Jo here. With a royal birth in the news, I thought I'd give a brief run down of the situation in late 1817 when there was a royal succession crisis because of a birth that did not go well.
I write my Company of Rogues books along a time line that started in 1814, and though I've gone slowly I've arrived at the great tragedy of the death of Princess Charlotte in childbirth in November 1817. It can hardly be ignored, so it forms part of the plot of next year's book, The Viscount Needs a Wife.
People sometimes think that death in childbirth was common in the past. It was more common than now, but not so much so that the death of a young, healthy woman and her baby was taken in stride. The nation was plunged into a genuine and almost manic mourning that continued well into the next year. Court mourning plunged the aristocracy into black, and nearly everyone wore sober colors, black arm bands and similar signs of grief. There were many ramifications, but I'll save those for another post.
In addition to a human tragedy, Charlotte's death created a succession crisis.
There were seven sons, however. That should solve it. Hum. Let's consider them.
1. George, the Prince Regent. He had been separated from his wife Caroline, Charlotte's mother, from not long after the wedding. Not able to marry.
2. Frederick, Duke of York had a career in the army. He had dutifully married in 1791, to Princess Frederica Charlotte of Prussia but there were no children. This union was also unhappy and they lived apart. Not able to marry.
(Part of the reason for these failed marriages and the succession crisis in general was the Royal Marriage Act of 1772 that controlled who a royal person could marry. (Full details here.) George III insisted on this to prevent his sons from making unsuitable marriages, but the result was that they mostly chose not to. Basically, only Protestant princesses were likely to meet with the king's approval.)
The picture is of Charlotte with her two oldest sons.
3.William, Duke of Clarence served in the navy in his younger years. He simply settled for a mistress, and lived with an actress, Mrs. Jordan, for twenty years having ten children -- the Fitzclarences. All illegitimate, however, so not in the line of succession.
4. Edward, Duke of Kent. Army. He, too had a long-term mistress, Madame de St. Laurent. They had no children together.
5. Ernest, Duke of Cumberland. Army. He actually fell in love and married in 1815, though it was a messy affair as Duchess Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was married when they fell in love. Her husband's death seemed somewhat convenient and in addition the queen didn't like Frederica. All the same they did marry, but reproduction didn't go well, and by November 1817 they had no children.
6 Augustus, Duke of Sussex. He was the family rebel, later supporting what we might call socialist causes. His rebellious streak led to a marriage in 1793 that contravened the Royal Marriage Act. They had children, but the marriage was annulled because of the Act, so the children were not in line to the throne. He separated from his unauthorized wife in 1801, but didn't marry until 1831, after his first wife died. So presumably he considered himself married and was not willing to marry suitably in 1817, even if his nature would allow it.
7.Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge. Army. He had no particular relationships.
I've colored red the three able and willing to marry, and they did set to it, trawling German princesses for likely candidates. The Duke of Cambridge was married in June, to Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel. Kent and Clarence had a double wedding ceremony on the 11th of July 1818. Kent married Victoria, the Dowager Princess of Leiningen, and Clarence married Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen.
The Duke of Cambridge had three children.
Clarence's marriage was happy, but his wife had a number of miscarriage and no surviving children.
Kent sired only one legitimate child before dying in 1820, but as he was the oldest of the three, his daughter eventually became Queen Victoria.
The Crisis
But for a while after the death of Charlotte into late 1817 the uncertaintly over the succession shook the country. The king was a mad old man expected to die at any moment. The Regent was not a well man and could also die. In addition, his extreme grief over his daughter made people begin to wonder if he might go mad, too. There were brothers to succeed him, but all middle aged men. What if none of them managed to sire a child who survived?
There were a number of foreign Protestants with a claim, but it was messy, and the British people wouldn't welcome a foreigner again. The Hanoverians who'd arrived with George I hadn't been a completely happy experience. In addition, the country was already in turmoil because of the depressed economy and social unrest which at times approached rebellion and revolution. (This forms part of my April book, Too Dangerous for a Lady.) Many feared that a series of royal deaths could tear Britain apart.
To add to that, there were still Stuart claimants -- Jacobites. Might they leap into uncertainty to create a civil war? The old enemy France would be happy to exploit that.
A stressful time, but that makes it an interesting background for a book. And of course, by 1819 there were a number of Hanoverian heirs, born in Britain and ready to serve.
This whole situation is additionally interesting to me because my Malloren series begins shortly after George III was crowned, and includes mentions of the births of his older children. It feels as if I've been following the family. No one then had any premonition of the troubles to come. In fact, a young king, born in Britain and speaking English as his native tongue seemed a bright hope for the future.
Jo