Category Archives: British Royals

Eleanor de Montfort, Princess of Wales and Lady of Snowdon

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2024

Wales was divided into a number of separate kingdoms. The largest of these was Gwynedd in northwest Wales and Powys in east Wales. Gwynedd was the most powerful of the Welsh kingdoms. For one man to rule all of Wales during this period was rare. This was because of the inheritance system practiced in Wales. All sons received an equal share of their father’s property, including illegitimate sons, resulting in the division of territories.

The Principality of Wales was created in 1216 at the Council of Aberdyfi when it was agreed by Llywelyn the Great and the other Welsh princes that he was the paramount Welsh ruler and the other Welsh princes would pay homage to him. Although he never used the title, Llywelyn was the de facto Prince of Wales. Llywelyn dominated Wales for 45 years and was one of only two Welsh rulers to be called “the Great”, the other being his ancestor Rhodri the Great. Llywelyn was succeeded by his son Dafydd ap Llywelyn and then by his two grandsons who were the sons of his illegitimate son Gruffydd ap Llywelyn.

The campaign of King Edward I of England in Wales (1276 – 1284) resulted in Wales being completely taken over by England. It ended with the deaths of the last two native Princes of Wales: Llywelyn ap Gruffudd who was ambushed and killed in 1282 and his brother Dafydd ap Gruffydd, who was the first prominent person in recorded history to have been hanged, drawn, and quartered, in 1283. To ensure there would be no further members of the House of Aberffraw, the English imprisoned Dafydd ap Gruffydd’s two young sons for the rest of their lives at Bristol Castle and sent his daughter and the daughter of his brother Llywelyn ap Gruffydd to convents. To further humiliate the Welsh, King Edward I invested his son and heir, the future King Edward II, with the title Prince of Wales. Since then, the title has been granted (with a few exceptions) to the heir apparent of the English or British monarch.

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Eleanor de Montfort, Princess of Wales and Lady of Snowdon; Credit – Wikipedia

Note: In Welsh, “ap” means “son of” and “ferch” means “daughter of”.

The wife of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales, Eleanor de Montfort was born at Kenilworth Castle in Kenilworth, Warwickshire, England, around Michaelmas (September 29) in 1252. King Henry III of England had granted Kenilworth Castle to Eleanor’s father in 1244. Eleanor was the youngest of the seven children and the younger and the only surviving of the two daughters of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester and Eleanor of England. Her paternal grandparents were Simon de Montfort, 5th Earl of Leicester and Alix de Montmorency, a French noblewoman. Her maternal grandparents were King John of England and Isabella of Angoulême. King Henry III of England was Eleanor’s maternal uncle and his four surviving children, King Edward I of England, Margaret of England, Queen of Scots, Beatrice of England, Countess of Richmond, and Edmund Crouchback, 1st Earl of Lancaster, were her first cousins.

Eleanor had six siblings:

The displeasure of the English nobility with King Henry III ultimately resulted in a civil war, the Second Barons’ War (1264–1267). The leader of the forces against King Henry III was Eleanor’s father Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester. Simon de Montfort wanted to reassert the Magna Carta and force King Henry III to surrender more power to the baron’s council. When Eleanor was thirteen years old, her father Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester and her eldest brother Henry de Montfort were killed at the Battle of Evesham. Today, Eleanor’s father is considered one of the fathers of representative government. Over the years, Simon de Montfort’s contributions have been remembered by the British Houses of Parliament. A bas-relief of Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester hangs on the wall of the chamber of the United States House of Representatives where he is recognized as one of the 23 historical lawgivers.

Simon de Montfort marble bas-relief, one of 23 reliefs of great historical lawgivers in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives in the United States Capitol, sculpted by Gaetano Cecere in 1950; Credit – Wikipedia

After her husband’s death, Eleanor of England, Eleanor’s mother, organized a defense of Dover Castle against royalist troops, but in October 1265, the castle was taken by her nephew Edward, Prince of Wales (the future King Edward I). Eleanor of England’s possessions were confiscated by the Crown and she was exiled to France with her 13-year-old daughter Eleanor de Montfort. She sought refuge at a de Montfort stronghold, Montargis Abbey, founded by her husband’s sister Amicia de Montfort. With the influence of King Louis IX of France, King Henry III paid his sister compensation for her confiscated lands and goods in 1367. Eleanor of England lived the rest of her life as a nun at Montargis Abbey where she died on April 13, 1375, at the age of 60 and was buried. Her daughter Eleanor de Monfort remained with her mother until her death.

Alexander III, King of Scots (on the left) with Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, Prince of Wales (on the right) as guests of King Edward I of England (in the middle) at the sitting of an English parliament; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1265, a marriage contract had been concluded for a marriage between Eleanor de Montfort and Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales. In 1275, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales and Eleanor de Montfort were married by proxy. While making her way from France to Wales by ship, Eleanor de Monfort was captured by agents of her first cousin King Edward I of England. She was held prisoner at Windsor Castle for nearly three years. Eleanor was finally released in 1278 following the signing of the Treaty of Aberconwy between King Edward I of England and Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, Prince of Wales. On October 13, 1278, the feast day of Saint Edward the Confessor, King of England, Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, Prince of Wales and Eleanor de Monfort were married in person at Worcester Cathedral in England with King Edward I giving the bride away and paying for the wedding feast.

Eleanor and Llywelyn ap Gruffydd had one child, a daughter Gwenllian ferch Llywelyn, also known as Gwenllian of Wales, born at the  Palace of Aber Garth Celyn in Gwynedd, Wales. Sadly, Eleanor died due to childbirth complications on June 19, 1282, aged 29 – 30. She was buried at Llanfaes Friary which had been founded by Llywelyn the Great, the grandfather of Llywelyn ap Gruffudd, in memory of his wife Joan, Lady of Wales, an illegitimate daughter of King John of England and Eleanor’s aunt, in the now vanished medieval town of Llanfaes, Anglesey, Wales.

On December 11, 1282, five months after the birth of his daughter Gwenllian and the death of his wife Eleanor, Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, Prince of Wales was one of 3,000 Welshmen killed at the Battle of Orewin Bridge near Builth Wells, Wales. He was ambushed, horribly murdered, and beheaded. His head was sent to London for public display, and it is thought that the rest of his body was interred at Cwmhir Abbey in Abbeycwmhir, Wales. On October 3, 1283, Llywelyn ap Gruffydd’s brother and successor Dafydd ap Gruffydd, Prince of Wales was brutally executed in Shrewsbury, England on the orders of King Edward I of England. Dafydd ap Gruffydd was the first prominent person in recorded history to have been hanged, drawn, and quartered. His head was placed on a pole in the Tower of London near the head of his brother Llywelyn. The days of an independent Wales were over. King Edward I of England had completed a conquest of Wales that resulted in his annexation of the Principality of Wales.

