On these dates: November 9

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Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover), Edward VII of the United Kingdom, George II of Great Britain, German Emperor Wilhelm II, House of Hohenzollern, King of Great Britain and Ireland, King of Prussia, Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom

George II (November 9, 1683 – October 25, 1760) was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover) and a Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire from June 11, 1727 until his death in 1760.

Born and brought up in northern Germany, George is the most recent British monarch born outside Great Britain. The Act of Settlement 1701 and the Acts of Union 1707 positioned his grandmother, Sophia of Hanover, and her Protestant descendants to inherit the British throne.

After the deaths of Sophia and Anne, Queen of Great Britain, in 1714, his father, the Elector of Hanover, became George I of Great Britain. In the first years of his father’s reign as king, George was associated with opposition politicians until they rejoined the governing party in 1720.

As king from 1727, George exercised little control over British domestic policy, which was largely controlled by the Parliament of Great Britain. As elector he spent twelve summers in Hanover, where he had more direct control over government policy. He had a difficult relationship with his eldest son, Frederick, who supported the parliamentary opposition.

During the War of the Austrian Succession, George participated at the Battle of Dettingen in 1743, and thus became the last British monarch to lead an army in battle. In 1745 supporters of the Catholic claimant to the British throne, James Francis Edward Stuart (“The Old Pretender”), led by James’s son Charles Edward Stuart (“The Young Pretender” or “Bonnie Prince Charlie”), attempted and failed to depose George in the last of the Jacobite rebellions. Frederick died suddenly in 1751, nine years before his father; George was succeeded by Frederick’s eldest son, George III.

For two centuries after George II’s death, history tended to view him with disdain, concentrating on his mistresses, short temper, and boorishness. Since then, reassessment of his legacy has led scholars to conclude that he exercised more influence in foreign policy and military appointments than previously thought.

Edward VII (November 9, 1841 – May 6, 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from January 22, 1901 until his death in 1910.

The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and nicknamed “Bertie”, Edward was related to royalty throughout Europe. He was Prince of Wales and heir apparent to the British throne for almost 60 years.

During the long reign of his mother, he was largely excluded from political influence and came to personify the fashionable, leisured elite. He travelled throughout Britain performing ceremonial public duties and represented Britain on visits abroad. His tours of North America in 1860 and of the Indian subcontinent in 1875 proved popular successes, but despite public approval, his reputation as a playboy prince soured his relationship with his mother.

As king, Edward played a role in the modernisation of the British Home Fleet and the reorganisation of the British Army after the Second Boer War of 1899–1902. He re-instituted traditional ceremonies as public displays and broadened the range of people with whom royalty socialised. He fostered good relations between Britain and other European countries, especially France, for which he was popularly called “Peacemaker”, but his relationship with his nephew, the German Emperor Wilhelm II, was poor.

The Edwardian era, which covered Edward’s reign and was named after him, coincided with the start of a new century and heralded significant changes in technology and society, including steam turbine propulsion and the rise of socialism. He died in 1910 in the midst of a constitutional crisis that was resolved the following year by the Parliament Act 1911, which restricted the power of the unelected House of Lords. Edward was succeeded by his eldest surviving son, George V.

Abdication of German Emperor Wilhelm II on November 9, 1918.

Wilhelm II (January 27, 1859 – June 4, 1941) was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, reigning from June 15, 1888 until his abdication on November 9, 1918. Despite strengthening the German Empire’s position as a great power by building a powerful navy, his tactless public statements and erratic foreign policy greatly antagonized the international community and are considered by many to be one of the underlying causes of World War I.

When the German war effort collapsed after a series of crushing defeats on the Western Front in 1918, he was forced to abdicate on November 9, 1918 thereby marking the end of the German Empire and the House of Hohenzollern’s 300-year reign in Prussia and 500-year reign in Brandenburg.

March 1, 1683: Birth of Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Queen Consort of Great Britain and Ireland

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Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Frederick-Louis, Friedrich I of Prussia, Georg Ludwig of Hanover, George II of Great Britain, Prince of Wales, Walpole

Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach (Wilhelmina Charlotte Caroline; March 1, 1683 – November 20, 1737) was Queen of Great Britain and Ireland as the wife of King George II.

