Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales, painted by George Dawe, 1817 (Wikimedia Commons). Last week’s birth of George Alexander Louis to Prince William and Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, made headlines around the globe. Though the future can be anyone’s guess, baby Prince George seems destined to become the King of England one day. He is the third in the line of succession to the current monarch Queen Elizabeth II, following his grandfather Prince Charles and his father Prince William. There was also a royal birth during the Regency era. But that birth, which occurred almost 200 years ago, was a cause for mourning instead of celebration. It also also concerned the birth of an heir, and what happened had far-reaching consequences. Before we get to the birth, though, we have to start with a royal wedding. In May of 1816, Princess Charlotte, daughter and only child of the Prince Regent, cajoled her father into allowing her to marry the man of her own choosing, Prince Le
. . . where the past is mirrored in the present