KING WILLIAM IV. AND "MRS JORDAN."

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 87, 24 September 1915, Page 3 (Supplement)

KING WILLIAM IV. AND "MRS JORDAN."

By his will King William IV. bequeathed £2,000 to each of his children, o; whom eight survived him, with equal share; in a life insurance policy for 1'40,000. This was a modest provision for the children of a King; but they were not the children of his Queen, and, besides, the <-ons were all wcii provided f r ctnerwise. in positions about the Court, in the Array, in the Navy, and in the. Church; while the da lighten; were well married. The race of Fitzo'arenccs had so multiplied under these au pices, that the King left behind linn seventeen grandchildren. He had two daughter; by his Queen, but both died in infancy, and thus the only object of his n.iirriage with the Princess Adelaide was frustrated. The truth is, he had been virtually lmirned tor many years to ".Mrs -Jordan" —an actress —with whom he lived as h's wife, and whom he treated with as much attention and respect as could be expected under his peculiar circumstances. "Jordan" was only an assumed name, her real 'one being Dorothy Bland. Her connection with King \\ illinm —then Duke of Clarence—was suddenly broken off in 1811, when he sottied upon her a year, y allowance of £1.40') for the maintenance of herself and daughters, with the provision that if she returned to the stage the four daughters, together with t'l.aOO allowed tor them. should revert to the father. But her passion for the stage seems to have overcome all considerations, and fhe resumed her profession a few months after. Getting involved in pecuniary embarrassments, she subsequently retired to France, where she gradually sank under the weight of her afflietioas, and died at St. Cloud on July 3, 1816. Her children by the Prinoe were freely received in aristocratic society, and on the death of their father the allowance of 'JoOO a year was continued to them by Queen Victoria.