Caroline was born on March 1, 1683 at Ansbach, the daughter of Johann Friedrich, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, and his second wife, Princess Eleonore Erdmuthe of Saxe-Eisenach. Her father was the ruler of one of the smallest German states; he died of smallpox at the age of 32, when Caroline was three years old.

Caroline and her only full sibling, her younger brother Margrave Wilhelm Friedrich, left Ansbach with their mother, who returned to her native Eisenach. In 1692, Caroline’s widowed mother was pushed into an unhappy marriage with Johann Georg IV, Elector of Saxony, and she and her two children moved to the Saxon court at Dresden.

Eleonore Erdmuthe was widowed again two years later, after her unfaithful husband contracted smallpox from his mistress. Eleonore remained in Saxony for another two years, until her death in 1696. The orphaned Caroline and Wilhelm Friedrich returned to Ansbach to stay with their elder half-brother, Margrave Georg Friedrich II.

Georg Friedrich II was a youth with little interest in parenting a girl, and so Caroline soon moved to Lützenburg outside Berlin, where she entered into the care of her new guardians, Friedrich III, Elector of Brandenburg, (later Friedrich I, King in Prussia) and his wife, Sophia Charlotte of Hanover, the only daughter of Elector Ernst August of Hanover and his wife Sophia of the Palatinate. Her eldest brother, Georg Ludwig, succeeded to the British throne in 1714 as King George I.

An intelligent and attractive woman, Caroline was much sought-after as a bride. Dowager Electress Sophia called her “the most agreeable Princess in Germany”. She was considered for the hand of Archduke Charles of Austria, who was a candidate for the throne of Spain and later became Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI. Archduke Charles made official overtures to her in 1703, and the match was encouraged by King Friedrich I of Prussia.

After some consideration, Caroline refused in 1704, as she would not convert from Lutheranism to Catholicism. Early in the following year, Queen Sophia Charlotte died on a visit to her native Hanover. Caroline was devastated, writing to Leibniz, “The calamity has overwhelmed me with grief and sickness, and it is only the hope that I may soon follow her that consoles me.”

In June 1705, Queen Sophia Charlotte’s nephew, Prince Georg August of Hanover, (George Agustus) who, as a result of the Act of Settlement 1701, had recently become third in line to the English throne (and subsequently the British throne) visited the Ansbach court, supposedly incognito, to inspect Caroline, as his father the Elector Georg Ludwig did not want his son to enter into a loveless arranged marriage as he himself had.

The nephew of three childless uncles, George Augustus was under pressure to marry and father an heir to prevent endangering the Hanoverian succession. He had heard reports of Caroline’s “incomparable beauty and mental attributes”. He immediately took a liking to her “good character” and the British envoy reported that George Augustus “would not think of anybody else after her”.

For her part, Caroline was not fooled by the prince’s disguise, and found her suitor attractive. He was the heir apparent of his father’s Electorate of Hanover and third-in-line to the English throne of his distant cousin Queen Anne, after his grandmother Dowager Electress Sophia and his father the Elector.

On August 22, 1705, Caroline arrived in Hanover for her wedding to George Augustus; they were married that evening in the palace chapel at Herrenhausen.

George Augustus and Caroline had a successful and loving marriage, though he continued to keep mistresses, as was customary for the time. Caroline was well aware of his infidelities, as they were well known and he told her about them.

Henrietta Howard, Countess of Suffolk was one of Caroline’s Women of the Bedchamber in addition to being one of Caroline’s husband’s mistresses.

His two best-known mistresses were Henrietta Howard, later Countess of Suffolk, and, from 1735, Amalie von Wallmoden, Countess of Yarmouth. Howard was one of Caroline’s Women of the Bedchamber and became Mistress of the Robes when her husband inherited a peerage in 1731; she retired in 1734. In contrast with her mother-in-law and husband, Caroline was known for her marital fidelity; she never made any embarrassing scenes nor did she take lovers.

She preferred her husband’s mistresses to be ladies-in-waiting, as that way she believed she could keep a closer eye on them.

By May of the following year, Caroline was pregnant, and her first child Prince Frederick Louis was born on 20 January 1707.

A few months after the birth, in July, Caroline fell seriously ill with smallpox followed by pneumonia. Her baby was kept away from her, but George Augustus remained at her side devotedly, and caught and survived the infection himself. Over the next seven years, Caroline had three more children, Anne, Amelia, and Caroline, all of whom were born in Hanover.

