page_title: Sophia Sidney, Baroness De L'Isle and Dudley
section_title: Later life
hierarchical_section_title: Sophia Sidney, Baroness De L'Isle and Dudley / Later life
caption_attribution_description: English: Watercolor painting of William IV of the United Kingdom, painted in 1837 by his illegitimate daughter Sophia de L'Isle and Dudley, shortly before her death.
context_page_description: Sophia Sidney, Baroness De L'Isle and Dudley was the eldest illegitimate daughter of William IV of the United Kingdom and his longtime mistress Dorothea Jordan. She was married to Philip Sidney, 1st Baron De L'Isle and Dudley, and had four surviving children. Shortly before her death in 1837, she served as State Housekeeper in Kensington Palace.
context_section_description: In May 1831 Sophia, like her sisters, was raised to the status of a daughter of a marquess. In January 1837, she was appointed State Housekeeper of Kensington Palace, where she died three months later. Sophia died in childbirth just after drawing a sketch of her ailing father. She was his favourite child and her death caused him intense grief. She was remembered as a woman of great wit, charm and gaiety. There is a memorial to her at St John the Baptist, Penshurst.
  The widowed Sidney died in 1851.
caption: William IV drawn by his daughter Sophia in 1837
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