King Edward I of England wanted to make sure that there were no more claimants to the Welsh throne. Gwenllian ferch Llywelyn, the infant daughter of Eleanor de Monfrot and Llywelyn ap Gruffydd and Gwenllian’s first cousin Gwladys ferch Dafydd, Dafydd ap Gruffydd’s young daughter, were confined for life in remote convents in Lincolnshire, England, and never allowed freedom. Gwenllian died in 1337 and Gwladys died circa 1336. Dafydd ap Gruffydd’s two young sons 15-year-old Llywelyn ap Dafydd and 7-year-old Owain ap Dafydd, also Gwenllian’s first cousins, were imprisoned for the rest of their lives at Bristol Castle in England. Much of the time they were kept in cages. Llywelyn died in 1287 while Owain was last reported to be alive in 1325 when he would have been in his fifties.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • Flantzer, Susan. (2017). Eleanor of England, Countess of Leicester. Unofficial Royalty. https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/eleanor-of-england-countess-of-leicester/
  • Flantzer, Susan. (2024). Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, Prince of Wales. Unofficial Royalty. https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/llywelyn-ap-gruffydd-prince-of-wales/
  • Weir, Alison. Britain’s Royal Families – The Complete Genealogy. Vintage Books, 2008.
  • Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Eleanor de Montfort. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleanor_de_Montfort
  • Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Simon de Montfort, 6th arl of Leicester. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_de_Montfort,_6th_Earl_of_Leicester
  • Williamson, David. (1996). Brewer’s British Royalty: A Phrase and Fable Dictionary. Cassell.

Thelma Furness, Viscountess Furness, Mistress of the future King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Thelma, circa 1925

Mistress: a woman who has a continuing, extramarital sexual relationship with one man

Thelma Furness, Viscountess Furness was the mistress of the future King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom from 1929 to 1932 while he was Prince of Wales.

Born Thelma Morgan on August 23, 1904, at the Grand Hotel National in Lucerne, Switzerland, Thelma and her identical twin sister Gloria were the second and third of the four children of Harry Hays Morgan Sr., an American diplomat who was U.S. consul in Buenos Aire, Argentina and in Brussels, Belgium, and his second wife Laura Delphine Kilpatrick. Thelma’s paternal grandparents were Philip Hicky Morgan and Beatrice Leslie Ford. Her maternal grandparents were Hugh Judson Kilpatrick, a Union Army General and an American ambassador to Chile, and his second wife Luisa Fernandez de Valdivieso, a member of a wealthy family of Spanish origin that emigrated to South America in the 17th century.

Thelma had three siblings:

  • Laura Consuelo Morgan (1901 – 1979), known as Consuelo, married (1) Count Jean de Maupas du Juglart, no children, divorced (2) Benjamin Thaw Jr., no children (3) Alfons B. Landa, no children
  • Gloria Morgan (1904 – 1965), Thelma’s identical twin, born Maria Mercedes Morgan, adopted the name Gloria as a teenager, married Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt, from the wealthy Vanderbilt family, had one daughter, the fashion designer Gloria Vanderbilt who was the mother of CNN anchor Anderson Cooper
  • Harry Hays Morgan Jr. (1898 – 1983), a film actor and diplomat, married (1) Ivor Elizabeth O’Connor, divorced (2) Edith Churchill Gordon, had one daughter (3) Ruth Broadbent Castor, no children

Thelma had two half-sisters from her father’s first marriage to Mary Edgerton:

  • Constance Morgan (1887 – 1892), died in childhood
  • Gladys Morgan (1889 – 1958), married Lieutenant John W. Henderson

Thelma and her identical twin sister Gloria were first educated by governesses while their father was on diplomatic assignments in Europe and South America. When they returned to the United States, Thelma and her twin sister Gloria attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart, a Roman Catholic all-girls school in the Manhattan borough of New York City, the Skerton Finishing School, and Miss Nightingale’s School, also in Manhattan. In 1921, with their father’s permission, 17-year-old Thelma and Gloria ended their education and moved into an apartment at 40 Fifth Avenue, a private townhouse in Manhattan.

Thelma and Gloria were known as “The Magnificent Morgans” and were already popular with the New York high society as teenagers. The sisters had some minor roles in silent movies, using the names Gloria and Thelma Rochelle, debuting as extras in the 1922 Marion Davies film The Young Diana. In 1923, Thelma founded her own film company, Thelma Morgan Pictures. She produced and acted in four films, Aphrodite (1923), Enemies of Women (1923), a William Randolph Hearst production whose cast included Lionel Barrymore and Clara Bow, So This Is Marriage? (1924), and Any Woman (1925).

On February 16, 1922, in Washington, DC, seventeen-year-old Thelma married twenty-nine-year-old James Vail Converse, a grandson of Theodore Vail, former president of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T). The marriage was childless and the couple divorced three years later. After her divorce and a brief relationship with actor Richard Bennet, Thelma went to Europe to visit her parents and her sister Consuelo.

Marmaduke Furness, 1st Viscount Furness

It was at a dinner in Paris, that Thelma met Marmaduke Furness, 1st Viscount Furness who was twenty-one years older than her. Marmaduke was the chairman of Furness Withy, a shipping company and one of the richest men in the world. His first wife had died in 1921. On June 27, 1926, Thelma and Marmaduke were married at St George’s Register Office in London. The couple divorced in 1933 due to Thelma’s affair with the Prince of Wales.

Thelma and Marmaduke had one son:

Thelma had a stepdaughter and a stepson from Marmaduke’s first marriage to the late Ada “Daisy” Hogg:

Thelma first met the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VIII, called David by his family and friends, in 1926 at a ball at Londonderry House, the London home of Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 7th Marquess of Londonderry. When they met again on June 14, 1929, at the Leicestershire Agricultural Show at Leicester, David asked her to dine with him. Thelma and David continued to meet regularly and she joined him on an African safari in 1930. During this period, David was having a long-time affair with Freda Dudley Ward along with several short affairs.

Thelma and the Prince of Wales in 1932; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1929, David’s father King George V gave him Fort Belvedere, a country house in Windsor Great Park, in Surrey, England where Thelma was a regular weekend companion and acted as David’s hostess. She also entertained Davis at her London home on Elsworthy Road in the Primrose Hill section of London and Burrough Court, the Furness country house in Burrough on the Hill, Leicestershire, England.

On a weekend in November 1930, Thelma invited two last-minute guests to a house party at Burrough Court, Ernest Simpson and Wallis Simpson. This was the first meeting of David and his future mistress and wife Wallis Simpson. Between 1931 and 1934, David met the Simpsons at various house parties and Wallis was presented at court. It appears that while Thelma was visiting her sister Gloria in the United States from January to March 1934, Wallis Simpson became David’s mistress. Upon her return to the United Kingdom, Thelma and David dined together once and she visited Fort Belvedere once. Although David was cordial, Thelma thought he was personally distant. Confused about the situation. Thelma called her friend Wallis Simpson who said, “Thelma, I think he likes me” and the rest is history.

