East Cowes Castle days later in his London home, by cutting his own throat. In 1819, just six months before his coronation as King George IV, the Prince Regent visited Nash again at East Cowes Castle, whilst touring on the Royal Yacht. In 1825, the Duke and the Duchess of Cambridge stayed at East Cowes Castle. In August 1830, the Dauphiness and Duchess De Berri, accompanying the expatriated King of France, visited East Cowes Castle. The king had abdicated on 2 August and left France for England on 16 August, when it seemed that their safety was in jeopardy from angry mobs of
The Merry Monarch Monarch started at odds of 15/1 in a record field of thirty one runners. These official odds however, were offered jointly for The Merry Monarch and his stable companion Doleful: according to "The Sporting Magazine", odds of 35/1 would have been more accurate reflection of the actual betting. The start of the race was delayed by almost an hour by a series of false starts and an incident in which one of the leading contenders, Alarm was kicked by The Libel. Alarm threw off his jockey, Nat Flatman, ran into a chain fence and then galloped loose down the course