[1] 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.

[4] At the time no statute existed barring 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.

To secure the line of succession, Prince William, Duke of Clarence and St Andrews, and the other sons of George III sought quick marriages with the intent of producing offspring who could inherit the throne.

However, Adelaide still seemed the ideal candidate of a wife: amiable, home-loving, and willing to accept William's illegitimate children as part of the family.

[6] The arrangement was settled and William wrote to his eldest son, "She is doomed, poor dear innocent young creature, to be my wife.

"[7] William eventually accepted the reduced increase in his allowance voted by Parliament,[8] her dowry was set at 20,000 florins, with three additional separate annuities being promised by her future husband, the Prince Regent, and the state of Saxe-Meiningen.

Despite these unromantic circumstances, the couple settled amicably in Hanover, where the cost of living was much lower than in England, and by all accounts were devoted to each other throughout their marriage.

[13] Adelaide soon became pregnant but in her seventh month of pregnancy she developed pleurisy and gave birth prematurely on 27 March 1819 at the Fürstenhof Palace in Hanover.

[14] Another pregnancy in the same year caused William to move the household to England so his heir would be born on British soil; however Adelaide miscarried at Calais[15] or Dunkirk[16] during the journey on 5 September 1819.

Given the small likelihood of his older brothers producing heirs, and William's relative youth and good health, it had long been considered extremely likely that he would become king in due course.

William despised the ceremony and acted throughout, it is presumed deliberately, as if he was "a character in a comic opera", making a mockery of what he thought to be a ridiculous charade.

"[23] In any case, Adelaide was beloved by the British people for her piety, modesty, charity, and her tragic childbirth history.

[33] In October 1834, a great fire destroyed much of the Palace of Westminster, which Adelaide considered divine retribution for the vagaries of reform.

[34] When the King dismissed the Whig ministry of Lord Melbourne, The Times newspaper blamed the Queen's influence, though she seems to have had very little to do with it.

[37] Queen Adelaide was dangerously ill in April 1837, at around the same time that she was present at her mother's deathbed in Meiningen, but she recovered.

[38] William IV died from heart failure in the early hours of the morning of 20 June 1837 at Windsor Castle, where he was buried.

Lacking a Protestant church in Malta, the queen dowager paid for the construction of St Paul's Pro-Cathedral in Valletta.

[42] Suffering from chronic illness, she often moved her place of residence in a vain search for health, staying at the country houses of various British aristocracy.

She gave money to the poor of the island and paid for the construction of a road from Ribeiro Seco to Camara de Lobos.

[48] Queen Adelaide's last public appearance was to lay the foundation stone of the church of St John the Evangelist, Great Stanmore.

I die in all humility … we are alike before the throne of God, and I request therefore that my mortal remains be conveyed to the grave without pomp or state … to have as private and quiet a funeral as possible.

[51]Queen Adelaide's name is probably best remembered in the Australian state of South Australia, founded during the brief reign of William IV.

The Citadel in Port Louis, capital of the Republic of Mauritius, is named Fort Adelaide, the building having been started during the reign of William in 1834.