April 2, 1653: Birth of Prince George of Denmark and Norway, Duke of Cumberland

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Duchess of Marlborough, Duke of Cumberland, George I of Great Britain, Glorious Revolution, King James II-VII of England, Lady Sarah Churchill, Prince George of Denmark and Norway, Queen Anne of Great Britain and Ireland, Queen Mary II of England

Prince George of Denmark (April 2, 1653 – October 28, 1708) was the husband of Anne, Queen of Great Britain. He was the consort of the British monarch from Anne’s accession on March 8, 1702 until his death in 1708

Early life

George was born in Copenhagen Castle, and was the younger son of Frederik III, King of Denmark and Norway, and Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg. His mother was the sister of Ernst August, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, later Elector of Hanover, whose son, George Louis, would succeed his future wife as King of Great Britain. This made Prince George of Denmark and King George I of Great Britain first cousins.

His father died in 1670, while George was in Italy, and George’s elder brother, Christian V, inherited the Danish throne. George returned home through Germany. He travelled through Germany again in 1672–73, to visit two of his sisters, Anna Sophia and Wilhelmine Ernestine, who were married to the electoral princes of Saxony and the Palatinate.

Prince George of Denmark and Norway, Duke of Cumberland

In 1674, George was a candidate for the elective Polish throne, for which he was backed by King Louis XIV of France and Navarre. George’s staunch Lutheranism was a barrier to election in Roman Catholic Poland, and John Sobieski was chosen instead.

As a Protestant, George was considered a suitable partner for the niece of King Charles II of England, Lady Anne. They were distantly related (second cousins once removed; they were both descended from King Frederik II of Denmark), and had never met.

George was hosted by Charles II in London in 1669, but Anne had been in France at the time of George’s visit. Both Denmark and Britain were Protestant, and Louis XIV was keen on an Anglo-Danish alliance to contain the power of the Dutch Republic.

Anne’s uncle Laurence Hyde, 1st Earl of Rochester, and the English Secretary of State for the Northern Department, Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland, negotiated a marriage treaty with the Danes in secret, to prevent the plans leaking to the Dutch. Anne’s father, James, Duke of York, welcomed the marriage because it diminished the influence of his other son-in-law, Dutch Stadtholder William III of Orange, who was naturally unhappy with the match.

George and Anne were married on July 28, 1683 in the Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace, London, by Henry Compton, Bishop of London. The guests included King Charles II, Queen Catherine, and the Duke and Duchess of York. Anne was voted a parliamentary allowance of £20,000 a year, while George received £10,000 a year from his Danish estates, although payments from Denmark were often late or incomplete.

George was not ambitious, and hoped to live a quiet life of domesticity with his wife. He wrote to a friend: “We talk here of going to tea, of going to Winchester, and everything else except sitting still all summer, which was the height of my ambition. God send me a quiet life somewhere, for I shall not be long able to bear this perpetual motion.”

Charles II, Anne’s uncle, famously said of Prince George, “I have tried him drunk, and I have tried him sober and there is nothing in him”.

In February 1685, King Charles II died without legitimate issue, and George’s father-in-law, the Roman Catholic Duke of York, became king as James II in England and Ireland and James VII in Scotland. George was appointed to the Privy Council and invited to attend Cabinet meetings, although he had no power to alter or affect decisions.

Prince George of Denmark and Norway, husband of the Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland, wearing a ducal robe with the collar of the Garter.

William of Orange refused to attend James’s coronation largely because George would take precedence over him. Although they were both sons-in-law of King James, George was also the son and brother of a king and so outranked William, who, although a Prince, was an elected stadtholder of a republic.

George was unpopular with his Dutch brother-in-law, William III, Prince of Orange, who was married to Anne’s elder sister, Mary. Anne and Mary’s father, the British ruler James II and VII, was deposed in the Glorious Revolution in 1688, and William and Mary succeeded him as joint monarchs with Anne as heir presumptive.

In early April 1689, William assented to a bill naturalizing George as an English subject, and George was created Duke of Cumberland, Earl of Kendal and Baron of Okingham (Wokingham) by the new monarchs. He took his seat in the House of Lords on 20 April 1689, being introduced by the Dukes of Somerset and Ormonde.

William excluded George from active military service, and neither George nor Anne wielded any great influence until after the deaths of Mary and then William, at which point Anne became Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland. In 1707 with the Act of Union between England and Scotland and the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Queen Anne’s title changed accordingly.

During his wife’s reign, George occasionally used his influence in support of his wife, even when privately disagreeing with her views. He had an easy-going manner and little interest in politics; his appointment as Lord High Admiral of England in 1702 was largely honorary.

George was quiet and self-effacing. John Macky thought him “of a familiar, easy disposition with a good sound understanding but modest in showing it … very fat, loves news, his bottle & the Queen.”

The previous husband’s of a British queen regnant had become King Consorts. Felipe II of Spain was a King Consort to his wife Queen Mary I of England. King François II of France and Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, were King Consorts to Mary I of Scotland.

William of Orange, one the other hand, had become a joint sovereign king, and not a King Consort, with his wife, refusing to take a subordinate rank to Mary.

William III and Mary II had exemplified the traditional gender roles of seventeenth-century Europe: Mary was the dutiful wife and William wielded the power.

Prince George of Denmark and Norway, Duke of Cumberland and Queen Anne of Great Britain and Ireland

George and Anne, however, reversed the roles: George was the dutiful husband and it was Anne who exercised the royal prerogatives. William had assumed incorrectly that George would use his marriage to Anne as a means of building a separate power base in Britain, but George never challenged his wife’s authority and never strove to accrue influence.

In Britain at this time Husbands had a legal right to their wife’s property, and it was argued that it was unnatural and against the church’s teachings for a man to be subject to his wife. George made no such claim or demand; he was content to remain a prince and duke. “I am her Majesty’s subject”, he said, “I shall do naught.”