Thelma (center) arriving in New York to assist her twin sister Gloria in her custody battle for her daughter. She arrived with her brother Harry Hays Morgan Jr and his wife.

On the rebound, Thelma had a short affair with Prince Aly Khan, a wealthy Pakistani diplomat, who had a long list of affairs. In 1934, Thelma’s sister Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt, the widow of Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt, was at the center of a highly publicized court battle with Reginald’s sister Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney for the custody of her ten-year-old daughter Gloria Vanderbilt. Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney believed that her former sister-in-law Gloria was a bad influence and neglectful of her daughter and won custody of her niece at the end of a brutal custody battle.

The Morgan twins in 1955: Gloria (on the left) and Thelma (on the right); Credit – Wikipedia

After her divorce, Thelma divided her time between London and New York but from the 1940s until their deaths, Thelma and her sister Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt lived together in New York City and Los Angeles, California. They wrote a dual memoir called Double Exposure: A Twin Autobiography, published in 1958. Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt died on February 13, 1965, aged 60, in Los Angeles, California, and was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, Los Angeles, California.

Grave of Thelma and her identical twin sister Gloria; Credit – www.findagrave.com

Thelma, Viscountess Furness, aged 65, died of a heart attack on January 29, 1970, at the corner of Lexington Avenue and 73rd Street in Manhattan, New York City, on her way to the doctor. In her purse was one of the teddy bears she used to exchange with David. Thelma was buried with her sister Gloria at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, Los Angeles, California.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • Bloks, Moniek. (2021). Before Wallis – Thelma, Viscountess Furness . History of Royal Women. https://www.historyofroyalwomen.com/the-year-of-the-duchess-of-windsor-2021/the-year-of-the-duchess-of-windsor-thelma-viscountess-furness-part-one/
  • Donaldson, Frances. (1974). Edward VIII. Ballantine Biograpy.
  • Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_Morgan_Vanderbilt
  • Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Marmaduke Furness, 1st Viscount Furness. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marmaduke_Furness,_1st_Viscount_Furness
  • Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Thelma Furness, Viscountess Furness. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelma_Furness,_Viscountess_Furness

Freda Dudley Ward, Mistress of the future King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Freda Dudley Ward, 1919; Credit – Wikipedia

Mistress: a woman who has a continuing, extramarital sexual relationship with one man

Freda Dudley Ward was the mistress of the future King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom from 1918 – 1934 while he was Prince of Wales.

Born Winifred May Birkin on July 28, 1894, Freda Dudley Ward was the eldest of the four children of Colonel Charles Wilfred Birkin and his American wife Claire Lloyd Howe. Freda’s paternal grandparents were Sir Thomas Birkin, 1st Baronet and Harriet Tebbutt. Her paternal grandfather was a wealthy lace manufacturer, whose company had its headquarters in Nottingham, England with large factories in the Kingdom of Saxony (now in Germany) and Chester, Pennsylvania in the United States. Freda’s maternal grandparents were Alexander Howe, from a family of American politicians, and Ada Webb.

Freda had three younger siblings:

  • Violet Birkin (1899 – 1953), married Douglas Holden Blew-Jones, had one daughter
  • Vera Birkin (1903 – 1970), married Frank James Wriothesley Seely, had five children
  • Sir Charles Birkin, 5th Baronet (1907 – 1985), married Janet Johnson, had three children

On July 9, 1913, Freda married William Dudley Ward, the Liberal Member of Parliament for Southampton. William’s family surname was Ward but Dudley Ward became their official surname through common usage.

Freda with her two daughters in 1918; Credit – Wikipedia

Freda and William had two daughters:

The Prince of Wales in 1919; Credit – Wikipedia

In March 1918, during World War I, Freda and a male friend were walking through Belgrave Square in London. They noticed, through an open door, that a party was going on in one of the homes. They then noticed that maroons, fireworks used as a danger or warning signal, were going off indicating a German Zeppelin raid. They could see the guests running down the stairs to the safety of the cellar. The hostess called out to Freda and her friend to join her guests in the cellar. While in the darkness of the cellar, a young man started a conversation with Freda. He asked where she lived and then she asked him where he lived. He replied in London and sometimes in Windsor. When the air raid was over, the party hostess invited Freda and her friend to join the party, saying, “His Royal Highness is so anxious that you should do so.” Freda spent the evening dancing with the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VIII. Her male friend disappeared during the evening, and in the early hours of the next morning, the Prince of Wales, called David by his family and friends, escorted Freda home.

The next day, David called upon Freda at her home and said he would like to see her again, beginning what would be a sixteen year relationship. While the relationship itself was discrete, it was never a secret and was well-known in British society. Throughout their relationship, David called Freda every morning – her household called it “the baker’s call” – and usually visited her sometime during the day. David adored Freda’s two daughters who called him “Little Prince.” Freda and her husband eventually separated and in 1931, they divorced.

The Prince of Wales with Freda Dudley Ward at the opening Union Station in Toronto, Canada, 1927; Credit – Wikipedia

After 1924, David had several short affairs and one longer affair from 1929 – 1932 with American Thelma Furness, Viscountess Furness. Thelma was born Thelma Morgan, the identical twin of Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt who was the mother of Gloria Vanderbilt, the fashion designer and the mother of CNN news anchor Anderson Cooper. During this period, David’s attachment to Freda remained more or less the same.

David with Thelma Furness, Viscountess Furness in 1932; Credit – Wikipedia

In May 1934, Freda’s daughter Penelope had an appendectomy and was seriously ill. Freda spent most of her time at the nursing home where Penelope was recovering. Only when Penelope was out of danger did Freda realize that weeks had gone by without David calling her or visiting her. Freda called St. James Palace in London where David had apartments. The switchboard operator and Freda had spoken nearly daily for years and she told Freda that she had something terrible to tell her. The Prince of Wales had given orders that her calls were not to be put through. Freda would never speak to David again. In January 1934, Wallis Warfield Simpson had become David’s mistress. On January 20, 1936, David’s father King George V died and David became King Edward VIII. Wallis divorced her second husband in October 1936. On December 10, 1936, David abdicated his throne so he could marry Wallis, because, as he said in his famous speech, he was unable to do his job “as I would have wished to do” without the support of “the woman I love”.

Freda’s second husband Peter de Casa Maury; Credit – The Peerage 

On October 20, 1937, Freda married Cuban-born Pedro Monés, the 1st Marquis de Casa Maury who was a naturalized British citizen but retained his Spanish title. He legally changed his name to Peter de Casa Maury. Peter was a former Wing Commander of the Royal Air Force and intelligence officer, a race car driver, and the founder of Curzon Cinemas. Freda then held the Spanish title Marquesa de Casa Maury. The couple had no children and divorced in 1954. Peter died on June 27, 1968.

