THE GREAT PREGNANCY RACE | The Duchesses of Clarence, Kent, and Cambridge with Eugene Barilo von Reisberg

The unexpected death of Princess Charlotte of Wales plunged the British monarchy into a succession crisis. Three of the remaining bachelor sons of King George III rushed over to Europe to secure an eligible princess and procure the desired heir for the British throne. The last lecture focuses on the lives of the three royal brides who arrived in England in the summer of 1818: Princess Adelaide, the future Duchess of Clarence and consort of William IV; Princess Victoria, the future Duchess of Kent and mother of Queen Victoria; and Princess Augusta, the future Duchess of Cambridge and grandmother of Queen Mary.

EUGENE BARILO VON REISBERG is a writer, researcher, and art consultant. He is an internationally acknowledged authority on Franz Xaver Winterhalter, the nineteenth-century elite portrait specialist, and he is currently completing a doctoral thesis on the artist at the University of Melbourne

Sir William Beechey (1753-1839), Victoria, Duchess of Kent, with her daughter, Princess Victoria, 1821, The Royal Collection, England, RCIN 407169