Anne’s seventeen pregnancies by George resulted in twelve miscarriages or stillbirths, four infant deaths, and a chronically sick son, Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, who died at the age of eleven. Despite the deaths of their children, George and Anne’s marriage was a strong one.

George died on October 28, 1708 aged 55 from a recurring and chronic lung disease, much to the devastation of his wife.

His death has flung the Queen into an unspeakable grief. She never left him till he was dead, but continued kissing him the very moment his breath went out of his body, and ’twas with a great deal of difficulty my Lady Marlborough prevailed upon her to leave him.

Anne wrote to her nephew, Frederick IV of Denmark, “the loss of such a husband, who loved me so dearly and so devotedly, is too crushing for me to be able to bear it as I ought.” Anne was desperate to stay at Kensington with the body of her husband, but under pressure from the Duchess of Marlborough, she reluctantly left Kensington for St James’s Palace.

The immediate aftermath of George’s death damaged their relationship further. He was buried privately at midnight on 13 November in Westminster Abbey.

January 26, 1624: Birth of Georg Wilhelm, Duke of Brunswick-Lauenburg

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Elector of Hanover, Georg Wilhelm of Brunswick-Luneburg, George I of Great Britain, House of Brunswick, House of Hanover, Sophia Dorothea of Brunswick-Celle, Welf

Georg Wilhelm (January 26, 1624 – August 28, 1705) was the first Welf Duke of Lauenburg after its occupation in 1689. From 1648 to 1665, he was the ruler of the Principality of Calenberg as an appanage from his eldest brother, Christian Ludwig, Prince of Luneburg. When he inherited Luneburg on the latter’s death in 1665, he gave Calenberg to his younger brother, Johann Friedrich.

Nevertheless, he only kept the sub-division of Celle, giving the rest of Luneburg to their youngest brother Ernst August, whose son, George Ludwig (future King of Great Britain), inherited Saxe-Lauenburg and Celle from Georg Wilhelm. His only daughter, Sophia Dorothea of Celle, was George Ludwig’s wife.

Georg Wilhelm of Brunswick-Luneburg

Georg Wilhelm was born in Herzberg am Harz, the second son of Georg, Prince of Calenberg and Anne Eleonore of Hesse-Darmstadt, daughter of Ludwig V, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt and Magdalene of Brandenburg

Georg Wilhelm had an elder brother, two younger brothers, and several sisters, including Queen Sophia Amalie of Denmark and Norway, consort of the King Frederik III of Denmark and Norway.

Succession

In 1648, when Georg Wilhelm’s elder brother, Christian Ludwig, Prince of Calenberg, inherited the Principality of Lüneburg from their paternal uncle, Friedrich IV, he gave Calenberg to Georg Wilhelm in appanage.

Seventeen years later, in 1665, Christian Ludwig himself died childless, and Georg Wilhelm inherited Luneburg as well. He then gave Calenberg to his next brother, Johann Friedrich.

The renunciation of claim to Luneburg had in fact happened seven years previously, in 1658. In exchange for being freed from the obligation to marry Princess Sophia of the Palatinate, Georg Wilhelm ceded his claim on inheriting Lüneburg to his youngest brother Ernst August, settling for the smaller duchy of Celle and promising to remain unmarried so that he would produce no legitimate heir who might pose a challenge to his brother’s claim to Luneburg.

The absence of heirs would also mean that Celle would lapse back into Luneburg; Celle was only supposed to give Georg Wilhelm an income for his lifetime. After reaching this agreement, Georg Wilhelm’s youngest brother, Ernst August, married Sophia of the Palatinate
and became the Duke of Hanover.

Sophia of the Palatinate was the daughter of Elector Friedrich V of the Palatinate, a member of the House of Wittelsbach, and Elizabeth (Stuart) of England and Scotland, daughter of King James I-VI of England and Scotland.

Marriage and issue

This renunciation left Georg Wilhelm free to marry whoever he wished, and indulge his desires to travel and socialize, without being encumbered by considerations of state.

In 1665, Georg Wilhelm entered into a morganatic marriage with his long-time mistress, Eleanor, Countess of Wilhelmsburg. In 1666, their only child and daughter, Sophia Dorothea, was born.

By 1676, it had become quite clear that among the four brothers (Georg Wilhelm and three others), only the youngest, Ernst August had produced any heirs male, and that the entire duchy of Luneburg was likely to be united under Ernst August’s eldest son Georg Ludwig.

Georg Wilhelm therefore wanted Georg Ludwig to marry his daughter Sophia, whose marriage prospects were otherwise not bright, given the circumstances of her birth. To Georg Wilhelm’s annoyance, Georg Ludwig and his parents refused the proposal on the grounds of status.

Sophia of the Palatinate

At this point (in 1676), to improve the status of Eleonore and their daughter, and in open violation of his promise, Georg Wilhelm legitimized his daughter and declared that his marriage to Eleonore, Countess of Wilhelmsburg was not morganatic but valid to both church and state.

This development greatly alarmed his relatives, as it threatened to hinder the contemplated union of the Lüneburg territories. Indeed, if Georg Wilhelm had had a son, a serious succession crisis could have arisen.

No son however was born, and in 1682, Georg Ludwig’s parents finally agreed to the proposed marriage as a way of avoiding uncertainty and dispute. Sophia Dorothea married Georg Ludwig in 1682. They had a son and heir the following year, named Georg August after his father and maternal grandfather: the future George II of Great Britain.

Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg

In 1689, Julius Franz, Duke of Saxe-Lauenburg, died leaving no son and no accepted heir male, but only two daughters, Anna Maria and Sibylle. The duchy had followed the Salic law since time immemorial, but Duke Julius Franz decided to nominate his elder daughter as his heir and proclaimed laws permitting female succession in his duchy. This self-serving innovation was not accepted by senior members of his dynasty (the other potential successors) and a succession crisis ensued.

