Before electricity, candles and fireplaces illuminated rooms. And if you stood too close to them, you could easily catch fire, like it happened to poor Princess Sophia, one of King George III's daughter. Luckily, the princess wasn't much hurt. A young princess Victoria wrote about the incident in her diary on 26 February 1826:
"Poor Aunt Sophia could not come to dinner as she met with a sad accident in the morning; she set her cap, handkerchief and dress on fire and came to her servants all in a blaze; most fortunately they instantly put it out and she is not much burnt; only a little on her neck and behind her ear."
Further reading:
Princesses: The Six Daughters Of George III by Flora Fraser