Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen

Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen (Adelaide Amelia Louise Theresa Caroline; 13 August 1792 – 2 December 1849) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Queen of Hanover from 26 June 1830 to 20 June 1837 as the wife of King William IV. Adelaide was the daughter of Georg I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, and Luise Eleonore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia, is named after her. Early life Adelaide was born on 13 August 1792 at Meiningen, Thuringia, Germany, the eldest child of Georg I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen and Luise Eleonore, daughter of Christian Albrecht, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. She was baptised at the castle chapel on 19 August and was titled Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, Duchess in Saxony with the style Serene Highness. Her godparents numbered twenty-one, including her mother, the Holy Roman Empress, the Queen of Naples and Sicily, the Crown Princess of Saxony, the Duchess of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg, the Duchess of Saxe-Weimar, the Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, and the Landgrave of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld. Saxe-Meiningen was a small state, covering about . It was the most liberal German state and, unlike its neighbours, permitted a free press and criticism of the ruler. At the time, no statute existed which barred a female ruling over the small duchy and it was not until the birth of her brother, Bernhard, in 1800, that the law of primogeniture was introduced.