THE ROYAL BABY RACE | the birth of Queen Victoria | how Victoria became Queen |

How did the DEATH OF PRINCESS CHARLOTTE lead to the BIRTH of Princess Victoria? This is the story of the royal baby race, instigated in 1817 after the tragic death in childbirth of Princess Charlotte, heir to the throne, along with her baby son. With Charlotte and her child gone, there were no legitimate grandchildren of George III left and the succession to the throne of the United Kingdom looked to be in peril. If no legitimate children were born to any of the King’s offspring, the crown would have to pass from one elderly sovereign to the next, possibly for decades; hardly a recipe for a popular monarchy. In response to this crisis, George’s unmarried sons (a series of generally unpopular bachelor Princes) began to seek emergency marriages in an effort to become the father of the future King or Queen. His third son, Prince Edward, Duke of Clarence, dumped his long-term mistress and married Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, a sister-in-law of the deceased Princess Charlotte through Charlotte’s husband, Prince Leopold. Nine months later, Princess Victoria was born. Her route to the throne was not cleared yet though. It was only thanks to the death of her father before he and her mother could produce a brother to displace the little Princess and the failure of Edward’s older brothers to produce any surviving, legitimate offspring that Victoria finally rose to the top of the pile as the first in line to the throne. Disaster was averted as the crown went from tragedy to triumph.
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SOME SOURCES:
Stewart Richards, Curtain Down at Her Majesty's: The Death of Queen Victoria in the Words of Those Who Were There (2018).
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Tony Rennell, The Last Days of Glory: The Death of Queen Victoria (2001).
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Michaela Reid, Ask Sir James: Sir James Reid, personal physician to Queen Victoria and physician-in-ordinary to three monarchs (1987)
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Christopher Hibbert, Queen Victoria: A Personal History (2001).
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#QueenVictoria #RoyalBabyRace #PrincessVictoria

[@HistoryCalling]

If you were in the position of the royal bachelors, would you have bothered entering the baby race? Let me know below and remember you can also find me at: BUY MY BOOK (Find Your Irish Ancestors Online): amzn.to/3Z2ChnG Website (with 2 FREE DOWNLOADS): www.historycallingofficial.com/ Patreon: www.patreon.com/historycalling Amazon storefront: www.amazon.com/shop/historycalling Instagram: instagram.com/historycalling/

[@edwardbertorelli7358]

Nope

[@AnnaAnna-uc2ff]

If it wasn't for all the actual tragedy involved, this would be hilarious. If someone tried to write it as a screen-play, it would never sell.

[@zackhalter9571]

Truthfully I probably would have entered the baby race. It would be security and a good position of influence on a potential monarch.

[@Moebian73]

If I had an amazing wife & one son & my nephew already had my last name all taken care of for the future with his son (my last name), I'll be content as a person in a comfy big bubbly bath. :) No reason to play "pardon me ma'am, could you spare me another?"

[@BillyBob-i7p]

@@HistoryCalling ya

[@lfgifu296]

Princess Charlotte’s story is really sad :/ but you’re right, the subsequent race to the heir was almost comical lmao, and led that nice little quip “Hot and hard each royal pair, are at it hunting for the heir”. It baffles me how much of a failure George III and Charlotte (as well as his sons, bc the fact the daughters had no legitimate offspring was on their parents’ shoulders) were at continuing the bloodline😭

[@HistoryCalling]

Yes, GIII and Charlotte have a lot to answer for, particularly in relation to how they treated their daughters. They had 13 surviving children after all. It's wild that by 1818 they had no legitimate grandchildren.

[@DarthDread-oh2ne]

@@lfgifu296 friend ! You gotta watch this gentleman Jim Corbett documentary. The narrator is Leon Neeson.

[@lfgifu296]

@@DarthDread-oh2ne Hi! Thanks for the recommendation, what is it about?

[@DarthDread-oh2ne]

​@@lfgifu296 It's about the boxer who defeated the great John I Sullivan.

[@shannonb4539]

I have always felt so bad for Queen Adelaide, she had to be aware of the purpose assigned to her, and the pain that comes with loosing children must have been horrible for her. She seemed to stay a kind and dignified woman throughout it all. Great video per the usual! ❤

[@HistoryCalling]

Yes, she's a very sad figure in many ways. I think Victoria was fond of her though and kind to her.

[@MSjackiesaunders]

@@HistoryCalling Yes, according to Victoria's many biographies, Adelaide became rather like a mother figure to her. Being estranged from her own mother, I believe Victoria turned to her often for advice.

[@Wolfje9346]

Another brilliant one about a era that isnt well known, atleast for me that is. Thank you very much! Your narration and your voice is captivating! I think that if you decide to read the phonebook, i also become a member of your channel! I could fall in love with your voice and your dialect!!😊😊❤

[@marva2170]

Agree, I wish they would bring the name Adelaide back into the royal family!

[@freedpeeb]

Queen Charlotte certainly did her duty of producing children admirably. One might argue that she was less successful in raising them. They seem to have be an absolute shambles.

[@HistoryCalling]

Yes, the way she denied so many of them happiness is really awful. A lot of the daughters were miserable with her and prepared to marry just about anyone to get away.

[@jillkearns525]

It amazes me that with 15 children there was still so few legitimate grandchildren till the panic of the baby race

[@HistoryCalling]

I know. Such poor planning on the part of that whole family. This is why you need an heir and a spare.

[@roguenrawwellness7682]

That’s what I always said. She had so many children. She was probably the most successfully prolific queens of her time. Yet her children had no legitimate heirs but plenty of illegitimate ones it’s baffling.

