Baptism of HRH The Prince of Wales; December 15, 1948.

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Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven (Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine), Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Mary, The Earl of Athlone, the prince of Wales

One of the things I enjoy about the history of royalty is when I can connect todays royal family to the Victorian Era. On this date Prince Charles of Edinburgh (future Prince of Wales) was Baptized. The Prince of Wales was baptized in the Music Room of Buckingham Palace on 15 December 1948. At his birth on 14 November 1948, Charles was the first child of HRH Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh (later Queen Elizabeth II), and HRH Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh, and the first grandchild of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of the UK.

In the back row of this photograph are: (left to right) Patricia Mountbatten, the Lady Brabourne, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, HM King George VI, the Hon David Bowes-Lyon (his maternal great-uncle), HG Alexander Cambridge, Earl of Athlone, brother of Queen Mary, who stood proxy for King Haakon VII of Norway.

In the front: (left to right) Victoria Mountbatten, the Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven (his paternal great-grandmother), who was born HGDH Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, the eldest daughter of Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and by Rhine and his wife Princess Alice of the United Kingdom (second daughter of Queen Victoria), HRH Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh (holding Prince Charles) Queen Mary, Princess Margaret.

Pictured below. HGDH Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, paternal great-grandmother of HRH The Prince of Wales.

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The Earl of Athlone: German Ancestry, Conclusion.

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Alexander of Wurrtemberg, Duke of Tek, Francis, Francis of Teck, Friedrich I of Prussia, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Marie-Adelaide of Cambridge, Morganatic Marriage, Prince of Orange, The Earl of Athlone, Willem I The Silent

Duke Alexander of Württemberg (1804–1885) was the father of Prince Francis, Duke of Teck. In 1835, he married, morganatically, Claudine Rhédey von Kis-Rhéde (1812-1841), by whom he fathered three children: Claudine, Francis and Amalie. His wife was created Countess of Hohenstein in her own right and, following the rules of morganatic marriages, the children inherited their mother’s title as Count or Countess of Hohenstein from birth. They had no rights through their father to any royal status or inheritance. In 1841, his wife was killed, run over by horse, and this was such a devastating blow to Alexander that he became mentally unstable, a condition which lasted for the rest of his life. He died in 1885 at the age of 80.

Duke Alexander’s father was Duke Ludwig-Friedrich of Württemberg, brother of King Friedrich I of Württemberg and Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia. Duke Alexander’s mother was Henrietta of Nassau-Weilburg, a great-granddaughter of King George II of Great Britain through his eldest daughter Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange who married Willem IV, Prince of Orange-Nassau and the first hereditary Stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands.

Duke Ludwig-Friedrich was a general in the cavalry. He was briefly a high ranking commander in the Army of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Duke Ludwig-Friedrich was also appointed the commander of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania’s army. He betrayed the Commonwealth by refusing to fight against Russian troops throughout the Polish–Russian War of 1792, while feinting illness. For his betrayal he was dismissed from his post, but never persecuted. His Polish wife, Maria Wirtemberska, divorced him shortly afterward after his treason became public knowledge.

On 28 January 1797 in Hermitage, near Bayreuth, Louis Frederick was married to Princess Henriette of Nassau-Weilburg (then of Nassau), daughter of Charles Christian, Duke of Nassau-Weilburg and Princess Carolina of Orange-Nassau. The couple had five children:

1. Duchess Maria Dorothea Luise Wilhelmine Karoline of Württemberg (1 November 1797 – 30 March 1855); granted the style Royal Highness on 26 December 1805; married in 1819 Archduke Joseph of Austira, Palatine of Hungary (9 March 1776 – 13 January 1847).

2. Duchess Amalie of Württemberg (28 June 1799 – 28 November 1848); granted the style Royal Highness on 26 December 1805; married in 1817 Joseph, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg (27 August 1789 – 25 November 1868).

3. Duchess Pauline of Württemberg (4 September 1800 – 10 March 1873); granted the style Royal Highness on 26 December 1805; married in 1820 her first cousin, Wilhelm I of Wurttemberg.

4. Duchess Elisabeth of Württemberg (27 February 1802 – 5 December 1864); granted the style Royal Highness on 26 December 1805; married in 1830 Prince Wilhelm, Grand-Ducal Prince and Margrave von Baden (8 April 1792 – 11 October 1859).

Duke Alexander of Württemberg (9 September 1804 – 4 July 1885); granted the style Royal Highness on 26 December 1805; married, morganitically, on 2 May 1835, Countess Claudine Rhédey von Kis-Rhéde, and had issue (21 September 1812 – 1 October 1841); founded the second branch of the House of Württemberg, known as the Dukes of Teck. The Dukes of Teck settled in the United Kingdom and with the change in titles in 1917, when king George V relinquished all German titles, the Teck family became the Cambridge family.

I mention the siblings of Duke Alexander of Württemberg to show case that the Cambridge family has distant cousins throughout German royal and noble houses. If you follow the family tree through Duke Alexander’s maternal grandmother, Princess Carolina of Orange-Nassau, you will find your way into various royal houses such as the Dutch royal house leading to Willem I The Silent, Prince of Orange, considered founder of the modern state of the Netherlands. Other ancestors of Duke Alexander was King George II of Great Britain (a German prince of the House of Hanover and Brunswick) and his wife Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach, who was the granddaughter of Albert II, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach. If you follow the Brandenburg-Ansbach line you will eventually arrive at King Christian I of Denmark. Another prominent ancestor to the Earl of Athlone is King Friedrich I of Prussia.

Even though the Earl of Athlone’s mother, Princess Mary-Adelaide of Cambridge, was also ethnically German as a member of the House of Hanover, her son was very German through his father’s Württemberg heritage. This does raise the question about nationality verse ethnicity which are both human constructs. The Earl of Athlone was born and raised in the UK and culturally was every inch British despite the fact that his ancestors came from Germany.

The Earl of Athlone: German Ancestry, Part II

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Kensington Palace, King Carl of Wurrtemberg, King George III of Great Britain, King George V of Great Britain, King of Wurrtemberg, London, Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, Queen Mary, Queen Victoria, The Earl of Athlone, White Lodge

The problem with Prince Francis of Teck was that due to his morganatic status he had no inheritance and as a penniless prince he had few prospects because those who had the misfortune of being born of morganatic unions were often shunned in German society where status was everything. Not to say Britain did not have its class system, it did and still does, its just that the German class system was much more harsh than the British class system. Queen Victoria had no pretensions toward offspring of morganatic unions. So when it came time to find a spouse for the rather plump Princess Mary-Adelaide of Cambridge, The Prince of Teck was actually a suitable choice.

Princess Mary-Adelaide was a third cousin once-removed from her husband via their shared descent from King George II of Great Britain (1727-1760). The couple married on 12 June 1866 at St. Anne’s Church, Kew in Surrey. The couple lived on Mary Adelaide’s Parliamentary allowance of £5,000 per annum (this would be equivalent to ca. £525,000 in 2013). their income was supplemented by her mother, The Duchess of Cambridge. However, it was not sufficient and Mary Adelaide’s requests to her cousin, Queen Victoria, for more funds were met with refusal; however. They were fortunate to be given a grace-and-favour apartment in Kensington Palace, London and a country house, White Lodge. In 1871 Prince Francis was created Duke of Teck by the King Carl of Württemberg. The Duke and Duchess sadly had a habit of living beyond their means which lead to the build-up of large debts. Because of this the Tecks fled the UK in 1883 to continental Europe, where they stayed with relatives in Florence and Germany. They eventually returned to the UK in 1885.

On July 1st 1887, Queen Victoria granted The Duke of Teck the style Highness, as a gift to celebrate her Golden Jubilee.This was only for when they were in Britain. Under German rules, where the Duke of Teck’s titles originated, they remainedt a lower status of Serene Highness. Only the King of Württemberg could elevate their titles. Despite this elevation of titles in Britain the Tecks were still seen as minor relatives, with little status or wealth. However, their fortunes did improve when their only daughter, Princess Victoria-Mary of Teck (known as May to her family) became engaged to the second-in-line to the British throne, HRH Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence & Avondale.

There was initial opposition to this engagement from the Duke of Clarence’s parents, the Prince and Princess of Wales (future King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) Arthur Balfour wrote to Lord Salisbury in 1890 that “(t)he Teck girl they won’t have because they hate Teck and because the vision of Princess Mary haunting Marlborough House makes the Prince of Wales ill.” Despite this objection Queen Victoria gave her official consent to the engagement on December 12, 1891. Sadly, this union was to never be for the Duke of Clarence died from pneumonia only six weeks later. However, Queen Victoria was very fond of Princess May and desired that after a time of suitable mourning the Duke of Clarence’s brother (and next in the line of succession), Prince George, Duke of York,should marry Princess May.

In 1897 the Duchess of Teck, Princess Mary-Adelaide, died, leaving Francis a widower. The Duke of Teck continued to live at White Lodge, Richmond, but did not carry out any Royal duties, although he continued to receive the late Duchess’ Parliamentary annuity. The Duke of Teck died on January 21, 1900 at White Lodge (one year prior to the death of Queen Victoria). The Duke of Teck was buried next to his wife in the Royal Vault at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor.

This ends the look at the Earl of Athlone’s father, the Duke of Teck. Next week I will complete the examination of the German heritage by examining the Earl’s paternal grand-father and other distant German relations from his family tree.

The Earl of Athlone: German Ancestry, Part I.

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British Peerage, Duke of Teck, King George III of Great Britain, King George V of Great Britain, kings and queens of the United Kingdom, Princess Alice of Albany, Queen Mary, Queen Victoria, The Earl of Athlone

In my series “British or German” I discussed the Teck family and its connection to the British royal family. Today I want to again feature Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone. To be more precise, I want to focus on his German ancestry. He was born in London to the Duke and Duchess of Teck and despite his German Teck origins and the loss of that royal title in 1917, in my eyes he never ceased to be a dignified “British” Prince.

Even though any title he had prior to 1917 came from his German father, a morganatic scion of the House of Württemberg, I consider the Earl of Athlone a British Royal due to his being born in Britain and his many blood connections to both King George III and Queen Victoria and all of his many British Royal cousins via his mother. He certainly was considered a member of the British Royal Family. Despite my view that he was a British “prince” I don’t want to ignore his strong German Noble ancestors.

Before I dive into that topic I will remind my readers of some basic information about him: Major-General Alexander Augustus Frederick William Alfred George Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone (born HSH Prince Alexander of Teck; April 14, 1874 – January 16, 1957) and lived to the ripe old age of 82. He was the son of HSH Prince Francis, Duke of Teck and HRH Princess Mary-Adelaide of Cambridge. The Earl was a British military commander and major-general who served as Governor-General of the Union of South Africa, the country’s fourth, and as Governor General of Canada, the 16th since Canadian Confederation.

Here is a quick summary of his British connections: His mother was HRH Princess Mary-Adelaide of Cambridge, a first cousin to Queen Victoria and both ladies were the royal granddaughters of King George III of Great Britain. Queen Victoria was the daughter of HRH Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (4th son of King George III) and Princess Mary-Adelaide of Cambridge was the daughter of HRH Prince Adolphus Frederick, Duke of Cambridge (7th son of King George III). He was the brother of Queen Mary (Princess Mary of Teck), making him a brother-in-law of King George V.

The Earl of Athlone was married to his cousin HRH Princess Alice of Albany, daughter of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, 4th son of Queen Victoria and HRH The Prince Concort (Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha). The Earl’s wife was also a first cousin to King George V. Being a brother to Queen Mary and brother-in-law to King George V, the Earl of Athlone was therefore uncle to both King Edward VIII and King George VI, and a great-uncle to the present Queen, Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. That’s enough to make your head spin!!

The Earl’s father was HSH Prince Francis, Duke of Teck (August 28, 1837-January 21, 1900). Francis was born Franz Paul Karl Ludwig Alexander on August 28,1837 in Esseg, Slavonia (now Osijek, Croatia). Francis’ mother was Claudine Rhédey von Kis-Rhéde (1812-1841) and she was married in 1835 to Duke Alexander of Württemberg (1804–1885), the son of Duke Ludwig of Württemberg. Since Duke Alexander and Claudine were not of the same social status the marriage was morganatic, his wife would not carry any of her husband’s titles and their children had no succession rights to the Kingdom of Württemberg. Francis’ mother was created Countess of Hohenstein in her own right by Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria shortly after her marriage. Therefore from his birth until 1863 he known as Count Francis von Hohenstein, a title he derived from his mother.