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13.08.

1792: The German Princess after whom the City of Adelaide in Australia was Named

1792: The German Princess after whom the City of Adelaide in Australia was Named
Photo Credit To Wikipedia Commons/Footbridge across the Torrens River, with the Adelaide Oval stadium in the background

Story Highlights

  • Historical event
  • 13 August 1792
  • Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen married British prince William, son of King George III of the Hannover dynasty.

Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, the German princess after whom the city of Adelaide in South Australia is named, was born on this day in 1792.



Adelaide is today a city with over one million inhabitants and the fifth largest in the whole of Australia (after Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth). It is the capital of the state of South Australia.

Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen was born in Meiningen, Thuringia, at the time of the French Revolution. Her father was Duke George I of Saxe-Meiningen, the ruler of a small independent state located in central Germany.

The land area of the Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen encompassed around 1,100 square kilometers. It was one of the most liberal German states at that time.

Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen married British prince William, son of King George III of the Hannover dynasty.




He became the British king under the name William IV, thus making Adelaide the British queen.

She and William IV were without male issue, so that the famous Queen Victoria, Adelaide’s niece, inherited the throne after William’s death.

Adelaide outlived her husband for around 12 years, becoming the Queen Mother of her niece Victoria. The city of Adelaide was named after her in 1836, at the time when her husband-king was still alive (of course, Australia was a British colony at that time).

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