Noël, Alphonse Léon: Victoria, Duchess of Kent (1786–1861)

She was a dazzling and ambitious personality, Victoire, the mother of the future Queen Victoria. In the course of her life she bore diverse names and titles. Her family connections were typical for the generation of her siblings, the princes and princesses of Coburg: Princess Marie-Louise Victoire of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, born as the fourth daughter of Duke Franz Friedrich Anton and his wife Auguste, was a sister of Grand Duchess Anna Feodorowna of Russia, of the future Duke Ernest I of Coburg, of King Leopold I of Belgium and of Prince Ferdinand, founder of the Catholic branch “Coburg-Koháry”. In 1803, Victoire became the Princess of Leiningen through her marriage to Karl Emich von Leiningen (†1814). In 1818, her second marriage with Edward of Kent (†1820) turned her into the Duchess of Kent. In England she called herself “Victoria”. She was the mother of Prince Karl of Leiningen, of Anna Feodora of Leiningen, who after her marriage would become a Princess Hohenlohe-Langenburg, and finally of Princess Victoria of Kent, Queen Victoria from 1837. Finally, she was both aunt and mother-in-law of Prince Albert, Victoria's Prince Consort.

To the digitised copy