Frederica, Duchess of York (1767-1820)

Frederica, Duchess of York from A Biographical
Memoir of Frederick, Duke of York and Albany
by John Watkins (1827)

Who was Frederica, Duchess of York?

Frederica, Duchess of York (7 May 1767 – 6 August 1820), was a Prussian princess who married Frederick, Duke of York, George IV’s brother. She was known for her love of animals and for the large number of dogs she kept at Oatlands, the Duke of York’s residence in Weybridge, Surrey.

Family background

Frederica Charlotte Ulrica Catherina, Princess Frederica of Prussia, was born on 7 May 1767, the eldest daughter of Frederick William II, King of Prussia, by his first wife, Elizabeth of Brunswick. According to La Belle Assemblée, Frederica was

… educated under the eye of her mother, in those strict principles of the Protestant faith which govern the Ecclesiastical Constitution of Prussia.1

Marriage to the Duke of York

On 29 September 1791, Princess Frederica married Frederick, Duke of York, the second son of George III, in Berlin. In order to fulfil the requirements of the Royal Marriage Act (1772), the ceremony had to be repeated in England so that the King’s consent could ‘be set out in the licence and register of marriage.’2

This second ceremony took place on 23 November 1791 at the Queen’s House, later Buckingham Palace. I confess, I do not know which is the official date of marriage, though I guess it is probably the second one, as in the eyes of English law, it was this ceremony that made the union legal.

According to La Belle Assemblée, Princess Frederica

… had been seen by the Duke of York in an excursion which he made abroad some four years previous to their union. His Royal Highness, in his German tour, had paid a visit to the Court of Berlin, and had there imbibed those elements of military knowledge which prevail in the school of the Great Frederick. He had, at that period, formed an attachment for the Princess Royal of Prussia, who then shone in the full splendour of her beauty, and whose numerous accomplishments, and many mild and amiable virtues, were the common theme of admiration.3

Despite this rosy account of the Duke’s affection, it was an arranged marriage, and not particularly successful. There were no children from the union and the royal couple lived separate lives, though from all that I have read, their relationship was amicable.

Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany
from La Belle Assemblée (1827)

 The diarist Charles Greville wrote:

The Duke and the Duchess live upon the best terms; their manner to one another is cordial, and while full of mutual respect and attention, they follow separately their own occupations and amusements without interfering with one another. Their friends are common to both, and those who are most attached to the Duke are equally so to the Duchess.4

What did the Duchess look like?

La Belle Assemblée (1806) described the Duchess of York:

Her Royal Highness’s stature is somewhat below the common height, and her figure elegantly formed in proportionate delicacy and slightness. Her countenance has so far the best beauty, that it is made to win tenderness, esteem and affection. Her complexion is exquisitely fair, and the bloom with which it is enlivened is rather a tint appearing through her skin, than that sort of colour which seems to exist in it. Her hair is light, and her eye-lashes are long and nearly white, resembling those of our Royal Family, to whom, indeed, she is not much unlike in features. Her eyes are blue, and of uncommon brilliancy.5

The Duchess of York by John Hoppner
from John Hoppner RA
by WD McKay and W Roberts (1909)

Amiable and intelligent

In Greville’s opinion, the Duchess was rather more intelligent than her royal husband and liked to entertain clever men. He wrote:

The Duchess likes the society of men of wit and letters; more, I think, from the variety of having them around her than from any pleasure she takes in their conversation. Lord Alvanley is the man in whom she takes the greatest delight.6

Greville also suggested that the Duchess was quite at home with conversation that might have been deemed by others as unfit for female ears:

Her mind is not perhaps the most delicate; she shows no dislike to coarseness of sentiment or language, and I have seen her very much amused with jokes, stories, and allusions which would shock a very nice person. But her own conversation is never polluted with anything the least indelicate or unbecoming. She is very sensible to little attentions, and is annoyed if anybody appears to keep aloof from her or to shun conversing with her.7

Charitable nature

The Duchess was known for her generosity towards the poor and, perhaps because childless herself, many of the charitable works she carried out were for the benefit of children. La Belle Assemblée wrote that she

… established many charity schools at Oatlands and in the neighbourhood, and her humanity and tenderness to the poor are the theme of all who approach her.8

The Duke of York’s biographer, John Watkins, enlarged upon this:

The children of the whole neighbourhood, at least all who stood in need of assistance, were considered by the Duchess as belonging to her household. They were accordingly clothed and educated under her own immediate inspection, and entirely at her expense. Every Saturday whole troops of these infants were to be seen crossing the park in their simple clean attire, to the mansion of their royal benefactress, from whose hand they frequently received cake and wine.

As they grew up, the patronage of her royal highness was still continued; the girls being either put out to service, or provided for with suitable employment, while the boys were apprenticed at the charge of the Duchess, who also gave marriage portions to the deserving, and extended her benevolence to their rising families.9

Besides this, she had a long list of infirm pensioners, of both sexes, in London, who received regular allowances.

Love of animals

The Duchess was passionately fond of animals, particularly dogs. She kept a huge number of them at Oatlands and created a cemetery in the park in which to bury them after they had died. She also kept monkeys and parrots.