Georg Wilhelm was one of the nearest and senior-most male-line claimants to the succession. Shortly after the death of the duke, Georg Wilhelm invaded the duchy with his troops and occupied it. The other claimants included the five Ascanian-ruled Principalities of Anhalt, Saxony, Saxe-Wittenberg, Sweden and Brandenburg, and also the neighbouring Mecklenburg-Schwerin and the Danish duchy of Holstein, whose ruler was the King Christian V of Denmark.

However, only Georg Wilhelm and Christian V of Denmark (whose mother, Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Calenberg, was Georg Wilhelm’s own sister) engaged militarily on this question. An accord was soon reached between them, and on 9 October 1693 they agreed (in the Hamburg Comparison, or Hamburger Vergleich) that Georg Wilhelm – who now de facto held most of Saxe-Lauenburg – would retain the duchy in a personal union.

Meanwhile, the Emperor Leopold I, who had no direct claim on the duchy, occupied the Land of Hadeln, a Saxe-Lauenburgian exclave, and held it in imperial custody. Apart from that, Leopold did not attempt to use force in Saxe-Lauenburg.

In 1728, his son the Emperor Charles VI finally legitimised the de facto takeover and enfeoffed Georg Wilhelm’s grandson and second successor, George II of Great Britain (who was also Elector of Hanover) with the duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg, but Hadeln remained in imperial custody until 1731, when it was also ceded to Georg II August. Georg Wilhelm died in Wienhausen, aged 81.

November 20, 1629: Birth of Ernst August, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire.

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Elector Ernst-August of Hanover, Ernst August of Hanover, George I of Great Britain, George Wilhelm of Brunswick, Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I, Holy Roman Empire, Prince-Bishop of Osnabruck, Sophia of the Rhine (Electress Sophia), Sophie of the Palatinate

Ernst August (November 20, 1629 – January 23, 1698) was ruler of the Principality of Lüneburg from 1658 and of the Principality of Calenberg from 1679 until his death. He was appointed as the ninth Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire in 1692, but died before the appointment became effective.

Ernst August was born at Herzberg Castle near Göttingen, Principality of Calenberg, the youngest son of Georg, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Prince of Calenberg, and Anne Eleonore of Hesse-Darmstadt.

On September 30, 1658, he married Sophia of the Palatinate in Heidelberg. She was the daughter of Friedrich V, Elector Palatine and Princess Elizabeth of England, and granddaughter of King James I-VI of England and Scotland. Sophia had been betrothed to Ernst August’s older brother, Georg Wilhelm, who did not want her. When she married Ernst August instead, releasing Georg Wilhelm from this obligation, Georg WIlhelm ceded to Ernst August his claim to Lüneburg.

As the fourth son, Ernst August had little chance of succeeding his father as ruler. Therefore, the couple had to live in the Leineschloss at the Hanover court of Ernst August’s eldest brother Christian Ludwig. However, in the Peace of Westphalia of 1648, it had been agreed between the Catholic and Protestant powers that the rulership of the Prince-Bishopric of Osnabrück should alternate between the two churches, and that the respective Protestant bishops should be members of the House of Welf.

When the Osnabruck throne became vacant in 1662, the family appointed Ernst August Prince-Bishop. Ernst August and Sophia moved to Iburg Castle, together with their two living sons and Sophia’s niece Princess Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate (future sister-in-law of Louis XIV of France). In 1667 they began to build a more up-to-date residence, Osnabruck Palace, and in 1673 they moved there. Their youngest son was born there in 1674.

Christian Ludwig died childless in 1665, leaving Lüneburg to the second brother, Georg Wilhelm who had ceded his right to Ernst August, who thus succeeded to that title. Georg Wilhelm kept the district of Celle for himself. In 1679, Ernst August inherited the Principality of Calenberg from the third brother Johann Friedrich. In 1680 the family moved back to Hanover.

In 1683, against the protestations of his five younger sons, Ernst August instituted primogeniture, so that his territory would not be further subdivided after his death, and also as a pre-condition for obtaining the coveted electorship. He participated in the Great Turkish War on the side of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor. In 1692, he was appointed Prince-Elector by the Emperor, thus raising the House of Hanover to electoral dignity, the elevation becoming effective in 1708 when confirmed by the Imperial Diet.

He was nonetheless recognized as Elector of Hanover, the very first. Ernst August died in 1698 at Herrenhausen Palace, Hanover. He was succeeded as Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire by his eldest son, Georg Ludwig, later King George I of Great Britain.

His main residences were the Leineschloss, in Hanover, and the Herrenhausen, a summer residence a short distance outside the city. Ernst August and Sophia had the Great Garden at Herrenhausen enlarged after Italian and Dutch models, creating one of the most distinguished baroque formal gardens of Europe.

September 18….These dates in History.

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Carl XV of Sweden-Norway, Eleanor of Portugal, George I of Great Britain, Harald III of Norway, Holy Roman Empire, Kingdom of Denmark, Kingdom of Norway, Kingdom of the Franks, Marie of France, Philip II of France

Events

1066 – Norwegian king Harald III Hardrada lands with Tostig Godwinson at the mouth of the Humber River and begins his invasion of England.

1137 – Eric III succeeds to the throne of Denmark. (c. 1120 – 27 August 1146) was the King of Denmark from 1137 until 1146. He was the grandson of Eric I of Denmark and the nephew of Eric II of Denmark, whom he succeeded on the throne. He abdicated in 1146, as the first and only Danish monarch to do so voluntarily. His succession led to a period of civil war between Sweyn III, Canute V, and Waldemar I.

1180 – Philippe II August becomes King of France at the age of fifteen. It was during Philippe II’s reign that the title of the monarch changed from King of the Franks to King of France.

1714 – King George I arrives in Great Britain after becoming king on August 1 after the death of Queen Anne.

1872 – King Oscar II accedes to the throne of Sweden–Norway.