[@sounsure9108]

The key is legitimate heir the had plenty of bastards

[@susanwhite7474]

@@roguenrawwellness7682It suggests to me that they all had very unhappy childhoods

[@iimuffinsaur]

Like a lot of other people said too the fact that she didnt allow her daughters to marry until they were too old to have children didnt help. Her reasoning for it was sweet (she didnt want them to suffer through constant pregnancy like she did), she ended up failing to consider a lot of their feelings especially because some did want to marry and have kids. I feel like too if the laws on who they could marry and who the family accepted were less strict, there would have been more legitimate heirs from the sons. Multiple of them had long term mistresses or even wives (that werent approved)

[@thehammah8039]

One note that I think you could have emphasized is that George III and Queen Charlotte didn't allow their daughters to get married if at all until very late. Had they allowed them to get married it's almost certain one of them would have had a child. Not allowing them to get married is in large part what caused the succession crisis.

[@HistoryCalling]

Yes, I agree that the parents acted very irresponsibly (and cruelly towards their daughters) and that issue was discussed in more detail in my video on Queen Charlotte. In this case though I wanted to keep the focus on the events of 1817 onwards and not get pulled back too much into much earlier events. I just felt that the reasons why the Princesses had no offspring didn't really matter for the purposes of this discussion. The Princes mattered though because they were still able to produce offspring.

[@eliscanfield3913]

totally.

[@MSjackiesaunders]

​​@HistoryCalling Yes. Isn't it ironic that women have a limited time in creating life, but men don't? Charlie Chaplin fathered a child in his 90s! All those illegitimate children! I wonder what became of them?

[@JohnLee-dp8ey]

Even if the daughters did have children, the throne would still need to pass through literally every living son of George III before it even gets to the eldest daughter Charlotte, as per the succession rules of the time

[@edithengel2284]

​@@MSjackiesaunders Most of William IV's children married, and married well, leaving lots of descendants including Prime Minister Cameron.. William's oldest son died at age 16, drowned. Augustus's son died of multiple sclerosis, unmarried and without issue, and his daughter married a baron, but also died without children. George IV was rumored to have had several illegitimate children, but that is now thought doubtful; he did say at one time that he had a son in the navy.

[@aliceingoryland]

Sorrows, sorrows. Prayers. Sorrows.

[@HistoryCalling]

Indeed, esp. for Adelaide.

[@aliceingoryland]

@@HistoryCalling I feel for poor Adelaide.

[@mbvoelker8448]

I don't know if you would consider it a compliment or not, but I like the fact that I can almost always listen to your work without having to look at the visuals. I like to have something on when I'm working on projects and your excellent storytelling is as good as an audiobook when my hands and eyes are busy.

[@AmynAL]

I didn’t know most of this and I’m not sure I’m clear on it now. Not due to your explanations. Yours was as clear as you could make it with their convoluted family tree. I’m sure you had a migraine after that study! Once again, though, you plodded through it and delivered to us an interesting and informative lesson on the trials and tribulations of the royals (tongue in cheek!). It is absolutely fascinating and I’m always “hooked” when I see your Monday posts. Please keep up the excellent work. I, like so many others, look forward to hearing from you. Have a great week! 😊

[@HistoryCalling]

Thanks Amy and I know what you mean. It's not quite as bad as the Wars of the Roses' family trees I have to do sometimes, but it's a lot to process.

[@MSjackiesaunders]

@@HistoryCalling I have a book that created the Hanoverian English dynasty on charts. They are triple-fold-out pages. They don't even include all the illegitimate children. But the one of those whose linage traces back to Victoria is pretty detailed, as well. With nine children, it is no wonder that historians call her the "grandmother of Europe." That might be a good follow up to this video!

[@FandersonUfo]

well done sorting out that what if scenario - never seen that broken down so thoroughly before HC

[@HistoryCalling]

Thank you. Yes, there was quite a lot to pick through :-)

[@FandersonUfo]

@@HistoryCalling - Victorian Royal family tree might be peak intricacy keeping track of who is the actual heir - brava HC

[@HistoryCalling]

It really is, especially as the heir was sometimes someone who we've now totally forgotten about. I mean who's ever heard of poor little Princess Elizabeth for instance?

[@FandersonUfo]

@@HistoryCalling - it makes the line between Stuart and Hanover look straight forward - you are good at what you do HC - 🛸✨

[@Collins_With_No_N]

When (3:30) History Calling "starts to lose the will to carry on", you KNOW it's going to be a confounding recounting of cousins clawing to claim the Crown. Well done again by a consummate historian and fantastic story teller!

[@HistoryCalling]

Yup. It's not quite as bad as the Wars of the Roses, but it's up there :-)

[@Claire_T]

It honestly makes you realise how much of history could be changed if even one of the 'what ifs' had happened

[@HistoryCalling]

Absolutely. If we'd had Queen Charlotte we'd never have known anything about Queen Victoria and none of the current royals would exist.

[@LaLayla99]

And maybe WWI and the Bolshevik Revolution would not have happened?

[@history_loves_anime8927]

​@@LaLayla99I'm sure that Russia would have a revolution regardless because if you look at the 19th century if rulers, I think there was at lwast 2 that was assassinated and they kept giving and removing the serfs rights.

[@jeanne-marie8196]

Thanks for the Queen Victoria succession video.

[@HistoryCalling]

Thank you very much for the donation Jeanne-Marie. Glad you enjoyed hearing about how we ended up with Victoria :-)

[@orlalavin9352]

Imagine all that would have happened if Charlotte had lived. What would have happened to Victoria's existence

[@HistoryCalling]

There would have been no Victoria, but we would have had Queen Charlotte and presumably her son after her.