Greville wrote:

Her dogs are her greatest interest and amusement, and she has at least forty of various kinds. She is delighted when anybody gives her a dog, or a monkey, or a parrot, of all of which she has a vast number; it is impossible to offend her or annoy her more than by ill-using any of her dogs, and if she were to see anybody beat or kick any one of them she would never forgive it.10

Watkins wrote:

To the canine species the Duchess was remarkably attached; and it was no uncommon thing to see her in the park surrounded by thirty or forty of these animals of various sorts, as English lapdogs, Dutch pugs, and French barbettes. Their respective litters were taken great care of, and the young ones not unfrequently boarded out, under the superintendence of the cottagers. Nor was this tenderness confined to them while living, for a cemetery was actually formed in the park to receive their remains.11

Writing in 1828, after Oatlands had passed out of royal hands, Prosser described where the cemetery was: 

Before the grotto, which is entwined with ivy and other creeping plants, was a gold and silver fish pond and a small cascade, now in a neglected and ruinous state. Near are numerous small stone tablets, bearing the names of nearly seventy of her late Royal Highness's favorite dogs that lie buried here.12

The Duchess’s other interests

Among the other amusements of the Duchess, gardening constituted one of the most favourite; and she also took great delight in collecting shells, with which she formed one of the finest grottoes ever seen in this kingdom, expending thereon, it is said, near twelve thousand pounds.13

Watkins’ estimate of the cost of the grotto, though expensive, was quite conservative. La Belle Assemblée stated that it had cost at least £50,000!

The Grotto, which has grown to its present elegance chiefly under her Royal Highness’s hands, is reckoned one of the principal curiosities of this kingdom, and perhaps in any part of the world.

Her Royal Highness has very condescendingly opened it for public inspection, every Sunday evening during the summer season. It is shown, free of all expense, to the visitants.14

Friends and family

The Duchess was very close to Princess Charlotte and friendly towards her mother Caroline, Princess of Wales. According to Greville, the Duchess

… always lived on good terms with the Royal Family, but is intimate with none of them, and goes as little as possible to Court. The Regent dislikes her, and she him. With the Princess Charlotte she was latterly very intimate, spent a great deal of time at Claremont, and felt her death very severely.15

Ian Kelly, in his biography of Beau Brummell, wrote that the Duchess and the Prince Regent were on friendly terms - rather better than Watkins suggested.

Kelly also wrote of the Duchess’s close friendship with Beau Brummell. She helped him financially after he fled to France to escape his debts in 1816 and it was for her sake that he agreed not to publish his memoirs whilst the Regent or any of his brothers were alive.

George Brummell from The History of White's
 by Hon Algernon Bourke (1892)

A private person

The Duchess of York did not like being in the public eye and preferred to live at Oatlands when she could. Greville wrote:

The Duchess has no taste for splendour or magnificence, and likes to live the life of a private individual as much as possible.16

In Watkins’ opinion:

The life of the Duchess was marked by scarcely any circumstances calculated to bring her prominently under public observation. She mixed very little in the gaieties of fashionable life.17

Oatlands
from Select illustrations of the County of Surrey by GF Prosser (1828)

The worst hostess?

Whilst the Duchess loved entertaining, and regularly gave parties at Oatlands, she was not a very attentive hostess. Greville recorded his observations on the Duchess’s eccentricity and the haphazard style of living that existed there:

Oatlands is the worst managed establishment in England; there are a great many servants, and nobody waits on you; a vast number of horses, and none to ride or drive.18

On another occasion he wrote:

The Duchess seldom goes to bed, or, if she does, only for an hour or two; she sleeps dressed upon a couch, sometimes in one room, sometimes in another. She frequently walks out very late at night, or rather early in the morning, and she always sleeps with open windows. She dresses and breakfasts at three o’clock, afterwards walks out with all her dogs, and seldom appears before dinner-time. At night, when she cannot sleep, she has women to read to her. 19

A brush with death

On 6 June 1794, there was a dreadful fire at Oatlands. Fortunately, the Duchess was not harmed.

Watkins wrote:

The Duchess beheld the dreadful conflagration from her sleeping room, which was in the centre of the mansion, and from which the flames were kept by pulling down a gateway, over which the wing joined the house. His Majesty, on hearing of the misfortune, went to Oatlands early the next morning, and gave the necessary orders for clearing the ruins, and rebuilding the wing which had been destroyed, at his own expense.20

Illness and death

Princess Frederica died of consumption on Sunday 6 August 1820. Greville described the cause as water on her chest. She was buried, at her own request, in Weybridge Church, on 14 August.

Watkins wrote that:

The Duke, when consulted upon the subject of the funeral, at once determined that the wish of his lamented consort should be complied with; and directions were accordingly given that the obsequies should be performed as she had requested, and that with as little ostentation as possible.21

Greville wrote:

She is deeply regretted by her husband, her friends, and her servants. Probably no person in such a situation was ever more really liked. She has left 12,000ℓ. to her servants and some children whom she had caused to be educated. She had arranged all her affairs with the greatest exactitude, and left nothing undone.22

Rachel Knowles writes clean/Christian historical romance set in the time of Jane Austen. She has been sharing her research on this blog since 2011. Rachel lives in the beautiful Georgian seaside town of Weymouth, Dorset, on the south coast of England, with her husband, Andrew.

