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Auction: 13050 - Postal History and Historical documents
Lot: 2082

Historical Documents
King William IV
1830 (6 May) A.L.S. from Bushy House to an unnamed recipient, "I am afraid the enclosed is a true story. Let me know the particulars and what can be done.", signed "William"; usual folding creases. A good letter written shortly before he became King. Photo

In 1797, after the death of both Lord North and his wife, King George III appointed his son, William, Duke of Clarence, as Ranger of Bushy Park, carrying with it residence at Bushy House. The future King William IV and his mistress Dorothy Jordan lived there together with their ten children until the couple's relationship came to an end in 1811. William continued living in Bushy House with the FitzClarence children and later his wife Princess Adelaide after they married in 1818. When at 6am on 26 June 1830 a messenger from London arrived at Bushy House with the news that the King was dead and that William was now king, William is said to have replied that he had 'always wished to sleep with a queen' and gone back to bed. As William had appointed her Ranger in her own right upon his accession, after William's death in 1837, Bushy House became Adelaide's official residence until her death in 1849.

In 1865, Queen Victoria offered Bushy House to the Duc de Nemours and other members of the exiled French royal family as they tried to restore the House of Bourbon. After his return to France in 1871, he kept Bushy House until 1897 in case he was forced to leave France again.

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