When, after Waterloo, he was in Paris, the Duke's aide-de-camp carried letters backwards and forwards across the Channel.
In January 1816 he was invited to England, and in May the marriage took place.
The character of Prince Leopold contrasted strangely with that of his wife.

The younger son of a German princeling, he was at this time twenty-six years of age; he had served with distinction in the war against Napoleon; he had shown considerable diplomatic skill at the Congress of Vienna; and he was now to try his hand at the task of taming a tumultuous Princess.

Cold and formal in manner, collected in speech, careful in action, he soon dominated the wild, impetuous, generous creature by his side.

There was much in her, he found, of which he could not approve.

She quizzed, she stamped, she roared with laughter; she had very little of that self-command which is especially required of princes; her manners were abominable.