Births

1344 – Marie of France (September 18, 1344 – October 11, 1404) was the sixth child and second daughter of Jean II of France and Bonne of Bohemia. In 1364, Marie married Robert I, Duke of Bar.

1424 – birth of Eleanor of Portugal (September 18, 1434 – September 3,1467) was Empress of the Holy Roman Empire. A Portuguese infanta (princess), daughter of King Edward of Portugal and his wife Eleanor of Aragon, she was the consort of Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich III and the mother of Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I.

1765 – Pope Gregory XVI (September 18, 1765 – June 1, 1846) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from February 2, 1831 to his death in 1846.

1786 – Christian VIII of Denmark, was the king of Denmark from 1839 to 1848 and, as Christian Frederik, King of Norway in 1814.

Deaths

1137 – Eric II, king of Denmark was king of Denmark between 1134 and 1137. Eric was an illegitimate son of Eric I of Denmark, who ruled Denmark from 1095 to 1103. Eric the Memorable rebelled against his uncle Niels of Denmark, and was declared king in 1134.

1180 – Louis VII, King of the Franks. (1120 – September 18, 1180), called the Younger or the Young was King of the Franks from 1137 to 1180. He was the son and successor of King Louis VI (hence the epithet “le Jeune”) and married Duchess Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in western Europe.

1361 – Ludwig V, duke of Bavaria (b. 1315) called the Brandenburger (May 1315 – 18 September 1361), a member of the House of Wittelsbach, ruled as Margrave of Brandenburg from 1323 to 1351 and as Duke of Bavaria from 1347 until his death. From 1342 he also was co-ruling Count of Tyrol by his marriage with the Meinhardiner countess Margaret.

1675 – Charles IV, Duke of Lorraine (April 5, 1604 –September 18, 1675, Allenbach) was Duke of Lorraine from 1624 until his death in 1675, with a brief interruption in 1634, when he abdicated under French pressure in favor of his younger brother, Nicholas François.

1872 – Carl XV of Sweden (b. 1826) Carl XV of Sweden was also Carl IV of Norway (May 3, 1826 – September 18, 1872). Though known as King Carl XV in Sweden (and also on contemporary Norwegian coins), he was actually the ninth Swedish king by that name, as his predecessor Carl IX (reigned 1604–1611) had adopted a numeral according to a fictitious history of Sweden.

June 28, 1757: Death of Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, Queen Consort in Prussia. Part I.

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Berlin, Ernst August of Hanover, Frederick the Great, Friedrich-Wilhelm I in Prussia, George I of Great Britain, George III of Great Britain, King in Prussia, Queen Consort, Sophia Dorothea of Hanover

Sophia-Dorothea of Hanover (March 26, 1687 – June 28, 1757) was a Queen Consort in Prussia as spouse of King Friedrich-Wilhelm I. She was the sister of George II, King of Great Britain, and the mother of Friedrich II, King of Prussia.

Sophia-Dorothea of Hanover

Sophia Dorothea was born in Hanover. She was the only daughter of Georg-Ludwig of Hanover, later King George I of Great Britain, and his wife, Sophia-Dorothea of Brunswick-Celle, the only child of Georg-Wilhelm, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg by his long-term mistress, Eleonore Desmier d’Olbreuse (1639–1722), Countess of Williamsburg, a Huguenot lady, the daughter of Alexander II Desmier, Marquess of Olbreuse. Georg-Wilhelm eventually married Eleonore officially in 1676 (they had been married morganatically previously).

Sophia-Dorothea was detested by her elder brother, King George II of Great Britain.

After the divorce and imprisonment of her mother, she was raised in Hanover under the supervision of her paternal grandmother, Sophia of Hanover, and educated by her Huguenot teacher Madame de Sacetot.

Marriage

Sophia-Dorothea married her cousin, Crown Prince Friedrich-Wilhelm of Prussia, heir apparent to the Prussian throne, on November 28, 1706. Crown Prince Friedrich-Wilhelm of Prussia was the son of King Friedrich I in Prussia and Princess Sophia-Charlotte of Hanover, the only daughter of Elector Ernst-August of Hanover and his wife Sophia of the Palatinate. Her eldest brother Elector Georg-Ludwig succeeded to the British throne in 1714 as King George I.

They had met as children when Friedrich-Wilhelm had spent some time in Hanover under the care of their grandmother, Sophia of Hanover, and though Sophia-Dorothea disliked him, Friedrich-Wilhelm had reportedly felt an attraction to her early on.

Friedrich-Wilhelm, King in Prussia

When a marriage was to be arranged for Friedrich-Wilhelm, he was given three alternatives: Princess Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden, Princess Amalia of Nassau-Dietz, or Sophia-Dorothea of Hanover. The Swedish match was preferred by his father, King Friedrich I, who wished to form a matrimonial alliance with Sweden, and thus the official Finck was sent to Stockholm under the pretext of an adjustment of the disputes regarding Pomerania, but in reality to observe the princess before issuing formal negotiations: Friedrich-Wilhelm, however, preferred Sophia Dorothea and successfully tasked Finck with making such a deterring report of Ulrika Eleonora to his father that he would encounter less opposition when he informed his father of his choice.

A marriage alliance between Prussia and Hanover was regarded as a noncontroversial choice by both courts and the negotiations were swiftly conducted. In order for Sophia Dorothea to make as good an impression as possible in Berlin, her grandmother, Electress Sophia, commissioned her niece Elizabeth Charlotte, Princess of the Palatinate to procure her trousseau in Paris. Her bridal paraphernalia attracted great attention and was referred to as the greatest of any German Princess yet.

The wedding by proxy took place in Hanover on November 28, 1706, and she arrived in Berlin on November 27, where she was welcomed by her groom and his family outside of the city gates and before making her entrance into the capital. Thereafter followed a second wedding, the stately torch-dance, and six weeks of banquets and balls.

