Tags
Crown Princess Thyra of Hanover., Emperor Alexander II of Russia, Empress Marie Feodorovna of All the Russias, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, King Frederik VIII of Denmark, King George I of the Hellenes, King George II of Great Britain and Ireland, Landgrave Friedrich II of Hesse-Cassel, Prince-Elector Wilhelm of Hesse, Princess Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Princess Mary of Great Britain, Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom
Mary of Great Britain (March 5, 1723 – January 14, 1772) was the second-youngest daughter of King George II of Great Britain and his wife, Princess Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach, and Landgravine of Hesse-Cassel as the wife of Landgrave Friedrich II of Hesse-Cassel.
Early life
Princess Mary of Great Britain was born at Leicester House, Westminster, London. At the time of her birth her father was the Prince of Wales, later King George II of Great Britain and Ireland. Her mother was Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach, daughter of Margrave Johann Friedrich of Brandenburg-Ansbach and his second wife, Princess Eleonore Erdmuthe of Saxe-Eisenach.
Her father succeeded, as King George II of Great Britain and Ireland, on June 11, 1727, and she became “HRH The Princess Mary”.
Upon her mother’s death in 1737, Queen Caroline, entrusted Mary to her elder sister Princess Caroline, urging her to “do what she could to support the meek and mild disposition of Princess Mary”.
Marriage
A marriage was negotiated with Landgrave Friedrich II of Hesse-Cassel, the only son and heir of Landgrave Wilhelm VIII of Hesse-Cassel, and his wife Dorothea Wilhelmine of Saxe-Zeitz. His paternal grandfather was Landgrave Charles I of Hesse-Cassel, and his paternal uncle was King Friedrich I of Sweden.
For the marriage, Parliament voted Princess Mary £40,000.
They married by proxy at the Chapel Royal of St. James’s Palace in London on May 8, then in person on June 28, 1740 at Bellevue Palace, Cassel. They had four sons, three of whom survived to adulthood.
The marriage was unhappy, and Friedrich was said to be “brutal” and “a boor”. Frederick reportedly subjected Mary to spousal abuse. In late 1746, Mary made an extended trip to Britain to escape his maltreatment. The couple separated in 1754 on Friedrich’s conversion to Roman Catholicism. She was supported by her father-in-law, who provided her with a residence in Hanau, as she did not wish to return to Great Britain, but to stay on the continent to raise her children.
In 1756, Mary moved to Denmark, to take care of the children of her sister Louise of Great Britain, who had died in 1751. She was the wife of King Frederik V of Denmark and Norway the grandson of King Frederik IV of Denmark and Norway and the only son of Crown Prince Christian and Sophie Magdalene of Brandenburg-Kulmbach.
She took her children with her, and they were raised at the royal court and her sons were married to Danish princesses.
Their eldest son, Prince-Elector Wilhelm I of Hesse (the Landgravate of Hesse-Cassel was elevated to a Prince-Elector of Hesse of the Holy Roman Empire in 1803) married his first cousin, Princess Wilhelmina Caroline of Denmark and Norway (1747–1820), who was the second surviving daughter of King Frederik V of Denmark and Norway and Princess Louise of Great Britain.
Their second son, Prince Charles, was elevated to the rank of Landgrave and also married his first cousin, (sister to his brothers wife) Princess Louise of Denmark, who was also a daughter of King Frederik V of Denmark and Norway and Princess Louise of Great Britain.
The third son, Prince Friedrich of Hesse-Cassel did not marry his first cousin. On December 2, 1786 in Biebrich, he married Princess Caroline of Nassau-Usingen (1762 – 1823), a remarkable heiress of a family which became extinct in male line.
Princess Mary’s husband succeeded his father as Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel in 1760, and so Mary was technically Landgravine Consort for the last twelve years of her life, despite her estrangement from her husband.
Mary died on 14 or 16 January 1772, aged 48 at Hanau, Germany.
The descendants of Princess Mary of Great and her husband Landgrave Friedrich II of Hesse-Cassel include (among others) King Frederik VIII of Denmark, Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom, (wife of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom) Empress Marie Feodorovna of All the Russias (wife of Emperor Alexander II of Russia), King George I of the Hellenes and Crown Princess Thyra of Hanover.