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Prince George of Denmark

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

Prince George
Duke of Cumberland
Portrait by Michael Dahl, c. 1705
Consort of the British monarch
Tenure8 March 1702 – 28 October 1708
Born(1653-04-02)2 April 1653[a]
Copenhagen Castle, Denmark–Norway
Died28 October 1708(1708-10-28) (aged 55)
Kensington Palace, London, England
Burial13 November 1708
Spouse
(m. 1683)
Issue
more...
Prince William, Duke of Gloucester
HouseOldenburg
FatherFrederick III of Denmark
MotherSophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg
ReligionProtestant (Lutheran)

The marriage of George and Anne was arranged in the early 1680s with a view to developing an Anglo-Danish alliance to contain Dutch maritime power. As a result, George was unpopular with his Dutch brother-in-law, William III, Prince of Orange, who was married to Anne's elder sister, Mary. Anne and Mary's father, the British ruler James II and VII, was deposed in the Glorious Revolution in 1688, and William and Mary succeeded him as joint monarchs with Anne as heir presumptive. The new monarchs granted George the title of Duke of Cumberland.

William excluded George from active military service, and neither George nor Anne wielded any great influence until after the deaths of Mary and then William, at which point Anne became queen. During his wife's reign, George occasionally used his influence in support of his wife, even when privately disagreeing with her views. He had an easy-going manner and little interest in politics; his appointment as Lord High Admiral of England in 1702 was largely honorary.

Anne's seventeen pregnancies by George resulted in twelve miscarriages or stillbirths, four infant deaths, and a chronically ill son, Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, who died at the age of eleven. Despite the deaths of their children, George and Anne's marriage was a strong one. George died aged 55 from a recurring and chronic lung disease, much to the devastation of his wife, and he was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Early life

George was born in Copenhagen Castle, and was the younger son of Frederick III, King of Denmark and of Norway, and Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg. His mother was the sister of Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, later Elector of Hanover. From 1661, his governor was Otto Grote, later Hanoverian minister to Denmark. Grote was "more courtier and statesman than educator" and when he left for the Hanoverian court in 1665, he was replaced by the more effective Christen Lodberg.[2] George received military training, and undertook a Grand Tour of Europe, spending eight months in 1668–69 in France and mid-1669 in England.[3] His father died in 1670, while George was in Italy, and George's elder brother, Christian V, inherited the Danish throne. George returned home through Germany.[2] He travelled through Germany again in 1672–73, to visit two of his sisters, Anna Sophia and Wilhelmine Ernestine, who were married to the electoral princes of Saxony and the Palatinate.[2]

In 1674, George was a candidate for the Polish elective throne, for which he was backed by King Louis XIV of France.[4] George's staunch Lutheranism was a barrier to election in Roman Catholic Poland,[5] and John Sobieski was chosen instead.[6] In 1677, George served with distinction with his elder brother Christian in the Scanian War against Sweden.[3] His brother was captured by the Swedes at the Battle of Landskrona, and George "cut his way through the enemies' numbers, and rescued him at the imminent danger of his own life."[7]

As a Protestant, George was considered a suitable partner for the niece of King Charles II of England, Lady Anne. They were distantly related (second cousins once removed; they were both descended from King Frederick II of Denmark), and had never met. George was hosted by Charles II in London in 1669, but Anne had been in France at the time of George's visit.[8] Both Denmark and Britain were Protestant, and Louis XIV was keen on an Anglo-Danish alliance to contain the power of the Dutch Republic. Anne's uncle Laurence Hyde, 1st Earl of Rochester, and the English Secretary of State for the Northern Department, Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland, negotiated a marriage treaty with the Danes in secret, to prevent the plans leaking to the Dutch.[9] Anne's father, James, Duke of York, welcomed the marriage because it diminished the influence of his other son-in-law, Dutch Stadtholder William III of Orange, who was naturally unhappy with the match.[10]

Marriage

 
Portrait by John Riley, c. 1687

George and Anne were married on 28 July 1683 in the Chapel Royal at St James's Palace, London, by Henry Compton, Bishop of London. The guests included King Charles II, Queen Catherine, and the Duke and Duchess of York.[11] Anne was voted a parliamentary allowance of £20,000 a year, while George received £10,000 a year from his Danish estates,[12] although payments from Denmark were often late or incomplete.[13] King Charles gave them a set of buildings in the Palace of Whitehall known as the Cockpit (near the site of what is now Downing Street in Westminster) as their London residence.[14]

George was not ambitious, and hoped to live a quiet life of domesticity with his wife. He wrote to a friend: "We talk here of going to tea, of going to Winchester, and everything else except sitting still all summer, which was the height of my ambition. God send me a quiet life somewhere, for I shall not be long able to bear this perpetual motion."[15]

Within months of the marriage, Anne was pregnant but the baby, a girl, was stillborn in May. Anne recovered at the spa town of Tunbridge Wells,[16] and over the next two years, she gave birth to two daughters in quick succession, Mary and Anne Sophia.[17] In early 1687, within a matter of days, George and his two young daughters caught smallpox, and Anne suffered another miscarriage. George recovered, but both his daughters died. Lady Rachel Russell wrote that George and Anne had "taken [the deaths] very heavily. The first relief of that sorrow proceeded from the threatening of a greater, the Prince being so ill of a fever. I never heard any relation more moving than that of seeing them together. Sometimes they wept, sometimes they mourned in words; then sat silent, hand in hand; he sick in bed, and she the carefullest nurse to him that can be imagined."[18] He returned to Denmark for a two-month visit in mid-1687, while Anne remained in England.[19] Later that year, after his return, Anne gave birth to another dead child, this time a son.[20]

In February 1685, King Charles II died without legitimate issue, and George's father-in-law, the Roman Catholic Duke of York, became king as James II in England and Ireland and James VII in Scotland. George was appointed to the Privy Council and invited to attend Cabinet meetings, although he had no power to alter or affect decisions.[21] William of Orange refused to attend James's coronation largely because George would take precedence over him. Although they were both sons-in-law of King James, George was also the son and brother of a king and so outranked William, who was an elected stadtholder of a republic.[21]

Anne's older sister Mary had moved to the Netherlands after her marriage to William of Orange. Protestant opposition to James was therefore increasingly focused around Anne and George instead of Mary, who was heir presumptive.[22] The social and political grouping centred on George and Anne was known as the "Cockpit Circle" after their London residence.[3] On 5 November 1688, William invaded England in an action, known as the "Glorious Revolution", which ultimately deposed King James. George was forewarned by the Danish envoy in London, Frederick Gersdorff, that William was assembling an invasion fleet.[23] George informed Gersdorff that James's army was disaffected, and as a result he would refuse any command under James, but only serve as an uncommissioned volunteer. Gersdorff's alternative plan to evacuate George and Anne to Denmark was rejected by George.[24] George accompanied the King's troops to Salisbury in mid-November, but other nobles and their soldiers soon deserted James for William. At each defection, George apparently exclaimed, "Est-il possible?" (Is it possible?).[6] He abandoned James on 24 November, and sided with William.[25] "So 'Est-il possible' is gone too", James supposedly remarked.[6] In his memoirs, James dismissed George's defection as trivial, saying the loss of one good trooper was of more consequence,[26] but Gersdorff claimed the defection greatly perturbed the King.[27] The defection of George and other nobles was instrumental in whittling away the King's support. In December, James fled to France, and early the following year William and Mary were declared joint monarchs, with Anne as heir presumptive.

Duke of Cumberland

 
Prince George wearing a ducal robe with the collar of the Garter, by Godfrey Kneller, c. 1704. Behind him, a ship offshore is flying the Admiralty flag.

In early April 1689, William assented to a bill naturalizing George as an English subject,[28] and George was created Duke of Cumberland, Earl of Kendal and Baron of Okingham (Wokingham) by the new monarchs.[1][29] He took his seat in the House of Lords on 20 April 1689, being introduced by the Dukes of Somerset and Ormonde.[30]

The mistrust between George and William was set aside during the revolution of 1688–89 but dogged relations during the latter's reign. George held mortgages on Femern, Tremsbüttel and Steinhorst, Schleswig-Holstein, which he surrendered to the Duke of Holstein as part of the peace of Altona of 1689 negotiated by William between Denmark and Sweden. William agreed to pay George interest and the capital in compensation, but George remained unpaid.[31] During the military campaign against James's supporters in Ireland, George accompanied the Williamite troops at his own expense, but was excluded from command, and was even refused permission to travel in his brother-in-law's coach.[32] Snubbed from the army by William, George sought to join the navy, without rank, but was again thwarted by his brother-in-law.[33] When William's Dutch guards failed to salute George, Anne assumed they were acting under orders.[34] George and Anne retired from court.[35] Some degree of reconciliation was achieved following Queen Mary's sudden and unexpected death from smallpox in 1694, which made Anne heiress apparent.[36] In November 1699, William finally recommended that Parliament pay the mortgage debt to George and, in early 1700, the debt was honoured.[37]

By 1700, Anne had been pregnant at least seventeen times; twelve times, she miscarried or gave birth to stillborn children, and two of their five children born alive died within a day.[38] The only one of the couple's children to survive infancy—Prince William, Duke of Gloucester—died in July 1700 at the age of 11. With Gloucester's death, Anne was the only person in the line of succession to the throne, as established by the "Glorious Revolution". To extend the line and secure the Protestant succession, Parliament passed the Act of Settlement 1701, which designated William and Anne's nearest Protestant cousins, the House of Hanover, as the next in line after Anne.[39]

George did not play a senior role in government until his wife Anne succeeded as queen on William's death in 1702. George was the chief mourner at William's funeral.[40] Anne appointed him generalissimo of all English military forces on 17 April, and Lord High Admiral, the official but nominal head of the Royal Navy, on 20 May.[41] Actual power at the Admiralty was held by George Churchill, whose elder brother was John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, a great friend of Anne's and the captain-general of English land forces.[42] Prince George had known the Churchills for years: another brother Charles Churchill, had been one of his gentlemen of the bedchamber in Denmark, and Marlborough had accompanied George on his journey from Denmark to England for his marriage to Anne in 1683.[43] George's secretary in the 1680s was Colonel Edward Griffith, brother-in-law of the Duchess of Marlborough, who was Anne's close confidante and friend.[3] George followed William III as Captain-General of the Honourable Artillery Company,[44] and was made Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.[7] Anne failed, however, in her attempts to persuade the States General of the Netherlands to elect her husband captain-general of all Dutch forces, to maintain the unified command of the Maritime Powers that William had held.[45]

 
George on horseback, painted by Michael Dahl, 1704

Anne obtained a parliamentary allowance of £100,000 a year for George in the event of her death. The bill sped through the House of Commons easily but it was only narrowly passed by the House of Lords. Marlborough supported the bill, but one of the lords against was Marlborough's son-in-law, Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland.[46] Marlborough dissuaded her from asking Parliament to make "her dearly loved husband King Consort".[47]

Generally, during her reign, Anne and her husband spent the winter at Kensington and St James's Palaces, and the summer at Windsor Castle or Hampton Court Palace, where the air was fresher. George had recurrent asthma, and the cleaner air in the country was better for his breathing. They visited the spa town of Bath, Somerset, in mid-1702, on the advice of George's doctors,[48] and again in mid-1703.[49] They occasionally visited Newmarket, Suffolk, to view the horse racing. On one visit, Anne bought George a horse, Leeds, for the vast sum of a thousand guineas.[50]

At the end of 1702, the Occasional Conformity Bill was introduced to Parliament. The bill aimed to disqualify Protestant Dissenters from public office by closing a loophole in the Test Acts, legislation that restricted public office to Anglican conformists. The existing law permitted nonconformists to take office if they took Anglican communion once a year. Anne was in favour of the measure, and forced George to vote for the bill in the House of Lords, even though, being a practising Lutheran, he was an occasional conformist himself.[51] As he cast his vote, he reportedly told an opponent of the bill, "My heart is vid you" [sic].[52] The bill did not gather sufficient parliamentary support and was eventually dropped.[51] The following year, the bill was revived, but Anne withheld support, fearing its reintroduction was a deliberate pretence to cause a quarrel between the two main political groups: the Tories (who supported the bill) and the Whigs (who opposed it). Once again it failed.[53] George never became a member of the Church of England, which was headed by his wife throughout her reign. He remained Lutheran even after her accession, and had his own personal chapel.[5]

In the first years of Anne's reign, the Whigs gained more power and influence at the expense of the Tories. In his capacity as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, George held influence in parliamentary boroughs on the south coast of England, which he used to support Whig candidates in the general election of 1705.[6] In that year's election for Speaker of the House of Commons, George and Anne supported a Whig candidate, John Smith. George instructed his secretary, George Clarke, who was a Member of Parliament, to vote for Smith, but Clarke refused, instead supporting the Tory candidate William Bromley. Clarke was sacked, and Smith was elected.[54]

Illness and death

 
Enamel portrait of Prince George and his wife Queen Anne by Charles Boit, 1706

In March and April 1706, George was seriously ill. There was blood in his sputum, but he seemed to recover,[55] although he was too ill to attend a thanksgiving service at St Paul's Cathedral in June for a British victory in the Battle of Ramillies.[56] He missed another thanksgiving service in May 1707, to celebrate the union of England and Scotland, as he was recuperating at Hampton Court.[57]

The Scilly naval disaster of 1707, in which a fleet commanded by Sir Cloudesley Shovell foundered, highlighted mismanagement at the Admiralty, for which George was nominally responsible. Pressure grew to replace Admiral Churchill with someone more dynamic.[58] By October 1708, five powerful politicians, known as the Whig Junto—Lords Somers, Halifax, Orford, Wharton and Sunderland—were clamouring for the removal of both Prince George and Churchill. Marlborough wrote to his brother telling him to resign,[59] but Churchill refused, protected by Prince George.[60]

Amid the political pressure, George was on his deathbed, suffering from severe asthma and dropsy.[61] He died at 1:30 p.m. on 28 October 1708 at Kensington Palace.[62] The Queen was devastated.[63] James Brydges wrote to General Cadogan,

His death has flung the Queen into an unspeakable grief. She never left him till he was dead, but continued kissing him the very moment his breath went out of his body, and 'twas with a great deal of difficulty my Lady Marlborough prevailed upon her to leave him.[64]

Anne wrote to her nephew, Frederick IV of Denmark, "the loss of such a husband, who loved me so dearly and so devotedly, is too crushing for me to be able to bear it as I ought."[65] Anne was desperate to stay at Kensington with the body of her husband, but under pressure from the Duchess of Marlborough, she reluctantly left Kensington for St James's Palace.[66] Anne resented the Duchess's intrusive actions, which included removing a portrait of George from the Queen's bedchamber and then refusing to return it, in the belief that it was natural "to avoid seeing of papers or anything that belonged to one that one loved when they were just dead".[67] Anne and the Duchess had been very close, but their friendship had become strained over political differences. The immediate aftermath of George's death damaged their relationship further.[68] He was buried privately at midnight on 13 November in Westminster Abbey.[69]

Legacy

 
Statue of Prince George on Windsor Guildhall, erected 1713

Anne refused initially to appoint a new Lord High Admiral, and insisted on carrying out the duties of the office herself, without appointing a member of the government to take George's place. She burst into tears on the first occasion she was brought papers to sign in George's stead.[70] Undeterred, the Junto demanded the appointment of Lord Orford, a member of the Junto and one of Prince George's leading critics, as First Lord of the Admiralty. Admiral Churchill retired, and Anne appointed the moderate Tory Lord Pembroke to lead the Admiralty, instead of a Whig. The Junto Whigs Somers and Wharton, however, were appointed to the Cabinet in Pembroke's vacated posts of Lord President of the Council and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. The Whigs were still dissatisfied, and continued to pressure Pembroke and the Queen. Pembroke resigned after less than a year in office. Another month of arguments followed before the Queen finally consented to put Orford in control of the Admiralty as First Lord in November 1709.[71]

Personal traits and portrayal

Charles II, Anne's uncle, famously said of Prince George, "I have tried him drunk, and I have tried him sober and there is nothing in him".[72] He was quiet and self-effacing. John Macky thought him "of a familiar, easy disposition with a good sound understanding but modest in showing it ... very fat, loves news, his bottle & the Queen."[73] In making fun of George's asthma, Lord Mulgrave said the Prince was forced to breathe hard in case people mistook him for dead and buried him.[74] By the time of Queen Victoria, George had a reputation as a dullard, and was the target of disdain. Victoria hoped her own husband, Prince Albert, would never fill the "subordinate part played by the very stupid and insignificant husband of Queen Anne".[75] In the 1930s, Winston Churchill said he "mattered very little", except to Anne.[76]

 
Miniature in the Royal Collection by Henry Pierce Bone, 1841. Purchased by Prince Albert.

He had little impact on the running of the navy, but he was interested enough in navigation and welfare at sea to sponsor the publication of John Flamsteed's Observations in 1704.[6] He was not one of the most colourful political characters of his day—he was content to spend his time building model ships[77]—but he was a loyal and supportive husband to Queen Anne. Their marriage was a devoted, loving and faithful one, though beset by personal tragedy.[78]

The previous husband of a British queen regnant, William of Orange, had become king, refusing to take a subordinate rank to Mary. William and Mary had exemplified the traditional gender roles of seventeenth-century Europe: Mary was the dutiful wife and William held the power. George and Anne, however, reversed the roles: George was the dutiful husband and it was Anne who exercised the royal prerogatives. William had assumed incorrectly that George would use his marriage to Anne as a means of building a separate power base in Britain, but George never challenged his wife's authority and never strove to accrue influence. Anne occasionally used the image of wifely virtue to escape unpalatable situations by claiming, as a woman, she knew "nothing except what the prince tells me", but it was an artifice.[79] Husbands had a legal right to their wife's property, and it was argued that it was unnatural and against the church's teachings for a man to be subject to his wife.[80] George made no such claim or demand; he was content to remain a prince and duke. "I am her Majesty's subject", he said, "I shall do naught but what she commands me."[81] In the words of historian Anne Somerset, "the fact that Prince George was widely regarded as a nonentity helped reconcile people to his anomalous status, and so, almost by accident, George achieved a major advance for feminism."[82] Winston Churchill wrote that he

was a fine-looking man, tall, blond, and good-natured ... He was neither clever nor learned—a simple, normal man without envy or ambition, and disposed by remarkable appetite and thirst for all the pleasures of the table. Charles's well-known verdict ... does not do justice to the homely virtues and unfailing good-humour of his staid and trustworthy character.[83]

The Prince of Denmark's March by Jeremiah Clarke was written in his honour,[84] and Prince George's County, Maryland, was named after him in 1696.[85] Portraits by Sir Godfrey Kneller are at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfriesshire, and (in a double portrait with George Clarke) All Souls College, Oxford. Portraits in Denmark include one by Willem Wissing in the Reedtz-Thott collection and one by Karel van Mander in the national collection at Frederiksborg Palace.[6]

Prince George was a character in the 2015 play Queen Anne by Helen Edmundson.[86][87] Despite being alive and married to Queen Anne for the majority of the timeframe depicted in 2018 period comedy film The Favourite, he was not depicted at all.[88]

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles

  • 2 April 1653 – 10 April 1689: His Royal Highness Prince George of Denmark and Norway
  • 10 April 1689 – 28 October 1708: His Royal Highness Prince George of Denmark and Norway, Duke of Cumberland[29]

Honours

Arms

The royal coat of arms of Denmark with a label of three points Argent, each with three Ermine points. The whole surmounted by a crown of a prince of Denmark. His crest was "out of a coronet Or, a demi-lion rampant guardant Azure, crowned of the first".[91]

 
Coat of arms of Prince George, Duke of Cumberland, Knight of the Garter

Issue

Birth Death
1 Stillborn daughter 12 May 1684[92]
2 Mary 2 June 1685 8 February 1687[93]
3 Anne Sophia 12 May 1686 2 February 1687[94]
4 Miscarriage 21 January 1687[95]
5 Stillborn son 22 October 1687[96]
6 Miscarriage 16 April 1688[97]
7 William, Duke of Gloucester 24 July 1689 30 July 1700[98]
8 Mary 14 October 1690[99]
9 George 17 April 1692[100]
10 Stillborn daughter 23 March 1693[101]
11 Stillborn child 21 January 1694[b]
12 Miscarried daughter[105] 17[106] or 18[107] February 1696
13 Miscarriage 20 September 1696[c]
14 Miscarriage 25 March 1697[111]
15 Miscarriage early December 1697[112][d]
16 Stillborn son 15 September 1698[115]
17 Stillborn son 24 January 1700[116]

Ancestry

Notes

  1. ^ The date is occasionally given as 29 February, 21 April or 11 November 1653, but 2 April is the date on his coffin plate.[1]
  2. ^ Contemporary chronicler Narcissus Luttrell did not specify a gender, saying only that Anne "miscarried of a dead child".[102] Modern historians Edward Gregg and Alison Weir do not agree on whether it was a son[103] or possibly a daughter.[104]
  3. ^ Luttrell said Anne "miscarried of a son".[108] Dr Nathaniel Johnson told Theophilus Hastings, 7th Earl of Huntingdon, in a letter dated 24 October 1696, "Her Royal Highness miscarried of two children, the one of seven months' growth, the other of two or three months, as her physicians and midwife judged: one was born the day after the other."[109] If so, the smaller foetus was probably a blighted twin.[110]
  4. ^ According to L'Hermitage, the Dutch resident in London, Anne miscarried twins who were "too early to determine their sex".[113] Other sources say the pregnancy ended in a stillborn son,[104] or "two male children, at least as far as could be recognised".[114]

Sources

  1. ^ a b Weir, p. 267
  2. ^ a b c Laursen, L. (1895) "Jørgen (Georg), 1653–1708, Prins". In: Bricka, Carl Frederik (ed.) Dansk biografisk Lexikon. Copenhagen: Gyldendalske Boghandels. Vol. IX, pp. 14–18 (in Danish)
  3. ^ a b c d Gregg, p. 35
  4. ^ Wójcik, p. 215
  5. ^ a b Beatty, p. 103
  6. ^ a b c d e f Speck, W. A. (2004). "George, prince of Denmark and duke of Cumberland (1653–1708)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/10543. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  7. ^ a b Fisher, p. 354
  8. ^ Somerset, p. 40
  9. ^ Gregg, p. 32
  10. ^ Gregg, p. 33
  11. ^ Green, p. 34; Gregg, p. 34
  12. ^ Churchill, vol. I, p. 169
  13. ^ Gregg, p. 39
  14. ^ Curtis, p. 42; Green, p. 34; Gregg, p. 35
  15. ^ Curtis, p. 43; Green, p. 35
  16. ^ Gregg, p. 36
  17. ^ Green, p. 38; Weir, p. 268
  18. ^ Green, p. 39; Gregg, p. 47
  19. ^ Green, p. 41
  20. ^ Green, p. 41; Weir, p. 268
  21. ^ a b Gregg, p. 37
  22. ^ Gregg, pp. 48–49
  23. ^ Gregg, p. 60
  24. ^ Gregg, p. 61
  25. ^ Gregg, pp. 63–64
  26. ^ Churchill, vol. II, p. 533; Curtis, p. 61; Green, p. 47; Gregg, p. 64
  27. ^ Gregg, p. 64
  28. ^ Gregg, p. 72
  29. ^ a b "No. 2443". The London Gazette. 11 April 1689. p. 2.
  30. ^ "House of Lords Journal Volume 14: 20 April 1689". Journal of the House of Lords: volume 14: 1685–1691. Institute of Historical Research. 1767–1830. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  31. ^ Gregg, p. 77
  32. ^ Curtis, pp. 75–76; Gregg, pp. 79–80
  33. ^ Churchill, vol. I, p. 342; Gregg, p. 80
  34. ^ Green, p. 72
  35. ^ Green, p. 58; Gregg, pp. 88–97
  36. ^ Gregg, p. 102
  37. ^ Gregg, pp. 118–120
  38. ^ Green, p. 335; Weir, pp. 268–269
  39. ^ Curtis, pp. 86–87; Gregg, pp. 121–123
  40. ^ Green, p. 94
  41. ^ Gregg, p. 160; Somerset, pp. 183–184
  42. ^ Green, p. 98; Gregg, p. 160
  43. ^ Gregg, p. 34
  44. ^ . Honourable Artillery Company. Archived from the original on 5 March 2009. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  45. ^ Gregg, pp. 160–161
  46. ^ Churchill, vol. II, pp. 620–621; Green, pp. 107–108; Gregg, pp. 166–167; Somerset, p. 251
  47. ^ Churchill, vol. II, p. 504
  48. ^ Green, p. 102; Gregg, p. 161
  49. ^ Green, p. 118
  50. ^ Curtis, pp. 139–140; Somerset, p. 236
  51. ^ a b Curtis, p. 107; Green, pp. 108–109; Gregg, pp. 162–163
  52. ^ Curtis, p. 107; Churchill, vol. II, p. 627; Somerset, p. 248
  53. ^ Churchill, vol. II, pp. 702–704; Curtis, p. 116; Green, p. 122; Gregg, p. 177
  54. ^ Green, p. 145
  55. ^ Green, p. 150
  56. ^ Green, p. 151
  57. ^ Green, p. 163
  58. ^ Green, pp. 175–176
  59. ^ Green, p. 198; Somerset, p. 366
  60. ^ Gregg, p. 267; Somerset, p. 366
  61. ^ Gregg, p. 279
  62. ^ Green, p. 198; Weir, pp. 267–268
  63. ^ Curtis, pp. 165–168; Green, p. 198; Gregg, p. 280; Somerset, pp. 370, 372
  64. ^ Gregg, p. 280
  65. ^ Green, p. 198; Somerset, p. 372
  66. ^ Green, p. 199; Gregg, pp. 281–282
  67. ^ Green, p. 202
  68. ^ Gregg, p. 283
  69. ^ Green, p. 203
  70. ^ Gregg, p. 283; Somerset, pp. 372–373
  71. ^ Gregg, p. 284
  72. ^ Curtis, p. 41; Gregg, p. 35
  73. ^ Green, p. 176
  74. ^ Curtis, p. 41; Green, p. 73
  75. ^ Gibbs and Doubleday, p. 572
  76. ^ Churchill, vol. II, pp. 504–505
  77. ^ Curtis, p. 41; Green, pp. 116, 202
  78. ^ Curtis, pp. 41–42; Green, pp. 34–35; Gregg, pp. 32–35
  79. ^ Beem, Charles (December 2004). "'I am Her Majesty's subject': Prince George of Denmark and the transformation of the English male consort". Canadian Journal of History. 34 (3): 457–487. doi:10.3138/cjh.39.3.457.
  80. ^ Somerset, pp. 181–182
  81. ^ Somerset, p. 181
  82. ^ Somerset, p. 182
  83. ^ Churchill, vol. I, pp. 168–169
  84. ^ . Det Kongelige Bibliotek (in Danish). Archived from the original on 8 January 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
  85. ^ . Prince George's County government. Archived from the original on 5 March 2013. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  86. ^ "Queen Anne | Royal Shakespeare Company". www.rsc.org.uk. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
  87. ^ "Queen Anne, Theatre Royal Haymarket review - slow, long and dull". The Arts Desk. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
  88. ^ "The True Story Behind The Favourite". Time. Retrieved 28 April 2022.
  89. ^ Matikkala, p. 239
  90. ^ "No. 1891". The London Gazette. 31 December 1683. p. 2.
  91. ^ Pinches and Pinches, p. 288
  92. ^ Fisher, p. 355; Green, p. 335; Gregg, p. 36; Weir, p. 268
  93. ^ Fisher, p. 355; Green, p. 335; Gregg, pp. 46–47; Weir, p. 268
  94. ^ Fisher, p. 355; Gregg, pp. 46–47; Weir, p. 268
  95. ^ Calendar of State Papers Domestic Series: James II (1964). London: HMSO, vol. II, p. 347; Gregg, p. 46; Weir, p. 268
  96. ^ Gregg, p. 52; Weir, p. 268
  97. ^ Green, p. 335; Gregg, p. 55; Weir, p. 268
  98. ^ Fisher, p. 355; Green, pp. 54, 335; Gregg, pp. 72, 120; Weir, p. 268
  99. ^ Green, p. 335; Gregg, p. 80; Weir, p. 268
  100. ^ Fisher, p. 355; Green, pp. 62, 335; Gregg, p. 90; Weir, p. 268
  101. ^ Gregg, p. 99; Luttrell, vol. III, p. 62: Weir, p. 268
  102. ^ Luttrell, vol. III, p. 258
  103. ^ Gregg, p. 100
  104. ^ a b Weir, p. 269
  105. ^ Luttrell, vol. IV, p. 20
  106. ^ Gregg, p. 107
  107. ^ Green, p. 335
  108. ^ Luttrell, vol. IV, p. 114; Gregg, p. 108
  109. ^ Bickley, Francis (ed.) (1930). Historical Manuscripts Commission: The Hastings Manuscripts. London: HMSO, vol. II, p. 286
  110. ^ Emson, H. E. (23 May 1992). "For The Want Of An Heir: The Obstetrical History Of Queen Anne", British Medical Journal, vol. 304, no. 6838, pp. 1365–1366 (subscription required)
  111. ^ Green, p. 335; Gregg, p. 108
  112. ^ Green, p. 335; Luttrell, vol. IV, p. 316
  113. ^ Gregg, p. 116
  114. ^ Somerset, p. 156
  115. ^ Green, p. 335; Luttrell, vol. IV, p. 428; Weir, p. 269
  116. ^ Gregg, p. 120; Luttrell, vol. IV, p. 607
  117. ^ Paget, pp. 110–112

References

  • Beatty, Michael A. (2003). The English Royal Family of America, from Jamestown to the American Revolution. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-1558-4.
  • Churchill, Winston S. (1947) [1933–34]. Marlborough: His Life and Times. London: George G. Harrop & Co.
  • Curtis, Gila; introduced by Antonia Fraser (1972). The Life and Times of Queen Anne. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-99571-5.
  • Fisher, George (1832). A Genealogical Companion and Key to the History of England. Part III. Book I. London: Simpkin & Marshall.
  • Gibbs, Vicary; Doubleday, H. A. (1913). Complete Peerage. Volume III. London: St Catherine's Press.
  • Green, David (1970). Queen Anne. London: Collins. ISBN 0-00-211693-6.
  • Gregg, Edward (2001). Queen Anne. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-09024-2.
  • Luttrell, Narcissus (1857). A Brief Historical Relation of State Affairs from September 1678 to April 1714. Oxford: University Press.
  • Matikkala, Antti (2008). The Orders of Knighthood and the Formation of the British Honours System 1660–1760. Rochester, New York: Boydell Press. ISBN 978-1-84383-423-6.
  • Paget, Gerald (1977). The Lineage & Ancestry of HRH Prince Charles, Prince of Wales. London & Edinburgh: Charles Skilton. OCLC 632784640.
  • Pinches, John Harvey; Pinches, Rosemary (1974). The Royal Heraldry of England. Heraldry Today. Slough, Buckinghamshire: Hollen Street Press. ISBN 0-900455-25-X.
  • Somerset, Anne (2012). Queen Anne: The Politics of Passion. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-00-720376-5.
  • Weir, Alison (1995). Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy, Revised Edition. London: Random House. ISBN 0-7126-7448-9.
  • Wójcik, Zbigniew (1983). Jan Sobieski, 1629–1696. Warsaw: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy. ISBN 83-06-00888-X. (in Polish)

External links

Prince George of Denmark
Born: 2 April 1653 Died: 28 October 1708
British royalty
Vacant
Title last held by
Mary of Modena
as queen consort
Consort of the British monarch
1702–1708
Vacant
Title next held by
Caroline of Ansbach
as queen consort
Honorary titles
Preceded by Lord High Admiral
1702–1708
Succeeded by
Preceded by Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports
1702–1708
Succeeded by

prince, george, denmark, norway, danish, jørgen, april, 1653, october, 1708, husband, anne, queen, great, britain, consort, british, monarch, from, anne, accession, march, 1702, until, death, 1708, prince, georgeduke, cumberlandportrait, michael, dahl, 1705con. Prince George of Denmark and Norway Danish Jorgen 2 April 1653 28 October 1708 was the husband of Anne Queen of Great Britain He was the consort of the British monarch from Anne s accession on 8 March 1702 until his death in 1708 Prince GeorgeDuke of CumberlandPortrait by Michael Dahl c 1705Consort of the British monarchTenure8 March 1702 28 October 1708Born 1653 04 02 2 April 1653 a Copenhagen Castle Denmark NorwayDied28 October 1708 1708 10 28 aged 55 Kensington Palace London EnglandBurial13 November 1708Westminster AbbeySpouseAnne Queen of Great Britain m 1683 wbr Issuemore Prince William Duke of GloucesterHouseOldenburgFatherFrederick III of DenmarkMotherSophie Amalie of Brunswick LuneburgReligionProtestant Lutheran The marriage of George and Anne was arranged in the early 1680s with a view to developing an Anglo Danish alliance to contain Dutch maritime power As a result George was unpopular with his Dutch brother in law William III Prince of Orange who was married to Anne s elder sister Mary Anne and Mary s father the British ruler James II and VII was deposed in the Glorious Revolution in 1688 and William and Mary succeeded him as joint monarchs with Anne as heir presumptive The new monarchs granted George the title of Duke of Cumberland William excluded George from active military service and neither George nor Anne wielded any great influence until after the deaths of Mary and then William at which point Anne became queen During his wife s reign George occasionally used his influence in support of his wife even when privately disagreeing with her views He had an easy going manner and little interest in politics his appointment as Lord High Admiral of England in 1702 was largely honorary Anne s seventeen pregnancies by George resulted in twelve miscarriages or stillbirths four infant deaths and a chronically ill son Prince William Duke of Gloucester who died at the age of eleven Despite the deaths of their children George and Anne s marriage was a strong one George died aged 55 from a recurring and chronic lung disease much to the devastation of his wife and he was buried in Westminster Abbey Contents 1 Early life 2 Marriage 3 Duke of Cumberland 4 Illness and death 5 Legacy 5 1 Personal traits and portrayal 6 Titles styles honours and arms 6 1 Titles 6 2 Honours 6 3 Arms 7 Issue 8 Ancestry 9 Notes 10 Sources 11 References 12 External linksEarly life EditGeorge was born in Copenhagen Castle and was the younger son of Frederick III King of Denmark and of Norway and Sophie Amalie of Brunswick Luneburg His mother was the sister of Ernest Augustus Duke of Brunswick Luneburg later Elector of Hanover From 1661 his governor was Otto Grote later Hanoverian minister to Denmark Grote was more courtier and statesman than educator and when he left for the Hanoverian court in 1665 he was replaced by the more effective Christen Lodberg 2 George received military training and undertook a Grand Tour of Europe spending eight months in 1668 69 in France and mid 1669 in England 3 His father died in 1670 while George was in Italy and George s elder brother Christian V inherited the Danish throne George returned home through Germany 2 He travelled through Germany again in 1672 73 to visit two of his sisters Anna Sophia and Wilhelmine Ernestine who were married to the electoral princes of Saxony and the Palatinate 2 In 1674 George was a candidate for the Polish elective throne for which he was backed by King Louis XIV of France 4 George s staunch Lutheranism was a barrier to election in Roman Catholic Poland 5 and John Sobieski was chosen instead 6 In 1677 George served with distinction with his elder brother Christian in the Scanian War against Sweden 3 His brother was captured by the Swedes at the Battle of Landskrona and George cut his way through the enemies numbers and rescued him at the imminent danger of his own life 7 As a Protestant George was considered a suitable partner for the niece of King Charles II of England Lady Anne They were distantly related second cousins once removed they were both descended from King Frederick II of Denmark and had never met George was hosted by Charles II in London in 1669 but Anne had been in France at the time of George s visit 8 Both Denmark and Britain were Protestant and Louis XIV was keen on an Anglo Danish alliance to contain the power of the Dutch Republic Anne s uncle Laurence Hyde 1st Earl of Rochester and the English Secretary of State for the Northern Department Robert Spencer 2nd Earl of Sunderland negotiated a marriage treaty with the Danes in secret to prevent the plans leaking to the Dutch 9 Anne s father James Duke of York welcomed the marriage because it diminished the influence of his other son in law Dutch Stadtholder William III of Orange who was naturally unhappy with the match 10 Marriage Edit Portrait by John Riley c 1687 George and Anne were married on 28 July 1683 in the Chapel Royal at St James s Palace London by Henry Compton Bishop of London The guests included King Charles II Queen Catherine and the Duke and Duchess of York 11 Anne was voted a parliamentary allowance of 20 000 a year while George received 10 000 a year from his Danish estates 12 although payments from Denmark were often late or incomplete 13 King Charles gave them a set of buildings in the Palace of Whitehall known as the Cockpit near the site of what is now Downing Street in Westminster as their London residence 14 George was not ambitious and hoped to live a quiet life of domesticity with his wife He wrote to a friend We talk here of going to tea of going to Winchester and everything else except sitting still all summer which was the height of my ambition God send me a quiet life somewhere for I shall not be long able to bear this perpetual motion 15 Within months of the marriage Anne was pregnant but the baby a girl was stillborn in May Anne recovered at the spa town of Tunbridge Wells 16 and over the next two years she gave birth to two daughters in quick succession Mary and Anne Sophia 17 In early 1687 within a matter of days George and his two young daughters caught smallpox and Anne suffered another miscarriage George recovered but both his daughters died Lady Rachel Russell wrote that George and Anne had taken the deaths very heavily The first relief of that sorrow proceeded from the threatening of a greater the Prince being so ill of a fever I never heard any relation more moving than that of seeing them together Sometimes they wept sometimes they mourned in words then sat silent hand in hand he sick in bed and she the carefullest nurse to him that can be imagined 18 He returned to Denmark for a two month visit in mid 1687 while Anne remained in England 19 Later that year after his return Anne gave birth to another dead child this time a son 20 In February 1685 King Charles II died without legitimate issue and George s father in law the Roman Catholic Duke of York became king as James II in England and Ireland and James VII in Scotland George was appointed to the Privy Council and invited to attend Cabinet meetings although he had no power to alter or affect decisions 21 William of Orange refused to attend James s coronation largely because George would take precedence over him Although they were both sons in law of King James George was also the son and brother of a king and so outranked William who was an elected stadtholder of a republic 21 Anne s older sister Mary had moved to the Netherlands after her marriage to William of Orange Protestant opposition to James was therefore increasingly focused around Anne and George instead of Mary who was heir presumptive 22 The social and political grouping centred on George and Anne was known as the Cockpit Circle after their London residence 3 On 5 November 1688 William invaded England in an action known as the Glorious Revolution which ultimately deposed King James George was forewarned by the Danish envoy in London Frederick Gersdorff that William was assembling an invasion fleet 23 George informed Gersdorff that James s army was disaffected and as a result he would refuse any command under James but only serve as an uncommissioned volunteer Gersdorff s alternative plan to evacuate George and Anne to Denmark was rejected by George 24 George accompanied the King s troops to Salisbury in mid November but other nobles and their soldiers soon deserted James for William At each defection George apparently exclaimed Est il possible Is it possible 6 He abandoned James on 24 November and sided with William 25 So Est il possible is gone too James supposedly remarked 6 In his memoirs James dismissed George s defection as trivial saying the loss of one good trooper was of more consequence 26 but Gersdorff claimed the defection greatly perturbed the King 27 The defection of George and other nobles was instrumental in whittling away the King s support In December James fled to France and early the following year William and Mary were declared joint monarchs with Anne as heir presumptive Duke of Cumberland Edit Prince George wearing a ducal robe with the collar of the Garter by Godfrey Kneller c 1704 Behind him a ship offshore is flying the Admiralty flag In early April 1689 William assented to a bill naturalizing George as an English subject 28 and George was created Duke of Cumberland Earl of Kendal and Baron of Okingham Wokingham by the new monarchs 1 29 He took his seat in the House of Lords on 20 April 1689 being introduced by the Dukes of Somerset and Ormonde 30 The mistrust between George and William was set aside during the revolution of 1688 89 but dogged relations during the latter s reign George held mortgages on Femern Tremsbuttel and Steinhorst Schleswig Holstein which he surrendered to the Duke of Holstein as part of the peace of Altona of 1689 negotiated by William between Denmark and Sweden William agreed to pay George interest and the capital in compensation but George remained unpaid 31 During the military campaign against James s supporters in Ireland George accompanied the Williamite troops at his own expense but was excluded from command and was even refused permission to travel in his brother in law s coach 32 Snubbed from the army by William George sought to join the navy without rank but was again thwarted by his brother in law 33 When William s Dutch guards failed to salute George Anne assumed they were acting under orders 34 George and Anne retired from court 35 Some degree of reconciliation was achieved following Queen Mary s sudden and unexpected death from smallpox in 1694 which made Anne heiress apparent 36 In November 1699 William finally recommended that Parliament pay the mortgage debt to George and in early 1700 the debt was honoured 37 By 1700 Anne had been pregnant at least seventeen times twelve times she miscarried or gave birth to stillborn children and two of their five children born alive died within a day 38 The only one of the couple s children to survive infancy Prince William Duke of Gloucester died in July 1700 at the age of 11 With Gloucester s death Anne was the only person in the line of succession to the throne as established by the Glorious Revolution To extend the line and secure the Protestant succession Parliament passed the Act of Settlement 1701 which designated William and Anne s nearest Protestant cousins the House of Hanover as the next in line after Anne 39 George did not play a senior role in government until his wife Anne succeeded as queen on William s death in 1702 George was the chief mourner at William s funeral 40 Anne appointed him generalissimo of all English military forces on 17 April and Lord High Admiral the official but nominal head of the Royal Navy on 20 May 41 Actual power at the Admiralty was held by George Churchill whose elder brother was John Churchill 1st Duke of Marlborough a great friend of Anne s and the captain general of English land forces 42 Prince George had known the Churchills for years another brother Charles Churchill had been one of his gentlemen of the bedchamber in Denmark and Marlborough had accompanied George on his journey from Denmark to England for his marriage to Anne in 1683 43 George s secretary in the 1680s was Colonel Edward Griffith brother in law of the Duchess of Marlborough who was Anne s close confidante and friend 3 George followed William III as Captain General of the Honourable Artillery Company 44 and was made Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports 7 Anne failed however in her attempts to persuade the States General of the Netherlands to elect her husband captain general of all Dutch forces to maintain the unified command of the Maritime Powers that William had held 45 George on horseback painted by Michael Dahl 1704 Anne obtained a parliamentary allowance of 100 000 a year for George in the event of her death The bill sped through the House of Commons easily but it was only narrowly passed by the House of Lords Marlborough supported the bill but one of the lords against was Marlborough s son in law Charles Spencer 3rd Earl of Sunderland 46 Marlborough dissuaded her from asking Parliament to make her dearly loved husband King Consort 47 Generally during her reign Anne and her husband spent the winter at Kensington and St James s Palaces and the summer at Windsor Castle or Hampton Court Palace where the air was fresher George had recurrent asthma and the cleaner air in the country was better for his breathing They visited the spa town of Bath Somerset in mid 1702 on the advice of George s doctors 48 and again in mid 1703 49 They occasionally visited Newmarket Suffolk to view the horse racing On one visit Anne bought George a horse Leeds for the vast sum of a thousand guineas 50 At the end of 1702 the Occasional Conformity Bill was introduced to Parliament The bill aimed to disqualify Protestant Dissenters from public office by closing a loophole in the Test Acts legislation that restricted public office to Anglican conformists The existing law permitted nonconformists to take office if they took Anglican communion once a year Anne was in favour of the measure and forced George to vote for the bill in the House of Lords even though being a practising Lutheran he was an occasional conformist himself 51 As he cast his vote he reportedly told an opponent of the bill My heart is vid you sic 52 The bill did not gather sufficient parliamentary support and was eventually dropped 51 The following year the bill was revived but Anne withheld support fearing its reintroduction was a deliberate pretence to cause a quarrel between the two main political groups the Tories who supported the bill and the Whigs who opposed it Once again it failed 53 George never became a member of the Church of England which was headed by his wife throughout her reign He remained Lutheran even after her accession and had his own personal chapel 5 In the first years of Anne s reign the Whigs gained more power and influence at the expense of the Tories In his capacity as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports George held influence in parliamentary boroughs on the south coast of England which he used to support Whig candidates in the general election of 1705 6 In that year s election for Speaker of the House of Commons George and Anne supported a Whig candidate John Smith George instructed his secretary George Clarke who was a Member of Parliament to vote for Smith but Clarke refused instead supporting the Tory candidate William Bromley Clarke was sacked and Smith was elected 54 Illness and death Edit Enamel portrait of Prince George and his wife Queen Anne by Charles Boit 1706 In March and April 1706 George was seriously ill There was blood in his sputum but he seemed to recover 55 although he was too ill to attend a thanksgiving service at St Paul s Cathedral in June for a British victory in the Battle of Ramillies 56 He missed another thanksgiving service in May 1707 to celebrate the union of England and Scotland as he was recuperating at Hampton Court 57 The Scilly naval disaster of 1707 in which a fleet commanded by Sir Cloudesley Shovell foundered highlighted mismanagement at the Admiralty for which George was nominally responsible Pressure grew to replace Admiral Churchill with someone more dynamic 58 By October 1708 five powerful politicians known as the Whig Junto Lords Somers Halifax Orford Wharton and Sunderland were clamouring for the removal of both Prince George and Churchill Marlborough wrote to his brother telling him to resign 59 but Churchill refused protected by Prince George 60 Amid the political pressure George was on his deathbed suffering from severe asthma and dropsy 61 He died at 1 30 p m on 28 October 1708 at Kensington Palace 62 The Queen was devastated 63 James Brydges wrote to General Cadogan His death has flung the Queen into an unspeakable grief She never left him till he was dead but continued kissing him the very moment his breath went out of his body and twas with a great deal of difficulty my Lady Marlborough prevailed upon her to leave him 64 Anne wrote to her nephew Frederick IV of Denmark the loss of such a husband who loved me so dearly and so devotedly is too crushing for me to be able to bear it as I ought 65 Anne was desperate to stay at Kensington with the body of her husband but under pressure from the Duchess of Marlborough she reluctantly left Kensington for St James s Palace 66 Anne resented the Duchess s intrusive actions which included removing a portrait of George from the Queen s bedchamber and then refusing to return it in the belief that it was natural to avoid seeing of papers or anything that belonged to one that one loved when they were just dead 67 Anne and the Duchess had been very close but their friendship had become strained over political differences The immediate aftermath of George s death damaged their relationship further 68 He was buried privately at midnight on 13 November in Westminster Abbey 69 Legacy Edit Statue of Prince George on Windsor Guildhall erected 1713 Anne refused initially to appoint a new Lord High Admiral and insisted on carrying out the duties of the office herself without appointing a member of the government to take George s place She burst into tears on the first occasion she was brought papers to sign in George s stead 70 Undeterred the Junto demanded the appointment of Lord Orford a member of the Junto and one of Prince George s leading critics as First Lord of the Admiralty Admiral Churchill retired and Anne appointed the moderate Tory Lord Pembroke to lead the Admiralty instead of a Whig The Junto Whigs Somers and Wharton however were appointed to the Cabinet in Pembroke s vacated posts of Lord President of the Council and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland The Whigs were still dissatisfied and continued to pressure Pembroke and the Queen Pembroke resigned after less than a year in office Another month of arguments followed before the Queen finally consented to put Orford in control of the Admiralty as First Lord in November 1709 71 Personal traits and portrayal Edit Charles II Anne s uncle famously said of Prince George I have tried him drunk and I have tried him sober and there is nothing in him 72 He was quiet and self effacing John Macky thought him of a familiar easy disposition with a good sound understanding but modest in showing it very fat loves news his bottle amp the Queen 73 In making fun of George s asthma Lord Mulgrave said the Prince was forced to breathe hard in case people mistook him for dead and buried him 74 By the time of Queen Victoria George had a reputation as a dullard and was the target of disdain Victoria hoped her own husband Prince Albert would never fill the subordinate part played by the very stupid and insignificant husband of Queen Anne 75 In the 1930s Winston Churchill said he mattered very little except to Anne 76 Miniature in the Royal Collection by Henry Pierce Bone 1841 Purchased by Prince Albert He had little impact on the running of the navy but he was interested enough in navigation and welfare at sea to sponsor the publication of John Flamsteed s Observations in 1704 6 He was not one of the most colourful political characters of his day he was content to spend his time building model ships 77 but he was a loyal and supportive husband to Queen Anne Their marriage was a devoted loving and faithful one though beset by personal tragedy 78 The previous husband of a British queen regnant William of Orange had become king refusing to take a subordinate rank to Mary William and Mary had exemplified the traditional gender roles of seventeenth century Europe Mary was the dutiful wife and William held the power George and Anne however reversed the roles George was the dutiful husband and it was Anne who exercised the royal prerogatives William had assumed incorrectly that George would use his marriage to Anne as a means of building a separate power base in Britain but George never challenged his wife s authority and never strove to accrue influence Anne occasionally used the image of wifely virtue to escape unpalatable situations by claiming as a woman she knew nothing except what the prince tells me but it was an artifice 79 Husbands had a legal right to their wife s property and it was argued that it was unnatural and against the church s teachings for a man to be subject to his wife 80 George made no such claim or demand he was content to remain a prince and duke I am her Majesty s subject he said I shall do naught but what she commands me 81 In the words of historian Anne Somerset the fact that Prince George was widely regarded as a nonentity helped reconcile people to his anomalous status and so almost by accident George achieved a major advance for feminism 82 Winston Churchill wrote that he was a fine looking man tall blond and good natured He was neither clever nor learned a simple normal man without envy or ambition and disposed by remarkable appetite and thirst for all the pleasures of the table Charles s well known verdict does not do justice to the homely virtues and unfailing good humour of his staid and trustworthy character 83 The Prince of Denmark s March by Jeremiah Clarke was written in his honour 84 and Prince George s County Maryland was named after him in 1696 85 Portraits by Sir Godfrey Kneller are at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfriesshire and in a double portrait with George Clarke All Souls College Oxford Portraits in Denmark include one by Willem Wissing in the Reedtz Thott collection and one by Karel van Mander in the national collection at Frederiksborg Palace 6 Prince George was a character in the 2015 play Queen Anne by Helen Edmundson 86 87 Despite being alive and married to Queen Anne for the majority of the timeframe depicted in 2018 period comedy film The Favourite he was not depicted at all 88 Titles styles honours and arms EditTitles Edit 2 April 1653 10 April 1689 His Royal Highness Prince George of Denmark and Norway 10 April 1689 28 October 1708 His Royal Highness Prince George of Denmark and Norway Duke of Cumberland 29 Honours Edit R af E Knight of the Elephant from birth 89 KG Knight of the Garter 1 January 1684 90 Arms Edit The royal coat of arms of Denmark with a label of three points Argent each with three Ermine points The whole surmounted by a crown of a prince of Denmark His crest was out of a coronet Or a demi lion rampant guardant Azure crowned of the first 91 Coat of arms of Prince George Duke of Cumberland Knight of the GarterIssue EditBirth Death1 Stillborn daughter 12 May 1684 92 2 Mary 2 June 1685 8 February 1687 93 3 Anne Sophia 12 May 1686 2 February 1687 94 4 Miscarriage 21 January 1687 95 5 Stillborn son 22 October 1687 96 6 Miscarriage 16 April 1688 97 7 William Duke of Gloucester 24 July 1689 30 July 1700 98 8 Mary 14 October 1690 99 9 George 17 April 1692 100 10 Stillborn daughter 23 March 1693 101 11 Stillborn child 21 January 1694 b 12 Miscarried daughter 105 17 106 or 18 107 February 169613 Miscarriage 20 September 1696 c 14 Miscarriage 25 March 1697 111 15 Miscarriage early December 1697 112 d 16 Stillborn son 15 September 1698 115 17 Stillborn son 24 January 1700 116 Ancestry EditAncestors of Prince George of Denmark 117 8 Frederick II of Denmark4 Christian IV of Denmark9 Sophie of Mecklenburg Gustrow2 Frederick III of Denmark10 Joachim Frederick Elector of Brandenburg5 Anne Catherine of Brandenburg11 Catherine of Brandenburg Kustrin1 Prince George of Denmark12 William Duke of Brunswick Luneburg6 George Duke of Brunswick Luneburg13 Dorothea of Denmark3 Sophie Amalie of Brunswick Luneburg14 Louis V Landgrave of Hesse Darmstadt7 Anne Eleonore of Hesse Darmstadt15 Magdalene of BrandenburgNotes Edit The date is occasionally given as 29 February 21 April or 11 November 1653 but 2 April is the date on his coffin plate 1 Contemporary chronicler Narcissus Luttrell did not specify a gender saying only that Anne miscarried of a dead child 102 Modern historians Edward Gregg and Alison Weir do not agree on whether it was a son 103 or possibly a daughter 104 Luttrell said Anne miscarried of a son 108 Dr Nathaniel Johnson told Theophilus Hastings 7th Earl of Huntingdon in a letter dated 24 October 1696 Her Royal Highness miscarried of two children the one of seven months growth the other of two or three months as her physicians and midwife judged one was born the day after the other 109 If so the smaller foetus was probably a blighted twin 110 According to L Hermitage the Dutch resident in London Anne miscarried twins who were too early to determine their sex 113 Other sources say the pregnancy ended in a stillborn son 104 or two male children at least as far as could be recognised 114 Sources Edit a b Weir p 267 a b c Laursen L 1895 Jorgen Georg 1653 1708 Prins In Bricka Carl Frederik ed Dansk biografisk Lexikon Copenhagen Gyldendalske Boghandels Vol IX pp 14 18 in Danish a b c d Gregg p 35 Wojcik p 215 a b Beatty p 103 a b c d e f Speck W A 2004 George prince of Denmark and duke of Cumberland 1653 1708 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online ed Oxford University Press doi 10 1093 ref odnb 10543 Subscription or UK public library membership required a b Fisher p 354 Somerset p 40 Gregg p 32 Gregg p 33 Green p 34 Gregg p 34 Churchill vol I p 169 Gregg p 39 Curtis p 42 Green p 34 Gregg p 35 Curtis p 43 Green p 35 Gregg p 36 Green p 38 Weir p 268 Green p 39 Gregg p 47 Green p 41 Green p 41 Weir p 268 a b Gregg p 37 Gregg pp 48 49 Gregg p 60 Gregg p 61 Gregg pp 63 64 Churchill vol II p 533 Curtis p 61 Green p 47 Gregg p 64 Gregg p 64 Gregg p 72 a b No 2443 The London Gazette 11 April 1689 p 2 House of Lords Journal Volume 14 20 April 1689 Journal of the House of Lords volume 14 1685 1691 Institute of Historical Research 1767 1830 Retrieved 25 July 2014 Gregg p 77 Curtis pp 75 76 Gregg pp 79 80 Churchill vol I p 342 Gregg p 80 Green p 72 Green p 58 Gregg pp 88 97 Gregg p 102 Gregg pp 118 120 Green p 335 Weir pp 268 269 Curtis pp 86 87 Gregg pp 121 123 Green p 94 Gregg p 160 Somerset pp 183 184 Green p 98 Gregg p 160 Gregg p 34 Captain Generals Honourable Artillery Company Archived from the original on 5 March 2009 Retrieved 14 March 2013 Gregg pp 160 161 Churchill vol II pp 620 621 Green pp 107 108 Gregg pp 166 167 Somerset p 251 Churchill vol II p 504 Green p 102 Gregg p 161 Green p 118 Curtis pp 139 140 Somerset p 236 a b Curtis p 107 Green pp 108 109 Gregg pp 162 163 Curtis p 107 Churchill vol II p 627 Somerset p 248 Churchill vol II pp 702 704 Curtis p 116 Green p 122 Gregg p 177 Green p 145 Green p 150 Green p 151 Green p 163 Green pp 175 176 Green p 198 Somerset p 366 Gregg p 267 Somerset p 366 Gregg p 279 Green p 198 Weir pp 267 268 Curtis pp 165 168 Green p 198 Gregg p 280 Somerset pp 370 372 Gregg p 280 Green p 198 Somerset p 372 Green p 199 Gregg pp 281 282 Green p 202 Gregg p 283 Green p 203 Gregg p 283 Somerset pp 372 373 Gregg p 284 Curtis p 41 Gregg p 35 Green p 176 Curtis p 41 Green p 73 Gibbs and Doubleday p 572 Churchill vol II pp 504 505 Curtis p 41 Green pp 116 202 Curtis pp 41 42 Green pp 34 35 Gregg pp 32 35 Beem Charles December 2004 I am Her Majesty s subject Prince George of Denmark and the transformation of the English male consort Canadian Journal of History 34 3 457 487 doi 10 3138 cjh 39 3 457 Somerset pp 181 182 Somerset p 181 Somerset p 182 Churchill vol I pp 168 169 Prins Jorgens March Det Kongelige Bibliotek in Danish Archived from the original on 8 January 2014 Retrieved 5 October 2011 About Prince George s County Prince George s County government Archived from the original on 5 March 2013 Retrieved 13 March 2013 Queen Anne Royal Shakespeare Company www rsc org uk Retrieved 28 April 2022 Queen Anne Theatre Royal Haymarket review slow long and dull The Arts Desk Retrieved 28 April 2022 The True Story Behind The Favourite Time Retrieved 28 April 2022 Matikkala p 239 No 1891 The London Gazette 31 December 1683 p 2 Pinches and Pinches p 288 Fisher p 355 Green p 335 Gregg p 36 Weir p 268 Fisher p 355 Green p 335 Gregg pp 46 47 Weir p 268 Fisher p 355 Gregg pp 46 47 Weir p 268 Calendar of State Papers Domestic Series James II 1964 London HMSO vol II p 347 Gregg p 46 Weir p 268 Gregg p 52 Weir p 268 Green p 335 Gregg p 55 Weir p 268 Fisher p 355 Green pp 54 335 Gregg pp 72 120 Weir p 268 Green p 335 Gregg p 80 Weir p 268 Fisher p 355 Green pp 62 335 Gregg p 90 Weir p 268 Gregg p 99 Luttrell vol III p 62 Weir p 268 Luttrell vol III p 258 Gregg p 100 a b Weir p 269 Luttrell vol IV p 20 Gregg p 107 Green p 335 Luttrell vol IV p 114 Gregg p 108 Bickley Francis ed 1930 Historical Manuscripts Commission The Hastings Manuscripts London HMSO vol II p 286 Emson H E 23 May 1992 For The Want Of An Heir The Obstetrical History Of Queen Anne British Medical Journal vol 304 no 6838 pp 1365 1366 subscription required Green p 335 Gregg p 108 Green p 335 Luttrell vol IV p 316 Gregg p 116 Somerset p 156 Green p 335 Luttrell vol IV p 428 Weir p 269 Gregg p 120 Luttrell vol IV p 607 Paget pp 110 112References EditBeatty Michael A 2003 The English Royal Family of America from Jamestown to the American Revolution Jefferson North Carolina McFarland ISBN 0 7864 1558 4 Churchill Winston S 1947 1933 34 Marlborough His Life and Times London George G Harrop amp Co Curtis Gila introduced by Antonia Fraser 1972 The Life and Times of Queen Anne London Weidenfeld amp Nicolson ISBN 0 297 99571 5 Fisher George 1832 A Genealogical Companion and Key to the History of England Part III Book I London Simpkin amp Marshall Gibbs Vicary Doubleday H A 1913 Complete Peerage Volume III London St Catherine s Press Green David 1970 Queen Anne London Collins ISBN 0 00 211693 6 Gregg Edward 2001 Queen Anne New Haven and London Yale University Press ISBN 0 300 09024 2 Luttrell Narcissus 1857 A Brief Historical Relation of State Affairs from September 1678 to April 1714 Oxford University Press Matikkala Antti 2008 The Orders of Knighthood and the Formation of the British Honours System 1660 1760 Rochester New York Boydell Press ISBN 978 1 84383 423 6 Paget Gerald 1977 The Lineage amp Ancestry of HRH Prince Charles Prince of Wales London amp Edinburgh Charles Skilton OCLC 632784640 Pinches John Harvey Pinches Rosemary 1974 The Royal Heraldry of England Heraldry Today Slough Buckinghamshire Hollen Street Press ISBN 0 900455 25 X Somerset Anne 2012 Queen Anne The Politics of Passion London HarperCollins ISBN 978 0 00 720376 5 Weir Alison 1995 Britain s Royal Families The Complete Genealogy Revised Edition London Random House ISBN 0 7126 7448 9 Wojcik Zbigniew 1983 Jan Sobieski 1629 1696 Warsaw Panstwowy Instytut Wydawniczy ISBN 83 06 00888 X in Polish External links Edit Wikimedia Commons has media related to Prince George of Denmark Portraits of George Prince of Denmark at the National Portrait Gallery London Prince George of DenmarkHouse of OldenburgBorn 2 April 1653 Died 28 October 1708British royaltyVacantTitle last held byMary of Modenaas queen consort Consort of the British monarch1702 1708 VacantTitle next held byCaroline of Ansbachas queen consortHonorary titlesPreceded byThe Earl of Pembroke Lord High Admiral1702 1708 Succeeded byThe QueenPreceded byThe Earl of Romney Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports1702 1708 Succeeded byThe Duke of Dorset Portals Biography Denmark England Scotland Royalty Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Prince George of Denmark amp oldid 1138788651, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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