June 12, 1758: Death of Prince August-Wilhelm of Prussia

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August Wilhelm of Prussia, Battle of Kolin, Frederick II of Prussia, Frederick the Great, Frederick William I of Prussia, George I of Great Britain, King Adolphus-Frederick of Sweden, Kingdom of Prussia, Luise of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Seven Years War

August-Wilhelm of Prussia (August 9, 1722 – June 12, 1758) was Prince of Prussia and a younger brother and general of Friedrich II.

August-Wilhelm was the second surviving son of Friedrich-Wilhelm I and Sophia-Dorothea of Hanover, only daughter of Elector Georg-Ludwig of Hanover, later King George I of Great Britain, and his wife, Sophia Dorothea of Brunswick-Celle. She was detested by her elder brother, King George II of Great Britain.

August-Wilhelm of Prussia

August-Wilhelm’s older siblings included Wilhelmina, married Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, Friedrich II (King of Prussia), Friedrike-Louise, married her Hohenzollern kinsman Charles-Wilhelm-Friedrich, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach and Louisa-Ulrika, married King Adolf-Fredrik of Sweden.

August-Wilhelm was favored by his father over Friedrich and popular at the Prussian court. When his brother Friedrich became king in 1740, August-Wilhelm became heir presumptive and moved into the Friedrich’s former residence, the Crown Prince’s Palace in Berlin. When his older sister Louisa Ulrika married the King Adolf-Fredrik of Sweden in 1744, she founded the Ordre de l’Harmonie, of which August-Wilhelm was one of the first recipients.

August-Wilhelm served his brother as a general in the War of the Austrian Succession, and distinguished himself in the Battle of Hohenfriedberg. But in the Seven Years’ War, owing to the fatal retreat of Zittau during the Battle of Kolin in 1757, he incurred the wrath of his brother the King, and withdrew from the army.

This conflict between the two brothers led to a correspondence, which was published in 1769. August-Wilhelm died suddenly in 1758 at Oranienburg, according to some of “a broken heart”, in reference to his brother Friedrich II’s harsh treatment of him for his incompetent military leadership in the Battle of Kolin. In reality, he died from a brain tumor.

August-Wilhelm of Prussia

August-Wilhelm married Luise of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel,(January 29, 1722 – January 13, 1780) was daughter of Ferdinand-Albrecht II, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and his wife Duchess Antoinette of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.

Luise of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel’s older sister was Elisabeth-Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel-Bevern, wife of August-Wilhelm’s brother, Friedrich II the Great. She was also the sibling of the Queen of Denmark and Norway and the Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.

Because his older brother had no children, August-Wilhelm’s oldest son inherited the throne as King Friedrich-Wilhelm II of Prussia on Friedrich II’s death.

Issue: Children of August-Wilhelm and Luise of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel.

* Friedrich-Wilhelm II of Prussia (1744–1797)
* married (1) Elisabeth-Christine of Brunswick-Lüneburg. They had one child Princess Frederica-Charlotte of Prussia (1767–1820), who married Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, the second son of George III of the United Kingdom.
* married (2) Frederika-Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt and had issue.
* Prince Heinrich of Prussia (1747–1767) died unmarried.
* Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia (1751–1820) married Willem V, Prince of Orange and had issue.
* Prince Emil of Prussia (1758–1759) died in infancy.

Life of George I, King of Great Britain and Elector of Hanover. Part IV.

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Elector of Hanover, First Lord of the Treasury, George I of Great Britain, King George II of Great Britain, Prime Minister, Robert Walpole, South Sea Bubble

Within a year of George’s accession the Whigs won an overwhelming victory in the general election of 1715. Several members of the defeated Tory Party sympathised with the Jacobites, who sought to replace George with Anne’s Catholic half-brother, James Francis Edward Stuart (called “James III and VIII” by his supporters and “the Pretender” by his opponents).

George’s distrust of the Tories aided the passing of power to the Whigs. Whig dominance grew to be so great under George that the Tories did not return to power for another half-century. After the election, the Whig-dominated Parliament passed the Septennial Act 1715, which extended the maximum duration of Parliament to seven years (although it could be dissolved earlier by the Sovereign).

After his accession in Great Britain, George’s relationship with his son (which had always been poor) worsened. George Augustus, Prince of Wales, encouraged opposition to his father’s policies, including measures designed to increase religious freedom in Britain and expand Hanover’s German territories at Sweden’s expense.

In 1717 the birth of a grandson (future Frederick-Louis, Prince of Wales) led to a major quarrel between George and the Prince of Wales. The king, supposedly following custom, appointed the Lord Chamberlain, the Duke of Newcastle, as one of the baptismal sponsors of the child. The king was angered when the Prince of Wales, disliking Newcastle, verbally insulted the Duke at the christening, which the Duke misunderstood as a challenge to a duel.

The Prince was told to leave the royal residence, St. James’s Palace. The Prince’s new home, Leicester House, became a meeting place for the king’s political opponents. George and his son were later reconciled at the insistence of Robert Walpole and the desire of the Princess of Wales, who had moved out with her husband but missed her children, who had been left in the king’s care. But after the quarrel at the baptism, father and son were never again on cordial terms.

George-Augustus (George II) as Prince of Wales in 1716. Portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller.

In Hanover, the king was an absolute monarch. All government expenditure above 50 thalers (between 12 and 13 British pounds), and the appointment of all army officers, all ministers, and even government officials above the level of copyist, was in his personal control. By contrast in Great Britain, George had to govern through Parliament.

In 1715 when the Whigs came to power, George’s chief ministers included Sir Robert Walpole, Lord Townshend (Walpole’s brother-in-law), Lord Stanhope and Lord Sunderland. In 1717 Townshend was dismissed, and Walpole resigned from the Cabinet over disagreements with their colleagues; Stanhope became supreme in foreign affairs, and Sunderland the same in domestic matters.

The economic crisis, known as the South Sea Bubble, made George and his ministers extremely unpopular. In 1721 Lord Stanhope, though personally innocent, collapsed and died after a stressful debate in the House of Lords, and Lord Sunderland resigned from public office.

