In her will, Queen Adelaide requested that her coffin should be carried to the grave by sailors,—a touching tribute to her husband's memory, and to the Navy, to which she had shown her attachment.
[Original]
CHAPTER XI. QUEEN VICTORIA.
(A.D. 1819-1862.)
William IV. expressed a wish that he might live until his niece was old enough to assume the reins of government herself, so that no regent might be necessary. He was gratified, for Princess Victoria had celebrated her eighteenth birthday just four weeks before messengers arrived at Kensington Palace to summon her to the throne. It was on the morning of June 20, 1837, long before daylight, that the king's illness terminated fatally.