Find out more about Rachel's books and sign up for her newsletter here.

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Notes

1. Bell, John, La Belle Assemblée (1806).

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.

4. Entry for 15 August 1818, Greville, Charles, A journal of the reigns of King George IV and King William IV, edited by Henry Reeve (Longmans, 1874) Volume 1.

5. Bell op cit.

6. Entry for 24 December 1819, Greville op cit.

7. Entry for 15 August 1818, Greville op cit.

8. Bell op cit.

9. Watkins, John, A Biographical Memoir of Frederick, Duke of York and Albany (1827)

10. Entry for 15 August 1818, Greville op cit.

11. Watkins op cit.

12. Prosser, George Frederick, Select Illustrations of the County of Surrey (1828).

13. Watkins op cit.

14. Bell op cit.

15. Entry for 15 August 1818, Greville op cit.

16. Ibid.

17. Watkins op cit.

18. Entry for 4 August 1818, Greville op cit.

19. Entry for 15 August 1818, Greville op cit.

20. Watkins op cit.

21. Watkins op cit.

22. Entry August 1820, Greville op cit.

Sources used include:

Bell, John, La Belle Assemblée (John Bell, 1806, London)

Greville, Charles, A journal of the reigns of King George IV and King William IV, edited by Henry Reeve (Longmans, 1874) Volume 1

Kelly, Ian, Beau Brummell, The Ultimate Dandy (Hodder & Stoughton, 2005)

Prosser, George Frederick, Select Illustrations of the County of Surrey (1828)

Stephens, HM, revised by Van der Kiste, John, Frederick, Prince, Duke of York and Albany (1763-1827), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press 2004, updated 2007)

Watkins, John, A Biographical Memoir of Frederick, Duke of York and Albany (1827, London)

Princess Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge (1797-1889)

Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge
from La Belle Assemblée (1830)

Profile

Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge (25 July 1797 – 6 April 1889) was the wife of Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, seventh son of George III.

Birth of a German princess

Princess Augusta Wilhelmina Louisa was born in Cassel on 25 July 1797, the third daughter of Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel, and his wife Caroline Polyxena of Nassau-Usingen.1

A royal marriage

On 7 May 1818, Augusta married her second cousin, Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, the seventh son of George III, in Cassel.2

Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge
from A Biographical Memoir of Frederick,
 Duke of York and Albany by John Watkins (1827)

Adolphus wrote soon after his engagement:

Every hour I feel that my esteem and attachment for my bride increase; and she really is everything both as to heart, mind and Person that I could wish.3

The marriage ceremony was repeated at the Queen’s Palace—Buckingham House—on 1 June.4

According to La Belle Assemblée:

A temporary altar was fixed in her [the Queen’s] blue drawing-room, and the Duke and Duchess were again united in presence of her Majesty, the Prince Regent, the royal Dukes, and the Princesses their sisters. The ceremony was performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, assisted by the Bishop of London. A royal salute was, as usual, fired at this conclusion of the ceremony, and a splendid dinner, in honour of the nuptials, given by the Prince Regent.5

A happy marriage

Adolphus was more than twenty years older than Augusta, but it was a happy marriage. After the birth of Mary Adelaide, Adolphus’ sister Elizabeth, the Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg, wrote: 

Thank God my dearest Adolphus’ mind is at ease about the Duchess of Cambridge; she has given him another little girl…She was woefully alarmed about herself, which affected him, as he adores her to a degree that almost made him ill.6

Until 1837, Adolphus and Augusta lived in Hanover where the Duke was Governor General and, from 1831, Viceroy.

Family life

Adolphus and Augusta had three children: George William Frederick Charles (1819), Augusta Caroline (1822) and Mary Adelaide (1833). They liked to have their children with them and frequently provided dances and the like for their amusement. 

At the age of eleven, George was sent to England to be educated at Windsor. Augusta took Mary to England when she was three to stay at Windsor, but although she was always welcomed by William IV and Queen Adelaide, Augusta was not a good traveller and avoided the journey whenever possible.

Princess Mary Adelaide aged 4 from
A Memoir of Princess Mary Adelaide of Teck
 by Sir Clement Kinloch-Cooke (1900)

Return to England

In 1837, William IV died and Ernest, Duke of Cumberland, the Duke of Cambridge’s eldest surviving brother, became King of Hanover. On 1 September, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge left Hanover for England, where they took up residence in London at Cambridge House, 94 Piccadilly.

Cambridge Cottage

In the summer of 1838, Augusta and Adolphus moved to Cambridge Cottage in Kew. An eastern wing and a portico were added to the house which had been used many years before by Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, and Prince William, Duke of Clarence, later William IV. It is believed that George III gave the house to Adolphus in 1801 when he was made Duke of Cambridge.

Augusta loved Kew and spent a lot of her time outside, playing with her younger daughter, Mary Adelaide, and tending the garden. She drove a light pony carriage around the grounds. Her favourite seat was under a horse chestnut tree outside the dining room and throughout the summer, Augusta received visitors there and served tea in its shade.