Freda Dudley Ward (left) and Lady Birkenhead attending a christening in 1937

After Peter’s death in 1968, Freda retired to a small home in Chelsea, London where she continued her interest in home decorating, focusing on the country house look. She died at her Chelsea home on March 16, 1983, at the age of 88.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • Donaldson, Frances. (1974). Edward VIII. Ballantine Biograpy.
  • Pedro Jose Isidro Manuel Ricardo Mones Maury, Marques de Casa Maury. The Peerage. (2007a). https://www.thepeerage.com/p14286.htm#i142853
  • Trethewey, Rachel. (2023, October 8). As never-before-seen photos are auctioned, meet the married lover who came before Wallis. Daily Mail Online. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12592745/Wallis-Simpson-prince-Edward-VIII-affair-Freda-Dudley-Ward.html
  • Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Freda Dudley Ward. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freda_Dudley_Ward
  • Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Sir Thomas Birkin, 1st Baronet. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Thomas_Birkin,_1st_Baronet
  • Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). William Dudley Ward. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Dudley_Ward
  • Winifred May Birkin. The Peerage. (2007). https://www.thepeerage.com/p992.htm#i9915

Ancestors of Prince William, The Prince of Wales

compiled by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Prince William, The Prince of Wales; Credit – Wikipedia

Prince William, like his father King Charles III, is descended from two children of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom – King Edward VII, through his paternal grandmother Queen Elizabeth II, and Princess Alice, the second daughter and third child of Queen Victoria, through his paternal grandfather Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Though his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, William is a descendant of both King Charles II of England by two illegitimate sons – Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond, and Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Grafton – and King Charles II’s brother King James II of England by his illegitimate daughter Henrietta FitzJames.

Parents, Grandparents, Great-Grandparents, Great-Great-Grandparents, and Great-Great-Great-Grandparents of Prince William, The Prince of Wales (born June 21, 1982)

The links below are from Unofficial Royalty, Wikipedia, or The Peerage.

Parents

Prince William’s parents; Credit – Wikipedia

Grandparents

Prince Philip, The Duke of Edinburgh and Queen Elizabeth II, paternal grandparents; Credit – Wikipedia

Great-Grand-Parents

Prince Andrew of Greece and Princess Alice of Battenberg, great-grandparents; Credit – Wikipedia

Great-Great-Grandparents

Prince Louis of Battenberg (later Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven) and Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, great-great-grandparents; Credit – Wikipedia

Great-Great-Great-Grandparents

Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaievich of Russia and Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Altenburg, great-great-great-grandparents; Credit – Wikipedia

Sources:

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Princess Louisa Anne of Wales, daughter of Frederick, Prince of Wales

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Princess Louisa Anne of Wales; Credit – Wikipedia

Born on March 19, 1749, at Leicester House which stood on present-day Leicester Square in London, England. Louisa Anne was the seventh of the nine children and the third of the four daughters of Frederick, Prince of Wales and Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. Her paternal grandparents were King George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Ansbach. Louisa Anne’s maternal grandparents were Friedrich II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and Magdalene Auguste of Anhalt-Zerbst.

Louisa Anne was christened at Leicester House on April 11, 1749. Her godparents were:

Family of Frederick, Prince of Wales painted in 1751 after his death; Front row: Henry, William, Frederick; Back row: Edward, George, Augusta, Dowager Princess of Wales holding Caroline Matilda, Elizabeth, Louisa; Credit – Wikipedia

Louisa Anne had eight siblings:

Louisa Anne by Jean-Etienne Liotard, 1754; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1751, when Louisa Anne was two-years-old, her father died, leaving a pregnant widow with eight children. Louisa Anne’s thirteen-year-old eldest brother George was now the heir to the throne and was created Prince of Wales by his grandfather King George II.

Louise Anna (left) with her beloved sister Caroline Matilda (right) by Francis Cotes, 1767; Credit – Wikipedia

Louisa Anne was raised with her younger sister Caroline Matilda who was two years younger and was born four months after her father’s death. Caroline Matilda preferred outdoor activities such as horseback riding but Louise Anna, who was in poor health from birth, preferred quieter indoor activities, such as music. Despite this, the two sisters were very close.

In 1764, an agreement had been reached for Louisa Anne to marry Crown Prince Christian of Denmark and Norway, the heir to the Danish and Norwegian thrones, the son of King Frederik V of Denmark and Norway and his wife, born Princess Louise of Great Britain. Louisa Anne and Christian were first cousins – Louisa Anne’s father and Christian’s mother were siblings. However, once the Danish ambassador to Great Britain heard about Louisa Anne’s poor health, it was decided that Louisa Anne’s younger sister Caroline Matilda would marry the future King Christian VII of Denmark and Norway. Later in 1764, Louisa Anne received a marriage proposal from Adolf Friedrich IV, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the brother of Queen Charlotte, the wife of King George III. However, the negotiations were once again broken off because of concerns about Louisa Anne’s health.

By the time Caroline Matilda left for Denmark, Louisa Anne’s health was deteriorating due to tuberculosis and she became an invalid. On May 13, 1768, nineteen-year-old Louisa Anne died from tuberculosis at her mother’s home, Carlton House on Pall Mall in London, England. The London Gazette of May 21, 1768, reported: “Last night the corpse of her late Royal Highness the Princess Louisa-Anne was carried from Carlton House to the Prince’s Chamber where the body lay in state this day, and will be privately interred, about ten o’clock at night in the Royal Vault in King Henry the Seventh’s Chapel.” During the 18th century, the Prince’s Chamber (also known as the Old Robing Room) in the old Palace of Westminster adjoining the House of Lords was the usual setting for the lying-in-state of royal family members before their burial.

Louisa Anne’s grave marker; Credit – www.findagrave.com

Louisa Anne was buried on May 21, 1768, at Westminster Abbey in the Hanover Vault under the central part of the Henry VII Chapel. There is a memorial marker in the black and white pavement of Westminster Abbey that reads: Louisa Anne 3rd da. of Fred. P. of Wales, 1768

Works Cited

  • Funeral of Princess Louisa-Anne… (no date) Timothy Hughes Rare & Early Newspapers – Historic Newspapers. Available at: https://www.rarenewspapers.com/view/620653 (Accessed: 14 May 2023).
  • Луиза Анна Великобританская (2019) Wikipedia (Russian). Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9B%D1%83%D0%B8%D0%B7%D0%B0_%D0%90%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%92%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F (Accessed: 14 May 2023).
  • Princess Louisa of Great Britain (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Louisa_of_Great_Britain (Accessed: 14 May 2023).
  • Reagles (2018) ‘A Noble Sight’: The Prince’s Chamber and Royal Lyings in State in the Eighteenth Century, The History of Parliament. Available at: https://thehistoryofparliament.wordpress.com/2018/05/03/a-noble-sight-the-princes-chamber-and-royal-lyings-in-state-in-the-eighteenth-century/ (Accessed: 14 May 2023).
  • Weir, Alison. (1989) Britain’s Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy. London: Vintage Books.
  • Williamson, David. (1996) Brewer’s British Royalty: A Phrase and Fable Dictionary. London: Cassell.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Prince Henry of Wales, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn, son of Frederick, Prince of Wales

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Prince Henry of Wales, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn; Credit – Wikipedia

The marriage of Prince Henry of Wales, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn to a commoner was the cause of the Royal Marriages Act in 1772. Henry was born on November 7, 1745, at Leicester House which stood on present-day Leicester Square in London, England. He was the sixth of the nine children and the fourth of the five sons of Frederick, Prince of Wales and Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. His paternal grandparents were King George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Ansbach. William Henry’s maternal grandparents were Friedrich II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and Magdalene Auguste of Anhalt-Zerbst. He was christened Henry Frederick on November 30, 1745, at Leicester House.

