Great Britain -- History -- Victoria, 1837-1901; Queens -- Great Britain -- Biography; Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, 1819-1901
In the meantime, he decided to spend the winter at Sidmouth, 'in
order,' he told Owen, 'that the Duchess may have the benefit of tepid
sea bathing, and our infant that of sea air, on the fine coast of
Devonshire, during the months of the year that are so odious in
London.'[3] In December the move was made. With the new year, the
Duke remembered another prophecy. In 1820, a fortune-teller had told
him, two members of the Royal Family would die. Who would they be? He
speculated on the various possibilities: the King, it was plain, could
not live much longer; and the Duchess of York had been attacked by a
mortal disease. Probably it would be the King and the Duchess of York;
or perhaps the King and the Duke of York; or the King and the Regent.
He himself was one of the healthiest men in England.[4] 'My brothers,'
he declared, 'are not so strong as I am; I have lived a regular life.
I shall outlive them all. The crown will come to me and my
children.'[5] He went out for a walk, and got his feet wet. On coming
home, he neglected to change his stockings. He caught cold,
inflammation of the lungs set in, and on January 22 he was a dying man.
By a curious chance, young Dr. Stockmar was staying in the house at the
time; two {21} years before, he had stood by the death-bed of the
Princess Charlotte; and now he was watching the Duke of Kent in his
agony. On Stockmar's advice, a will was hastily prepared. The Duke's
earthly possessions were of a negative character; but it was important
that the guardianship of the unwitting child, whose fortunes were now
so strangely changing, should be assured to the Duchess. The Duke was
just able to understand the document, and to append his signature.
Having inquired whether his writing was perfectly clear, he became
unconscious, and breathed his last on the following morning.[6] Six
days later came the fulfilment of the second half of the gipsy's
prophecy. The long, unhappy, and inglorious life of George the Third
of England was ended.
II
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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