Kensington Palace by Tom Quinn

Author:Tom Quinn
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Biteback Publishing
Published: 2020-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

The apartment to which the couple returned comprised most of the ground floor and first-floor rooms on the East Front and, after the initial redecorating on which the duke insisted, the couple settled down to await the birth, which by now was imminent.

Victoria was born at 4.15 a.m. on 24 May 1819 in a ‘low-ceilinged room on the first floor’, according to Ernest Law, writing in 1906. Less than a year later, her father the duke died from pneumonia aged just fifty-two.

Baron Stockmar (1787–1863), who was to exert such an influence over the future queen, wrote in his memoirs: ‘A pretty little princess, plump as a partridge, was born. The Duke of Kent was delighted with his child and liked to show her constantly to his companions and intimate friends with the words, “Take care of her, for she will be Queen of England.”’

The duke wrote a rather cross letter to his chaplain after the chaplain had written to commiserate that the child had not been a boy. The duke wrote:

As to the circumstance of that child not proving to be a son instead of a daughter, I feel it due to myself to declare that such sentiments are not in unison with my own; for I am decidedly of opinion that the decrees of Providence are at all times wisest and best.

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