Bells were ringing and bands playing. It was a big thing, after all, when royalty came to stay. Sidmouth was all a flutter in December 1819 when the Duke and Duchess of Kent arrived with their entourage, which included their little daughter Victoria, who was sixth in line when she was born yet destined to be Queen. They actually arrived on Christmas Eve in the midst of a snowstorm. Edward, Duke of Kent (1767-1820), his wife, Victoria (or Victoire) of Saxe-Coburg, and the chubby little tot, settled down at Woolbrook Cottage, which is today the Royal Glen Hotel. It had once been incongruously King’s Cottage, named from a Mr King who had gentrified it back in the 1770s. Apparently, it was hard to keep warm.
Having been born in May 1819, little Alexandrina Victoria was only seven months old when she arrived in Devon: Victoria’s first holiday. There was a nurse, of course, who took her out to ‘take the air’. There was a groom too, to make ‘arrangements’. Overseeing everything was Capt John Conroy, the Duke’s chief administrator, a former Army officer.
This story is from the April 2020 edition of Devon Life.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the April 2020 edition of Devon Life.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Legends Of Lockdown
A new online exhibition features an array of Devon’s lockdown legends exploring their lives and communities during the pandemic restrictions
Look Out For Intelligent Slime!
Think you know your waxcaps from your dog vomit slime mould? Exmoor’s conservation team needs our help to record the pretty and the not-so-pretty wildlife living in this unique national park. finds out more
Retirement redefined
Millbrook Village’s Leah Jackson talks to AMELIA THURSTON about how wellbeing and quality of life are at the heart of the later living community
Look to the future
SU CARROLL talks to Sir Antony Gormley about his contribution to Devon’s artistic life
Natural beauty
Working with nature and the cycle of seasons, a new flower farm is blossoming in a fold of the beautiful River Teign valley
THE DIARY
SU CARROLL recommends the best events across the county this month
My kinda city...
With the perfect balance of country and city life, Exeter still shines as the jewel of the West. STEPHANIE DARKES shares her insider insights into the city that stole her heart
Letting themselves in for hard work...
Renovating your entire house is tough. Renovating someone else’s seven-bedroom Grade-II listed Georgian farmhouse and turning it into a high-end holiday let is even trickier. CHRISSY HARRIS went to Kingston see how it’s done
Lessons from history
History author Ian Mortimer has taken readers on travels through time from the Middle Ages to the Industrial Revolution. STU LAMBERT asks him how our country and our county changed in Regency times
A Reform character
The owner of North Devon’s longest standing brewery is about to take on a new challenge, as CATHERINE COURTENAY discovers