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.

Born in Meiningen, she was the daughter of George I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, and Luise Eleonore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. She married William in 1818 after the death of his niece, Princess Charlotte of Wales, left the British succession without a legitimate heir. She experienced several pregnancies, but all of their children died in infancy or were stillborn, and the couple had no surviving children.

Adelaide became queen consort when William succeeded his brother George IV in 1830, and they were crowned together at Westminster Abbey in 1831. She was widely regarded for her piety, modesty, charity, and dignified conduct, and gave a substantial portion of her household income to charitable causes. Although she generally avoided discussing politics publicly, Adelaide was strongly Tory and was believed by some contemporaries to have influenced William's opposition to the Reform Act 1832. She treated her niece, the future Queen Victoria, with kindness despite the hostility between William and Victoria's mother, the Duchess of Kent.

After William's death in 1837, Adelaide became the queen dowager. She suffered from chronic illness and spent her later years moving between residences in Britain and travelling abroad in search of better health, while continuing her charitable activities. She funded the construction of St Paul's Pro-Cathedral in Malta and a village school in Great Witley, and supported charitable projects in Madeira. Adelaide died in 1849 and was buried at St George's Chapel, Windsor. Her name survives in numerous places and institutions across the former British Empire and beyond, most notably in Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia, which was named in her honour in 1836.