In Victoria's second season it was revealed that King Leopold might, in fact, have been Prince Albert's biological father-the product of a hidden liaison between Leopold and his sister-in-law Albert's mother, Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. Print Collector // Getty Images Was he really Prince Albert's father? As the princes (George IV included) were famous for racking up debts against their names, it was no great surprise when the king's fourth son, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, quickly married Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and shortly thereafter conceived a child who would one day go on to rule England, a little girl, named Victoria. Panicked at the possibility of the Hanover line losing the throne now that there was no direct heir, George IV, acting as regent for his father, and Parliament offered George III's sons a monetary incentive to produce a legitimate heir. Her death left Leopold heartbroken and England without an heir-presumptive. Unfortunately, in 1817, just a year into their marriage, Princess Charlotte went into early labor with their first child, giving birth to a stillborn son and passing away from complications of childbirth soon after. Though the decision caused a minor scandal, Leopold was considered charming and quickly won over his royal in-laws. Princess Charlotte met and married Leopold in 1816, breaking off an engagement to the Prince of Orange to do so. Though England's King George III (better known, perhaps, as Mad King George) had fathered 15 legitimate children who, between them, provided him with 56 grandchildren, virtually none of these grandchildren were viable heirs to the throne due to the status of their legitimacy or religion (English law at the time prohibited Catholics, the spouses of Catholics, and their children from holding the throne.) Only the George III's eldest son, George IV, had any legally-recognized children who could serve as heir to the kingdom, and even he had just one-a daughter, named Charlotte. In 1815, after the end of the wars, Leopold settled in England, having been granted citizenship for his service. The fourth son of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Leopold received a military education and even served as a page in the court of Napoleon, though he would go on to fight against the emperor as part of Tsar Alexander I's army when the French attempted to invade Russia. Who was King Leopold I?īorn in Coburg, Germany on December 16, 1790, Leopold was not an obvious candidate to one day become a king. Queen Victoria's uncle Leopold returns to the palace in season three of Victoria.
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