August 3, 1770: Birth of Friedrich Wilhelm III, King of Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg

Tags

Congress of Vienna, Elector of Brandenburg, Emperor Alexander I of Russia, Emperor Franz of Austria, Friedrich-Wilhelm II of Prussia, George III of Great Britain, King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia, Kingdom of Prussia, Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Napoleonic Wars

Friedrich Wilhelm III (August 3, 1770 – June 7, 1840) was King of Prussia from November 6, 1797 until his death in 1840. He was concurrently Elector of Brandenburg in the Holy Roman Empire until August 6, 1806, when the Empire was dissolved.

Friedrich Wilhelm III was born in Potsdam on August 3, I1770 as the son of Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia and Frederica Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt, the daughter of Ludwig IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, and Countess Palatine Caroline of Zweibrücken. She was born in Prenzlau. She was the sister of Grand Duchess Louise of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, (wife of Charles August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach)
as well as Grand Duke Ludwig I of Hesse and by Rhine.

Friedrich Wilhelm III, King of Prussia

Parents Marriage

Frederica Louisa was selected to marry Friedrich Wilhelm II immediately after his divorce from Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Lüneburg, after Margravine Philippine of Brandenburg-Schwedt and Sophia Albertina of Sweden had been suggested. Her mother was highly admired by Friedrich II the Great of Prussia. The wedding was performed on July 14, 1769 at the Charlottenburg Palace.

The future Friedrich Wilhelm II was considered to be a shy and reserved boy, which became noticeable in his particularly reticent conversations, distinguished by the lack of personal pronouns. This manner of speech subsequently came to be considered entirely appropriate for military officers. He was neglected by his father during his childhood and suffered from an inferiority complex his entire life.

As a child, Friedrich Wiilhelm’s father (under the influence of his mistress, Wilhelmine Enke, Countess of Lichtenau) had him handed over to tutors, as was quite normal for the period. He spent part of the time living at Paretz, the estate of the old soldier Count Hans von Blumenthal who was the governor of his brother Prince Heinrich.

They thus grew up partly with the Count’s son, who accompanied them on their Grand Tour in the 1780s. Friedrich Wilhelm was happy at Paretz, and for this reason, in 1795, he bought it from his boyhood friend and turned it into an important royal country retreat. He was a melancholy boy, but he grew up pious and honest. His tutors included the dramatist Johann Engel.

As a soldier, he received the usual training of a Prussian prince, obtained his lieutenancy in 1784, became a lieutenant colonel in 1786, a colonel in 1790, and took part in the campaigns against France of 1792–1794.

Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Duchess Luise Auguste Wilhelmine Amalie of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (“Louise” in English) was born on March 10, 1776 in a one-storey villa, just outside the capital in Hanover. She was the fourth daughter and sixth child of Duke Charles of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and his wife Princess Friederike of Hesse-Darmstadt, eldest daughter of Prince Georg Wilhelm of Hesse-Darmstadt, second son of Ludwig VIII, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt, and Countess Maria Louise Albertine of Leiningen-Falkenburg-Dagsburg.

Her father Charles was a brother of Queen Charlotte (wife of George III, King of Great Britain and Elector of Hanover).

Her maternal grandmother, Landgravine Marie Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt, and her paternal first-cousin Princess Augusta Sophia of Great Britain served as sponsors at her baptism; her second given name came from Princess Augusta Sophia.

Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

At the time of her birth, Louise’s father was not yet the ruler of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (he would not succeed his brother as Duke until 1794), and consequently she was not born in a court, but rather in a less formal home. Charles was field marshal of the household brigade in Hanover, and soon after Louise’s birth he was made Governor-General of that territory by his brother-in-law George III, king of the United Kingdom and Hanover.

The family subsequently moved to Leineschloss, the residence of Hanoverian kings, though during the summer they usually lived at Herrenhausen.

In 1793, Marie Louise took the two youngest duchesses with her to Frankfurt, where she paid her respects to her nephew King Friedrich Wilhelm II. Louise had grown up into a beautiful young woman, possessing “an exquisite complexion” and “large blue eyes,” and was naturally graceful. Louise’s uncle, the Duke of Mecklenburg, hoped to strengthen ties between his house and Prussia.

Consequently, on one evening carefully planned by the Duke, seventeen-year-old Louise met the king’s son and heir, Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm. The crown prince was twenty-three, serious-minded, and religious. Louise made such a charming impression on Friedrich Wilhelm that he immediately made his choice, desiring to marry her.

Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Frederica caught the eye of his younger brother Prince Ludwig Charles, and the two families began planning a double betrothal, celebrating a month later, on April 4, 1793 in Darmstadt. Friedrich Wilhelm and Louise were subsequently married on December 24 that same year, with Ludwig Charles and Frederica marrying two days later.

Louise who bore Friedrich Wilhelm ten children. In the Kronprinzenpalais (Crown Prince’s Palace) in Berlin, he lived a civil life with a problem-free marriage, which did not change even when he became King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia in 1797. Queen Louise was particularly loved by the Prussian people, which boosted the popularity of the whole House of Hohenzollern, including the King himself.

Friedrich Wilhelm and Louise

Reign

As King, Friedrich Wilhelm III ruled Prussia during the difficult times of the Napoleonic Wars. The king reluctantly joined the coalition against Napoleon in the Befreiungskriege.

Queen Louise was his most important political advisor. She led a mighty group that included Baron vom Stein, Prince von Hardenberg, Gerhard von Scharnhorst, and Count von Gneisenau. They set about reforming Prussia’s administration, churches, finance, and military.

