
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- See Princess Victoria for other Saxe-Coburg princesses named Victoria.
Marie Luise Viktoria, Princess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Duchess in Saxony (b. Coburg, August 17, 1786 - d. Frogmore House, March 16, 1861) was the mother of Queen Victoria.
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[edit] Early life
Victoria, born August 17, 1786, was the fourth daughter (but seventh child) of Duke Franz Frederick Anton, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Auguste Reuss of Ebersdorf und Lobenstein. By her second marriage she was the mother of Queen Victoria.
[edit] Marriage
[edit] First Marriage & Issue
On December 21, 1803 at Coburg, she married (as his second wife) Karl, Prince of Leiningen (1763 – 1814) whose first wife Henrietta Reuss of Ebersdorf was her aunt.
| Name | Birth | Death | Age | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Emich | 12 September 1804 | 13 November 1856 | 51 years | married on 13 February 1829 to Countess Maria Klebelsberg (27 March 1806–28 October 1880); had issue |
| Feodora | 7 December 1807 | 23 September 1872 | 64 years | Married 1828 to Ernst, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1794–1860); had issue |
[edit] Second Marriage & Issue
On May 29, 1818 at Coburg (and again on July 11, 1818 at Kew Palace) she married Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent (1767 – 1820).
| Name | Birth | Death | Age | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent | 24 May 1819 | 22 January 1901 | 81 years | Married 1840 to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; had issue. |
[edit] Widowhood
After the death of the Duke of Kent, his widowed Duchess had little cause to remain in England, not speaking the language and having a palace at home in Coburg, where she could live cheaply on the incomes of her first husband, the late Prince of Leiningen. However, the British succession at this time was far from assured: of the three brothers superior to the Duke in the line of succession, two were estranged from their wives (who were probably past childbearing anyway) and the third, the Duke of Clarence (the future William IV) had yet to produce any surviving children through his marriage. The Duchess decided that she would be better served to gamble on her daughter's accession than to live quietly in Coburg, and sought support from the British government, having inherited her husband's debts. At the time, the young Princess Victoria was only fourth in line for the throne, and Parliament was not inclined to support yet another impoverished royal. The Duchess of Kent was allowed a suite of rooms in the dilapidated Kensington Palace, along with several other impoverished nobles. There she brought up her daughter, Victoria, who would become Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, and eventually Empress of India.
[edit] Royal feud
The Duchess, who barely spoke English, relied heavily on John Conroy, an Irish officer whom she engaged as her private secretary. Perhaps due to Conroy's influence, the relationship between the Duchess's household and King William IV soon soured. William was denied access to his young niece as much as the Duchess dared. She further offended the King by taking rooms in Kensington Palace that the King had reserved for himself. All of this led to a scene at a dinner when the King, again feeling offended by the Duchess and Conroy, publicly hoped that his reign would continue until Princess Victoria was of age, and decried the influence on the young Princess Victoria by those around her.
[edit] Rumours of affair
There has been some speculation, not only that the Duchess and Conroy were lovers, but that the Duchess had earlier been unfaithful to the Duke of Kent and that Victoria was not his daughter. This has been promoted most prominently by William and Malcolm Potts' 1995 book Queen Victoria's Gene.[1] Those who promote this position point to the absence of porphyria in the British Royal Family among the descendants of Queen Victoria - it had been widespread before her; not to mention the rise of hemophilia, unknown in either the Duke's or Duchess's family (or that of Prince Albert)--among the best documented families in history. Victoria herself was puzzled by the emergence of the disease, given its absence in either family.[2] Several authors, including Jerrold Packer in his book, Victoria's Daughters have adhered to the theory. In addition, they point to the fact that the Duke failed to have children during his long affair with Madame Saint-Laurent, his longtime mistress, and suggest that the Duke was sterile. In practice, this would have required the Duchess's lover to be hemophiliac--an unlikely survival, given the poor state of medicine at the time. Actual evidence for this position is not known, and given the fact that up to one-third of cases of hemophilia may arise spontaneously, spontaneous mutation is a far more likely explanation than an affair by the newly-married Duchess.
[edit] Conroy's plot
Conroy had high hopes for his patroness and himself: he envisioned Victoria succeeding the throne at a young age, thus needing a regency government, headed by the Princess's mother. As the personal secretary of the Duchess, Conroy would be the veritable "power behind the throne". He did not count on Victoria's uncle, William IV, surviving long enough for Victoria to reach her majority. He had cultivated her mother as his ally, and ignored and insulted Victoria. Now he had no influence over her, and thus tried to force her to make him her personal secretary upon her accession. This plan too backfired, as Victoria came to associate her mother with Conroy's schemes, for pressuring her to sign a paper declaring Conroy her personal secretary. When Victoria became Queen, she relegated the Duchess to separate apartments away from her own.
[edit] Reconciliation
When the Queen's first child, the Princess Royal, was born, the Duchess of Kent unexpectedly found herself welcomed back into Victoria's inner circle. It is likely that this came about as a result of the dismissal of Baroness Lehzen at the behest of Victoria's husband (and the Duchess's nephew), Prince Albert. Firstly, this removed Lehzen's influence, and Lehzen had long despised the Duchess and Conroy, suspecting them of an illicit affair. Secondly, it left the Queen wholly open to Albert's influence, and he likely prevailed upon her to reconcile with her mother. Lastly, Conroy had by now exiled himself to Europe, and that divisive influence was removed. The Duchess's finances, which had been left in shambles by Conroy, were revived thanks to her daughter and her daughter's advisors. She became a doting grandmother, by all accounts, and was closer to her daughter than she ever had been.
[edit] Later life
The Duchess died on 16 March 1861. She is buried in the Duchess of Kent's Mausoleum at Frogmore, Windsor Home Park.
The Queen was much affected by her mother's death. It was the start to a disastrous year, which would end with Albert's death.
[edit] Titles, Styles, Honours & Arms
[edit] Titles
- 1786-1803: Her Serene Highness Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Duchess in Saxony
- 1803-1818: Her Serene Highness The Princess of Leiningen
- 1818-1861: Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Kent and Strathearn
