January 23, 1820: Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn. Part I.

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Canada, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz., Commander in Chief, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, Duke of York, Frederick, Gibraltar, King George III of the United Kingdom, Prince Edward

Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, (November 2, 1767 – January 23, 1820) was the fourth son and fifth child of King George III of the United Kingdom and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.His only legitimate child became Queen Victoria.

As a son of the British monarch, he was styled His Royal Highness The Prince Edward from birth, and was fourth in the line of succession to the throne. He was named after his paternal uncle, Prince Edward, the Duke of York and Albany (1739 – 1767), who had died several weeks earlier September 17, 1767, and was buried at Westminster Abbey the day before Edward’s birth.

The Prince began his military training in the Holy Roman Empire in 1785. King George III intended to send him to the University of Göttingen, but decided against it upon the advice of the Duke of York. Instead, Edward went to Lüneburg and later Hanover, accompanied by his tutor, Baron Wangenheim.

On May 30, 1786, he was appointed a brevet colonel in the British Army. From 1788 to 1789, he completed his education in Geneva Switzerland. On August 5, 1789, aged 22, he became a mason in the L’Union, the most important Genevan masonic lodge in the 19th century.

In 1789, he was appointed colonel of the 7th Regiment of Foot (Royal Fusiliers). In 1790, he returned home without leave and, in disgrace, was sent off to Gibraltar as an ordinary officer. He was joined from Marseilles by Madame de Saint-Laurent.

After suffering a fall from his horse in late 1798, he was allowed to return to England. On April 24, 1799, Prince Edward was created Duke of Kent and Strathearn and Earl of Dublin, received the thanks of parliament and an income of £12,000 (£1.21 million in 2020).

In May that same year, the Duke was promoted to the rank of general and appointed Commander-in-Chief of British forces in North America. He took leave of his parents July 22, 1799 and sailed to Halifax. Just over twelve months later he left Halifax and arrived in England on August 31, 1800 where it was confidently expected his next appointment would be Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

Edward was the first member of the royal family to live in North America for more than a short visit (1791–1800) and, in 1794, the first prince to enter the United States (travelling to Boston on foot from Lower Canada) after independence.

On March 23, 1802, he was appointed Governor of Gibraltar. The Duke took up his post on May 24, 1802 with express orders from the government to restore discipline among the drunken troops. The Duke’s harsh discipline precipitated a mutiny by soldiers in his own and the 25th Regiment on Christmas Eve 1802.

His brother Frederick, the Duke of York, then Commander-in-Chief of the Forces, recalled him in May 1803 after receiving reports of the mutiny, but despite this direct order he refused to return to England until his successor arrived. He was refused permission to return to Gibraltar for an inquiry and, although allowed to continue to hold the governorship of Gibraltar until his death, he was forbidden to return.

As a consolation for the end of his active military career at age 35, he was promoted to the rank of field marshal and appointed Ranger of Hampton Court Park on September 5, 1805. This office provided him with a residence now known as The Pavilion. (His sailor brother, William, with children to provide for, had been made Ranger of Bushy Park in 1797.) The Duke continued to serve as honorary colonel of the 1st Regiment of Foot (the Royal Scots) until his death.

Though it was a tendency shared to some extent with his brothers, the Duke’s excesses as a military disciplinarian may have been due less to natural disposition and more to what he had learned from his tutor Baron Wangenheim. Certainly Wangenheim, by keeping his allowance very small, accustomed Edward to borrowing at an early age. The Duke applied the same military discipline to his own duties that he demanded of others.

Though it seems inconsistent with his unpopularity among the army’s rank and file, his friendliness toward others and popularity with servants has been emphasized. He also introduced the first regimental school.

The Duke of Wellington considered him a first-class speaker. He took a continuing interest in the social experiments of Robert Owen, voted for Catholic emancipation, and supported literary, Bible, and abolitionist societies.

January 5, 1929: Death of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia. Part I.