On July 19, 1810, while visiting her father in Strelitz, the Queen died in her husband’s arms from an unidentified illness. Lieutenant-General Baron De Marbot, in his Memoirs, records that the Queen in later life always wore a thick wrapping around her neck. It was to conceal a botched operation for goitre, which left an open sore, which eventually killed her.

The queen’s subjects attributed the French occupation as the cause of her early death. “Our saint is in heaven”, exclaimed Prussian general Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher. Louise’s untimely death left her husband alone during a period of great difficulty, as the Napoleonic Wars and need for reform continued. Louise was buried in the garden of Charlottenburg Palace, where a mausoleum, containing a fine recumbent statue by Christian Daniel Rauch, was built over her grave.

In 1813, following Napoleon’s defeat in Russia, Friedrich Wilhelm turned against France and signed an alliance with Russia at Kalisz. However, he had to flee Berlin, still under French occupation. Prussian troops played a crucial part in the victories of the allies in 1813 and 1814, and the King himself traveled with the main army of Charles Philipp Fürst zu Schwarzenberg, along with Emperor Alexander I of Russia and Emperor Franz of Austria.

At the Congress of Vienna, Friedrich Wilhelm III’s ministers succeeded in securing significant territorial increases for Prussia. However, they failed to obtain the annexation of all of Saxony, as they had wished.

Following the war, Friedrich Wilhelm III turned towards political reaction, abandoning the promises he had made in 1813 to provide Prussia with a constitution.
His primary interests were internal – the reform of Prussia’s Protestant churches.

He was determined to unify the Protestant churches to homogenize their liturgy, organization, and architecture. The long-term goal was to have fully centralized royal control of all the Protestant churches in the Prussian Union of Churches.

In 1824 Friedrich Wilhelm III remarried (morganatically) Countess Auguste von Harrach, Princess of Liegnitz. They had no children.

In 1838 the king distributed large parts of his farmland at Erdmannsdorf Estate to 422 Protestant refugees from the Austrian Zillertal, who built Tyrolean style farmhouses in the Silesian village.

Death

Friedrich Wilhelm III died on June 7, 1840 in Berlin, from a fever, survived by his second wife. His eldest son, Friedrich Wilhelm IV, succeeded him. Friedrich Wilhelm III is buried at the Mausoleum in Schlosspark Charlottenburg, Berlin.

Emperor’s Nicholas II of Russia and Wilhelm II of Germany, descendants of King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia

Friedrich Wilhelm III was the closest common ancestor of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and German Emperor Wilhelm II.

Emperor Nicholas II is a descendant of Friedrich Wilhelm III through his daughter, Princess Charlotte, who married Emperor Nicholas I of Russia who was Emperor Nicholas II’s great-grandfather.

Wilhelm II, German Emperor and King of Prussia is a descendant of Friedrich Wilhelm III through his second son, Wilhelm I, German Emperor and King of Prussia, who was Wilhelm II’s grandfather.

This means that Nicholas II and Wilhelm II were second cousins once removed.

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

Tags

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.

November 3, 1777. Birth of Princess Sophia of Great Britain

Tags

Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz., Ernest Augustus, George III of Great Britain, George IV of the United Kingdom, Hesse-Homburg, King of Hanover, Major-General Thomas Garth, Sophia of Great Britain, The Duke of Cumberland, The Prince Regent

HRH The Princess Sophia was born at Buckingham House, London on November 3, 1777, the twelfth child and fifth daughter of King George III of Great Britain and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The young princess was christened on December 1, 1777 in the Great Council Chamber at St James’s Palace by Frederick Cornwallis, Archbishop of Canterbury.

Her godparents were Prince August of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (her first cousin once-removed), Princess Philippine Charlotte of Prussia, the Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (her first cousin twice-removed) and Princess Louise Frederica of Württemberg the Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (wife of Duke Charles I, her first cousin once-removed), all of whom were represented by proxies.

Sophia is perhaps best known for the rumours surrounding a supposed illegitimate child to whom she gave birth as a young woman.

In her youth, Sophia was closest to her father, who preferred his daughters over his sons; however, she and her sisters lived in fear of their mother. The princesses were well-educated but raised in a rigidly strict household.

Prior to 1788, King George III had told his daughters that he would take them to Hanover and find them suitable husbands despite misgivings he had, which stemmed from his sisters’ own unhappy marriages. He remarked, “I cannot deny that I have never wished to see any of them marry: I am happy in their company, and do not in the least want a separation.”

However, the King suffered his first bout of madness that year, when Sophia was aged eleven. Sophia remarked of her father’s behaviour, “He is all affection and kindness to me, but sometimes an over kindness, if you can understand that, which greatly alarms me.” Further lapses into insanity occurred in 1801 and 1804, thus forestalling talk of marriage for his daughters.

The question of matrimony was rarely raised; Queen Charlotte feared the subject, something which had always discomforted the King, would push him back into insanity. Furthermore, the queen, strained from her husband’s illness, wanted the princesses to remain close to her.
As a result, like most of her sisters, Princess Sophia was forced to live her life as a companion of her mother.

The princesses were not allowed to mix with anyone outside of the Royal Court, and rarely came into contact with men other than pages, equerries, or attendants. Constantly chaperoned, the girls frequently complained about living in a “Nunnery”. For entertainment, the queen read sermons to them and the princesses practised embroidery. On one occasion Sophia wrote their days were so “deadly dull… I wished myself a kangaroo.”