Sunderland, however, retained a degree of personal influence with George until his sudden death in 1722 allowed the rise of Sir Robert Walpole. Walpole became de facto Prime Minister, although the title was not formally applied to him (officially, he was First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer). His management of the South Sea crisis, by rescheduling the debts and arranging some compensation, helped the return to financial stability.

Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, KG, KB, PC (1676-1745), known between 1721 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole, was a British politician who is generally regarded as the de facto first Prime Minister of Great Britain.

As requested by Walpole, George revived the Order of the Bath in 1725, which enabled Walpole to reward or gain political supporters by offering them the honour. Walpole became extremely powerful and was largely able to appoint ministers of his own choosing.

Unlike his predecessor, Queen Anne, George rarely attended meetings of the cabinet; most of his communications were in private, and he only exercised substantial influence with respect to British foreign policy. With the aid of Lord Townshend, he arranged for the ratification by Great Britain, France and Prussia of the Treaty of Hanover, which was designed to counterbalance the Austro-Spanish Treaty of Vienna and protect British trade.

George, although increasingly reliant on Walpole, could still have replaced his ministers at will. Walpole was actually afraid of being removed from office towards the end of George I’s reign, but such fears were put to an end when George died during his sixth trip to his native Hanover since his accession as king.

King George suffered a stroke on the road between Delden and Nordhorn on June 9, 1727, and was taken by carriage to the Prince-Bishop’s palace at Osnabrück where he died in the early hours before dawn on June 11, 1727.

George surrounded by his family, in a painting by James Thornhill.

George I was buried in the chapel of Leine Palace in Hanover, but his remains were moved to the chapel at Herrenhausen Gardens after World War II. Leine Palace had burnt out entirely after British aerial bombings and the king’s remains, along with his parents’, were moved to the 19th-century mausoleum of King Ernst-August in the Berggarten. George was succeeded by his son, George-Augustus, who took the throne as George II.

It was widely assumed, even by Walpole for a time, that George II planned to remove Walpole from office but was prevented from doing so by his wife, Caroline of Ansbach. However, Walpole commanded a substantial majority in Parliament and George II had little choice but to retain him or risk ministerial instability. In subsequent reigns the power of the prime minister increased further at the expense of the power of the sovereign.

Life of George I, King of Great Britain and Elector of Hanover. Part III.

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Act of Settlement 1701, Act of Union 1707, George Augustus, George I of Great Britain, House of Hanover, King George I of Great Britain, Kingdom of Great Britain, Queen Anne of Great Britain

Part III

Accession to the British Throne.

Though both England and Scotland recognised Anne as their queen, only the English Parliament had settled on Sophia, Electress of Hanover, as the heir presumptive. The Parliament of Scotland (the Estates) had not formally settled the succession question for the Scottish throne. In 1703, the Estates passed a bill declaring that their selection for Queen Anne’s successor would not be the same individual as the successor to the English throne, unless England granted full freedom of trade to Scottish merchants in England and its colonies.

Georg-Ludwig, Elector of Hanover

At first Royal Assent was withheld, but the following year Anne capitulated to the wishes of the Estates and assent was granted to the bill, which became the Act of Security 1704. In response the English Parliament passed measures that threatened to restrict Anglo-Scottish trade and cripple the Scottish economy if the Estates did not agree to the Hanoverian succession.

Eventually, in 1707, both Parliaments agreed on an Act of Union, which united England and Scotland into a single political entity, the Kingdom of Great Britain, and established the rules of succession as laid down by the Act of Settlement 1701. The union created the largest free trade area in 18th-century Europe.

Whig politicians believed Parliament had the right to determine the succession, and to bestow it on the nearest Protestant relative of the Queen, while many Tories were more inclined to believe in the hereditary right of the Catholic Stuarts, who were nearer relations. In 1710, George announced that he would succeed in Britain by hereditary right, as the right had been removed from the Stuarts, and he retained it. “This declaration was meant to scotch any Whig interpretation that parliament had given him the kingdom [and] … convince the Tories that he was no usurper.”

George I, King of Great Britain and Ireland, Elector of Hanover and Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

George’s mother, the Electress Sophia, died on May 28, 1714 at the age of 83. She had collapsed in the gardens at Herrenhausen after rushing to shelter from a shower of rain. George was now Queen Anne’s heir presumptive. He swiftly revised the membership of the Regency Council that would take power after Anne’s death, as it was known that Anne’s health was failing and politicians in Britain were jostling for power.

Queen Anne suffered a stroke, which left her unable to speak, and she died on August 1, 1714. The list of regents was opened, the members sworn in, and George was proclaimed King of Great Britain and Ireland. Partly due to contrary winds, which kept him in The Hague awaiting passage, he did not arrive in Britain until September 18.

George was crowned at Westminster Abbey on October 20. The accession of George of Hanover was not widely popular. His coronation was accompanied by rioting in over twenty towns in England.

George mainly lived in Great Britain after 1714, though he visited his home in Hanover in 1716, 1719, 1720, 1723 and 1725; in total George spent about one fifth of his reign as king in Germany. A clause in the Act of Settlement that forbade the British monarch from leaving the country without Parliament’s permission was unanimously repealed in 1716. During all but the first of the king’s absences power was vested in a Regency Council rather than in his son, George Augustus, Prince of Wales.

June 7, 1660: Birth of George I, King of Great Britain and Elector of Hanover. Part I.

