manded was refused him, though he was afterwards made a
Field-Marshal.

He was a man of advanced Liberal ideas. He had spoken in the House
of Lords in favour of Catholic Emancipation, and had shown himself
interested in the abolition of slavery and in popular education. His
tastes were literary, and towards the end of his life he had even
manifested a strong sympathy for socialistic theories.

At the time of the death of the Princess Charlotte, 6th November 1817,
the married sons of King George III. were without legitimate children,
and the surviving daughters were either unmarried or childless.
Alliances were accordingly arranged for the three unmarried Royal
Dukes, and in the course of the year 1818 the Dukes of Cambridge,
Kent, and Clarence led their brides to the altar.

[Pageheading: THE DUKE AND DUCHESS OF KENT]

The Duchess of Kent (1786-1861), Victoria Mary Louisa, was a daughter
of Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. She was the widow of Emich
Charles, Prince of Leiningen,[1] whom she had married in 1803, and who
had died in 1814, leaving a son and a daughter by her.

[Footnote 1: _Leiningen_, a mediatised princely House of
Germany, dating back to 1096. In 1779 the head of one of
the branches into which it had become divided, the Count of
Leiningen-Dachsburg-Hardenburg, was raised to the rank of
a prince of the Empire, but the Peace of Luneville (1801)
deprived him of his ancient possessions, extending about
232 miles on the left bank of the Rhine. Though no longer an
independent Prince, the head of the House retains his rank and
wealth, and owns extensive estates in Bavaria and Hesse.]

The Duke of Kent died prematurely--though he had always been a
conspicuously healthy man--at Sidmouth, on the 23rd of January 1820,
only a week before his father.

A paper preserved in the Windsor archives gives a touching account of
the Duke's last hours. The Regent, on the 22nd of January, sent to him
a message of solicitude and affection, expressing an anxious wish for
his recovery. The Duke roused himself to enquire how the Prince was in
health, and said, "If I could now shake hands with him, I should die
in peace." A few hours before the end, one who stood by the curtain
of his bed heard the Duke say with deep emotion, "May the Almighty
protect my wife and child, and forgive all the sins I have committed."
His last words--addressed to his wife--were, "Do not forget me."

T