Princess Charlotte of Wales (1796–1817) was the only child of
George, Prince of Wales (later George IV) and
Caroline of Brunswick. Had she outlived her father and her grandfather,
King George III, she would have become Queen of the United Kingdom. Instead, she died following childbirth at the age of 21. Charlotte's parents disliked each other from before their pre-arranged marriage and soon separated. As Charlotte grew to adulthood, her father pressured her to marry
William, Hereditary Prince of Orange, but after initially accepting him, Charlotte soon broke off the match. This resulted in an extended contest of wills between her and her father, and finally the Prince of Wales permitted her to marry
Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (later Leopold I of Belgium). After a year and a half of happy marriage, Charlotte died after giving birth to a stillborn son. Charlotte's death set off tremendous mourning in the country, which had seen her as a sign of hope and a contrast to her mad grandfather and unpopular father. As she had been King George III's only legitimate grandchild, there was pressure on the King's unwed sons to marry. King George III's fourth son,
Edward, Duke of Kent, fathered the eventual heir,
Queen Victoria. (more...)
A male Magpie-lark (Grallina cyanoleuca), a common
Australian bird of small to medium size. Like many
Australian birds, it was named for its physical similarity to the northern hemisphere birds familiar to European settlers. In fact, it is neither a
magpie nor a
lark and is not particularly closely related to either.
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