[@VersieKilgannon]

​@@HistoryCalling I disagree on a certain level that Victoria wouldn't have existed if Charlotte had lived 😅 There might have still been a push for a spare. Even if Charlotte lived, her son could have still died on his own. Charlotte might not have been able to have another child as well. In that case, Edward of Kent might have still been pressured to have a legitimate child, thus providing for Victoria's existence. But she might have come to the throne later than she actually did, if Charlotte had lived longer 😅

[@HistoryCalling]

It's theoretically possible, but what are the chances that it all would have happened quickly enough for Prince Edward to marry Victoria's mother in time to conceive that exact child? I tend to still think that Victoria wouldn't have existed.

[@rapunzabelle]

Fun fact, no Romonav family as we knew them. No legend of Anastasia, no Rasputin right hand to the queen, no fight for a male heir to be the Tsar, all because Tsarina Alexandria was granddaughter to Victoria. (And my favorite musical wouldn’t exist 😢)

[@heronimousbrapson863]

​@@rapunzabelleThere certainly wouldn't have been a Raspputin as the only reason he became a favourite of the Tsarina was due to the fact that her son was ill with haemophilia, a disease he inherited from Queen Victoria by way of his mother.

[@elisabethhopson5639]

This is a well executed explanation of the state of British royal family in the early 1800's. Makes it abundantly clear about the need for a line of succession, well planned and established. I have no idea why George and Charlotte did not require their sons to marry respectable wives, or for their daughters to be married off. Really shortsightedness. Thanks HC. 😁

[@HistoryCalling]

Yes, they were shockingly bad at arranging marriages for their children. It's wild that they had 13 surviving kids and yet no legitimate grandchildren by the end of 1817.

[@edithengel2284]

As with most of the Hanoverian monarchs, the father-son relationships between George III and his sons, as adults, was tense. They resented his strictures on their lives, and, I think largely out of rebelliousness, formed relations with women who were not going to be accepted as brides by their parents. George and Charlotte could not force them to marry, but in the end they got the future George IV to marry by having Parliament pay off his enormous debts. The thought of being providing an heir to the throne convinced the rest to marry. George and Charlotte didn't want to part with their daughters. Apparently George, in addition to having them about, was very anxious about their fates if they married abroad. His sister Caroline Matilda had married the King of Denmark and Norway, who was seriously unbalanced, and had conducted an affair which ended disastrously when she was divorced and locked up in Celle (where her ancestress George I's wife had also been imprisoned). George did not want to see that happen to his girls, and very selfishly, did not find husbands for them. Only after their brother became Regent did three of them marry, but too late for children.

[@TeacherofNumbers]

I truly believe that George's mental illness played a significant part in the lack of planning from the family. Normally, that would have been the role of the King and he was just not in a good place to make those sorts of deals and treaties. I wonder, if the daughters had been married, could it have changed the politics of Europe? Who would have been the suitable prospects and would countries have merged when heirs were needed for England.

[@edithengel2284]

@@TeacherofNumbers His older daughters were already in their twenties when their father became ill, and traditionally he would have been looking for husbands for them well before that time.

[@gillsinclair6927]

Oh what a circus! Heaven only knows what she was thinking ( Victoria) about all of this madness. Thanks for the video.

[@MSjackiesaunders]

Well, she was pretty young when all of this "race" happened. According to many of her biographers, she didn't know much about her position until she was around 10 or 11. Her mother, heavily influenced by John Conroy, were trying to keep her dependent on them. Instead, it drove her away. They tried to force her into signing a method for them to essentially rule until she was 21, and they did it when she was sick. She refused. Seemingly, she inherited her father's stubborness but not his cruelty.

[@gillsinclair6927]

@@MSjackiesaunders I meant when she did find out

[@HistoryCalling]

Thank you so much for the donation Gill. Hmm, I dunno. Maybe she thought it was all God's plan for her to be on the throne?

[@gillsinclair6927]

@@HistoryCalling Possible. Who knows.

[@MSjackiesaunders]

@gillsinclair6927 Victoria's early journals were mostly destroyed, so we can only guess at what she thought. By the time she was a teenager, most of the "race" was over. William IV really supported her after Adelaide's third or fourth failed pregnancy. He managed to hold on until Victoria was 18, so his successor wouldn't be crippled by being forced to let others make decisions for her.

[@mw4724]

Great job on this!! Would love to see a deep dive on the Duke of Kent. His story is so much deeper than the father of Queen Victoria

[@MrsLeelee177]

Absolutely love your commentary, and your humor ❤😂, thank you for your time and knowledge 😊

[@BMW7series251]

Another fascinating video. Thanks for posting. Regards, John.

[@HistoryCalling]

Thanks John. Yes, it's one of those stories that isn't terribly well known about, but I find it really interesting.

[@elijahhodges4405]

I was excited to find out that William IV stayed alive on purpose until Victoria was 18 to prevent Victoria's mother from her desire to rule on high.

[@marioncottell7285]

Wonderful video. Loved it. 😊😊🇨🇦

[@HistoryCalling]

Thanks Marion and greetings from across the pond :-)

[@daniellemaguire2013]

I JUST finished Bridgerton’s Queen Charlotte mini series that highlights this race.

[@HistoryCalling]

Yes, someone else mentioned that too here in the comments. They really mangled the history of it though. Other than the fact that there was a race, none of it was true to life. It's a shame. I think the real story is interesting enough to merit telling.