Limited in exposure to eligible men, Sophia and several of her sisters became involved with courtiers and equerries. Sophia entered into a relationship with her father’s chief equerry, Major-General Thomas Garth, a man thirty-three years her senior. He had a large purple birthmark on his face, causing Sophia’s sister Mary to refer to him as “the purple light of love” and courtier and diarist Charles Greville to call him a “hideous old devil”.

Despite this, one lady-in-waiting noted “the princess was so violently in love with him that everyone saw it. She could not contain herself in his presence.” Greville wrote about Sophia and her sisters’ affairs in a diary entry, “women fall in love with anything – and opportunity and the accidents of the passions are of more importance than any positive merits of mind or of body… [The princesses] were secluded from the world, mixing with few people – their passions boiling over and ready to fall into the hands of the first man whom circumstances enabled to get at them.”

Gossip soon spread of the existence of an illegitimate child. Some historians contend that, sometime before August 1800 in Weymouth, Sophia gave birth to an illegitimate son fathered by Garth.

Other gossip declared the child was the product of rape by her elder brother Prince Ernest Augustus the Duke of Cumberland (future King of Hanover), who was deeply unpopular. Historians are divided on the validity of these stories, as some believe she gave birth to Garth’s child while others call them tales spread by the royal family’s political enemies.

Sophia was a favourite of her niece, Princess Charlotte of Wales, as the young princess liked her gentle character and had a certain fascination for the gossip surrounding Sophia’s past. Charlotte detested her other aunts, and once wrote, “I can hardly believe [Sophia] belongs to them- so wholly different is she in thoughts, opinions, matters. Her nobleness and rectitude of mind renders her no favourite here.

The constant scenes of intrigue, of tracasseries, she can but ill support.” The Prince Regent’s efforts to help his sisters led to the marriages of Mary and Elizabeth. Princess Elizabeth married Friedrich VI, the Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg. After the marriage Elizabeth took permanent residence in Germany as the Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg.

Princess Mary married on July 22, 1816, to her first cousin, Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, the son of George III’s brother, Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh. On their wedding day, Mary’s brother, The Prince Regent, raised the bridegroom’s style from Highness to Royal Highness, an attribute to which Mary’s rank as daughter of the King already entitled her.

Queen Charlotte’s death in 1818 allowed Augusta and Sophia their domestic freedom, though it was too late for them to marry. From her mother Sophia inherited Lower Lodge at Windsor Great Park, which she in turn gave to the Prince Regent. The death of Princess Augusta in 1840 resulted in Sophia inheriting Clarence House and Frogmore.

After the queen’s death, Sophia lived in Kensington Palace during her final years. Kensington Palace was the home of her niece Princess Victoria of Kent (the future Queen Victoria), at Kensington Palace.

There, she fell under the sway of Victoria’s comptroller, Sir John Conroy, who took advantage of her senility and blindness; rumours also circulated that Sophia was in awe of Conroy because of his ability to deal effectively with the “bullying importunities” of Sophia’s supposed illegitimate son. Sophia frequently served as his spy on the Kensington household as well as on her two elder brothers, while Conroy squandered most of her money. The princess died on May 27, 1848, aged 70, at her residence in Vicarage Place, Kensington Palace.

Title of Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh

Tags

Double Titles, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, George III of Great Britain, Highness, House of Hanover, Merged With the Crown, Peerage of Great Britain, Royal Highness, William Frederick, William Henry

Last week I did a post on the history of the title of Duke of Edinburgh. In this post id like to discuss the one time the title was created jointly with the title Duke of Gloucester.

The double title of Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh was a British title in the Peerage of Great Britain; the sole creation carried with it the subsidiary title, of Earl of Connaught.

After the last holder of the title, the future King George III, became king and the title merged with the Crown, King George III created bestowed upon his brother, Prince William Henry.

There had been Dukedoms of Gloucester and of Edinburgh individually but their extinction gave the opportunity for them to be created together.

The dukedom of Gloucester and Edinburgh was a royal dukedom when the duke was entitled to the style “His Royal Highness”, as Prince William Henry was, but his son, Prince William Frederick, held the styke of “His Highness” and was only granted the style “Royal Highness” upon his marriage in 1816 to his first cousin, Princess Mary, daughter of King George III and Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

Prince William Henry

Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, (November 25, 1743 – 25 August 25, 1805), was a grandson of King George II and a younger brother of King George III of the United Kingdom.

Prince William Henry was born at Leicester House, Westminster. His parents were Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales, eldest son of George II and Caroline of Ansbach, and Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, then Princess of Wales.

His father died in 1751, leaving the Prince’s elder brother, Prince George, heir-apparent to the throne. He succeeded as King George III of Great Britain and Ireland on October 25, 1760. George had inherited the title Duke of Edinburgh from his father but that title (along with his other titled) merged with the crown giving the King the opportunity to recreate the title anew.

King George III created his brother Prince William Henry with the double titled Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh and Earl of Connaught on November 19, 1764. He had been made a Knight of the Garter on May 26, 1762, and invested on September 22 of that year.

After the Union of Great Britain, the Hanoverian kings liked to grant double titles (one from one constituent country, one from another) to emphasise unity

In 1764 he began to court Maria Walpole, the Dowager Countess of Waldegrave, an illegitimate granddaughter of Sir Robert Walpole.

That same year he and Maria married in secret in his home on Pall Mall. This marriage only became known to the King after the passing of the Royal Marriages Act 1772.

