On This Day In History: The Marriage of Queen Victoria's Parents

The Duke of Kent and Strathearn

The Duchess of Kent and Strathearn (née Saxe-Coburg-Saafeld)

On 29 May 1818 at Amorbach, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, and Princess Viktoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld were wed. This was the first marriage for Prince Edward (2 November 1767-23 January 1820), who was the fourth son and fifth child of King George III of the United Kingdom (1738-1820) and Queen Charlotte (1744-1818; née Mecklenburg-Strelitz). It was the second marriage for Princess Viktoria (17 August 1786-16 March 1861): she married her first husband, Emich Carl, Prince of Leiningen, on 21 December 1803 at Coburg. Viktoria was widowed when Emich Carl died in 1814, leaving behind Viktoria and their two children, Carl (1804-1856) and Feodora (1807-1872). Princess Viktoria was the fourth daughter and seventh child of Duke Franz Frederick Anton of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1750-1806) and his second wife Countess Augusta of Reuß-Ebersdorf (1757-1831).

The Dowager Duchess of Kent with her daughter Princess Victoria

Report on the christening of Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent
Article (c) The Times of London (25 June 1819)

Princess Victoria of Kent, aged four

The couple's only child was born almost a year to the day after their marriage. On 24 May 1819, Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent entered the world at Kensington Palace. The princess was christened privately by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Charles Manners-Sutton, on 24 June 1819 in the Cupola Room at Kensington Palace. She was baptised Alexandrina after one of her godparents, Emperor Alexander I of Russia, and Victoria, after her mother. For the rest of her life, she would be known by her second name, Victoria. 

The Duke of Kent

Aged fifty-two, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, died of pneumonia on 23 January 1820 at Woolbrook Cottage, Sidmouth. He was buried at St George's Cathedral, Windsor. Edward died six days before his father King George, who passed away on 29 January 1820.

The Dowager Duchess of Kent with her grandchildren Prince Alfred and Princess Alice

The Dowager Duchess of Kent in 1860, one year before her death

Princess Viktoria, the Dowager Duchess of Kent, survived her husband by over forty years. At the age of seventy-four, the duchess drew her last breath on 16 March 1861 at Frogmore House, Windsor. The Dowager Duchess of Kent is buried at the Duchess of Kent's Mausoleum at Frogmore, Windsor.

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