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Anastasia of Montenegro, Band Duke Nicholas Nikoleavich of Russia, Borzoi Hunting Dogs, Commander in Chief, Frederick William III of Prussia, Nicholas I of Russia, Nicholas II of Russia

Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia (November 18, 1856 – January 5, 1929) was a Russian general in World War I (1914–1918). The son of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia (1831–1891), and a grandson of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia, he was commander in chief of the Imperial Russian Army units on the main front in the first year of the war, during the reign of his first cousin once removed, Nicholas II.

Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich of Russia (1831–1891) was named after his paternal grandfather, the Emperor Nicholas I, was born as the eldest son to Grand Duke Nicholas Nicolaevich of Russia (1831–1891) and Alexandra of Oldenburg (1838–1900) on November 18, 1856. His father was the sixth child and third son born to Nicholas I of Russia and his Empress consort Alexandra of Prussia (1798–1860) a daughter of Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia and Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

Nicholas’s mother, (Alexandra of Oldenburg) was the daughter of his father’s first cousin, Duke Constantine Peter of Oldenburg (1812–1881) and Princess Therese of Nassau (1815–1871). His maternal grandfather was a son of Duke Georg of Oldenburg and Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna of Russia, daughter of Paul I of Russia and Maria Fedorovna of Württemberg. (Catherine Pavlovna of Russia, was later remarried to Wilhelm I of Württemberg.)

His maternal grandmother, Princess Therese of Nassau-Weilburg, was a daughter of Wilhelm, Duke of Nassau (1792–1839) and Princess Luise of Saxe-Hildburghausen. The Duke of Nassau was a son of Friedrich Wilhelm, Duke of Nassau (1768–1816) and Burgravine Louise Isabelle of Kirchberg. His paternal grandparents were Duke Charles Christian of Nassau-Weilburg (1735–1788) and Carolina of Orange-Nassau. Carolina was a daughter of Willem IV of Orange and Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange. Anne was the eldest daughter of George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Ansbach.

A very tall man (1.98m / 6′ 6″), Grand Duke Nicholas was the first cousin once removed of Emperor Nicholas II. To distinguish between them, the Grand Duke was often known within the Imperial family as “Nikolasha”: the Grand Duke was also known as “Nicholas the Tall” while the Emperor was “Nicholas the Short.

Marriage

On April 29, 1907 Nicholas married Princess Anastasia of Montenegro (1869–1935), the daughter of King Nicholas I of Montenegro and sister of Princess Milica, who had married Nicholas’s brother, Grand Duke Peter. They had no children. She had previously been married to George Maximilianovich, 6th Duke of Leuchtenberg, by whom she had two children, until their divorce in 1906. Since the Montenegrins were a fiercely Slavic, anti-Turkish people from the Balkans, Anastasia reinforced the Pan-Slavic tendencies of Nicholas.

Hunting

Nicholas was a hunter. Ownership of borzoi hounds was restricted to members of the highest nobility, and Nicholas’s packs were well-known. After the revolution, the dogs in his kennel were sold off by the new Soviet government. In his lifetime, Nicholas and his dogs caught hundreds of wolves. A pair of borzoi were used, which caught the wolf, one on each side, while Nicholas dismounted and cut the wolf’s throat with a knife. Hunting was his major recreation, and he traveled in his private train across Russia with his horses and dogs, hunting while on his rounds of inspection.

1870.

Grand Duke Nicholas was educated at the school of military engineers and received his commission in 1873. During the Russo-Turkish War, 1877-78, he was on the staff of his father who was commander in chief. He distinguished himself on two occasions in this war. He worked his way up through all the ranks until he was appointed commander of the Guard Hussar Regiment in 1884.

He had a reputation as a tough commander, yet one respected by his troops. His experience was more as a trainer of soldiers than a leader in battle. Nicholas was a very religious man, praying in the morning and at night as well as before and after meals. He was happiest in the country, hunting or caring for his estates.