The Duke and Maria lived at St Leonard’s Hill in Clewer, near Windsor and had three children, all of whom were styled Highness from birth and used the territorial designation of Gloucester in conjunction with their princely styles, as great-grandchildren in the male line of George II.

The Duke and Maria’s first child, Princess Sophia of Gloucester (1773 – 1844), was born in 1773. Princess Caroline of Gloucester (1774 – 1775) followed just over a year later and was christened privately on 22 July 1774.

However, Princess Caroline died aged just nine months following a smallpox inoculation, intended to protect her from the disease.

The Duke and Maria had a third and final child in 1776, Prince William Frederick (1776 – 1834).

The Duke died at Gloucester House in London in 1805 and was succeeded as duke by his son William Frederick.

Prince William Frederick

Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, (January 15, 1776 – November 30, 1834) was a great-grandson of King George II of Great Britain and Ireland in the male line and a nephew and son-in-law of King George III of the United Kingdom.

Prince William was born on January 15, 1776 at Palazzo Teodoli in via del Corso, Rome. His father was Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, the third son of the Prince of Wales. His mother, Maria, was the illegitimate daughter of Edward Walpole and granddaughter of Robert Walpole. As a great-grandson of George II he held the title of Prince of Great Britain with the style His Highness, not His Royal Highness, at birth.

He was admitted to the University of Cambridge (Trinity College) in 1787, and granted his MA in 1790. He set up his London home at 31 Upper Grosvenor Street, Mayfair. On August 25, 1805, Prince William’s father died, and he inherited the titles Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh and Earl of Connaught.

From 1811 until his death he was Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He was offered the position of king of Sweden in 1812 by some members of the Swedish nobility, but the British government would not allow it.

On July 22, 1816, he married Princess Mary, his first cousin and the fourth daughter of George III. The marriage took place at St. James’s Palace, London. On that day, The Prince Regent granted the Duke the style of His Royal Highness by Order in Council.

The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester lived at Bagshot Park in Surrey. They had no children together; they had married when both were 40. The Duke had been encouraged to stay single, so that there might be a suitable groom for Princess Charlotte of Wales, the heiress to the throne, even if no foreign match proved suitable; she had married Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg ten weeks earlier.

Later life

He was active in many walks of life but politics, however, was not among them; he entered the House of Lords rarely, and he voted on few of the great issues of his time. He did advocate the abolition of slavery, and he supported Caroline of Brunswick and the Duke of Sussex against George IV.

He kept more state than the King; he never permitted a gentleman to be seated in his presence (which King George did as an exceptional favour) and expected to be served coffee by the ladies of any party he attended, and that they would stand while he drank it. The general estimate of his capacity is given by his nickname, “Silly Billy”; he was also called “Slice of Gloucester” and “Cheese”, a reference to Gloucester cheese.

Because of the unequal character of his parents’ marriage, he was excluded from the House of Hanover, being considered only a British prince. For instance, he and his sister were not listed in the genealogical listing of the electoral house of Hanover in the Königlicher Groß-Britannischer und Kurfürstlicher Braunschweig-Lüneburgscher Staats-Kalender.

He was also not invited to sign the family compact of the house of Brunswick-Lüneburg in 1831, which means that he was not considered an agnate of the royal (electoral) house in Germany.

The Duke died on November 30 1834 at Bagshot Park, and was buried in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor. He left no heir.

With his death the double title of Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh became extinct and in the future these titles would be created separately.

.

September 29, 1766: Birth of Charlotte, Princess Royal and Queen Consort of Württemberg. Part I.

Tags

3rd Duke of Portland, Anne Princess Royal, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz., Charlotte Princess Royal, Frederick I of Württemberg, George III of Great Britain, George III of the United Kingdom, Lord Chamberlain, Queen of Württemberg, St. James Palace, William Cavendish-Bentnick

Charlotte, Princess Royal (Charlotte Augusta Matilda; September 29, 1766 – October 5, 1828), was Queen of Württemberg as the wife of King Friedrich I. She was the first daughter and fourth child of King George III of the United Kingdom and his wife, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

Princess Charlotte was born on September 29, 1766 at Buckingham House, London, to British monarch, King George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. She was christened on October 27, 1766 at St James’s Palace by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Secker, and her godparents were her paternal aunts Caroline Matilda and Louisa, along with Caroline Matilda’s husband King Christian VII of Denmark and Norway, Lord Chamberlain William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, and the Dowager Countess of Effingham, stood proxy for the King and Queen of Denmark.

Charlotte was officially designated as Princess Royal on June 22, 1789. The previous Princess Royal, Anne, was the second child and eldest daughter of King George II of Great Britain and his consort Caroline of Ansbach. She was the spouse of Willem IV, Prince of Orange. Princess Anne died on January 12, 1759 leaving the title Princess Royal vacant for thirty years.

After the birth of three sons in a row, her parents were delighted to have a Princess in the nursery. Like all of her siblings, Charlotte was inoculated, in her case, in December 1768 along with her brother William. As the eldest daughter of the monarch, Charlotte was assumed to be destined for an important marriage on the continent, and her education was considered to be of the utmost importance, beginning when she was only eighteen months old.

Since French was the official language in every European court at the time, the little Princess was given a Frenchwoman to be her tutor, in order that she should have no accent. She was taught to recite little verses and stories, and as a result had an almost uncanny ability to recall detail for the rest of her life.

Her early childhood was not all scholarly pursuits. When she was almost three years old, she took place in her first tableau dressed like Columbine, where she danced with her seven-year-old brother George, Prince of Wales. She was not a naturally musical child and later abhorred such displays of children, declaring that they made children vain and self-important.

