The Real Adelaide

I am in another of my philosophical moods today and have been asking myself the following question:

What is reality?

Do you think Queen Adelaide would have asked herself the same question from time to time?  If so, what might her answers have been?  Where would she have...

...sought answers?

I like this picture of Her Majesty.  Perhaps you think I should write about her on my Women of Some Importance blog.  But do we really know if she did anything to distinguish herself in some way from all other people of her time?

The picture, by Sir William Beechey, was painted in around 1831, the year before the very important Reform Act of the British Parliament.  At least one of the prominent candidates in the United Kingdom's forthcoming election is descended from Adelaide's husband, through one of his former de facto partners.

Elections call upon all of us to think about reality.  The people of metropolitan Adelaide and the state of South Australia have already had a state election this year and will probably participate in a federal election in a few months time.

Queen Adelaide is sometimes blamed for attempting to stop the passage of the Reform Act of 1832.  She was a conservative consort, much like one of her most notable predecessors, Catherine of Aragon.  The two women had several similarities, don't you think?

According to a page on The Manning Index of South Australian History, on the website  of the State Library of South Australia,  Queen Adelaide was afraid that the reform of parliament would lead to her being treated in the same way as Marie Antoinette.  Although I do not think Queen Adelaide was at all like the Austrian queen of France, perhaps their husbands had a few things in common.

King William IV was not one of my favourite monarchs.  If fact, I am not much of a monarchist at all.  It comes from being aware of some of the realities of history.  I do not wish to be ruled by either monarchs or mobs. 

Sir William Beechey was probably a monarchist, at least as far as the Royal Family provided him with a job.  He was born in 1753, so was a contemporary of our dear friend Mr Mozart.  You can see some more of Sir William's paintings here.

How much of this is relevant to 
your ideas about the real Adelaide?  

I would be very interested in receiving your views.

A few months ago, I made a suggestion for a new Australian national anthem.  You can find out more about it by perusing this blog.  Perhaps metropolitan Adelaide needs its own anthem, though.  I would suggest the song called Adelaïde.  It was written in the mid 1790s by Ludwig van Beethoven.  He was a contemporary of King William IV.

There is something chivalrous about the words and the music, in my view.  I would like to see more chivalry and civility in our city and hope that such a song may encourage it to happen.  You will find several versions of Beethoven's song on youtube.  Please let me know which one you prefer.