A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Adelaide, Queen
ADELAIDE, QUEEN.
Amelia Adelaide Louisa Theresa, sister of the reigning Duke of Saxe Meiningen, was born Angust 13th., 1792; and married, July 11th., 1818, William, Duke of Clarence, who, in 1830, ascended the throne of England. This monarch died June 30th., 1837, and Adelaide, who during her seven years of queenly dignity, had conducted herself so as to win the esteem and respect of her husband's subjects, retired into private life, and commenced a course of unostentatious charity, the munificence of which may be gathered from the fact, that during her twelve years of widowhood, she gave away in regular annual contributions to charitable establishments, no less a sum than £240,000; while casual, and less easily traceable bounties, certainly amounted to double, if not treble that sum. In fact her whole income, undiminished by any charges beyond those of a very moderate establishment, was devoted to such good works as the promotion of religion, and the relief of want.
During the last illness of King William, Queen Adelaide was a perfect model of a tender, loving, and pious wife; those who had the best opportunity of observing her closely, have borne testimony to the entire devotion, and full performance of all the duties of the married state in a time of sickness and sorrow. like the Annual Register, vol. lxxix, page 197, we find it stated that "His Majesty" died in a gentle sleep, his head resting upon the queen's shoulder, and her hand supporting his breast—a position which the queen had maintained about an hour before her fatal loss; and indeed, during nearly all the king's hours of sleep for the last fortnight of His Majesty's illness." The Archbishop of Canterbury, too, commenting on the last hours of the king, observes:—"She underwent labours which I thought no ordinary woman could endure. No language can do justice to her meekness, and to the calmness of mind which she sought to keep up before the King, while sorrow was preying at her heart. Such constancy of affection I think was one of the most interesting spectacles that could be presented to a mind desirous of being gratified with the sight of human excellence."
The death of this true wife, pious woman, and good queen, occurred in 1849; and the marks of national sorrow on the occasion were unanimous and unmistakeable. Among other tributes paid to her virtues by the public prints, we find the following:—"With the exception of a visit paid by Her Majesty to her relations in Germany, in 1844, it may be said that the remaining portion of her days were those of a perfect widowhood from all the joys, the pleasures, and even the occupations of this life. She went forward from that time forth preparing for a better world, regarding herself as the almoner of all that were sick and ailing, in danger, in difficulty, and in distress, and had none to help them. The wealth that she received through the English exchequer, passed through her hands to make rich English poor, to give health to English sick, and to bring joy, comfort, and consolation, to many a sorrowful English home.
Such was she who has now departed from amongst us—a princess a model of piety, a queen full of gentleness, a widow super-abounding in deeds of beneficence.
To all, the loss of so high, so pious, and so benevolent a lady, is great—so great, that it is felt and lamented in every comer of the land; but to the poor it is irreparable."