William IV of the United Kingdom
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which he reluctantly accepted after his requests to increase it further were refused. William is not known to have had mistresses. The major sorrow of the marriage is that they did not have healthy children which would have secured the succession. The couple had two short-lived daughters, and Adelaide suffered three miscarriages. Despite this, false rumours that Adelaide was pregnant persisted into William's reign—he dismissed them as "damned stuff". William had another illegitimate son, William, before he met Mrs. Jordan and whose mother is unknown, who drowned off Madagascar in HMS Blenheim in 1807. Caroline von Linsingen, whose father was a general in the Hanoverian infantry, claimed to have had a son, Heinrich, by William in around 1790 but William was not in Hanover at the time that she claims and the story is considered implausible. William's elder brother, the Prince of Wales, had been Prince Regent since 1811
Lord High Admiral
because of the mental illness of their father, George III. In 1820, the King died, leaving the Crown to the Prince Regent, who became George IV. William was now second in line to the Throne, preceded only by his brother, Frederick, Duke of York. Reformed since his marriage, William walked for hours, ate relatively frugally, and the only drink he imbibed in quantity was barley water flavoured with lemon. Both of his older brothers were unhealthy, and it was considered only a matter of time before he became King. When the Duke of York died in 1827, William, then more than 60 years old, became heir presumptive. Later that year, the incoming Prime Minister, George Canning, appointed William to the office of Lord High Admiral, which had been in commission (that is, exercised by a board rather than by a single individual) since 1709. While in office, the Duke had repeated conflicts with his Council, which was composed of Admiralty officers. Things finally came to a head in 1828 when the Lord High Admiral put to sea with a squadron of ships, leaving no word of where they were going, and remaining away for ten days. The King, through the Prime Minister, by now Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, requested his resignation; the Duke of Clarence complied. Despite the difficulties which the Duke experienced, he did considerable good as Lord High Admiral. He abolished the cat o' nine tails for most offences other than mutiny; attempted to improve the standard of naval gunnery and he required regular reports of the condition and preparedness of each ship. He commissioned the first steam warship and advocated for more. Holding the office permitted