Glimpses of King William IV. and Queen Adelaide

These pages bring together a selection of private letters penned by Miss Mary Clitherow, offering a rare, informal glimpse of King William IV and Queen Adelaide as they moved through everyday life. Rather than focusing on grand state occasions or the era’s leading politicians, the correspondence reveals the monarchs’ gentle friendships with ordinary, principled English genteel families. The tone is warm and conversational, showing a king noted for his simple tastes and a queen whose kindness extended beyond the palace walls.

Set against the backdrop of Boston House, a modest yet historic home near Brentford, the letters also sketch the surrounding countryside and the lineage of its owners. The house, dating back to the early 1600s, served as a quiet retreat where the royal couple once dined in 1834, a moment captured in the Clitherow papers. Readers will enjoy this intimate portrait of a royal couple whose private hospitality left a lasting, human imprint on those they visited.