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Elector of Hanover, Electress Sophia of Hanover, Ernst August of Hanover, George I, George I of Great Britain, Holy Roman Empire, Imperial Elector of Hanover and of Brunswick-Lüneburg., King of Great Britain and Ireland, Sophia Dorothea of Brunswick-Celle, Sophia Dorothea of Great Britain, Sophia of the Palatinate of the Rhine, Sophia of the Rhine (Electress Sophia)

George I (George-Louis; German: Georg-Ludwig; May 28/June7, 1660 – June 11, 1727) was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1 August 1714 and ruler of the Duchy and Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover) in the Holy Roman Empire from 23 January 1698 until his death in 1727. He was the first British monarch of the House of Hanover. Under the old Julian Calendar (OS for Old Style) George I was born May 28 1660. When the Julian Calendar was replaced by the Gregorian Calendar (NS for New Style) his birthday was recognized as being June 7, 1660.

George I, King of Great Britain and Ireland, Imperial Elector of Hanover and of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

George was born in the city of Hanover in the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire. He was the eldest son of Ernst-August, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and his wife, Sophia of the Palatinate of the Rhine. Sophia was the granddaughter of King James I of England through her mother, Elizabeth Stuart of England. Sophie’s father was Friedrich V.; (1596-1632) was the Elector Palatine of the Rhine in the Holy Roman Empire from 1610 to 1623, and reigned as King of Bohemia from 1619 to 1620. He was forced to abdicate both roles, and the brevity of his reign in Bohemia earned him the derisive sobriquet “the Winter King.”

Sophia of the Palatinate of the Rhine, Electress of Hanover and Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Mother)

Ernst-August, Elector of Hanover, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Father)

For the first year of his life, George was the only heir to the German territories of his father and three childless uncles. George’s brother, Friedrich-August, was born in 1661, and the two boys (known as Görgen and Gustchen by the family) were brought up together. Their mother was absent for almost a year (1664–65) during a long convalescent holiday in Italy, but corresponded regularly with her sons’ governess and took a great interest in their upbringing, even more so upon her return. Sophia bore Ernst-August another four sons and a daughter. In her letters, Sophia describes George as a responsible, conscientious child who set an example to his younger brothers and sisters.

Friedrich V, Elector Palatine of the Rhine in the Holy Roman Empire, King of Bohemia

By 1675 George’s eldest uncle had died without issue, but his remaining two uncles had married, putting George’s inheritance in jeopardy as his uncles’ estates might pass to their own sons, should they have had any, instead of to George.

In 1679 another uncle died unexpectedly without sons, and Ernst-August became reigning Duke of Calenberg-Göttingen, with his capital at Hanover. George’s surviving uncle, Georg-Wilhelm of Celle, had married his mistress in order to legitimise his only daughter, Sophia-Dorothea, but looked unlikely to have any further children. Under Salic law, where inheritance of territory was restricted to the male line, the succession of George and his brothers to the territories of their father and uncle now seemed secure. In 1682, the family agreed to adopt the principle of primogeniture, meaning George would inherit all the territory and not have to share it with his brothers.

Ernest-Augustus, Duke of York (Brother)

The same year, George married his first cousin, Sophia-Dorothea of Brunswick-Celle, thereby securing additional incomes that would have been outside Salic laws. The marriage of state was arranged primarily as it ensured a healthy annual income and assisted the eventual unification of Hanover and Celle. His mother at first opposed the marriage because she looked down on Sophia Dorothea’s mother, Eleonore (who came from lower nobility), and because she was concerned by Sophia-Dorothea’s legitimated status. She was eventually won over by the advantages inherent in the marriage.

Sophia-Dorothea of Brunswick-Celle

In 1683 George and his brother Friedrich-August served in the Great Turkish War at the Battle of Vienna, and Sophia-Dorothea bore George a son, Georg-August. The following year, Friedrich-August was informed of the adoption of primogeniture, meaning he would no longer receive part of his father’s territory as he had expected. This led to a breach between Friedrich-August and his father, and between the brothers, that lasted until his death in battle in 1690.

With the imminent formation of a single Hanoverian state, and the Hanoverians’ continuing contributions to the Empire’s wars, Ernst-August was made an Imperial-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire in 1692. George’s prospects were now better than ever as the sole heir to his father’s electorate and his uncle’s duchy.

George I, King of Great Britain and Ireland, Imperial Elector of Hanover and of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

Sophia-Dorothea had a second child, a daughter named after her, in 1687, but there were no other pregnancies. The couple became estranged—George preferred the company of his mistress, Melusine von der Schulenburg.

June 4, 1738: Birth of King George III of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

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Act of Settlement 1701, Charlotte Sophia of Mecklenburg- Strelitz, Electress Sophia of Hanover, Frederick II of Prussia, Frederick Louis Prince of Wales, Frederick the Great, George I of Great Britain, King George II of Great Britain, King George III of the United Kingdom, King George IV of the United Kingdom, King of Great Britain, King of Hanover, Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, Sophia of the Rhine (Electress Sophia)

George III (George William Frederick; June 4, 1738 – January 29, 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from his accession on October 25, 1760 until the union of the two countries on January 1, 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death in 1820. He was concurrently Duke and Prince-Elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg (“Hanover”) in the Holy Roman Empire before becoming King of Hanover on October 12, 1814. He was a monarch of the House of Hanover, but unlike his two predecessors, he was born in Great Britain, spoke English as his first language, and never visited Hanover.

George III, King of the United King of Great Britain and Ireland. King of Hanover

Family

George was born in London at Norfolk House in St James’s Square. As he was born two months prematurely and thought unlikely to survive, he was baptised the same day by Thomas Secker, who was both Rector of St James’s and Bishop of Oxford. One month later, he was publicly baptised at Norfolk House, again by Secker. His godparents were King Friedrich I of Sweden (for whom Lord Baltimore stood proxy), his uncle Friedrich III, Duke of Saxe-Gotha (for whom Lord Carnarvon stood proxy), and his great-aunt Sophia-Dorothea, Queen in Prussia (for whom Lady Charlotte Edwin stood proxy).

George II, King of Great Britain and Ireland.

George III was the grandson of King George II, and the eldest son of Frederick-Louis, Prince of Wales, and Augusta of Saxe-Gotha.