Family of Frederick, Prince of Wales painted in 1751 after his death; Front row: Henry, William, Frederick; Back row: Edward, George, Augusta, Dowager Princess of Wales holding Caroline Matilda, Elizabeth, Louisa; Credit – Wikipedia

Henry had eight siblings:

Prince Henry, 1754; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1751, when Henry was not five years old, his father died, leaving a pregnant widow with eight children. Henry’s thirteen-year-old eldest brother George was now the heir to the throne and was created Prince of Wales by his grandfather King George II. Upon the death of King George II in 1760, Henry’s eldest brother succeeded as King George III. In 1766, just before his twenty-first birthday, his brother King George III created Henry Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn and Earl of Dublin, and named him a Privy Councillor. Henry was made a Knight of the Order of the  Garter the following year. He also served as Ranger of Windsor Forest and Great Park, from 1766 until he died in 1790.

In 1768, Henry entered the Royal Navy as a midshipman and was initially sent to Corsica in HMS Venus. Although Henry was forbidden from assuming any command, he was named a Rear Admiral in 1769, a Vice Admiral in 1779, an Admiral in 1778, and Admiral of the White in 1782. In 1775, Henry founded the Cumberland Fleet, which would later become the Royal Thames Yacht Club, the oldest continuously operating yacht club in the world. He was also instrumental in Brighton‘s development as a popular seaside resort.

In 1770, Henry caused some embarrassment to his brother King George III. Richard Grosvenor, 1st Earl Grosvenor accused Henry of criminal conversation (adultery) with his wife Henrietta Vernon, resulting in a lawsuit. Grosvenor was awarded damages of £10,000, which together with legal costs, amounted to an award of £13,000 (more than £3,000,000 in 2023) which King George III was obliged to pay.

Anne, Duchess of Cumberland and Strathearn; Credit – Wikipedia

Henry further annoyed his brother King George III when, on October 2, 1771, he married Anne Horton, daughter of Simon Luttrell, 1st Earl of Carhampton, and the widow of Christopher Horton of Catton Hall. King George III did not approve of the marriage as Anne was a commoner and previously married. This marriage led to the passing of the Royal Marriages Act in 1772. The act stipulated that no descendant of King George II under the age of 25, with the exception of descendants of princesses who married into foreign families, could marry without obtaining the sovereign’s consent. Over the age of 25, those wishing to marry without obtaining consent needed to inform the Privy Council of their intention. They would then be free to marry in a year if no objection had been raised by Parliament. The Royal Marriages Act was repealed on March 26, 2015, as a result of the 2011 Perth Agreement. The Royal Marriages Act’s provisions were replaced by less limited restrictions that apply only to the first six people in the line of succession to the British throne.

However, King George III did not know that his brother William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh had secretly married Maria Waldegrave, Countess Waldegrave, née Walpole in 1766. For six years, King George III believed that his brother William Henry was a bachelor and that Maria was his mistress. In September 1772, five months after the Royal Marriages Act was passed, William Henry found out Maria was pregnant and confessed to his brother that he was married. King George III was quite upset not only by the marriage but also by William Henry’s deception. The King appointed a committee consisting of Frederick Cornwallis, Archbishop of Canterbury, Richard Terrick, Bishop of London, and Henry Bathurst, 2nd Earl Bathurst, Lord High Chancellor to investigate the validity of the marriage. Because the provisions of the Royal Marriages Act could not be applied retroactively, William Henry and Maria’s marriage was considered valid. Their children were styled His/Her Highness Prince/Princess and used the territorial designation of Gloucester as great-grandchildren in the male line of King George II. However, due to the anger of King George III, Maria, now Duchess of Gloucester, was never received at court.

Cumberland House, circa 1896

Henry and Anne, whose marriage was childless, moved to York House, renamed Cumberland House, on Pall Mall in London. King George III refused to allow Anne to use the title of Duchess of Cumberland although she was commonly addressed as Duchess of Cumberland. Henry, Anne, and anyone who visited their home were not received at court. Some of the time, Henry and Anne lived in continental Europe to avoid creditors. In 1780, both Henry and his brother William Henry were partially reconciled with their brother King George III.

On September 18, 1790, Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn suddenly died in Pall Mall, just outside his home, Cumberland House, in London, aged 44. He was buried in Westminster Abbey in London, in the Hanover vault under the central part of the Henry VII Chapel, the last royal burial in Westminster Abbey. A small inscribed stone in the black and white pavement of Westminster Abbey reads: Henry Fred. D. of Cumberland 4th son of Frederick P. of Wales 1790.

Henry’s grave marker; Credit – www.findagrave.com

Henry left large debts and Anne was given a small pension by King George III, which emphasized that he did not consider her a member of the royal family. Pursued by creditors, Anne sold Henry’s collection of manuscripts and other possessions. In 1800, she surrendered Cumberland House to the banks that held mortgages on it. Anne moved to the small town of Gorizia in the Austrian Empire, now in Italy. She died in Gorizia on December 28, 1808, at the age of sixty-five, and was buried there.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • Anne, Duchess of Cumberland and Strathearn (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne,_Duchess_of_Cumberland_and_Strathearn (Accessed: 14 May 2023).
  • Bloks, Moniek. (2018) Anne Horton & Maria Walpole – The Royal Marriages Act 1772, History of Royal Women. Available at: https://www.historyofroyalwomen.com/anne-horton/anne-horton-maria-walpole-the-royal-marriages-act-1772/ (Accessed: 14 May 2023).
  • Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Henry,_Duke_of_Cumberland_and_Strathearn (Accessed: 14 May 2023).
  • Royal Marriages Act 1772 (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Marriages_Act_1772 (Accessed: 14 May 2023).
  • Weir, Alison. (1989) Britain’s Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy. London: Vintage Books.
  • Williamson, David. (1996) Brewer’s British Royalty: A Phrase and Fable Dictionary. London: Cassell.

Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, son of Frederick, Prince of Wales

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh; Credit – Wikipedia

Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh was born on November 25, 1743, at Leicester House which stood on present-day Leicester Square in London, England. He was the fifth of the nine children and the third of the five sons of Frederick, Prince of Wales and Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. His paternal grandparents were King George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Ansbach. William Henry’s maternal grandparents were Friedrich II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and Magdalene Auguste of Anhalt-Zerbst.

