At the time of their marriage, William was not heir presumptive to the throne, but became so when his brother,
Frederick, Duke of York, died childless in
1827. Given the small likelihood of his older brothers producing heirs, and William's relative youth and good health, it had long been considered extremely likely that he would become King in due course. In
1830, on the death of his elder brother,
George IV, William was crowned on
8 September 1831, at
Westminster Abbey.
Adelaide was beloved by the British people for her piety, modesty, charity, and her tragic childbirth history. A large portion of her household income was given to charitable causes. She also treated the young Princess Victoria of Kent (William's heir presumptive and later
Queen Victoria) with kindness, despite her own inability to produce an heir and the open hostility between William and Victoria's mother,
the Duchess of Kent.
Adelaide was strongly Tory, and attempted to influence the King politically. It is unclear how much of William's attitudes during the crisis over the struggles to pass the
Reform Act of 1832 were due to her influence.