Cambridge Cottage from A Memoir of Princess Mary Adelaide
of Teck by Sir Clement Kinloch-Cooke (1900)

A keen gardener

Augusta introduced two lilacs from her family home in Germany and sought out new plants for the garden including rhododendrons. Mary Adelaide grew up sharing her love of the garden. The family were lifelong friends with the director of the Botanic Gardens, Sir William Hooker, and later his son, Sir Joseph.

Visitors

Cambridge Cottage received many visitors including the young Prince of Wales, the future Edward VII, who rowed up the Thames to visit his aunt and cousin. It was here that the Prince of Wales attended his first dinner party. Maybe it was fond memories of this time that inspired the match between the Prince of Wales’ son, the future George V, and Mary Adelaide’s daughter, Mary of Teck.

What was the Duchess of Cambridge like?

Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge
from La Belle Assemblée (1818)

According to Kinloch-Cooke, the Duchess of Cambridge was 

...a handsome, stately lady somewhat above the average height of women...Her features were striking, and the dark eyes and eyebrows made her appearance most attractive...perfectly shaped hands...a charming smile.7

Augusta was an efficient and kindly mistress, managing the household herself. She loved reading and being read to, was a good conversationalist and had a keen interest in politics. She and Adolphus both enjoyed music and regularly attended the opera, but according to Princess Elizabeth, her “sister-in-law’s passion is the theatre.”8

Augusta liked to be busy, whether tending the garden or working on a piece of needlework or knitting. Like her husband, she was very charitable and strove to help the poor of Kew as well as supporting charities back in Germany.

Years of widowhood

Adolphus died in 1850. Augusta continued to live mostly at Kew. It was from Cambridge Cottage that Mary Adelaide was married to the Duke of Teck on 12 June 1866, in the local church at Kew. In the days running up to the wedding, there was a banquet and ball at Kew and two tents were erected in the garden in order to accommodate 140 people at dinner.

Princess Mary Adelaide from
A Memoir of Princess Mary Adelaide of Teck
 by Sir Clement Kinloch-Cooke (1900)

During the London season, Augusta stayed at St James’ Palace. She entertained a great deal both at home and in London and was close to Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester, and sometimes dined with the Duchess of Inverness, the Duke of Sussex’s second wife.

Together with Mary Adelaide, she attended the opening of the Crystal Palace in 1854 and attended a ball in the Waterloo Gallery at Windsor.

A beloved old lady

By 1875, Augusta was an invalid. Her solace in her affliction was music and visits from her friends and family, especially Mary Adelaide and her children.

Mary Adelaide wrote of her mother:

She is carried down to the drawing-room every day about two o’clock, and after her early dinner at three is wheeled into the garden in a delightful chair, and when fine remains out till after seven, sometimes taking a turn in the great gardens, for her chair can either be drawn by hand or a pony.9

The chair was a gift from Queen Victoria.

Augusta survived her husband by almost 40 years, dying at St James’ Palace on 6 April 1889 at the age of 91. She was buried at St Anne’s Church, Kew, but her remains were later transferred, with those of her husband, to the royal vault in St George’s Chapel, Windsor.

Rachel Knowles writes clean/Christian Regency era romance and historical non-fiction. She has been sharing her research on this blog since 2011. Rachel lives in the beautiful Georgian seaside town of Weymouth, Dorset, on the south coast of England, with her husband, Andrew.

Find out more about Rachel's books and sign up for her newsletter here.

If you have enjoyed this blog and want to encourage me and help me to keep making my research freely available, please buy me a virtual cup of coffee by clicking the button below.

 

Notes
(1) Modern day Kassel – it was spelt Cassel until 1928.
(2) Augusta’s father was the son of Princess Mary, a daughter of George II, and sister of Frederick, Prince of Wales, George III’s father. This made Augusta’s father and George III first cousins and their children, Augusta and Adolphus, second cousins.
(3) In a letter from Adolphus to Lady Harcourt in A Memoir of Princess Mary Adelaide of Teck by Sir Clement Kinloch-Cooke (1900).
(4) La Belle Assemblée said 2 June.
(5) From La Belle Assemblée (August 1818).
(6) In a letter from Princess Elizabeth to a Miss Swinburne dated 4 December 1833 in A Memoir of Princess Mary Adelaide of Teck by Sir Clement Kinloch-Cooke (1900).
(7) In A Memoir of Princess Mary Adelaide of Teck by Sir Clement Kinloch-Cooke (1900) p26.
(8) In a letter by Princess Elizabeth in A Memoir of Princess Mary Adelaide of Teck by Sir Clement Kinloch-Cooke (1900).
(9) In a letter from Princess Mary of Teck to a friend dated 9 August 1875 in A Memoir of Princess Mary Adelaide of Teck by Sir Clement Kinloch-Cooke (1900).

