Death of the Duchess of Kent.
The Queen of England's mother, Maria Louisa Victoria, Duchess of Kent, died on Saturday,March 16th, at her residence, Frogmore, near Windsor Castle. An incurable cancer, which had long preyed upon her, has at last proved fatal. As the mother of the honored lady who fills the British throne, she has always been regarded with interest.Old King George the Third had fifteen sons and daughters, and yet in 1818, after the death of the Princess Charlotte, there were fears that there would be no lineal descendants of his to wear the crown. Only three of his sons were then married. The Prince Regent had lost his only child, and was separated from his wife. The Duke of York was separated from his duchess the Duke of Cumberland was divorced and widowed, and the marriage of the Duke of Sussex being without the royal assent, availed nothing for the succession.--So there was haste made to marry the other surviving royal children, none of whom were young. It was even thought desirable to get a husband for the Princess Elizabeth. who was forty-eight years old, and she was married to the Prince of Hesse Homburg. The Duke of Clarence (late William IV.) married the Princess Adelaide, of Saxe Meiningen, who bore him no children. The Duke of Cambridge married the Princess Augusta, of Hesse, who is still living, and has three children. The Duke of Kent, who was older than the Duke of Cambridge, married the lady whose death is just announced.
None of the Royal marriages thus arrange pleased the English people, except that of the Duke of Kent. The lady selected for him was the daughter of the Duke of Saxe-Cobourg, widow of the Prince of Leiningen, and sister of Prince Leopold, the husband of the lamented Princess Charlotte, now King of the Belgians. The marriage took place at Cobourg, May 29th, and at London, July 11th, 1818 A daughter, the present Queen of England, was born May 24th, 1819, and the Duke of Kent died on the 23d of the following January.--The Duchess, thus a second time a widow, devoted herself to the care and training of her infant daughter, and it was, in a great degree, due to her admirable motherly discipline and careful education, that the Princess Victoria was so well fitted to occupy the throne at the early age of eighteen. The Duchess has always been popular with the English people, and her death will create real sorrow among them. She was born August 17th, 1786, so that she was in her seventy- fifth year. The courts of England, Belgium, Prussia, Saxe-Cobourg, and numerous others, will be placed in mourning by her decease.