George III’s father was Frederick-Louis, Prince of Wales, (1707-1751), was heir apparent to the British throne from 1727 until his death from a lung injury at the age of 44. He was the eldest but estranged son of King George II and Caroline of Ansbach.

Under the Act of Settlement passed by the English Parliament in 1701, Frederick-Louis was fourth in the line of succession to the British throne at birth, after his great-grandmother (Electress Sophia of Hanover) paternal grandfather (George I) and father (George II). He moved to Great Britain following the accession of his father, and was created Prince of Wales. He predeceased his father, however, and upon the latter’s death on October 25, 1760, the throne passed to Prince Frederick’s eldest son, George III.

Frederick-Louis, Prince of Wales (Father)

George III’s mother, Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg was born in Gotha to Friedrich II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1676–1732) and Magdalena Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst (1679–1740). Her paternal grandparents were Friedrich I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and Magdalena-Sibylla of Saxe-Weissenfels, a daughter of August, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels, and his wife Anna-Maria of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Magdalena-Sibylla’snpaternal grandparents were Johann-Georg I, Elector of Saxony, and Magdalene Sibylle of Prussia.

Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (Mother)

Friedrich I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, was the eldest surviving son of Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and his cousin Elisabeth-Sophie of Saxe-Altenburg.

Princess Augusta did not speak French or English, and it was suggested that she be given lessons before the wedding, but her mother did not consider it necessary as the British royal family were from Germany (Holy Roman Empire). She arrived in Britain, speaking virtually no English, for a wedding ceremony with Frederick-Louis, Prince of Wales, which took place almost immediately, on May 8,1736, at the Chapel Royal in St James’s Palace, London.

Although he was the first British King of the House of Hanover born in England with English his native language, the ancestry of George III was thoroughly German.

Marriage

In 1759, George was smitten with Lady Sarah Lennox, sister of Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond, but Lord Bute advised against the match and George abandoned his thoughts of marriage. “I am born for the happiness or misery of a great nation,” he wrote, “and consequently must often act contrary to my passions.” The prominent Lennox Family of Richmond were illegitimate descendants of King Charles II of England.

Lady Sarah Lennox

In 1753 attempts were made by King George II to marry his grandson George, Prince of Wales to Princess Sophie-Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, eldest daughter of Charles I, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, and his wife, Philippine-Charlotte of Prussia, sister of Friedrich II the Great of Prussia.

This was an attempt to improve relations with Prussia, as Sophie-Caroline was a niece of Friedrich II of Prussia and George II needed Prussian troops to help offset the alliance between France and Austria that had occurred as a result of the Diplomatic Revolution. Prince George’s mother, Augusta, Dowager Princess of Wales, thwarted George II’s plans, however, which increased tensions within the British royal family. Sophie-Caroline married Friedrich, Margrave of Bayreuth, instead.

Princess Sophie-Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel

Though this match was not to be, Sophie-Caroline’s brother Charles II, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, married George’s sister Princess Augusta in 1764, and George III’s son George IV married their daughter Caroline of Brunswick, thus continuing the close ties between the two houses.

The following year, at the age of 22, George succeeded to the throne when his grandfather, George II, died suddenly on 25 October 25, 1760, two weeks before his 77th birthday. The search for a suitable wife intensified. On September 8, 1761 in the Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace, the King married Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, whom he met on their wedding day.

Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was the youngest daughter of Duke Charles-Ludwig-Friedrich of Mecklenburg (1708–1752; known as “Prince of Mirow”) and of his wife Princess Elisabeth-Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen (1713–1761). Mecklenburg-Strelitz was a small north-German duchy in the Holy Roman Empire.

Young George III

A fortnight after the wedding on September22, both were crowned at Westminster Abbey. George remarkably never took a mistress (in contrast with his grandfather and his sons), and the couple enjoyed a genuinely happy marriage until his mental illness struck.

They had 15 children—nine sons and six daughters. In 1762, George purchased Buckingham House (on the site now occupied by Buckingham Palace) for use as a family retreat. His other residences were Kew Palace and Windsor Castle. St James’s Palace was retained for official use. He did not travel extensively and spent his entire life in southern England. In the 1790s, the King and his family took holidays at Weymouth, Dorset, which he thus popularised as one of the first seaside resorts in England.

George III’s life and reign, at 59 years, which was longer than those of any of his predecessors at the time, were marked by a series of military conflicts involving his kingdoms, much of the rest of Europe, and places farther afield in Africa, the Americas, and Asia. Early in his reign, Great Britain defeated France in the Seven Years’ War, becoming the dominant European power in North America and India. However, many of Britain’s American colonies were soon lost in the American War of Independence. Further wars against revolutionary and Napoleonic France from 1793 concluded in the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

George III, King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King of Hanover

In the later part of his life, George had recurrent, and eventually permanent, mental illness. Although it has since been suggested that he had bipolar disorder or the blood disease porphyria, the cause of his illness remains unknown. After a final relapse in 1810, a regency was established. His eldest son, George, Prince of Wales, ruled as Prince Regent until his father’s death, when he succeeded as George IV. Historical analysis of George III’s life has gone through a “kaleidoscope of changing views” that have depended heavily on the prejudices of his biographers and the sources available to them.

Changing Titles.

The nation went through many changes through his reign and his titles reflected these changes.

In Great Britain, George III used the official style “George the Third, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, and so forth”. In 1801, when Great Britain united with Ireland, he dropped the title of King of France, which had been used for every English monarch since Edward III’s claim to the French throne in the medieval period. His style became “George the Third, by the Grace of God, King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Defender of the Faith.”

In Germany, he was “Duke of Brunswick and Lüneburg, Arch-Treasurer and Prince-Elector of Hanover of the Holy Roman Empire” (Herzog von Braunschweig und Lüneburg, Erzschatzmeister und Kurfürst des Heiligen Römischen Reiches) until the end of the empire in 1806. He then continued as Duke until the Congress of Vienna declared him “King of Hanover” in 1814.