Sources used include:
La Belle Assemblée (1818 and 1830)
Kinloch-Cooke, Clement Sir, A Memoir of Princess Mary Adelaide of Teck (1900)
Cotton, AD, The Cambridge Cottage Garden, published as a supplement to The Journal of the Kew Guild (1942)
Palmer, Alan, Adolphus Frederick, Prince, first Duke of Cambridge, (1774-1850), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, (Oxford University Press, 2004, online edn, May 2009, accessed 23 Mar 2013)

Princess Sophia Matilda of Gloucester (1773-1844)

Princess Sophia of Gloucester
from La Belle Assemblée (1806)

Profile

Princess Sophia (29 May 1773 - 29 November 1844) was the daughter of Prince William Henry, 1st Duke of Gloucester, a younger brother of George III.

Family history

Princess Sophia Matilda was born in Grosvenor Street, Mayfair, on 29 May 1773, the eldest child and only surviving daughter of William Henry, 1st Duke of Gloucester, a younger brother of George III, and his wife, Maria, the illegitimate daughter of Sir Edward Walpole MP and widow of the 2nd Earl Waldegrave.

A family in disgrace

Sophia’s parents had married in secret in 1766 and her father did not tell his brother the King about his marriage until they found that Maria was pregnant. George III was hurt by his brother’s deceitfulness and instigated an investigation into the validity of the marriage which was carried out just six days before Sophia was born.

According to The Gentleman’s Magazine, “the usual notice was sent to the King requesting he would direct the proper officers to attend the birth” but “no notice was taken of the message.”1 George III was so displeased with the marriage that he banned the Duke of Gloucester and his family from the royal presence.

Maria Waldegrave, later Duchess of Gloucester
from Letters of Horace Walpole to Sir Horace Mann Vol 4 (1844) and
William Henry, Duke of Gloucester
 by Richard Earlom after Hugh Douglas Hamilton
pubd by Robert Sayer (1771) © British Museum

Christening

Sophia was christened privately on 26 June 1773 at Gloucester House by David Moss, Lord Bishop of St David’s and Rector of St George’s, Hanover Square. According to The Gentleman’s Magazine, her sponsors were “the Princess Amelia in person and their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cumberland.”1

Continental living

The Duke and Duchess and their daughter spent many years abroad for reasons of economy and for the sake of the Duke’s health. He suffered repeated bouts of a debilitating illness with symptoms not dissimilar to those later suffered by his brother George III. Sophia’s brother William was born in Rome in 1776 and the family returned to England the following year, but were abroad again for most of the period from 1784 to 1787. In time, the King became reconciled to the Duke, but not to the Duke’s marriage.

Royal provision

In 1778, at the King’s request, parliament made provision for the Duke’s children, by which Sophia was awarded a grant of £4000 a year after her father’s death.

George III also arranged for a Miss Dee to be governess to Sophia and her brother William.

Debut

Sophia made her debut at the King’s birthday in 1790, accompanied by her brother and her governess-companion, Miss Dee. According to Charlotte Keppel, Sophia was not treated very well. She and William were not invited to the dinner before the ball as they had expected and had to wait around for the ball to start. Sophia was “not dressed well in a very old fashioned style – her gown was very magnificent but the hair was dressed quite out of fashion.” She “danced very well but nobody paid her the least respect, and after the King and Queen were gone she was treated quite as a common person and pushed about.”2

Noble modesty

According to her profile in La Belle Assemblée:

Her Royal Highness the Princess Sophia of Gloucester has kept an equal pace with her Royal cousins in the cultivation of every virtue and feminine accomplishment; she is to be distinguished for the same noble modesty of demeanour, the same benevolence and affability, the same preference of retirement and domestic life.3

Fanny Burney described Princess Sophia in her diary:

She is very fat, with very fine eyes, a bright, even dazzling bloom, fine teeth, a beautiful skin, and a look of extreme modesty and sweetness.4

Weymouth

Sophia’s father owned a house in Weymouth, Gloucester Lodge, which the King used for his visits to the seaside from 1789 onwards. During the royal family’s visit of August to October 1804, Sophia and her father were of the party. The Gentleman’s Magazine records that on the 8 September, they travelled to Bincomb Downs where they watched “a grand review and sham fight between all the regiments.”5

Gloucester Lodge, the Duke of Gloucester's house,
Weymouth seafront (2012)

Ranger of Greenwich Park

In 1813, Sophia was appointed Ranger of Greenwich Park and Ranger’s House was altered to provide her with suitable accommodation. She was very popular with the people of Greenwich who saw her as a kind and generous benefactor to the town’s poor.

Devotion to William

William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester
from A Biographical Memoir of Frederick,
 Duke of York and Albany
by John Watkins (1827)

Sophia never married nor had any children, but she was excessively fond of her brother. After his marriage to Princess Mary in 1816, she was a frequent visitor to their home, Bagshot Park, but her sister-in-law resented her interfering behaviour which did not promote domestic harmony. When William died quite suddenly in 1834, Sophia was devastated. Princess Mary made sure that Sophia was not her constant companion in her widowhood.

The final years

Princess Sophia Matilda of Gloucester
from from The Girlhood of Queen Victoria (1912)

Sophia died at Blackheath, Kent, on 29 November 1844 and was buried in St George’s Chapel, Windsor.