However, this did not stop her parents from continuing to show her off. In late 1769, she and the Prince of Wales were once again displayed, this time to the public in a “junior drawing room” in St James’s Palace. Charlotte was dressed in a Roman toga and lay on a sofa.

Though this type of thing was common in German courts, it was considered vulgar in England, where in reaction a London mob drove a hearse into the Palace courtyard. Afterward, the Prince of Wales told Lady Mary Coke that the whole event had made Charlotte “terribly tired”. Wisely, the King and Queen decided to never repeat the experience.

Though she was the eldest daughter, Charlotte was constantly compared to her sister Augusta Sophia, only two years younger than she. When Augusta was a month old, Lady Mary Coke called her “the most beautiful baby I have ever seen” while she considered that Charlotte was “very plain”.

Passing judgment once again three years later, Charlotte was now “the most sensible agreeable child I ever saw, but in my opinion far from pretty” while Augusta was still “rather pretty”. Although the Princess Royal was never as beautiful as her younger sister, she did not share in Augusta’s primary flaw: painful shyness. Charlotte also had a stammer that her attendant Mary Dacres tried to help her young charge manage.

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

Tags

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.

Family of Charles Wilhelm Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Part II.

Tags

Catherine II of Russia, Charles Wilhelm Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Duke of Württemberg, Frederick William of Brunswick, Friedrich I of Württemberg, Friedrich II Eugene, George III of Great Britain, Paul of Russia, Princess Augusta of Great Britain, Princess Marie Elisabeth of Baden

The children of Charles Wilhelm Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Princess Augusta of Great Britain.

Charles Georg August, Hereditary Prince of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (February 8, 1766 – September 20, 1806) the eldest son, was named heir apparent, but suffered from a significant learning disability and was regarded as “well-nigh imbecile,” as well as blind.

Charles Georg August, Hereditary Prince of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel

Nevertheless, he was married in 1790 to Louise of Orange-Nassau, daughter of Willem V, Prince of Orange, and Wilhelmina of Prussia. A gentle, good-hearted woman, called Loulou in the family, who remained devoted to him to the end. Louise was reportedly more of a nurse than a spouse to him, who was described as totally dependent of her. In 1791, she commented in a letter in which she expressed no lamentation about the fact that her marriage was childless and rather seemed pleased with it. He died childless at the age of 40 in 1806, two months before his father.

Louise of Orange-Nassau

Augusta of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (Augusta Caroline Friederika Luise; December 3, 1764 – September 27, 1788) On October 15, 1780, at the age of 15, Augusta was married in Brunswick to future king Friedrich I of Württemberg the son of Friedrich II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg and mother of the future Wilhelm I of Württemberg.

Friedrich, not assured the throne of because of the possibility of heirs being born ahead of him, determined to make a career abroad. His sister Sophie was married to Tsesarevich Paul, future Emperor of Russia. In 1782, Friedrich accompanied Sophie and her husband to Russia. Pleased with the well-spoken and confident young man, the Empress Catherine II appointed Frederick Governor-General of Eastern Finland, with his seat at Viipuri.

Augusta of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel

Augusta joined her husband in Vyborg, Russia. The next five years, the couple would become the parents of four children. However, Augusta and Frederick did not have a happy marriage. During a visit to Saint Petersburg in December 1786, Augusta fled to the apartments of Empress Catherine II to ask for protection. She alleged that Friedrich was bisexual, that he had a coterie of young noblemen, and that he was violent towards her. A horrified Catherine gave Augusta asylum in her palace and sent word to Friedrich that it would be best for him to leave Russia, at least for the time being.

Friedrich I, King of Württemberg

Before he left, Friedrich made it known through Sophie to the Empress Catherine II that he regarded his wife to be as of “poor character” as she behaved with too much informality with servant-lads, grooms and aides, and that the “violence” she accused him of was only his insistence that she should behave with adequate reserve towards them, in keeping with what was regarded as suitable for a woman of her high rank.

After Augusta’s father had refused to countenance a divorce, and with Augusta showing clear signs of proving her husband right in the matter of behavior with men of lower rank, Empress Catherine II found it necessary to make arrangements for her removal from the palace. She gave Augusta the use of one of her Imperial estates, in Kullamaa Parish to the south-west of Tallinn, Estonia. Augusta was put in the custody of Wilhelm von Pohlmann (1727 – 1796), a former hunt-master. Augusta quickly began a sexual relationship with her custodian, and soon became pregnant by him.

On September 27, 1788, aged 23, Augusta went into premature labour with a stillborn child, followed by hemorrhaging. Pohlmann refused to send for a doctor or any other medical help, fearful that his illegitimate relationship to her would be exposed. Augusta died of blood loss. She was hurriedly buried in an unmarked grave in the church at Koluvere. Brief letters were then written to the Empress Catherine and to Augusta’s father in Brunswick, blandly announcing her death and giving the cause as the breaking of a blood vessel.

The second son, Georg Wilhelm Christian (1769–1811), suffered from an even more severe learning disability than his elder brother. He was declared incapacitated and was excluded from the succession. He never married.

The couple’s third son was August (1770–1822). He was blind and was also excluded from the succession. He also never married.

The fourth son, Friedrich Wilhelm (October 9, 1771 – June 16, 1815) briefly ruled the state of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel from 1806 to 1807 and again from 1813 to 1815. He was the cousin and brother-in-law (from 8 April 1795) of his friend George IV, Prince Regent of the United Kingdom (from 1811).

