The Duke never held a full-time post because of his asthma. He devoted his energies instead to building up an extensive library which filled ten rooms and comprised over fifty thousand volumes.

After his death in 1843, the Duke's second wife, the Duchess of Inverness, continued to live at Kensington Palace until 1873.

When the Duke of Sussex lay in state at Kensington Palace after his death The Illustrated London News reported an ‘immense influx of visitors from all parts of the metropolis and the neighbourhood’. It was estimated that more than 25,000 visitors came to pay their last respects during one day.