Rachel Knowles writes clean/Christian Regency era romance and historical non-fiction. She has been sharing her research on this blog since 2011. Rachel lives in the beautiful Georgian seaside town of Weymouth, Dorset, on the south coast of England, with her husband, Andrew.

Find out more about Rachel's books and sign up for her newsletter here.

If you have enjoyed this blog and want to encourage me and help me to keep making my research freely available, please buy me a virtual cup of coffee by clicking the button below.

 

Notes
(1) From The Gentleman’s Magazine (May 1773).
(2) From a letter by Charlotte Keppel to Anne Clement (June 1790) in Princesses by Flora Fraser.
(3) From La Belle Assemblée (1806).
(4) From The Diaries and Letters of Madame D’Arblay, Volume 3 of 3 (1846).
(5) From The Gentleman’s Magazine (Supp 1804)

Sources used include:
Bell, John, La Belle Assemblée (John Bell, 1806)
Burney, Fanny, Diary and letters of Madame D'Arblay, edited by her niece, Charlotte Barrett, volume III (Henry Colburn, 1846, London)
Fraser, Flora, Princesses, the six daughters of George III (2004)
The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Chronicle (1773-1804)
Victoria, Queen, The Girlhood of Queen Victoria, A Selection from Her Majesty's Diaries between the years 1832 and 1840, edited Viscount Esher 2 Volumes (1912)
Royal Borough of Greenwich website

All photographs by © RegencyHistory.net

Maria, Duchess of Gloucester, formerly Countess Waldegrave (1736-1807)

Maria Waldegrave, later Duchess of Gloucester
from Letters of Horace Walpole
to Sir Horace Mann Vol 4 (1844)

Profile

Maria, Duchess of Gloucester (baptized 10 July 1736 - 22 August 1807), was the beautiful but illegitimate daughter of Sir Edward Walpole. She married first the 2nd Earl Waldegrave and then William Henry, 1st Duke of Gloucester, younger brother of George III who disapproved of their marriage.

Family background

Maria Walpole was baptized on 10 July 1736 at St James’, Westminster. Her father was Sir Edward Walpole, MP, a younger son of Sir Robert Walpole, Prime Minister, and her mother was Dorothy Clement, who had been apprenticed to a Covent Garden milliner. Although her parents were not married, Maria was brought up in her father’s household with her sisters, Laura and Charlotte, and treated as if she was his legitimate offspring. Her aunt, Jane Clement, was also part of the household.

Maria's uncle, Horace Walpole
from the European Magazine and London Review (1797)

Beauty itself

Maria’s uncle, Horace Walpole, admired her beauty and took it upon himself to launch her into society:

It is the second, Maria, who is beauty itself! Her face, bloom, eyes, hair, teeth, and person are all perfect. You may imagine how charming she is, when her only fault, if one must find one, is, that her face is rather too round. She has a great deal of wit and vivacity, with perfect modesty.1

An illustrious marriage 

James Waldegrave, 2nd Earl Waldegrave
Print by J McArdell after Sir Joshua Reynolds (1762)
© British Museum

On 15 May 1759, Maria married James Waldegrave, 2nd Earl Waldegrave, a Lord of the Bedchamber to George II and governor to the future George III, at her father’s house in Pall Mall. Horace Walpole wrote:

For character and credit, he is the first match in England – for beauty, I think she is.2

Maria was in a white silver gown, with a hat very much pulled over her face; what one could see of it was handsomer than ever; a cold maiden blush gave her the sweetest delicacy in the world.3

Short-lived happiness

The Earl was more than twenty years older than Maria, but the marriage was deemed a success. They had three beautiful daughters: Elizabeth Laura (1760), Charlotte Maria (1761) and Anna Horatia (1762).

Lady Maria Waldegrave, Laura Viscountess Chewton
and Lady Horatia Waldegrave from The Letters of
Horace Walpole ed P Cunningham Vol 5 (1859)

Sadly, the Earl died suddenly of smallpox in Albemarle Street, London, on 8 April 1763. Maria was distraught. For a while, she thought she was carrying his child, but eventually she had to admit that it was not so and the estates went to the Earl’s brother, leaving Maria with a comparatively meagre allowance of £1,000 a year.

A second marriage

Horace Walpole had high hopes that Maria would make a second advantageous marriage:

She is allowed the handsomest woman in England; as she is so young, she may find as great a match and a younger lover — but she never can find another Lord Waldegrave!4

On 6 September 1766, Maria married William, 1st Duke of Gloucester, at his house in Pall Mall. The ceremony was performed in secret by her chaplain, Dr Morton, and there were no witnesses.

William Henry, Duke of Gloucester
 by Richard Earlom after Hugh Douglas Hamilton
pubd by Robert Sayer (1771) © British Museum

In 1768, the Duke bought Maria a house at St Leonard’s Hill, near Cranborne Lodge, the house that went with his role as Ranger of Cranborne Chase.

Banned from the Court

George III thought that Maria was a bad influence on his brother and refused to believe the rumours that he had married her. He granted her a pension of £5,000 a year from the Irish revenues, and sent the Duke abroad on diplomatic visits in an effort to wean him from her company.

When Maria became pregnant, the Duke finally confessed his marriage in a letter to the King. As the ceremony h without witnesses and Maria’s chaplain had since died, George III launched an enquiry into the legitimacy of the marriage, just days before her baby was born. The King was forced to accept his brother’s marriage, but he felt betrayed over his secrecy and banned William and Maria and their family from the royal presence.

Family life

Maria had three children by her second marriage: Sophia Matilda (1773), Caroline Augusta Maria (1774) who died before her first birthday, and William Frederick (1776).

Princess Sophia of Gloucester from La Belle Assemblée (1806)
and Prince William Frederick, 2nd Duke of Gloucester
from A Biographical Memoir of Frederick, Duke of York and Albany
by John Watkins (1827)

Marriage breakdown

In time, the King became reconciled to his brother William, but not to Maria. William’s own relationship with Maria deteriorated and he started an affair with Lady Almeria Carpenter, Maria’s lady in waiting. Sometimes he denied Maria access to her children, but despite their difficulties, they continued to keep a joint household and Lady Almeria never completely eclipsed Maria.

Religious commitment

During the latter years of her life, Maria’s religious commitment increased. Her eldest daughter Laura, who had married her cousin and become Countess Waldegrave, lost first her husband and then her eldest son. The bluestocking evangelical Hannah More was a correspondent of Maria’s uncle Horace Walpole and she offered religious consolation to the grief-stricken Countess and her mother. Although Maria did not fully embrace evangelicalism, she supported More’s Cheap Repository Tracts and welcomed Wilberforce’s Practical View.

The last few years

For the sake of economy and William’s health, the Duke and Duchess lived much of their married life on the continent. William suffered from several bouts of a debilitating illness similar to that suffered by his brother George III and he died on 25 August 1805. The King was kind to Maria after William’s death, for the sake of their children.

After the Duke’s death, Maria lived at Oxford Lodge, Brompton Road, London, where she died on 22 August 1807. She was buried at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, on 31 August.

Rachel Knowles writes clean/Christian Regency era romance and historical non-fiction. She has been sharing her research on this blog since 2011. Rachel lives in the beautiful Georgian seaside town of Weymouth, Dorset, on the south coast of England, with her husband, Andrew.

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Notes
(1) In a letter from Horace Walpole to Sir Horace Mann (9 Sept 1758) about his brother’s second daughter - from The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford, Vol 3 of 6 (1840).

(2) In a letter from Horace Walpole to Sir Horace Mann (11 Apr 1759) - from The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford, Vol 3 of 6 (1840).

(3) In a letter from Horace Walpole to George Montagu (16 May 1759) from The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford, Vol 3 of 6 (1840).
(4) In a letter from Horace Walpole to Sir Horace Mann (10 Apr 1763) - from The Letters of Horace Walpole, ed P Cunningham Vol 4 of 8 (1857).

Sources used include:
Hibbert, Christopher, George III (1998, Viking, Great Britain)
Kilburn, Matthew, William Henry, Prince, first Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh (1743-1805) Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn Jan 2008, accessed 28 Oct 2013)
Stott, Anne, Hannah More, The First Victorian (2003)
Walpole, Horace, The Letters of Horace Walpole, Earl of Orford, in six volumes (1840)
Walpole, Horace, Letters of Horace Walpole to Sir Horace Mann in four volumes (1844)
Walpole, Horace, The Letters of Horace Walpole, edited by P Cunningham, in eight volumes (1857)

Prince William Henry, 1st Duke of Gloucester (1743-1805)

William Henry, Duke of Gloucester
 by Richard Earlom after Hugh Douglas Hamilton
pubd by Robert Sayer (1771) © British Museum

Profile

Prince William Henry, 1st Duke of Gloucester (14 November 1743 - 25 August 1805), was one of the younger brothers of George III. He was a regular visitor to Weymouth and he lent his house there to his brother George for his seaside breaks.

Family background

Prince William Henry was born on 14 November 1743 at Leicester House, London, the third son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and his wife Augusta of Saxe-Gotha.

William’s father, Frederick, did not get on well with his parents, George II and Queen Caroline, and his behaviour on the birth of his first child, Augusta, in 1737 resulted in him being banned from his father’s Court.

As a result, William lived mostly at Kew, in Kew House (also known as the White House), where his father accumulated a menagerie of exotic animals and pursued a passion for botany which he shared with his wife. Frederick taught his family astronomy and encouraged a variety of entertainments including rowing, cricket, outings to fairs and play acting.

A view of the menagerie and its pavilion at Kew
Print by C Grignion after T Sandby
pubd by Sir William Chambers (1763) © British Museum

In 1751, Frederick caught pneumonia and died. Augusta made her peace with the King, who allowed her to continue bringing up her family at Kew. William and his brother Henry had a house on Kew Green which included a billiard room and a colonnade for fencing lessons. His studies included ancient and modern languages, history and geography. In 1765, he toured Kent and Cornwall and in 1766, Guernsey and Paris.

Titles

William was made a Knight of the Garter at Windsor in 1762 and Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh and Earl of Connaught in Ireland on 19 November 1764 (1).

He was made Ranger of Hampton Court Park, Ranger and Keeper of Cranborne Chase in Windsor Forest and Lord Warden and Keeper of the New Forest. He became Chancellor of the University of Dublin in 1771.

A secret marriage

In 1764, William started courting Maria, the Countess Dowager Waldegrave. Maria was the illegitimate daughter of Sir Edward Walpole and the widow of 2nd Earl Waldegrave. On 6 September 1766, they were married secretly, without witnesses, at the Duke’s house in Pall Mall by Maria’s chaplain, Dr Morton.

George III did not believe the rumours that William had actually married Maria and sent his brother abroad to visit other European royal families as a diplomatic envoy for the British monarchy in an attempt to extricate him from his entanglement with Maria, whom he felt was a bad influence on him.

Maria Waldegrave, later Duchess of Gloucester
from Letters of Horace Walpole
to Sir Horace Mann Vol 4 (1844)

Banned from the Court

When Maria became pregnant, William wrote to the King to acknowledge his marriage. An enquiry into the validity of the marriage was held by the Privy Council on 23 May 1773, just days before the birth of a daughter, Sophia Matilda. The King was forced to admit the legality of the marriage and the child was given the title of Princess.

But the King was deeply hurt by his favourite brother’s deception. Whilst William had been ranting about the Duke of Cumberland’s shameful marriage to Lady Ann Horton the previous year, he had all the time been married to a commoner himself. The Duke and Duchess and their children were banned from the Court and William’s diplomatic missions came to an end. For the sake of economy and William’s health, they went to live on the continent.

The family complaint?

In 1771, William became very unwell with a similar illness to that from which his brother George later suffered. He endured a further bout a few years later and an even more serious episode whilst returning to England in 1777.

Reconciliation

The King’s concern over William’s health softened his attitude towards his brother, but he refused his request to be allowed to take an active military role in the American war.

Eager to serve his country, William managed to acquire a copy of the French plans for invading England which he sent to George, but it was not until the Gordon Riots of 1780 when he helped to restore peace as Colonel of the 1st regiment of foot guards, that he earned the King’s gratitude and was once more received by his brother.

Weymouth

William had a long and happy association with Weymouth which began, by accident, on Saturday 24 August 1771, when he first visited the town:

“The Duke of Gloucester, being detained by contrary winds, came from aboard the Venus, dined and drank tea at the Rooms at Weymouth, and afterwards returned on board.”(2)

The Old Rooms, Weymouth

William spent the winter of 1780 in Weymouth and commissioned a house – Gloucester House or Lodge – to be built on the seafront.

Gloucester Lodge on Weymouth seafront

In 1789, William lent Gloucester Lodge to the King so that he could recuperate after his illness. George III eventually bought the house from his brother.

William continued to visit Weymouth. In 1790, he visited with his brother, the Duke of Cumberland, and in 1794, he was there with the King’s party, accompanied by his daughter.

A problematic marriage

William and Maria had three children: Sophia Matilda (1773), Caroline Augusta Maria (1774) who died as a baby and William Frederick (1776).

Over time, their relationship soured. William had an affair with Lady Almeria Carpenter, Maria’s lady in waiting, by whom he had an illegitimate daughter, Louisa Maria La Coast in 1782. For the majority of the period from 1784 to 1787, William and Maria lived in Geneva and Italy, with Lady Almeria still part of their household.

Lady Almeria Carpenter
from Macdonald of the Isles by AM Stirling (1913)

By the early 1790s, the Duke and Duchess were living separate lives, and sometimes William prevented Maria from seeing her children, but despite this, they continued to keep a joint household.

Family relationships

William was of a quiet, retiring disposition and managed to maintain good relationships with his nephews. He tried unsuccessfully to effect a reconciliation between George, Prince of Wales, and his wife Caroline in 1796.

Death of the Duke of Gloucester

William’s health deteriorated and he died on 25 August 1805 at his home, Gloucester House, Upper Grosvenor Street, London. By his own desire, he was buried privately at St George’s Chapel, Windsor, on 4 September.

The King was in Weymouth when he received news of his brother’s death and the town went into a week of mourning for “their first patron and benefactor and as the sole means of introducing his royal brother here”(3).

Notes
(1) The date is given as 19 November in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography but 17 November in Debrett’s.
(2) From The Gentleman’s Magazine (Aug 1771).
(3) From Weymouth, an illustrated history (1983).

Sources used include:
Boddy, Maureen and West, Jack, Weymouth, an illustrated history (The Dovecote Press, 1983, Wimborne)
Delamotte, Peter, The Weymouth Guide (1785, Weymouth)
Groom, Susanne and Prosser, Lee, Kew Palace, the official illustrated history (2006)
Hibbert, Christopher, George III (1998, Viking, Great Britain)
Kilburn, Matthew, William Henry, Prince, first Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh (1743-1805) Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn Jan 2008, accessed 28 Oct 2013)
The Gentleman's Magazine and Historical Chronicle (1771)
Walpole, Horace, Letters of Horace Walpole to Sir Horace Mann in 4 volumes (1844)

Photographs by Andrew Knowles - www.flickr.com/photos/dragontomato