William Henry was christened on December 6, 1743, at Leicester House. His godparents were:

Family of Frederick, Prince of Wales painted in 1751 after his death; Front row: Henry, William, Frederick; Back row: Edward, George, Augusta, Dowager Princess of Wales holding Caroline Matilda, Elizabeth, Louisa; Credit – Wikipedia

William Henry had eight siblings:

In 1751, when William Henry was not quite eight-years-old, his father died, leaving a pregnant widow with eight children. William Henry’s thirteen-year-old eldest brother George was now the heir to the throne and was created Prince of Wales by his grandfather King George II. Upon the death of King George II in 1760, William Henry’s eldest brother succeeded as King George III. William Henry was made a Knight of the Order of the Garter in 1762. Two years later, in 1764, King George III created his brother William Henry Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, and Earl of Connaught and named him a Privy Councilor.

William Henry had his heart set on an active career in the military but due to issues with his health causing an inability to adequately train, this was impossible. When the American Revolutionary War (1775 – 1783) started, William Henry hoped for a field command, but King George III refused. He then requested to serve in the army of King Friedrich II (the Great) of Prussia during the War of Bavarian Succession (1777 – 1779), but Friedrich II denied the request. William Henry had military appointments but in name only. In addition, William Henry was Ranger of Hampton Court, Keeper of Windsor Forest and Cranborne Chase, Warden of New Forest, and Chancellor of Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. William Henry had a shy nature, and he deliberately avoided society functions and took no interest in politics.

William Henry’s military appointments:

  • Colonel of the 13th Regiment of Foot: 1766 – 1767
  • Colonel of the 3rd Foot Guards: 1767 – 1770
  • Colonel of the 1st Foot Guards: 1770 – 1805
  • Major General: 1767
  • Lieutenant-General: 1770
  • Field Marshal: 1793

William Henry’s wife Maria, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh; Credit – Wikipedia

On September 6, 1766, William Henry married Maria Waldegrave, Countess Waldegrave, née Walpole, at her father’s home in Pall Mall, London, England. Mary was the widow of James Waldegrave, 2nd Earl Waldegrave and the illegitimate daughter of politician Sir Edward Walpole, who never married, and his mistress Dorothy Clement. William Henry and Maria’s marriage was held in secret as William Henry’s marriage to a widow of non-royal rank and illegitimate birth would not have been acceptable. King George III was unaware of this marriage until 1772.

William Henry became the stepfather of Maria’s children:

In 1771, William Henry’s younger brother Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn married a commoner and a widow, Anne Horton (born Anne Luttrell) without the permission of his brother King George III who did not approve of the marriage as Anne was a commoner and previously married. The marriage of Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland led to the passing of the Royal Marriages Act in 1772. The act stipulated that no descendant of King George II under the age of 25, with the exception of descendants of princesses who married into foreign families, could marry without obtaining the consent of the sovereign. Over the age of 25, those wishing to marry without obtaining consent needed to inform the Privy Council of their intention. They would then be free to marry in a year if no objection had been raised by Parliament. The Royal Marriages Act was repealed on March 26, 2015, as a result of the 2011 Perth Agreement. The Royal Marriages Act’s provisions were replaced by less limited restrictions that apply only to the first six people in the line of succession to the British throne.

King George III did not know that his brother William Henry had secretly married Maria in 1766. For six years, King George III believed that his brother William Henry was a bachelor and that Maria was his mistress. In September 1772, five months after the Royal Marriages Act was passed, William Henry found out Maria was pregnant and confessed to his brother that he was married. King George III was quite upset not only by the marriage but also by William Henry’s deception. The King appointed a committee consisting of Frederick Cornwallis, Archbishop of Canterbury, Richard Terrick, Bishop of London, and Henry Bathurst, 2nd Earl Bathurst, Lord High Chancellor to investigate the validity of the marriage. Because the provisions of the Royal Marriages Act could not be applied retroactively, William Henry and Maria’s marriage was considered valid. Their children were styled His/Her Highness Prince/Princess and used the territorial designation of Gloucester as great-grandchildren in the male line of King George II. However, due to the anger of King George III, Maria, now Duchess of Gloucester, was never received at court.


William Henry’s children Sophia and William Frederick; Credit – Wikipedia

Prince William Henry in the year before his death; Credit – Wikipedia

On August 25, 1805, Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, died, aged sixty-one, at Gloucester House on Upper Grosvenor Street in London. His funeral was held at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England, where he was interred in the Gloucester Vault. The Gloucester Vault is located in the South Quire Aisle and was built by William Henry for his family. His wife Maria, Duchess of Gloucester survived him by two years, dying on August 22, 1807, aged 71. She was buried with her husband in the Gloucester Vault. Also buried in the Gloucester Vault are William Henry’s daughter Princess Sophia of Gloucester, his son Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, and Prince William’s wife and first cousin Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester, daughter of King George III.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • Flantzer, Susan. (2019) Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/prince-william-frederick-duke-of-gloucester/ (Accessed: 13 May 2023).
  • Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_William_Henry,_Duke_of_Gloucester_and_Edinburgh (Accessed: 13 May 2023).
  • Royal Marriages Act 1772 (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Marriages_Act_1772 (Accessed: 13 May 2023).
  • Weir, Alison. (1989) Britain’s Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy. London: Vintage Books.
  • Williamson, David. (1996) Brewer’s British Royalty: A Phrase and Fable Dictionary. London: Cassell.

Princess Elizabeth Caroline of Wales, daughter of Frederick, Prince of Wales

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Princess Elizabeth Caroline of Wales by Jean-Étienne Liotard, 1754; Credit – Wikipedia

Born on January 10, 1741, at Norfolk House, 31 St James’s Square, Westminster, London, England, Princess Elizabeth Caroline of Wales was the fourth of the nine children and the second of the four daughters of Frederick, Prince of Wales and Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. Her paternal grandparents were King George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Ansbach. Elizabeth Caroline’s maternal grandparents were Friedrich II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and Magdalene Auguste of Anhalt-Zerbst.

The infant princess was christened on February 7, 1741, at Norfolk House by Thomas Secker, then Bishop of Oxford, later Archbishop of Canterbury.

Her godparents were:

Family of Frederick, Prince of Wales painted in 1751 after his death; Front row: Henry, William, Frederick; Back row: Edward, George, Augusta, Dowager Princess of Wales holding Caroline Matilda, Elizabeth, Louisa; Credit – Wikipedia

Elizabeth Caroline had eight siblings:

Leicester House where Elizabeth Caroline grew up in a 1748 engraving; Credit – Wikipedia

In November 1742, the family of Frederick, Prince of Wales moved to Leicester House which stood on present-day Leicester Square in London. In 1751, when Elizabeth Caroline was ten-years-old, her father died, leaving a pregnant widow with eight children. Elizabeth Caroline’s thirteen-year-old eldest brother George was now the heir to the throne and was created Prince of Wales by his grandfather King George II.

According to Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford, an English writer, art historian, and Whig politician, Elizabeth Caroline was extremely delicate and backward. A letter to Sir Horatio Mann, 2nd Baronet, dated September 13, 1759, from Letters of Walpole states:

We have lost another Princess, Lady Elizabeth. She died of an inflammation in her bowels in two days. Her figure was so very unfortunate, that it would have been difficult for her to be happy, but her parts and application were extraordinary. I saw her act in “Cato” at eight years old, (when she could not stand alone, but was forced to lean against the side-scene,) better than any of her brothers and sisters. She had been so unhealthy, that at that age she had not been taught to read, but had learned the part of Lucia by hearing the others study their parts. She went to her father and mother, and begged she might act. They put her off as gently as they could—she desired leave to repeat her part, and when she did, it was with so much sense, that there was no denying her.

Nine days before Walpole wrote the letter, on September 4, 1759, Princess Elizabeth Caroline, aged 18, had died at Kew Palace in London. She was interred privately on September 14, 1759, in the Hanover vault under the central part of the Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey in London.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • Princess Elizabeth of Great Britain (2023) Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Elizabeth_of_Great_Britain (Accessed: May 2, 2023).
  • Weir, Alison. (1989) Britain’s Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy. London: Vintage Books.
  • Williamson, David. (1996) Brewer’s British Royalty: A Phrase and Fable Dictionary. London: Cassell.

Prince Edward of Wales, Duke of York and Albany

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Prince Edward, Duke of York and Albany; Credit – Wikipedia

Prince Edward of Wales, Duke of York and Albany was the third of the nine children and the second of the five sons of Frederick, Prince of Wales and Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, Princess of Wales, and the brother of King George III. Born Edward Augustus on March 25, 1739, at Norfolk House, St. James’s Square in London, England, he held a high place in the line of succession to the British throne for his entire life. At the time of his birth, his grandfather King George II was the reigning monarch and baby Edward was third in the line of succession after his father and his brother, the future King George III. Edward’s paternal grandparents were King George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Ansbach. Friedrich II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha Altenburg, and Magdalene Auguste of Anhalt-Zerbst were his maternal grandparents.

Christened Edward Augustus at Norfolk House in St. James’s Square in London, England by Thomas Secker, then Bishop of Oxford, later Archbishop of Canterbury, his godparents were:

Family of Frederick, Prince of Wales painted in 1751 after his death; 1st row: Henry, William, Frederick; 2nd row: Edward, George, Augusta, Dowager Princess of Wales holding Caroline Matilda, Elizabeth, Louisa; Credit – Wikipedia

Edward had eight siblings:

Edward, seated on the left, with his brother, the future George III, seated on the right, and their tutor, Francis Ayscough, Dean of Bristol; Credit – Wikipedia

The family moved to Leicester House in Leicester Square, London where Edward and his elder brother George, who was less than a year older, were taught by a private tutor Francis Ayscough. Edward was taught arithmetic, Latin, geometry, writing, religion, French, German, Greek, dancing, and music. On March 21, 1751, Edward’s father, Frederick, Prince of Wales died at the age of 44. 13-year-old George became heir to the throne and 12-year-old Edward became the second in the line of succession. His grandfather King George II named Edward a Knight of the Garter in 1752 and created him Duke of York and Albany and Earl of Ulster on April 1, 1760. Later in 1760, when Edward’s brother succeeded to the throne as King George III, Edward was named a privy counselor and was the heir presumptive to the British throne until the birth of the future King George IV in 1762.

Prince Edward, Duke of York and Albany by Sir Joshua Reynolds., 1763; Credit – Wikipedia

Edward was destined for a career in the Royal Navy, a short career due to his early death. In 1758, nineteen-year-old Edward joined the Royal Navy as a Midshipman. He participated in naval actions during the Seven Years’ War against the French including the failed Raid on St. Malo, which ended in the Battle of Saint-Cast in 1758. On June 14, 1759, Edward was promoted to Captain of HMS Phoenix, a new ship. He was made Rear-Admiral of the Blue in 1761, Vice-Admiral of the Blue in 1762, and in 1766, Admiral of the Blue.

The York Room at the Prince’s Palace in Monaco where Edward died; Credit – https://world.nailizakon.com/europa/monaco/monte-carlo/monte-carlo.html

In 1767, while serving in the Mediterranean, Edward became ill while traveling to Genoa. He was taken to Monaco, the nearest port. Despite the care arranged by Honoré III, Prince of Monaco, 28-year-old Edward died at the Prince’s Palace in Monaco on September 17, 1767. The room where he died is still known as the York Room. Edward’s remains were returned to London where he was buried at Westminster Abbey in the Hanover vault under the central part of the Henry VII Chapel, on November 1, 1767.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • Prince Edward, Duke of York and Albany (2023) Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Edward,_Duke_of_York_and_Albany (Accessed: April 30, 2023).
  • Weir, Alison. (1989) Britain’s Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy. London: Vintage Books.
  • Williamson, David. (1996) Brewer’s British Royalty: A Phrase and Fable Dictionary. London: Cassell.

Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, 2nd Husband of Mary Tudor

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk wearing the collar of the Order of the Garter.; Credit – Wikipedia

Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk was the second of the two husbands of Mary Tudor, daughter of King Henry VII of England and sister of King Henry VIII of England. Brandon was born circa 1484, one of the four children of Sir William Brandon and Elizabeth Bruyn.

Charles Brandon had three siblings:

  • Robert Brandon (1480 – ?)
  • Catherine Brandon (circa 1484 – ?)
  • William Brandon (circa 1476 – before 1485)

Charles Brandon’s father Sir William Brandon was the standard banner for Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond (the future King Henry VII) from the House of Lancaster at the Battle of Bosworth Field on August 22, 1485, the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses. When King Richard III of England from the House of York, launched his final charge in the battle, he unhorsed but did not kill, Sir John Cheyne, a well-known jousting champion and Henry Tudor’s personal bodyguard. Sir William Brandon was then killed by King Richard III while defending the standard banner of Henry Tudor. Ultimately, the Battle of Bosworth resulted in King Richard III of England, losing his life and his crown. The battle was a decisive victory for the House of Lancaster, whose leader Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, became the first monarch of the House of Tudor as King Henry VII of England.

In 1494, Charles Brandon’s mother died and the ten-year-old became an orphan. It is likely that Brandon’s uncle Sir Thomas Brandon, who acted as a diplomat for King Henry VII and was also Master of the Horse and a Knight of the Garter, arranged for his nephew to be raised at the court of King Henry VII. At court, Brandon would meet the future King Henry VIII, who was six years younger than Brandon. The two boys would connect due to their shared interests, especially jousting and real tennis, and a lifelong friendship developed. By the time King Henry VII died in 1509 and his son succeeded him as King Henry VIII, Brandon was already a favorite of the new king.

Before his 1515 marriage to Mary Tudor, Charles Brandon had two marriages and one contract to marry:

On March 4, 1514, King Henry VIII created Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk. At that time, there were only two other Dukes in the Kingdom of England. That same year, King Henry VIII negotiated a peace treaty with France that included the marriage of his 18-year-old sister Mary Tudor and the 52-year-old twice-married King Louis XII of France who was eager to have a son to succeed him. Mary was not thrilled at the prospect of marrying a sick old man, especially since she was already in love with Charles Brandon. Mary made her brother promise that if she survived Louis XII, she could choose her second husband.

Mary’s marriage to King Louis XII of France did not last long. Louis XII died on January 1, 1515, just three months after the wedding. As he had no son, he was succeeded by his son-in-law François d’Angoulême from the House of Valois-Angoulême as King François I of France. Mary was aware the new King of France would like her to marry a Frenchman to keep her dowry in France. However, she confided in François I that she wished to marry Charles Brandon and he agreed to help her. First, Mary had to follow the French royal custom of a widowed queen observing a 40-day mourning period. She spent the mourning period at the Hôtel de Cluny in Paris with darkened windows and candlelight. She was also observed to see if she was pregnant with the future heir to the throne.

Wedding portrait of Mary Tudor and Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, attributed to Jan Gossaert, circa 1515; Credit – Wikipedia

Henry VIII sent Charles Brandon to France to bring his sister back to England, and he made Brandon promise he would not propose to Mary. Once in France, Brandon was persuaded by Mary to abandon this pledge. On March 3, 1515, Mary secretly married Charles Brandon at the Hôtel de Cluny in Paris in the presence of ten people including King François I of France. Technically, this was treason as Brandon had married a royal princess without the king’s consent. Mary and Brandon returned to England to face the wrath of her brother. Cardinal Thomas Wolsey managed to calm King Henry VIII although some members of the Privy Council wanted Brandon imprisoned or executed. Over a period of time, Mary and Brandon had to pay a £24,000 fine, approximately £7,200,000 today. Henry VIII later reduced the fine. The couple was married again in the presence of King Henry VIII at the Grey Friar’s Church in Greenwich on May 13, 1515.

Charles Brandon and Mary spent most of their time at Westhorpe Hall in Suffolk, England. They also had a London residence, Suffolk Place. Brandon’s daughters from his marriage to Anne Browne, Lady Anne Brandon and Lady Mary Brandon, lived with them at Mary’s insistence.

Brandon and Mary had four two sons and two daughters but only their daughters survived childhood :

Mary opposed her brother’s attempt to obtain an annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon so he could marry Anne Boleyn. Mary had known Catherine for many years and was very fond of her. She developed a strong dislike for Anne Boleyn when Anne had served as one of her maids of honor in France.

Mary’s health began to suffer around the time King Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn married. There were rumors that the coronation of Anne Boleyn on June 1, 1533, broke Mary’s heart. She died at Westhorpe Hall on June 25, 1533, at the age of 37, and was originally buried in the Abbey at Bury St. Edmunds in Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, England. In 1538, when the Abbey at Bury St. Edmunds was dissolved during the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Mary’s coffin was brought to St. Mary’s Church in Bury St. Edmunds where it still rests in the crypt.

Katherine Willoughby, 12th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby, Duchess of Suffolk, drawing by Hans Holbein the Younger; Credit – Wikipedia

Less than two months after the death of Mary Tudor, Charles Brandon married again. His fourth and final wife was Katherine Willoughby, 12th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby. Katherine was the only child of William Willoughby, 11th Baron Willoughby de Eresby, and therefore was his heir. Her mother was Willoughby’s second wife María de Salinas, the Spanish-born lady-in-waiting to Catherine of Aragon. After her father died in 1526, seven-year-old Katherine became a ward of King Henry VIII. Two years later, Henry VIII sold the wardship, not an unusual occurrence, to Brandon. Katherine Willoughby grew up with Brandon’s children and it was common knowledge that the wealthy heiress would be betrothed to Brandon’s son Henry Brandon, 1st Earl of Lincoln. When Mary Tudor died, Katherine Willoughby was one of the chief mourners at her funeral. Not wanting to risk losing Katherine’s lands and wealth because his son Henry was too young to marry, Brandon married Katherine himself. Although at the time of their marriage, Brandon was forty-nine and Katherine only fourteen, their marriage was successful.

Miniature of Henry Brandon, 2nd Duke of Suffolk by Hans Holbein the Younger, circa 1541; Credit – Wikipedia

Charles Brandon and Katherine had two sons who both died on the same day of the sweating sickness, six years after their father’s death:

  • Henry Brandon, 2nd Duke of Suffolk (1535 – 1551) died in his teens
  • Charles Brandon, 3rd Duke of Suffolk (1537 – 1551) died in his teens an hour after his older brother

Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk was a military commander, was created a Knight of the Garter in 1513, and held several political positions during the reign of King Henry VIII:

Throughout the reign of King Henry VIII, Charles Brandon remained close to the king, acting as a companion at court and often accompanying him on his travels. He accompanied Henry VIII to his famous 1520 summit with King François I of France known as the Field of the Cloth of Gold. In 1536, Brandon stood at the scaffold at the Tower of London, representing Henry VIII, at the execution of Anne Boleyn. Brandon led action against the 1536 – 1537 Pilgrimage of Grace, a protest against Henry VIII’s break with the Catholic Church and the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Henry VIII gave Brandon a large amount of church property confiscated during the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

Gravemarker of Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk; Credit – Credit – https://www.stgeorges-windsor.org/charles-brandon-duke-of-suffolk/

During the summer of 1545, Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk was part of King Henry VIII’s entourage during a hunting progress. On August 24, 1545, Brandon, aged 60 – 61, died suddenly while the hunting progress was at Guildford Castle in Surrey, England. Henry VIII was grief-stricken at the loss of one of his oldest and most loyal friends. He arranged and paid for the burial of Brandon in the south quire aisle of St. George Chapel, Windsor Castle in Windsor, England. 18th-century historian Joseph Pote wrote regarding Brandon’s grave, “Nothing remains to distinguish the Grave of this noble Duke but a rude brick pavement.” Finally, in 1787, during the reign of King George III, it was “ordered that leave be given to lay a stone above the grave of Charles Brandon Duke of Suffolk, according to His Majesty’s directions”. The gravemarker was put in place by architect Henry Emlyn while conducting a restoration of St. George’s Chapel in 1787 – 1790 that included the repaving of the quire aisles and nave.

Miniature of Katherine Willoughby, 12th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby, Dowager Duchess of Suffolk by Hans Holbein the Younger; Credit – Wikipedia

After Charles Brandon’s death, his 26-year-old widow Katherine Willoughby, 12th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby, Dowager Duchess of Suffolk married Richard Bertie, a member of her household, out of love and shared religious beliefs. Katherine and Richard Bertie had one daughter and one son. Katharine survived her first husband Charles Brandon by thirty-five years, dying on September 19, 1580, aged 61, at her family home Grimsthorpe Castle in Lincolnshire, England which still remains in the Willoughby de Eresby family. Her son with Richard Bertie, Peregrine Bertie, inherited her title as the 13th Baron Willoughby de Eresby.

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Works Cited

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