If you've already had enough of royal wedding fever, be glad that we are only expecting one wedding next April. In 1818, there was no less than three, as the unmarried sons of George III rushed to the altar in an effort to produce a legitimate heir.
On 1st June the 44-year –old Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge celebrated his nuptials to the 21-year-old Princess Augusta of Hesse. ‘'Immediately after the conclusion of the marriages, the Park and Tower guns were fired, and the evening concluded with other public demonstrations of joy in the metropolis’, reported the London Gazette.
Six weeks later, his elder brothers, the 53-year-old Duke of Clarence and the 51-year-old Duke of Kent shared a double wedding on 11th July. Once again, sighed the London Gazette, ‘the Park and Tower guns were fired, and the evening concluded with other public demonstations of joy in the metropolis.'
In a time of economic crisis, when the government had a war debt of some £800 million and the Corn Laws contributed to large rises in the price of food, national celebration was muted, and even newspaper reporters couldn’t be bothered to appear pleased.
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