Caroline moved permanently to Britain in 1714 when her husband became Prince of Wales. As Princess of Wales she joined her husband in rallying political opposition to his father King George I. In 1717 her husband was expelled from court after a family row. Caroline came to be associated with Robert Walpole, an opposition politician who was a former government minister. Walpole rejoined the government in 1720 and Caroline’s husband and King George I reconciled publicly on Walpole’s advice. Over the next few years Walpole rose to become the leading minister.

Caroline became Queen and Electress consort upon her husband’s accession in 1727. Her eldest son, Frederick Ludwig, was created Prince of Wales. He was a focus for the opposition, like his father before him, and Caroline’s relationship with him was strained.

As princess and as queen, Caroline was known for her political influence, which she exercised through and for Walpole. Her tenure included four regencies during her husband’s stays in Hanover and she is credited with strengthening the House of Hanover’s place in Britain during a period of political instability. Caroline was widely mourned by her political allies following her death in 1737 as well as by the King, who refused to remarry.

The life of Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, Princess of Wales

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Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz., Dowager Princess of Wales, George II of Great Britain, George III of Great Britain, Princess of Wales, William of Cumberland

When Augusta’s first pregnancy was announced, Queen Caroline stated that she would be sure to witness the birth, to be assured that the pregnancy was indeed genuine. She reportedly wished the succession to pass to her second son, Prince William, Duke of Cumberland.

The birth of their first daughter, Princess Augusta, on July 31, 1737, took place at St James’s after Princess Augusta was forced by Frederick Louis to travel from Hampton Court Palace while in labour, in order to prevent his hated parents from being present at the birth. The delivery was traumatic: St James palace was not ready to receive them, no bed was prepared, no sheets could be found, and Augusta was forced to give birth on a tablecloth. Queen Caroline once said of her daughter-in-law and the inconveniences she had inflicted on her: “Poor creature, were she to spit in my face, I should only pity her for being under such a fool’s direction, and wipe it off.”

The circumstances of the birth of Princess Augusta led to a dispute between the Prince and Princess of Wales and the King and Queen, who were not reconciled until public opinion during the Jacobite rebellion on 1745 pressured them to. After the reconciliation, the couple became less isolated from high society, allowing courtiers to appear at both courts without giving offence. Augusta made a good impression in society life, where she was described as pretty, elegant, and a gracious hostess. On some occasions, the children of Augusta were made to give amateur theater performances for their guests, notably on January 4, 1749, when George, Augusta, Elizabeth, Edward and some of their playmates acted in the tragedy of Cato.

Princess Dowager

On March 31, 1751, Frederick Louis unexpectedly died, making Augusta a widow. Dr. Doran described her at the death of her spouse: “She had, throughout her married life exhibited much mental superiority, with great kindness of disposition, and that under circumstances of great difficulty, and sometimes of a character to inflict vexation on the calmest nature.

She was then the mother of eight children, expecting shortly to be the mother of a ninth, and she was brought reluctantly to knowledge that their father was no more. It was six in the morning before her attendants could persuade her to retire to bed; but she arose again at eight, and then, with less thought for her grief than her anxiety for the honor of him whose death was the cause of it, she proceeded to the Prince’s room, and burned all of his private papers. By this the world lost some rare supplementary chapters to the Cronique Scandaleuse!”

King George II reportedly did not show much feeling upon the death of his son and the funeral was simple. On receiving the king’s condolences, Augusta replied that she placed herself and her children upon his mercy and protection, and he was evidently touched by her widowhood and minor children, and was willing to show them consideration.

Following Frederick Louis’ death, her role as mother of the heir-apparent to the throne became a more prominent one, and she was named prospective regent by the king and the parliament, should the king die during the minority of Augusta’s eldest son, the Prince of Wales.

This caused a controversy and opposition from Prince William, Duke of Cumberland, who had expected to be given that role instead.

During the remaining years of the reign of George II, Augusta chose to live in seclusion with her children, devoting herself to their care. The few occasions when she did appear in public, the king gave her the same ceremonial role and honours previously given to the queen, and she was honored the same way by the public as well as the court.

However, Augusta suffered a loss of popularity as a widow. She was to be criticised for her manner of raising her children, as she isolated them from the outside world into a secluded family environment, seldom meeting people outside the family.