Friedrich Wilhelm, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel

He joined the Prussian army in 1789 as a captain and participated in battles against Revolutionary France. In 1805, after his uncle, Friedrich August, Duke of Oels, had died childless, Friedrich Wilhelm inherited the Duchy of Oels, a small mediatized principality in Silesia subordinate to the King of Prussia.

On November 1, 1802, in Karlsruhe, Friedrich Wilhelm married Princess Marie Elisabeth of Baden (1782– 1808), daughter of Charles Ludwig, Hereditary Prince of Baden. The couple had three children. Marie died of puerperal fever four days after giving birth to a stillborn daughter.

Princess Marie Elisabeth of Baden

Friedrich Wilhelm became the reigning Duke of Brunswick upon the death of his father in 1806. After the defeat of Prussia in the Fourth Coalition, his newly inherited Duchy of Brunswick remained under the control of France. However, the duchy was formally incorporated into the short-lived Napoleonic Kingdom of Westphalia in 1807. Friedrich Wilhelm fled to his parents-in-law in Bruchsal in the Grand Duchy of Baden, which had remained a sovereign state after the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 by Emperor Franz II, where he lived for the next few years.

Friedrich Wilhelm William returned to Brunswick in December 1813, after Prussia had ended French domination in Brunswick-Lüneburg. When Napoleon returned to the political scene in 1815 during the Hundred Days, Friedrich Wilhelm raised fresh troops. He was killed by a gunshot at the Battle of Quatre Bras on June 16, 1815, the night after he had attended the Duchess of Richmond’s ball in Brussels and left it happy to have a chance to show his fighting ability.

Part III will address the younger daughter Caroline of Brunswick, who was married in 1795 to her first cousin, the future George IV of the United Kingdom, and bore him a daughter, the ill-fated Princess Charlotte of Wales.

Family of Charles Wilhelm Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Part I.

Tags

Augusta of Great Britain, Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Charles William Ferdinand of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Frederick Prince of Wales, Frederick the Great of Prussia, Fredrick Louis, George III of Great Britain, London, Napoleon Bonaparte

Royals are known for living lives of wealth and privilege and that is true. However, that wealth and privilege doesn’t shield one from hardship and tragedy. In this series I will examine the hardships of the family of Charles Wilhelm Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, his wife, Princess Augusta of Great Britain and their children.

Charles Wilhelm Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg

Charles Wilhelm Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Prince of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (October 9, 1735 – November 10, 1806) was the Prince of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and a military leader. His titles are usually shortened to Duke of Brunswick in English-language sources.

He was the first-born son of Charles I, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and his wife Philippine Charlotte of Prussia. His father was the ruling prince (German: Fürst) of the small state of Brunswick-Lüneburg, one of the imperial states of the Holy Roman Empire. Philippine Charlotte was the favourite daughter of King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia and sister of Friedrich II of Prussia. As the heir apparent of a sovereign prince, Charles Wilhelm Ferdinand received the title of Hereditary Prince. (Although known by the cumbersome triple name Charles Wilhelm Ferdinand , for the rest of this blog entry I’ll refer to him simply as Charles).

The royal houses of the former Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg had traditionally married within the family, to avoid further division of their family lands under Salic law. By the time, Brunswick-Lüneburg had consolidated back into two states, Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and the Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover).

The electorate was ruled by the Hanoverian branch of the family in personal union with the Kingdom of Great Britain. It was therefore arranged for Charles to marry a British-Hanoverian princess: Princess Augusta of Great Britain, daughter of Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales and his wife, Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, and sister of the reigning King George III. Augusta was given a careful education. She was not described as a beauty, having protuberant eyes, loose mouth and a long face.

On January 16, 1764, Charles married Princess Augusta of Great Britain, eldest sister of King George III. The couple were second cousins to each other, being great-grandchildren of George I of Great Britain, Elector of Hanover. As such, they were not related in a particularly close degree, yet there had been many bonds of marriage between the House of Brunswick-Bevern and the House of Hanover, themselves both branches of the House of Guelph.

Augusta of Great Britain

Augusta never fully adapted to life in Brunswick due to her British patriotism and disregard of all things “east of the Rhine”. This attitude did not change with time, and twenty five years after her marriage, she was described as: “wholly English in her tastes, her principles and her manners, to the point that her almost cynical independence makes, with the etiquette of the German courts, the most singular contrast I know”.

In 1777, Augusta announced to Charles that she would retire from court life and devote herself to the upbringing of her children and religious studies under the Bishop of Fürstenberg. The reason was her disapproval of the relationship between Charles and Louise Hertefeld whom he, in contrast to his previous mistress Maria Antonia Branconi, had installed as his official royal mistress at the Brunswick court.

Augusta of Great Britain

In 1780, Charles succeeded his father as sovereign prince of the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, one of the princely states of the Holy Roman Empire. The duke was a cultured and benevolent despot in the model of Friedrich II the Great of Prussia. He was also a recognized master of 18th century warfare, serving as a Field Marshal in the Prussian Army.

In 1806, when Prussia declared war on France, her husband, the Prince of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel, 71 at the time, was appointed commander-in-chief of the Prussian army. On October 14, of that year, at the Battle of Jena, Napoleon defeated the Prussian army; and on the same day, at the Battle of Auerstadt, he was struck by a musket ball and lost both of his eyes; his second-in-command Friedrich Wilhelm Carl von Schmettau was also mortally wounded, causing a breakdown in the Prussian command.

Severely wounded, the Duke was carried with his forces before the advancing French. Augusta, with the Hereditary Prince and Hereditary Princess, fled to Altona, where they were present at her dying spouse’s side. Because of the advancing French army, they were advised by the British ambassador to flee, and they left shortly before the death of the Prince. He died of his wounds in Ottensen on November 10, 1806.

The Duke and Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg

Augusta then went to stay at the Duchy of Augustenborg, where her nephew-in-law was sovereign. She remained there with her niece, the Duchess of Augustenborg (daughter of her sister the late Queen Caroline Mathilde of Denmark), until her brother George III of the United Kingdom finally relented in September 1807, and allowed Augusta to come to London. There she resided at Montagu House, at Blackheath in Greenwich, with her daughter, Caroline the Princess of Wales, but soon Augusta fell out with her, and purchased the house next door, Brunswick House. Augusta lived out her days there and died in 1813 aged 75.

Part II will be a discussion about their children.

On this Date in History: April 6, 1889. Death of Augusta of Hesse-Cassel, Duchess of Cambridge.

Tags

Augusta of Hesse-Cassel, Charlotte of Wales, Duchess of Cambridge, George III, George III of Great Britain, Kate Middleton, Kingdom of Hanover, Prince William, Prince William of Wales, Royal Marriages Act of 1772, United Kingdom, Viceroy

Today is the 130th anniversary of the death of the Duchess of Cambridge, (born Princess Augusta of Hesse-Cassel), on April 6, 1889.

Princess Augusta of Hesse-Cassel

Augusta was the Last holder of the title Duchess of Cambridge prior to the current Duchess of Cambridge. Augusta is the Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandmother of the current Duke of Cambridge.

Princess Augusta Wilhelmine Luise of Hesse-Cassel (July 25, 1797 – April 6, 1889) was the wife of Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, the tenth-born child, and seventh son, of George III of the United Kingdom and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The longest-lived daughter-in-law of George III, she was the maternal grandmother of Mary of Teck, wife of George V of the United Kingdom.

HRH The Dowager Duchess of Cambridge

Princess and Landgravine Augusta of Hesse-Cassel, third daughter of Landgrave Friedrich of Hesse-Cassel and his wife, Princess Caroline of Nassau-Usingen, was born at Rumpenheim, Offenbach am Main, Hesse. Through her father, she was a great-granddaughter of George II of Great Britain, her grandfather having married George II’s daughter Mary. Her father’s older brother was the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel. In 1803, her uncle’s title was raised to Imperial Elector of Hesse—whereby the entire Cassel branch of the Hesse dynasty gained an upward notch in hierarchy.

Marriage

Prince Adolphus Frederick, The Duke of Cambridge

On May 7, 1818 in Cassel, and then, again, on June 1, 1818 at Buckingham Palace, Princess Augusta married her second cousin, Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, when she was 20 and he 44. Their marriage was a result of the “rush to the alter” for the unmarried sons of George III after the death in childbirth of their niece Princess Charlotte of Wales the previous year. The death of Princess Charlotte meant there was no legitimate heir to the throne of the United Kingdom in the third generation.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge had three children: George, 2nd Duke of Cambridge (1819-1904); Augusta of Cambridge (1822-1916)(who married Friedrich Wilhelm, Grand Duke of Mecklenberg-Strelitz); Mary Adelaide of Cambridge (1833-1897) (who married Prince Francis, Duke of Teck, the parents of Princess Mary of Teck wife of George V of the United Kingdom).

At this time in the history of the British Monarchy the King of the United Kingdom was also the King of Hanover, a state within the German Confederation of the Rhine. The union of these two crowns was a personal union and not a political union. Shortly after their marriage in 1818 the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge moved to Hanover where her husband served as viceroy on behalf of his brothers, George IV (1820-1830) and William IV (1830-1837). The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge returned to Great Britain, in 1837 when Prince Ernest-Augustus, Duke of Cumberland became King of Hanover (1837-1851).

Since Hanover was ruled by the Salic Law which barred women from inheriting the throne, Victoria (1837-1901) inherited the British throne and her uncle Prince Ernest-Augustus, Duke of Cumberland inherited the Hanoverian crown. With the King of Hanover now living in Hanover there was no longer a need for a Viceroy and therefore the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge returned to Britain where they lived at Cambridge Cottage, Kew, and later at St. James’s Palace.

Prince Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland and King of Hanover

The Duke of Cambridge died on July 8, 1850 at Cambridge House, Piccadilly, London, at the age of 76 and was buried at St Anne’s Church, Kew. His remains were later removed to St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. His only son, Prince George, succeeded to his peerages. The 2nd Duke of Cambridge married privately and in contravention of the 1772 Royal Marriages Act at St. John’s Church, Clerkenwell, London, on January 8, 1847 to Sarah Fairbrother (1816 – January 12, 1890), the daughter of John Fairbrother, a servant in Westminster. As the marriage was contrary to the Royal Marriages Act, the Duke’s wife was not titled Duchess of Cambridge or accorded the style Her Royal Highness, nor was their son born after the marriage eligible to succeed to the Duke’s titles. This was why Augusta was the last Duchess of Cambridge until Kate Middleton married the current Duke of Cambridge, Prince William of Wales in 2011.

Death

The Duchess of Cambridge survived her husband by thirty-nine years, dying on April 6, 1889, at the age of ninety-one. Queen Victoria wrote of her aunt’s death: “Very sad, though not for her. But she is the last of her generation, & I have no longer anyone above me.”

Birth of Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge.

Tags

Adolphus Duke of Cambridge, Duke of Clarence, Edward VII of the United Kingdom, Francis of Teck, George III of Great Britain, George V of the United Kingdom, Hesse-Cassel, Prince Albert Victor, Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, Queen Victoria

Today is the 185th anniversary of the birth of the Duchess of Teck, born Princes Mary Adelaide of Cambridge on November 27, 1833.

Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge (Mary Adelaide Wilhelmina Elizabeth; November 27, 1833 – October 27, 1897) was a member of the British Royal family, a granddaughter of George III, and a first cousin of Queen Victoria. Her only daughter was Princess Mary of Teck the spouse of King George V, making Princess Mary Adelaide the grandmother of Edward VIII and George VI and great-grandmother of the current queen, Elizabeth II. She held the title of Duchess of Teck through marriage.

Mary Adelaide was born on November 27, 1833 in Hanover, Germany. Her father was Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, the youngest surviving son of George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Her mother was Princess Augusta of Hesse-Cassel, the daughter of Prince Friedrich of Hesse-Cassel and Princess Caroline of Nassau-Usingen. The young princess was baptized on January 9, 1834 at Cambridge House, Hanover, by Rev John Ryle Wood, Chaplain to the Duke of Cambridge. Her godmother and paternal aunt Princess Elizabeth, Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg, was the only godparent who was present. The others were King William IV and Queen Adelaide (her paternal uncle and aunt), Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh (her paternal aunt), Princess Marie of Hesse-Cassel (her maternal aunt) and Princess Marie Luise Charlotte of Hesse-Kassel (her maternal first cousin). She was named Mary Adelaide Wilhelmina Elizabeth for her aunts and uncle.

By the age of 30, Mary Adelaide was still unmarried. Her large girth (earning her the disparaging and unkind epithet of “Fat Mary”) and lack of income were contributing factors, as was her advanced age. However, her royal rank prevented her from marrying someone not of royal blood. Her cousin, Queen Victoria, took pity on her and attempted to arrange pairings.

Eventually a suitable candidate was found in Württemberg, Prince Francis of Teck.

Francis was born as Franz Paul Karl Ludwig Alexander on August 28, 1837 in Esseg, Slavonia (now Osijek, Croatia). His father was Duke Alexander of Württemberg, the son of Duke Louis of Württemberg. His mother was Countess Claudine Rhédey von Kis-Rhéde. The marriage was morganatic, meaning that Francis had no succession rights to the Kingdom of Württemberg. His title at birth was Count Francis von Hohenstein, after his mother was created Countess von Hohenstein in her own right by Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria. In 1863, Francis was created Prince of Teck, with the style of Serene Highness, in the Kingdom of Württemberg by Emperor Frank-Josef of Austria.

Although the Prince of Teck was of a lower rank than Mary Adelaide, as the product of a morganatic marriage, but was at least of princely title and of royal blood. With no other options available, Mary Adelaide decided to marry him. The couple were married on June 12, 1866 at St. Anne’s Church, Kew, Surrey.

The Duke and Duchess of Teck chose to reside in London rather than abroad, mainly because Mary Adelaide received £5,000 per annum as a Parliamentary annuity and carried out royal duties. Her mother, the Duchess of Cambridge, also provided her with supplementary income. Requests to Queen Victoria for extra funds were generally refused; however, the queen did provide the Tecks with apartments at Kensington Palace and White Lodge in Richmond Park as a country house.

Mary Adelaide requested that her new husband be granted the style Royal Highness, but this was refused by Queen Victoria. The queen did, however, promote Francis to the rank of Highness in 1887 in celebration of her Golden Jubilee.

Despite their modest income, Mary Adelaide had expensive tastes and lived an extravagant life of parties, expensive food and clothes and holidays abroad. In 1883 they were forced to live more cheaply abroad to reduce their debts. They travelled to Florence, Italy, and also stayed with relatives in Germany and Austria. Initially, they travelled under the names of the Count and Countess von Hohenstein. However, Mary Adelaide wished to travel in more style and reverted to her royal style, which commanded significantly more attention and better service.

The Tecks returned from their self-imposed exile in 1885 and continued to live at Kensington Palace and White Lodge in Richmond Park. Mary Adelaide began devoting her life to charity, serving as patron to Barnardo’s and other children’s charities.

In 1891, Mary Adelaide was keen for her daughter, Princess Victoria Mary of Teck (known as “May”) to marry one of the sons of the Prince of Wales, the future Edward VII.

At the same time, Queen Victoria wanted a British-born bride for the future king, though of course one of royal rank and ancestry, and Mary Adelaide’s daughter fulfilled the rank criteria. After Queen Victoria’s approval, May became engaged to Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, second in line to the British throne. He died suddenly six weeks later. Queen Victoria was fond of Princess Mary and persuaded the Duke of Clarence’s brother and next in the line of succession, Prince George, Duke of York, to marry her instead. After a short morning period they married in the Chapel Royal, St. James’s Palace, on July 6, 1893.

Mary Adelaide never lived to see her daughter become Princess of Wales or Queen, as she died on 27 October 1897 at White Lodge, following an emergency operationShe was buried in the royal vault at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor.

When the Duchess of Teck died, leaving Francis a widower, He continued to live at White Lodge, Richmond, but did not carry out any Royal duties. The Duke of Teck died on 21 January 1900 at White Lodge. He was buried next to his wife in the Royal Vault at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor.