Friday, April 29, 2011

The new Duke of Cambridge ...

is a great-great-great-great grandson of Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, 10th child and seventh son of King George III and Queen Charlotte. 

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 On May 7 1818 at Kassel, he married Princess Augusta of Hesse (1797-1889), the third daughter of Prince Friedrich of Cassel.  A second ceremony at Buckingham Palace took place on June 1, 1818. 

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 The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge had three children.  The first child, a son, George, was born in March 1819.  Princess Augusta was born three years later in July 1822, and the youngest child, Mary Adelaide, was born in November 1833.



The Duke of Cambridge died on July 8, 1850, at Cambridge House in London.  He was succeeded by his only son, George, as the 2nd Duke of Cambridge.   The new duke, who believed that "arranged marriages were doomed to failure," married for love.  But his marriage in January 1847 to an actress Sarah Fairbrother was in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act, and, thus, did not exist in British law.   The bride was pregnant at the time of the marriage.   She was not entitled to the style of royal highness or the title of Duchess of Cambridge.  Although Sarah was devoted to her husband and bore him three sons, who had the surname FitzGeorge, the Duke of Cambridge also had several mistresses, including Mrs. Louisa Beauclerk.     

The Duke died on March 17, 1904, and with his death, his titles, Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Tipperary, and Baron Culloden became extinct.



The ties to the present Duke and Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge come through a maternal line.   Princess Mary Adelaide, daughter of the first duke, and sister of the 2nd and last Duke was the mother of three sons,  Adolphus, Francis,  Alexander, and one daughter, Mary. 

Princess Mary of Teck was first engaged to Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence, third in line to the British throne.   The Duke of Clarence, after attending the funeral of Prince Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, caught a cold, which developed into influenza, and then pneumonia.  He died in January 1892.  A year later, Princess Mary of Teck married his younger brother, Prince George, Duke of York, the future George V.

And now the dukedom has been recreated for Princess Mary Adelaide's great-great-great-grandson, Prince William.  This seems the right to do, as Princess Mary Adelaide, Queen Victoria's first cousin, was known as the People's Princess.

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3 comments:

Philip said...

The earldom of Strathearn is an interesting addition. It was one of the tiles of the Duke of Connaught, son of Queen Victoria, albeit as a dukedom. The modern-day Connaught echo is found in the person of The Lady Saltoun, great-grandaughter of Prince Arthur of Connaught, and officially designated by The Queen as a member of the Royal Family (tho' possibly the most "remote" member). Lady Saltoun was on the Royal Family guest list yesterday, no dount travelling in one of the VW minibuses.

Philip said...

The grant of the earldom of Strathearn is interesting too. It was one of the titles of the Duke of Connaught, son of Queen Victoria, albeit as a dukedom. The Connaught connection remains alive today in the person of Th Lady Saltoun, perhaps the most "remote" member of the Royal Family, but officially acknowledged by The Queen as a member of the Family and who was on the Royal Family guest list at the Abbey yesterday. Lady Saltoun is a great-grandaughter of Prince Arthur of Connaught and Lady Laird of the Clan Ross.

Marlene Eilers Koenig said...

Felipe, Lady Saltoun is not the daughter of Prince Arthur of Connaught. She is the widow of his nephew, Alexander Ramsay of Mar, who was the only son of Lady Patricia and the Hon Alexander Ramsay. Patricia renounced her royal title when she married. Arthur and Patricia and their older sister, Margaret, were the children of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, who died in 1941, and was succeeded by his grandson, Alistair (son of Prince Arthur) who died unmarried a year later.