Shortly after being widowed, she began to be influenced by John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, her son’s tutor, and rumours spread that they were having an affair. This was due to her being adamant that Bute was visiting her, and not her son, during his back door visits to tutor the prince. Both were pilloried in the press.

As her eldest son came of age, the king attempted to arrange a marriage. His favoured choice was Princess Sophie Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, but Augusta refused, favouring a member of her own family, the House of Saxe-Gotha. Sophie Caoline married Friedrich, Margrave of Bayreuth, instead.

On October 25, 1760, her son succeeded his grandfather as George III. The year after his succession, he married Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Charlotte was the youngest daughter of Duke Charles Ludwig Friedrich of Mecklenburg, Prince of Mirow (1708–1752) and of his wife Princess Elisabeth Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen (1713–1761).

Augusta’s relationship with her daughter-in-law was not a good one. Augusta reportedly made it difficult for Charlotte to establish social contacts by referring to court etiquette. Furthermore, she initially appointed a large part of Charlotte’s court staff, several of whom were suspected of reporting to Augusta about Charlotte’s behaviour. When Charlotte turned to her German companions for friends, she was criticised by Augusta for keeping favourites, notably her close confidant Juliane von Schwellenberg.

October 18, 1668: Birth of Johann Georg IV, Elector of Saxony

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Anna Sophie of Denmark, Eleonore Erdmuthe of Saxe-Eisenach, Frederick August of Saxony, George II of Great Britain, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Empire, John George IV of Saxony, Leopold I, The Neidschutz Affair

Johann Georg IV (October, 18, 1668 – April 27, 1694) was Elector of Saxony from 1691 to 1694.

Johann Georg IV belonged to the Albertine line of the House of Wettin and was the eldest son of the Elector Johann Georg III and Anna Sophie of Denmark, the second child and first daughter of King Frederik III of Denmark and Norway and his wife, Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Anna Sophie’s siblings was Prince George, husband of Queen Anne of Great Britain.

Incidentally, both Anna Sophie and her brother George were second cousins once removed from Queen Anne of Great Britain. Anna Sophie and George were the grandchildren of King Christian IV of Denmark and Norway, while Queen Anne was a great-granddaughter of King Christian IV’s sister, Princess Anne, the wife of King James I-VI of England, Scotland and Ireland.

First years as Elector

Johann Georg succeeded his father as Elector when he died, on September 12, 1691.

At the beginning of his reign his chief adviser was Hans Adam von Schöning, who counselled a union between Saxony and Brandenburg and a more independent attitude towards the Holy Roman Emperor. In accordance with this advice certain proposals were put before Emperor Leopold I to which he refused to agree; and consequently the Saxon troops withdrew from the imperial army, a proceeding which led the chagrined emperor to seize and imprison Schöning in July 1692. Although Johann Georg IV was unable to procure his minister’s release, Leopold managed to allay the elector’s anger, and early in 1693 the Saxon soldiers rejoined the imperialists.

Marriage and The Neidschutz Affair

In Leipzig on April 17, 1692, Johann Georg IV married Eleonore Erdmuthe of Saxe-Eisenach, Dowager Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach. Eleanor was the eldest child of Johann Georg I, Duke of Saxe-Eisenach, and Countess Johannetta of Sayn-Wittgenstein.

Eleonore married firstly Johann Friedrich, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach as his second wife. Johann Friedrich was a member of the House of Brandenburg-Ansbach a collateral branch of the House of Hohenzollern and the son of Margrave Albrecht II of Brandenburg-Ansbach and Sophie Margarete of Oettingen-Oettingen

Johann Friedrich’s first wife was Johanna Elisabeth of Baden-Durlach, daughter of Friedrich VI, Margrave of Baden-Durlach, and his wife Christina Magdalena of the Palatinate-Zweibrücken

Johann Friedrich, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach married as his second wife Princess Eleonore Erdmuthe of Saxe-Eisenach on November 4, 1681. Their daughter Wilhelmine Charlotte Caroline, Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach (Caroline of Ansbach) married George II of Great Britain before he became king.

The young Elector Johann Georg IV was forced to marry Eleonore Erdmuthe of Saxe-Eisenach by his mother, the Dowager Electress Anna Sophie, supposedly to produce legitimate heirs to the Electorate. The real reason for the marriage was to end the liaison between Johann Georg and his mistress Magdalena Sibylla of Neidschutz.

Johann Georg III, the late Elector had tried to separate the lovers, perhaps because he was aware of a close incestuas blood relationship between them — for Magdalena Sybilla may have been his own illegitimate daughter by Ursula Margarethe of Haugwitz, and therefore Johann Georg IV’s half-sister.

By order of the Elector, Ursula had married Colonel Rudolf of Neidschutz, who officially appears as the father of her daughter.

Johann Georg IV may never have known of his possible blood relationship to Magdalena Sibylla or regarded the claim as a rumor spread by ill-wishers. Immediately after he assumed the Electorate, he openly lived with her, and she became the first ever Official Mistress (Favoritin) of an Elector of Saxony.

The Electress, Eleonore Erdmuthe, humiliated every day since her wedding, was relegated to the Hofe (the official residence of the Elector). Johann Georg IV moved into another palace with Magdalena Sybilla.
Desperate to marry his mistress, Johann Georg IV tried to murder his wife, but was prevented by his younger brother, Friedrich August. When Johann Georg IV tried to stab Eleonore with a sword, the unarmed Friedrich stopped the weapon with his hand, injuring it and leaving him with a lifelong handicap.

Last Days

After a substantial bribe from the Elector, on February 20, 1693 Magdalene Sybille was created Countess of Rochlitz (Grafïn von Rochlitz) by Imperial Decree from Emperor Leopold I. Shortly before, she gave birth the only daughter of the couple, Wilhelmina Maria.

But the happiness ended soon: Magdalene Sybille contracted smallpox and died on April 4, 1694, in the arms of the Elector, who was also infected with the disease.

Johann Georg IV died twenty-three days later, on April 27. He was buried in the Freiberg Cathedral.

Because he died without legitimate issue—Electress Eleonore suffered two miscarriages during their marriage, in August 1692 and February 1693—he was succeeded as Elector by his brother Friedrich August I (He would be Elected King of Poland, and Grand Duke of Lithuania as Augustus II the Strong on September 15, 1697). The new Elector took the guardianship of the little orphan Wilhelmina Maria, who was raised in the court. He acknowledged the girl as his niece and gave her a dowry when she was married to a Polish Count.

The new Saxon Elector, Friedrich August I allowed Eleonore, the Dowager Electress and her children to remain in Pretzsch, where they lived until Eleonore’s death two years later, on September 9, 1696. She was buried at Freiberg Cathedral.

After her death, Eleonore’s children were sent back to Ansbach to the court of their older half-brother Georg Friedrich II, who had become the new Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach in 1692.

July 19, 1822: Birth of Princess Augusta of Cambridge, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

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Adolphus-Frederick of Cambridge, Augusta of Cambridge, Friedrich-Wilhelm of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, George II of Great Britain, George III of the United Kingdom, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Hesse-Cassel, Mary of Teck, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom

Princess Augusta of Cambridge (July, 19, 1822 – December 5, 1916) was a member of the British Royal Family, a granddaughter of George III. She married into the Grand Ducal House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and became the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

Early life

Princess Augusta was born on July 19, 1822 at the Palace of Montbrillant, Hanover. Her father was Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, the seventh son of George III of the United Kingdom and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Princess Augusta’s mother was Princess Augusta of Hesse-Cassel, third daughter of Landgrave Friedrich of Hesse-Kassel, and his wife, Princess Caroline of Nassau-Usingen. Through her father, Princess Augusta of Cambridge was a great-granddaughter of George II of Great Britain, her grandmother being George II’s daughter Princess Mary. Princess Augusta of Hesse-Cassel’s uncle, (her father’s older brother) was the Landgrave Wilhelm I of Hesse-Cassel. In 1803, her uncle’s title was raised to Elector of Hesse—whereby the entire Cassel branch of the Hesse dynasty gained an upward notch in hierarchy.

As a male line granddaughter of the British monarch, Princess Augusta was titled a British princess with the style of Royal Highness. The young princess was baptized at the same palace on August 16, 1822, by Rev Edward Curtis Kemp (Chaplain to the British Ambassador to the Court of Berlin, The Rt. Hon. Sir George Rose).

The Princess spent her earlier years in Hanover, where her father was the viceroy on behalf of his brother, King George IV of the United Kingdom.

Princess Augusta had one brother, Prince George, later 2nd Duke of Cambridge; and one sister, Princess Mary Adelaide, later Duchess of Teck. As such, Princess Augusta was an aunt to Princess Mary of Teck, later consort of George V of the United Kingdom. Additionally, Princess Augusta was a first cousin through her father to Queen Victoria and through her mother a first cousin to Princess Louise of Hesse-Cassel, the wife of King Christian IX of Denmark. This meant Princess Augusta was a first cousin once removed to both Princess Alexandra of Denmark and her husband King Edward VII of United Kingdom.

With her mother, she was part of the royal party at the 1838 coronation of Queen Victoria.

Marriage

On June 28, 1843, Princess Augusta married her first cousin, Friedrich Wilhelm of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, at Buckingham Palace, London. (The two were also second cousins on their fathers’ side.) Upon marriage, Augusta became the Hereditary Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and, on September 6, 1860, the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz following the death of her father-in-law, Grand Duke Georg of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

The marriage of the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess produced two children:

Duke Friedrich Wilhelm of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (born and died in London, January 13, 1845)

Duke Adolph Friedrich of Mecklenburg-Strelitz ( July 22, 1848 – June 11, 1914); succeeded his father as Grand Duke Adolph Friedrich V of Mecklenburg-Strelitz in May 1904.

Later life

Although she spent most of her adult life in Germany, the Grand Duchess Augusta retained close personal ties to the British Royal Family. She frequently visited her mother, the Duchess of Cambridge, at her Kensington Palace apartments.

After her mother’s death in 1889, the Grand Duchess acquired a house in London’s Buckingham Gate area, where she spent a portion of the year until advanced old age made it impossible for her to travel abroad.

In making preparations for the coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra in 1901, the Duke of Norfolk consulted her on matters of etiquette and attire. This was due to her presence at the coronation of King William IV and Queen Adelaide seventy-one years earlier. She was nine years old at the time and kissed the Queen’s hand. She was also able to provide details of the coronation of Queen Victoria.

The Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was particularly close to her niece, the future Queen Mary. However, old age prevented her from attending the coronation of King George V and Queen Mary on June 22, 1911.

Following the outbreak of World War I, the British Government suspended the annuity she had been receiving as a member of the British Royal Family under the Annuity, Duchess of Mecklenburgh Strelitz Act 1843. During the war, the Swedish Embassy passed letters from the Queen to her aunt, who still lived in Germany.

As an elderly lady, she was known for being cantankerous. She was also known as being quite shrewd and intelligent. In his book, Queen Mary (London, 1959), the Queen’s official biography, James Pope-Hennessy reports that the Queen’s aunt Augusta was not fond of the new science of photography, fearing it would intrude deeply into the private lives of Royal personages; at pp. 101–105 he offers a masterly sketch of this formidable lady.

The Dowager Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz died on December 5, 1916 in Neustrelitz and was buried in Mirow. As the longest-lived grandchild of George III, she was the last link to the British branch of the House of Hanover.

At the time of her death, she was 94 years, 4 months and 16 days old, making her the longest-lived British princess by blood, until Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, a male-line granddaughter of Queen Victoria, surpassed her in 1977.

Gustav III succeeds to the Swedish throne.

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Assassination, Frederick the Great of Prussia, Frederick V of Denmark, George II of Great Britain, Gustav III of Sweden, Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden, Kingdom of Sweden

On this date in History, February 12, 1771.

The death of King Adolf-Frederik of Sweden (May 14, 1710 – February 12, 1771) Adolf-Frederik was King of Sweden from 1751 until his death in 1771. He was the son of Christian August of Holstein-Gottorp, Prince of Eutin, and Albertina Frederica of Baden-Durlach. He was succeeded by his eledts son who assumed the throne as King Gustav III.

Gustav III (January 24, 1746 – March 29, 1792) was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of King Adolf-Frederik of Sweden and Queen Louise Ulrika (a sister of King Friedrich II the Great of Prussia), and a first cousin of Empress Catherine the Great of Russia by reason of their common descent from Christian August of Holstein-Gottorp, Prince of Eutin, and his wife Albertina Frederica of Baden-Durlach.