[@firandcurly84]

​@@HistoryCalling it wasn't a documentary or biography it was meant to be a work of fiction. The characters just happen to be about royals. That was made abundantly clear in a disclaimer at the beginning

[@SyIe12]

thank you! And I just love your dry sense of humor.

[@ben_1017a]

I had no idea. What a wonderful video - thank you! And I just love your dry sense of humor.

[@HistoryCalling]

Thanks Ben :-)

[@Collins_With_No_N]

This video puts the convoluted and truly arcane gymnastics of royal succession into a clarity that only emphasizes the absurdity of its existence.

[@HistoryCalling]

Haha, for true gymnastics, watch one of my videos on the Plantagenet succession that led to the Wars of the Roses. It makes this look straight forward.

[@helenastanser9801]

Have you made a video about George III? I loved this one!

[@HistoryCalling]

Nothing dedicated to him yet, no, though the one on his wife, Queen Charlotte does by necessity include a fair bit of info. on him too.

[@TinaStPeter]

I have found this succession/ascension quite confusing in the past but your explanation and visual aids made it much more clear to me!

[@HistoryCalling]

Thank you. That's what like to hear, especially as those family trees can be quite tricky to put together. :-)

[@DeidreCBIE]

Thanks!

[@HistoryCalling]

Thank you so much for the donation Deirdre. Glad you enjoyed hearing about the Hanoverian circus that was the baby race :-)

[@angierucinski5694]

Thanks

[@HistoryCalling]

Thank you very much for the very kind donation Angie and apologies for the slow response. I'm literally just back from a little holiday and catching up.

[@aleksstosich]

Brilliant video. Loved your personal comments regarding the family tree.

[@HistoryCalling]

Thank you. They're just murder to put together sometimes - soooo complicated!

[@victoriaburkhardt9974]

A very complicated story! Thanks for laying it out for us. Cheers to the current Royal Family who has managed to produce heirs of quality.

[@gonefishing167]

I’ve always loved the story that William hated Victoria’s mother so much he told Victoria he’d live till she was 18 and could rule by herself. True or not, it’s a wonderful story 🙏🙏🙏👵🇦🇺

[@HistoryCalling]

Yes, I think he was indeed determined to make sure the Duchess of Kent couldn't be Regent. It's certainly interesting that he just about made it to Victoria's 18th birthday, then died a few weeks later.

[@TinaBUTCHER-ph1ph]

​@HistoryCalling was it more to do with her friendship with Conroy?

[@MSjackiesaunders]

@TinaBUTCHER-ph1ph That was a good portion of it. Conroy was heartily disliked by many of the Court and Royal Family for being a member of the Kent circle when he was barely even a "Sir". They also disliked him because it was no secret that he tried to intimidate Victoria and that he was cheating her family. When Prince Albert did a thorough investigation at the request of Victoria, it turned out he had started bleeding money from the family as soon as Victoria's mother made him steward of her household.

[@leticiagarcia9025]

Thank you for a detailed explanation of Victoria’s succession. Destiny has well meaning for her. Geez, I wouldn’t enter into the baby race. However, I wouldn’t have a choice in that era. Thank you for the history lesson. Have a great week.

[@HistoryCalling]

You're welcome. Yes, it's certainly an interesting reason to be born. Most people don't make it into the world simply because their much older cousin died and their Dad wants to get his kid on the throne!

[@paulcarter4945]

amazing even for royalty how dangerous child birth was 200 years ago

[@HistoryCalling]

Oh absolutely. It remained dangerous (by our standards anyway) until about the 1930s.

[@livingincaptivityIII]

Especially if you have Porphyria and a doctor who does all the wrong things.

[@MSjackiesaunders]

​@HistoryCalling Depending on where you live, it still is! I'm embarrassed to live in a country with some of the most advanced technology and one of the most antiquated health care systems. I have a hard time grasping how the US has the highest maternal mortality rate of any "first world" country. I would think by now that we would have a national health care system.

[@mbvoelker8448]

That's purely due to differences in the reporting system. Many countries get around the embarrassment of their real infant mortality rates by not counting the babies who die soon after birth.

[@MSjackiesaunders]

@mbvoelker8448 I don't believe I mentioned infant mortality. I said maternal mortality. It is a part of our skewed system that women of color (black, Hispanic, or "other") die at four times the rate as white women. Mainly, that is because of lack of insurance, lack of facilities, and lack of codified laws about health care. I look at Britain national healthcare, which, although far from perfect, is a safety net for all.

[@ScarlitWidow]

❤ your voice, also your content is 💯

[@HistoryCalling]

Thank you very much :-)

[@helenvick522]

Quite an interesting race. Thanks for explaining it all so well.

[@HistoryCalling]

You're welcome :-) Thanks for watching and commenting.

[@LaLayla99]

Fascinating! I read a biography called "Becoming Queen Victoria" that started out with the story of Princess Charlotte. I recommend it. 🙂

[@HistoryCalling]

Thanks for the tip :-)

[@dieJansky]

i did not know most of that, awesome! Thank you!

[@HistoryCalling]

You're welcome. I was a little fuzzy on a lot of the details too initially, but that made it interesting to research.

[@ShelbyPater]

Your so good! And funny! Losing the will to carry on 😂😂😂😂😂. Another amazing video!!!❤❤❤

[@HistoryCalling]

Thank you. You really do lose it though with these family trees sometimes :-)

[@ShelbyPater]

@@HistoryCalling oh I m sure you do! Your delivery is just so funny 🤣🩷😂

[@anweshabiswas1483]

Although queen Victoria 's father didn't got the crown but he won the baby race and his blood got the crown. When Victoria was born her maternal grandmother was disappointed because she was a girl . But her father told that his daughter would be queen of England one day . Although Victoria never met her father , but she paid all of his debts after ascending to the throne . 😊❤❤

[@HistoryCalling]

Yes, he did indeed win. I have to pity his mistress a little bit though. He well and truly dumped her.

[@anweshabiswas1483]

@@HistoryCalling William iv and Edward duke of Kent both dumped their mistresses.

[@HistoryCalling]

Yup, they weren't very nice guys really. It was all 'I love you, I love you' until they thought they had a chance at the throne and then those women were out on their ears.

[@anweshabiswas1483]

@@HistoryCalling I think only George iv loved his mistress , (who was older to him ) truly . Even after being married to ill fated Caroline of Brunswick .

[@HistoryCalling]

Yes, he did seem pretty dedicated to Maria Fitzherbert. It's a shame she was deemed so unsuitable to be Queen.

[@KKollective]

This is a great documentary. Love the style. Thanks!

[@yvonne3903]

Love your narrative ♥️

[@HistoryCalling]

Thanks Yvonne :-)

[@paillette2010]

I love this. Thank you!

[@HistoryCalling]

Glad you like it! :-)

[@blueblack3591]

Interesting topic

[@sherigreenwell7905]

There are SO many examples throughout history of how the quest for a legitimate male heir and successor has dramatically impacted events and the course of history- from Henry VIII, to this story, even to King Charles III. Also for the last Shah of Iran (I just watched the video a couple of days ago), who divorced his second wife Soreya when doctors determined she was infertile. In his case, the collapse of the Iranian monarchy meant there was no kingdom for his sons with third wife Farah Dibah to inherit!

[@HistoryCalling]

Yes, it's definitely one of the determining factors in a lot of historical events, as you say and yet ironically, sometimes the best monarchs are the women!

[@Joe_the_ogre]

Great video. Very easy to digest

[@HistoryCalling]

Thanks Joe. Glad you enjoyed it :-)

[@PaulCoaley]

I liked this 😊

[@theelitemanticore151]

The only heir to the throne is dead! 🤧 *Sorrows. Sorrows. Prayers.*

[@Dlt814]

Oh man, that painting of Victoria when she was a child...I've also thought of Princess Beatrice as her doppelganger, but this absolutely nails it. With that strawberry blond hair they could be twins!

[@simon112]

Well HC you tip toad your way through that family tree with ease, I found it Complicated, congratulations to Victoria on winning that race, thank you yet again HC as always, I wouldn't of entered that race. ☺️👍

[@HistoryCalling]

Oh those trees are awful to put together sometimes. At least it wasn't as bad as the Plantagenet ones I have to do for anything Wars of the Roses related though. Glad you enjoyed it :-)

[@simon112]

@@HistoryCalling indeed HC.

[@morriganmoonglow2712]

This whole fiasco was the making of George III and his Queen by not marrying off their daughters and keeping them at home in their weird dysfunctional little arrangement. It's pretty apparent the Georges were terrible parents, generation after generation. 🤣

[@HistoryCalling]

Absolutely. They didn't even put the fun in dysfunctional. Most of them were just miserable.

[@mbgal7758]

I enjoyed how they used this as the subplot for Queen Charlotte

[@HistoryCalling]

Yes, but they totally mangled it. You would have thought from that show that the daughters were young enough to reproduce and that it wasn't Charlotte and their father who'd stopped them getting married all those years and refused to recognise some of the boys' marriages. Honestly, I thought that show would have been better off just being about a fictional King and Queen of a fictional country, rather than pretending it was at all connected to history (it's still a guilty pleasure to watch though).

[@mbgal7758]

@@HistoryCalling of course it being tv it was going to be way off. It definitely got me more interested in the period and researching how things really went down. Prior I was mostly interested in medieval/renaissance royal history. I think it did a decent job of getting the main point across, Charlotte and her son died and left the monarchy in crisis. The previously womanizing princes had to race to make respectable marriages and a baby.

[@helgaborek3290]

Thank you so much for this viseo. I would like to add to one of the commenters here, that I feel sad for Queen Adelaide. I don't remember the source, but I have read that after loosing all her children she was willing to dote on Victoria, but because of the Kensington system they rarely met and that Adelaide was very sad about it.

[@HistoryCalling]

Same here. What happened to her children was a tragedy. I think Victoria was kind to her in later life though, once she was the Queen dowager.

[@jeffarmstrong1308]

As one goes through this saga (the only word for it really) you wonder what the world would been like if Victoria had not ascended the throne. From there there is an interminable series of "What ifs ???". Personally the biggest of these is 'What if Albert had lived his full life span and not died young.'

[@LisafromNOLA]

“I was starting to lose the will to carry on” … I felt that lololol 😂 It really is unbelievable, with all those offspring, that there was such a struggle 🤷🏻‍♀️ Thanks for another great vid! ♥️♥️♥️

[@HistoryCalling]

Haha, yes it's true. Those family trees can be a real nightmare to work out. 😂

[@VeneficusPlantaGenista]

It’s really interesting to think of the change in international relations that led to so many unmarried princes and princesses. 100 years earlier it seems likely that all would have been married off to cement alliances or spread influence, but that paradigm seems to have completely broken down

[@HistoryCalling]

Yes, it was an incredibly stupid move on the part of George III and Queen Charlotte, not to mention cruel as their daughters were desperate to get away from them and several of the sons wanted to marry the women they were in love with but weren't allowed.

[@happycommuter3523]

Henry VIII for one would have given his eye teeth for a couple of those sons!

[@edithengel2284]

It's not that they weren't sought after, or that the system broke down so much as their parents wouldn't part with them.

[@thomasrinschler6783]

It hadn't broken down - after all Victoria's own children would marry widely throughout European royalty. And other royalty at the time were all marrying each other regularly. It was just that George III and Charlotte didn't do so, for some reason.

[@VeneficusPlantaGenista]

@@thomasrinschler6783 The practice of princes marrying princesses hadn't broken down, certainly. But the practice or arranging these marriages as a regular part of international relations seems to have become much less prominent. For Queen Victoria's children, it was no longer a matter of "We need peace with Spain, so Bertie shall marry a Spanish infanta." Instead it became "Oh, cousin Christian has a nice daughter of appropriate background who's available, and Bertie needs a wife." So when George III and Charlotte didn't want to (for whatever various reasons) marry off their children, it was a privilege they could afford to indulge in, instead of squandering valuable diplomatic assets like that same course of action would have been in previous centuries.

[@karengilchrist9774]

The English Monarchy is so unbelievably convoluted! You explain it very well but Holy cow!

[@emilybarclay8831]

YET AGAIN KZbin has failed to notify me of your upload, and my inability to remember what day it is means I failed to check 😅😂

[@HistoryCalling]

It's so odd that that happens sometimes. You can double check you have all notifications switched on, but even if you do and it's still happening, rest assured that you're not the only one. Sometimes I think the algorithm just isn't as smart as they let on.

[@littlemiss_76]

I feel sorry for these poor girls who have these creepy old men continuously jump on them only to lose their baby for a status. 🤢 Three Queens that were not meant to be Queen will always be remembered Lizzie 1, 2 and good ole Vicky (she has 2 states named after her in Australia Victoria and Queensland).

[@HistoryCalling]

Yes, it's interesting that sometimes the monarch who wasn't meant to get the throne ends up being the best suited for it. I'd put George VI in that category too.

[@melissasheppard6674]

Happy Monday HC 😊 have you ever watched The Young Victoria?

[@HistoryCalling]

Happy Monday to you too. You mean the Emily Blunt movie? I have indeed. It was a long time ago mind you, but I seem to remember enjoying it.

[@melissasheppard6674]

@@HistoryCalling yes, that one. I liked it too

[@MSjackiesaunders]

​@HistoryCalling And it was reasonably accurate. Sure, they did some telescoping of events, but having read some of her journals, it was still a pretty accurate telling of her adolescence.

[@AnnaAnna-uc2ff]

Thank you.

[@HistoryCalling]

You're welcome and thank you for watching and commenting :-)

[@Death_Witch666]

Im unsure if you already made a video on this but if not could you make one on what would happen if something were to happen to the current royal family and its closest 10 heirs?

[@HistoryCalling]

I haven't done a video on it, but the crown would just descend to number 11. At the current time that's Princess Eugenie, then it would go on to her children. Nothing like that would ever happen though, particularly as Harry and his children are rarely even on the same continent as the others. There's no event that could harm them all at once. They don't even get together for Christmas any more, but of course the saga behind that is another story :-)

[@livingincaptivityIII]

​@@HistoryCalling Harry and his children? How amusing!.......... Oh, were you being serious?

[@jldisme]

"Wacky Victorian family" Love it!

[@HistoryCalling]

They really were. Imagine growing up with that lot!

[@jldisme]

@@HistoryCalling I feel sorriest for GIII daughters.

[@rickjensen2717]

Almost as complex as the wars of the roses family trees!

[@HistoryCalling]

My thoughts exactly!

[@nikiryan8648]

"I was starting to lose the will to carry on" OMG, dying with laughter over here. I love the monarchy (from a safe distance) but I totally understand the inability to fathom the line of succession.

[@LauraKirby-ig6jt]

It’s wild how much Princess Beatrice looks like a young Victoria.

[@NaneB-ny2go]

As a mother it is hard to hear about so many dead children😢

[@channelraven8808]

Poor Adelaide 😢

[@stephencarrillo5905]

I wonder what Edward finally told his mistress - "Love ya, babe, but gotta go make a royal baby"? "No ambition", yeah, right. Lena and I enjoyed this video together; she had a few pointed comments of her own on these royal antics (her Russian heritage left her with a less-than-favorable view of royalty although she has sympathy for Czar Nicholas' family). Well done, HC! Even better on second viewing.🙏🏼

[@HistoryCalling]

Thanks Stephen. Yes, I think he did end up having to say pretty much just that to her. Shows how deep his so-called love actually was. The Russian royals were terrifying. They make the Tudors look like wimps.

[@stephencarrillo5905]

@@HistoryCalling 🤣No kidding. Ivan was a real peach, wasn't he? In more recent history, I once heard that the Russian mafia considered the Sicilians a "bunch of boy scouts". Yikes.

[@dorothysutton5162]

Commenting for the engagement algorithm. ❤

[@HistoryCalling]

Thank you :-)

[@MichelleBruce-lo4oc]

Hi, awesome live history video I enjoyed it. How are you doing? I'm doing well and so is my cat. We finally have autumn 🍂 weather in Ontario Canada. What's the weather like where you are? All your history videos are always enjoyable. Have a great day see you next video 😊

[@HistoryCalling]

Thanks Michelle. All good here thanks, though I see there are floods elsewhere in the UK, but thankfully not here. See you next time :-)

[@AnOldFashionedWoman]

Boy, were they busy, all those names are making my head spin too. :D I feel sorry for poor Queen Adelaide, losing all those children! She was like Queen Anne or Catherine of Aragon in that regard.

[@HistoryCalling]

Yes, it was tragic, though fortunately she didn't lose as many as either Catherine or Anne. Really it's a miracle none of Anne's 17 pregnancies killed her. It's an insane number to have.

[@beastieber5028]

Good evening to history calling from Bea 🇬🇧

[@leighw9684]

Well! I consider myself well-informed about royal history (for a Yank!) but I was under the impression that Victoria was absolutely the only direct heir. I knew there was a "baby race" but didn't realize it was so successful. Thank you for all this new information. I find myself wondering what relationships Victoria had with her cousins in adulthood. Is there much information on that?

[@edithengel2284]

I wonder if she had much to do with them, as her mother was so bent on keeping her isolated.

[@khanhkhanh1060]

19:21 This is a miracle destiny

[@jenniferjones-ei8rg]

That was really fascinating - also very funny and confusing in equal measure! I'll have to watch it a couple more times to sort out all the characters. History really is very strange!

[@GeminiLesbian]

Let's see if I can simplify this for you lol... King George III died in 1820. The heir apparent, George IV, had a daughter in 1796: Princess Charlotte (died in 1817). There were no other LEGITIMATE grandchildren besides the princess until George IV's brother Prince Edward (he also died in 1820) also had a daughter, Victoria (future Queen), in 1819.

[@SurferJoe1]

Just imagine those four owls coming at you with a rose. I'm glad they never did away with the monarchy, but if they were ever going to, that might have been the moment. There's a really funny movie in this story if anyone ever realizes it. (How did Victoria turn out so well? She's one of my favorites!)

[@HistoryCalling]

Yes, there does seem to be a film in there somewhere, doesn't there? Something quite light-hearted and maybe not too historically accurate (so that we don't see Adelaide's grief). Maybe in the vein of 'The Great'.

[@ABeautfulMess]

WoW😮

[@HistoryCalling]

Yep. It was quite a time to be a royal follower, that's for sure.

[@kenisiasmith1794]

I love this episode. In fact I love them all. As a Jamaican I always have a love for Caribbean history and now that I’m living in the USA I fell in love with would history. So I was wondering if you could do an episode on Annie Palmer. The White witch of Rose Hell great house in Montego Bay Jamaica.

[@HistoryCalling]

Thank you so much. I would love to look at history from the rest of the world, but sadly when I try to get people interested in something that didn't happen in England it's a real uphill battle to get them to watch in sufficient numbers. I really struggle to even get good viewer numbers on my American history videos, which is bizarre to me as about half my audience are based in the US.

[@katherineoliver3856]

Have you come across any consideration of legitimising the marriage and children of Prince Augustus and his wife? It seems like that would have been much more straight forward. Were there other objections to the marriage or was it only that they hadn’t been given permission? Thanks again for another great video.

[@HistoryCalling]

No, I don't think that was ever on the cards. I can't think of any other objections off the top of my head, but I have to be honest and say that I haven't looked at their case in great detail and I also put together this video about 3 months ago, so it's not very fresh for me (apart from the two sentences mentioned KZbin memberships which I slotted in this afternoon!!) :-)

[@edithengel2284]

The duke's first wife, Lady Augusta Murray, was an earl's daughter, but probably not considered of high enough rank to be suitable even for a prince rather far down the line of succession. Because she was a perfectly respectable earl's daughter she was treated fairly well after she and the duke finally separated; she was given a large annual stipend by Parliament. Nothing perturbed by the results of this marriage, Prince Augustus went and did it again, marrying another earl's daughter, Lady Cecilia Underwood, without getting permission, from William IV, in this case. Queen Victoria took pity on Lady Cecilia, and made her the Duchess of Inverness in her own right so she could sit with Augustus at royal functions. The duke's son by his first wife very sadly was the first person for whom a definite diagnosis of multiple sclerosis was made. He kept a diary which described his life with the symptoms of the disease. He died ten years after Victoria came to the throne, without issue, so it's possibly as well he didn't become king. (If you look up his portrait, he looks a good deal like Victoria.)

[@elliem4225]

Lol. Your comment about losing the will to live goi g more in depth over the family tree had me cracking up! 😂

[@HistoryCalling]

It's so true though. Those trees get sooo complicated! 😂

[@kate2create738]

The funny thing about having Victoria be the one to take the thrown is that through her marriage to Prince Albert, the awareness of hygiene that Albert was well known for made it possible that everyone in society, including the royal family, could have a better chance of surviving infancy and make it to adulthood healthy enough to create larger families. On top of that, Victoria’s and Albert’s love story was a nice break from the family dysfunction the Hanovers mostly provided with very few exceptions. Victoria and Albert’s relationship by no means was perfect, doesn’t help they were cousins, but the British society needed a royal family that everyone can look to for some inspiration. On top of that, both of them have largely contributed to the needed improvements the British needed, like being more interested in Scottish culture, rebuilding the slums to quaint and livable households, plumbing, science, fighting against racism (us Americans who know history should be grateful for Albert’s last deed to vocally support the Union in our Civil War that greatly impacted the war to finally give the Union the support they needed), etc. I doubt we would be in this world that has seen so much advancement since 1837 if it wasn’t for Victoria.

[@ElizabethStone-TolcherJames]

You should do a video on all the grandkids of king george the 3rd and queen charlotte

[@kate_cooper]

What would I have done in that position? I'm not sure I personally would have attempted to produce an heir, taking into account the fact I would have been quite old (I'm already in my perimenopausal years now) even if I had had any eggs left, getting pregnant that late in life is generally inadvisable. So I think I'd have been more likely to concentrate my efforts on looking for possible wives for my brothers. There's a lot of what-ifs regarding this whole situation (the biggest being what if Charlotte hadn't died in the first place) that are fun and interesting to think about. But the one that shocked me the most was when you pointed out that a completely different woman could have held the name of Elizabeth II.

[@HistoryCalling]

I dunno if I would entered the race for anything less than a second brother. The other ones further down the line just had so little chance of winning. Yes, that poor little baby that the world has forgotten about should have been E2 indeed. I have a video on her over on Patreon this week in fact.

[@tburrrg2502]

3:40 made me laugh so hard!

[@thecuriouscabinet3350]

Loosing the will to carry on. 😮 imagine having to live it. Crazy times.

[@Sailrjup12nh]

Anyone know any good videos about Victoria’s mother and the “Kensington System” and Sir John Conroy.

[@anneliese.bannie]

Should have added that William said he did* not plan to die until Victoria turned 18 because of her mother, literal boss 👑

[@eldelflowerwater]

Hi History Calling- yes, I would. Regards, Andy

[@HistoryCalling]

Thank you. That's the spirit! :-)

[@JelMain]

You miss a point. The House of Hanover was only coincidentally English, and Charlotte's husband Leopold was a very credible successor, having served with distinction on Wellington's staff. The question therefore turned to bloodline, and Salic inheritance could have resolved the question, as well. As it turned out, Leopold preferred a bird in the hand to one in the bush, accepting Frederic de Meeus' offer of a new Belgian monarchy, leaving the UK fighting it out internally as to who would be the Victoria's Regent (memories of the Stuart troubles in the 15th and 16th century were still raw).

[@edithengel2284]

I'm not sure how Charlotte's husband would have been considered a successor? Could you explain?

[@JelMain]

@@edithengel2284 Look at the options - none. What would have happened if William IV had died suddenly? That's why the succession was an issue, and those of the blood were encouraged to marry and have children. But that's 22 years from start to being legally of age, and child mortality was also a concern. Until such time as an heir was born and raised, what then? Victoria was 11 when Leopold accepted the Belgian throne, and even then, she was the only suitable progeny. She was 18 when William actually died, and the questions of Regency I raised became a serious issue, with her mother, and various other senior courtiers.

[@edithengel2284]

@@JelMain Thanks for responding, but I still don't understand why Leopold would be considered as a successor, unless I am misunderstanding your first comment.

[@JelMain]

​@@edithengel2284 Simple sauve qui peut, the very reason they started breeding a new Queen, much like a bee colony: looking ahead. If you look back at the history of the monarchy, the Witan influence continues, in Edward VIII, for example. We choose our monarchs for ability: thankfully William met the toughest proof when very young indeed. The reality of the wake-up call to George III's family, in terms of rug-rats, proves the gravity of the situation, two other dynasties benefitted, Victoria was alone here. Fortunately she was of the Bridgerton generation, a lusty lass whose descendants verged on the kinky, but even then, recent generations have not overpopulated the realm with royals.

[@HistoryCalling]

I'm afraid I'm with Edith here. There's no way Leopold would ever have been considered a successor just because he was married to Charlotte. It's not like William III (married to Mary II) who had a claim both by virtue of conquest and because he was a nephew of James II. As I explained in the video, there was a line of succession. It wasn't full of very appealing candidates, but it existed.

[@runningfromabear8354]

That's the opposite of my great-grandparents. They had 1 son and separated. Legally married but couldn't stand each other. Their son had 7 kids and 33 grandchildren. Quite a lot of great-grandchildren but they're ages 5 and under, long way from final count.

[@amybradbury338]

So much death for one family to bear. So sad...

[@Ihsaan1c]

12:19, Prince Adolphus looks like Boris Johnson. I know BJ has some royal ancestors.

[@vernon2542]

That was quite interesting, the things people will do. No I wouldn't even of doing something like that I would let my brothers deal with it. Looking forward to next week.

[@HistoryCalling]

Haha, well you might change your mind if you were the oldest brother though, with what would appear to be the best chance of winning.

[@jldrake3424]

Commenting for the algorithm. ❤

[@HistoryCalling]

Thank you :-)

[@paulpierron1815]

nice presentation of complex subject

[@annmoore6678]

I can’t imagine myself as a roysl bachelor! What I can say, though, is that even if I were queen I would not pressure my children or grandchildren ( all adults) to enter into marriages or childbearing for which they have no desire. I love them as they are and want them all to be happy.

[@HistoryCalling]

You see, you're just too good of a mum and a grandmother to be a Hanoverian. :-)

[@LJB103]

Ernest, Duke of Cumberland was the great-grandfather of Queen Frederica of Greece and the great-great grandfather of her daughter Queen Sofia of Spain.

[@HistoryCalling]

Yup, those Hanoverians get everywhere :-)

[@edithengel2284]

And the ancestor of Princess Alexandra, daughter of Ernst August of Hanover and Princess Caroline of Monaco, Princess Grace's daughter.

[@annmartin5347]

I have just been struck on the resemblance between the late Queen Elizabeth and that portrait of Queen Victoria's mother!

[@Lionstar16]

There was a rather rude ditty said at the time about the royal baby race - "Hot and hard the royal pair, Are at it hunting for the heir."

[@HistoryCalling]

Ah yes, someone else just told me that too. I don't think I could have included that in the video.

[@Lionstar16]

@@HistoryCalling Knowing how sensitive KZbin can be, I don't blame you :)