The GREAT ROYAL BABY RACE
On 6 November 1817 Britain was plunged into a state of national mourning. In the early hours, Princess Charlotte of Wales, the only child of the Prince Regent (later King George IV), and the nation’s future queen, had died after giving birth to a stillborn baby boy. “It really was as if every household throughout Great Britain had lost a favourite child,” wrote one contemporary, while another described how people of all classes gathered on the streets in tears.
The Princess was easily the most popular member of the Regency royal family. Her marriage to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld the previous year had been a love match, and the couple’s obvious affection for one another and their quiet domestic happiness made them a welcome contrast to