Gustav III married Princess Sophia Magdalena of Denmark, by proxy in Christiansborg Palace, Copenhagen, on October 1, 1766 and in person in Stockholm on November 4, 1766. Sophia Magdalena of Denmark was the eldest daughter of Frederik V of Denmark and his first wife Louise of Great Britain. Louise of Great Britain was Queen of Denmark and Norway from 1746 until her death, as the first wife of King Frederick V. She was the youngest surviving daughter of King George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Ansbach. Gustav III was first impressed by Sophia Magdalena’s beauty, but her silent nature made her a disappointment in court life. The match was not a happy one, owing partly to an incompatibility of temperament, but still more to the interference of Gustav’s jealous mother, Queen Louisa Ulrika.

The marriage produced two children: Crown Prince Gustav Adolf (1778–1837), and Prince Carl Gustav, Duke of Småland (1782–1783). For the consummation of the marriage, the king and queen requested actual physical instruction by Count Adolf Munck, reportedly because of anatomical problems of both spouses. There were also rumors that the queen was made pregnant by Munck, who would then be the true father of the heir Prince Gustav-Adolf. Gustav’s mother supported rumors that he was not the father of his first son and heir. It was rumored at the time that Gustav was homosexual, a possibility asserted by some writers. The close personal relationships that he formed with two of his courtiers, Count Axel von Fersen and Baron Gustav Armfelt, were alluded to in that regard. His sister-in-law Charlotte implied as much in her famous diary.

Gustav III was a vocal opponent of what he saw as the abuse of political privileges seized by the nobility since the death of King Carl XII. Seizing power from the government in a coup d’état in 1772 that ended the Age of Liberty, he initiated a campaign to restore royal autocracy, which was completed by the Union and Security Act of 1789, which swept away most of the powers once exercised by the Swedish Riksdag (parliament).

(King Gustav III of Sweden and his Brothers; Gustav III (left) and his two brothers, Prince Frederick Adolf and Prince Charles, later Charles XIII of Sweden. Painting by Alexander Roslin.)

Assassination

Gustav III’s war against Russia and the implementation of the Union and Security Act in 1789 helped to increase a hatred against the king among the nobility that had been growing ever since the coup d’état in 1772. A conspiracy to have the king killed and reform the constitution took place within the nobility in the winter of 1791-92. Among those involved were Jacob Johan Anckarström, Adolph Ribbing, Claes Fredrik Horn, Carl Pontus Lilliehorn and Carl Fredrik Pechlin.

The assassination of the king took place at a masked ball at the Royal Opera House in Stockholm at midnight on March 16, 1792. Gustav had arrived earlier that evening to enjoy a dinner in the company of friends. During dinner, he received an anonymous letter that contained a threat to his life (written by the colonel of the Life guards Carl Pontus Lilliehorn), but, as the king had received numerous threatening letters in the past, he chose to ignore it. After dining, he left his rooms to take part in the masquerade.

Soon upon entering, he was surrounded by Anckarström and his co-conspirators, Count Claes Fredrik Horn and Count Adolf Ludvig Ribbing. The king was easily spotted, mainly due to the breast star of the Royal Order of the Seraphim that glowed in silver upon his cape. The conspirators were all wearing black masks and accosted him in French with the words: Bonjour, beau masque (“Good-day, fine masked man”). Anckarström moved behind the king and fired a pistol-shot into the left side of his back. The king jumped aside, crying in French: Ah! Je suis blessé, tirez-moi d’ici et arrêtez-le (“Ah! I am wounded, take me away from here and arrest him!”)

The king was carried back to his quarters, and the exits of the Opera were sealed. Anckarström was arrested the following morning and immediately confessed to the murder, although he denied a conspiracy until informed that Horn and Ribbing had also been arrested and had confessed in full.

The king had not been shot dead; he was alive and continued to function as head of state. The coup was a failure in the short run. However, the wound became infected, and on March 29, the king finally died with these last words: Jag känner mig sömnig, några ögonblicks vila skulle göra mig gott (“I feel sleepy, a few moments’ rest would do me good”)

Ulrica Arfvidsson, the famous medium of the Gustavian era, had told him something that could be interpreted as a prediction of his assassination in 1786, when he visited her anonymously – a coincidence – but she was known to have a large network of informers all over town to help her with her predictions, and she was in fact interrogated about the murder.

The king was succeeded on the throne by his eldest son who became King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden.