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.

Archduke Giuseppe Ferdinando of Austria

by Scott Mehl
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Archduke Giuseppe Ferdinando of Austria was the Pretender to the Grand Ducal Throne of Tuscany from 1908 until 1921 when he married unequally and was forced to renounce his rights.

Archduke Giuseppe Ferdinando of Austria – source: Wikipedia

Archduke Giuseppe Ferdinando of Austria was born in Salzburg on May 24, 1872, the second son of Ferdinando IV, the last Grand Duke of Tuscany, and his second wife Princess Alicia of Bourbon-Parma. He was given the names Giuseppe Ferdinando Salvatore Maria Francesco Leopoldo Antonio Alberto Giovanni Battista Carlo Ludovico Roberto Maria Ausiliatrice. He had 9 siblings:

He also had an older half-sister from his father’s first marriage to Princess Anna of Saxony:

Giuseppe Ferdinando attended the Oberrealschule at Hranice and the Maria Theresa Military Academy at Wiener Neustadt. He was then commissioned in the Austrian military and served in various regiments. During World War I, he held several command positions but was forced to retire in June 1916 after suffering devastating losses during the Brusilov Offensive. He later served as Inspector General of the Imperial Air Force from July 1917 until September 1918.

Giuseppe Ferdinando was fascinated with aviation, especially hot air balloons. He made several attempts to incorporate both into his military service, with little success. He did, however, arrange for a balloon flight from his home in Linz, landing in Dieppe, France 16 hours later.

Giuseppe was married twice. His first marriage, on May 2, 1921, was to Rosa Kaltenbrunner. The couple divorced in 1928 with no issue. He married again on January 27, 1929 to Gertrude Tomanek von Beyerfels-Mondsee. The couple had two children:

  • Claudia von Habsburg-Lothringen (1930) – unmarried
  • Maximilian von Habsburg-Lothringen (1932) – married to Doris Williams, had issue

He had become his father’s heir in 1902 when his elder brother renounced his membership in the Imperial House to marry. Giuseppe also lost his claim to the former throne in 1921, when he also renounced his membership in the Imperial House and his claim to the throne. He was succeeded by his younger brother, Pietro Ferdinando.

In 1938, Giuseppe Ferdinando was arrested by the Gestapo and sent to the Dachau Concentration Camp. After three months, he was released but remained under constant observation by the Gestapo. He settled in Vienna, where he died on August 28, 1942.

* * * * * * * * * *

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.

Grand Duchy of Tuscany Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia, Archduke of Austria

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor; Credit – Wikipedia

The Holy Roman Empire was a limited elective monarchy composed of hundreds of kingdoms, principalities, duchies, counties, prince-bishoprics, and Free Imperial Cities in central Europe. The Holy Roman Empire was not really holy since, after Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in 1530, no emperors were crowned by the pope or a bishop. It was not Roman but rather German because it was mainly in the regions of present-day Germany and Austria. It was an empire in name only – the territories it covered were mostly independent each with its own rulers. The Holy Roman Emperor directly ruled over only his family territories, and could not issue decrees and rule autonomously over the Holy Roman Empire. A Holy Roman Emperor was only as strong as his army and alliances, including marriage alliances, made him, and his power was severely restricted by the many sovereigns of the constituent monarchies of the Holy Roman Empire. From the 13th century, prince-electors, or electors for short, elected the Holy Roman Emperor from among the sovereigns of the constituent states.

Frequently but not always, it was common practice to elect the deceased Holy Roman Emperor’s heir. The Holy Roman Empire was an elective monarchy. No person had a legal right to the succession simply because he was related to the current Holy Roman Emperor. However, the Holy Roman Emperor could and often did, while still alive, have a relative (usually a son) elected to succeed him after his death. This elected heir apparent used the title King of the Romans.

Learn more at Unofficial Royalty: What was the Holy Roman Empire?

********************

Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (reigned 1556 – 1564), King of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia (reigned 1526 – 1564), Archduke of Austria (reigned 1521 – 1564) was born at the Archiepiscopal Palace of Alcalá de Henares in Alcalá de Henares, Kingdom of Castile, now in Spain, on March 10, 1503. He was the fourth of the six children and the second of the two sons of Philip of Austria, Duke of Burgundy, the ruler of the vast and wealthy Burgundian State from the House of Habsburg, and Juana I, Queen of Castile and León from the House of Trastámara. Ferdinand’s paternal grandparents were Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and the ruler of the Archduchy of Austria, and the Duchies of Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola, and the first of his three wives, Mary, Duchess of Burgundy, the ruler of the Burgundian State in her own right. His maternal grandparents were Ferdinand II, King of Aragon and Isabella I, Queen of Castile and León.

A portrait of the extended Habsburg family: standing (left to right) Maximilian I. Holy Roman Emperor; Maximilian I’s son Philip of Austria; Maximilian I’s first wife Mary of Burgundy; sitting (left to right) Maximilian I and Mary’s grandsons Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor; and Louis II, King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia, the husband of Maximilian and Mary’s granddaughter Mary of Austria; (Note: This portrait is anachronistic. Mary of Burgundy died in 1482 when her son Philip of Austria was 4 years old and her son Philip died in 1506 when his son Ferdinand was 4 years old); by Bernhard Strigel painted after 1515; Credit – Wikipedia

Ferdinand had five siblings. His brother was Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, among many other titles, and his sisters were all queen consorts.


Ferdinand’s parents Philip of Habsburg, Duke of Burgundy and Juana I, Queen of Castile and León; Credit – Wikipedia

Before Ferdinand was seven years old, his father had died and his mother had been declared too mentally ill to reign as Queen of Castile and León and was confined in a convent for the rest of her life. Ferdinand’s father Philip of Habsburg (also known as Philip the Handsome) was the heir to both his father’s and mother’s dominions. His mother Mary, Duchess of Burgundy was the only child of Charles I (the Bold), Duke of Burgundy, ruler of the vast and wealthy Burgundian State (parts of the present-day Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, and Germany), and succeeded him after his death at the Battle of Nancy during the Burgundian Wars in 1477. In March 1482, Philip’s mother Mary, Duchess of Burgundy died from internal injuries received in a horse-riding accident. Philip, who was not quite four years old, succeeded his mother as ruler of the Burgundian State under the guardianship of his father Maximilian.

Philip’s father Maximilian was the son of Friedrich III, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Austria, Duke of Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola, today part of Austria and Slovenia. Maximilian was elected King of the Romans in 1486. The Holy Roman Empire was an elective monarchy. No person had a legal right to the succession simply because he was related to the current Holy Roman Emperor. However, the Holy Roman Emperor could, and often did, have a male relative (usually a son) elected to succeed him after his death. This elected heir apparent bore the title King of the Romans. Maximilian became Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Austria, and Duke of Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola when his father Friedrich III, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Austria, Duke of Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola died in 1493. However, Philip predeceased his father Maximilian, and never succeeded to his father’s dominions but his eldest son, Ferdinand’s elder brother, did. Best known as Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and Carlos I, King of Spain, he was one of the most powerful ever monarchs and had a large number of titles due to his vast inheritance of the Burgundian, Spanish, and Austrian realms.

A year after his birth, Ferdinand’s maternal grandmother Isabella I, Queen of Castile and León died. Ferdinand’s mother Juana became Queen of Castile and León but her father Ferdinand II, King of Aragon proclaimed himself Governor and Administrator of Castile and León. In 1506, Ferdinand’s father Philip became King of Castile and León jure uxoris (by the right of his wife) as Philip I, initiating the rule of the Habsburgs in the Spanish kingdoms which would last until 1700 when the Spanish branch of the House of Habsburg became extinct. However, Philip’s rule lasted only from July 12, 1506 to September 25, 1506, when he died, aged 28, apparently of typhoid fever, although an assassination by poisoning was rumored at the time.

Ferdinand’s father Philip had spread rumors about Juana’s supposed mental illness and her misunderstood behavior after his death may have reinforced these rumors. In 1509, Juana’s father Ferdinand II, King of Aragon convinced the parliament that Juana was too mentally ill to govern, and was appointed her guardian and the regent of Castile and León. Juana was confined in the Royal Convent of Santa Clara in Tordesillas, Castile, now in Spain, under the orders of her father. In 1516, Ferdinand II, King of Aragon died. In his will, Ferdinand named his daughter Juana and her eldest son Charles the co-heirs of the Kingdom of Aragon. However, Juana would never reign as her son Charles would continue keeping her confined. Juana would not be released from her confinement until she died in 1555. Many historians feel that Juana was not mentally ill but had been manipulated by her father, husband, and her son. Juana’s father Ferdinand II, King of Aragon and her son Charles had a lot to gain from Juana being declared unfit to rule and confined.

Ferdinand’s wife Anne of Hungary and Bohemia; Credit – Wikipedia

On May 26, 1521, in Linz, Archduchy of Austria, now in Austria, Ferdinand married Anna of Bohemia and Hungary, daughter of King Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary and his third wife Anne of Foix-Candale. Anna’s mother died due to birth complications shortly after giving birth to her second child, the future Ludovicus II, King of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia. The death of Anna’s father King Vladislaus II in 1516 left Anna and her brother under the guardianship of the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. It was arranged for Anna to marry his grandson, then Archduke Ferdinand of Austria. At the time of his marriage in 1521, Ferdinand was governing the Habsburg hereditary lands on behalf of his older brother Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. The marriage contract stipulated that Ferdinand should succeed Anna’s brother Ludovicus as King of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia in case Ludovicus died without legitimate male heirs.

Three sons of Ferdinand and Anna: Maximilian and his younger brothers Ferdinand and Johann; Credit – Wikipedia

Similar to the situation with King Louis XVI of France and Marie Antoinette, Ferdinand and Anna at first seemed to suffer from a lack of sexual instruction, but eventually, the marriage proved extremely successful both personally and politically. Ferdinand and Anna had fifteen children and all but two reached adulthood. Sadly, Anna died due to childbirth complications on January 27, 1547, at the age of forty-four, three days after giving birth to her fifteenth child. Despite being encouraged to remarry, Ferdinand could not forget his wife and never remarried.

Ludovicus II, King of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia died without a legitimate male heir after he was thrown from his horse at the Battle of Mohács against the Ottoman Empire in 1526. Ferdinand claimed both kingdoms and was elected King of Bohemia later in 1526. Ferdinand was proclaimed King of Hungary by a group of nobles, but another group of Hungarian nobles refused to allow a foreign ruler to hold that title and elected Hungarian John Zápolya as an alternative king. Although this conflict lasted until 1570, Ferdinand had the support of his older brother Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, and was generally recognized as King of Hungary. Additionally, in 1531, Charles V recognized Ferdinand as his successor as Holy Roman Emperor, and Ferdinand was elevated to the title King of the Romans.

Ferdinand’s brother Charles several years before his abdication; Credit – Wikipedia

Physically exhausted after forty years of ruling, Ferdinand’s older brother Charles abdicated in 1555, the same year his 75-year-old mother Juana, confined in a convent for forty-six years, died. Charles retired to the peace of the Monastery of Yuste in Extremadura, Spain where he died in 1558. Upon Charles’s abdication, his younger brother Ferdinand, who had already been given Charles’ Austrian lands in 1521, became the Holy Roman Emperor. The Spanish Empire, including the possessions in the Netherlands, Italy, and the New World, was inherited by Charles’ son who reigned as Felipe II, King of Spain.

Division of the Habsburg lands after the death of Charles V, Holy Roman Empeor; Credit – By Barjimoa – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=93587376

Unlike his father Maximilian I and his brother Charles V, Ferdinand I did not travel between his domains. In 1533, he had moved his residence to Vienna and spent most of his time there. After Ferdinand became Holy Roman Emperor, Vienna became the capital of the Holy Roman Empire. During his reign as Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand pursued a policy aimed at strengthening peace between the constituent monarchies of the Holy Roman Empire, worked on reaching compromises between Catholics and Protestants, and consolidated imperial forces to fight the Ottoman Empire’s invasion in Central Europe. In December 1562, Ferdinand had his eldest son Maximilian elected King of the Romans, meaning that he would become Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor. In addition, Ferdinand passed the crown of Hungary to his son in 1563.

Funeral of Ferdinand I, Holy Romand Emperor; Credit – Wikipedia

Plagued by fever attacks during the last years of his life, Ferdinand died in Vienna, Archduchy of Austria, now in Austria, on July 25, 1564, aged 61, and was buried next to his wife Anna in St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia, now in the Czech Republic. Their son Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor was buried with his parents.

Tomb of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, his wife Anna, and their son Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor; Credit – Wikipedia

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

  • Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_I,_Holy_Roman_Emperor (Accessed: 17 May 2023).
  • Flantzer, Susan. (2022) Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Spain, Archduke of Austria, Lord of the Netherlands, Duke of Burgundy, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/charles-v-holy-roman-emperor-carlos-i-king-of-spain-karl-i-archduke-of-austria-charles-ii-lord-of-the-netherlands-duke-of-burgundy/ (Accessed: 17 May 2023).
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2022. Juana I, Queen of Castile and León and Queen of Aragon. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/juana-i-queen-of-castile-and-leon-and-queen-of-aragon/> [Accessed 17 May 2023].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2022. Philip of Austria, Duke of Burgundy, King of Castile and León. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/philip-of-austria-duke-of-burgundy-king-of-castile/> [Accessed 17 May 2023].
  • Wheatcroft, Andrew, 1995. The Habsburgs. London: Viking.
  • Wilson, Peter, 2016. Heart of Europe: A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

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.

Bianca Maria Sforza, Holy Roman Empress, Archduchess of Austria

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Maria Bianca Sforza; Credit – Wikipedia

The Holy Roman Empire was a limited elective monarchy composed of hundreds of kingdoms, principalities, duchies, counties, prince-bishoprics, and Free Imperial Cities in central Europe. The Holy Roman Empire was not really holy since, after Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in 1530, no emperors were crowned by the pope or a bishop. It was not Roman but rather German because it was mainly in the regions of present-day Germany and Austria. It was an empire in name only – the territories it covered were mostly independent each with its own rulers. The Holy Roman Emperor directly ruled over only his family territories, and could not issue decrees and rule autonomously over the Holy Roman Empire. A Holy Roman Emperor was only as strong as his army and alliances, including marriage alliances, made him, and his power was severely restricted by the many sovereigns of the constituent monarchies of the Holy Roman Empire. From the 13th century, prince-electors, or electors for short, elected the Holy Roman Emperor from among the sovereigns of the constituent states.

Frequently but not always, it was common practice to elect the deceased Holy Roman Emperor’s heir. The Holy Roman Empire was an elective monarchy. No person had a legal right to the succession simply because he was related to the current Holy Roman Emperor. However, the Holy Roman Emperor could and often did, while still alive, have a relative (usually a son) elected to succeed him after his death. This elected heir apparent used the title King of the Romans.

********************

Bianca Maria Sforza was the third wife of the three wives of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Austria. Born in Pavia, Duchy of Milan, now in Italy, on April 5, 1472, she was the third of the four children and the elder of the two daughters of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, 5th Duke of Milan and his second wife Bona of Savoy. Bianca Maria’s paternal grandparents were Francesco Sforza, 4th Duke of Milan, and her namesake Bianca Maria Visconti. Her maternal grandparents were Ludovico I, Duke of Savoy and Anne de Lusignan of Cyprus.

Bianca Maria had three siblings:

Bianca Maria’s father was notorious for being cruel, tyrannical, and vengeful. On December 26, 1476, when Bianca Maria was four-years-old, her 32-year-old father was stabbed to death while attending Mass at the Church of Santo Stefano in Milan by three high-ranking officials of the Milanese court. Bianca Maria’s father was succeeded by his 7-year-old son Gian Galeazzo Sforza, 6th Duke of Milan with his mother Bona serving as Regent of Milan. However, in 1481, in a power play, the young Duke’s paternal uncle Ludovico Sforza forced Bona to resign her position as Regent. Ludovico quickly gained power and became the de facto ruler of the Duchy of Milan. Ludovico imprisoned his nephew Gian Galeazzo and later became 7th Duke of Milan after Gian Galeazzo’s death, which was widely viewed as suspicious.

In 1476, at the age of four, Bianca Maria married her 11-year-old first cousin Philibert I, Duke of Savoy, who died from tuberculosis at the age of 17. After the death of Philbert, 10-year-old Bianca Maria returned to Milan, where she was placed under the care of her paternal uncle Ludovico Sforza. Ludovico placed little value on Bianca Maria’s education, so she was ill-educated and free to do whatever she wanted.

Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Austria

After the death of his beloved first wife Mary, Duchess of Burgundy in her own right and a second very short annulled marriage in name only to Anne, Duchess of Brittany in her own right, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Austria decided to marry for a third time to Bianca Maria Sforza. The marriage was arranged by Bianca Maria’s uncle Ludovico Sforza, who wanted recognition and the title of Duke of Milan to be confirmed by Maximilian. To make the marriage more desirable to Maximilian, Ludovico offered a dowry of 400,000 ducats in cash and a further 40,000 ducats in jewels. Twenty-one-year-old Bianca Maria and thirty-four-year-old Maximilian were married by proxy on November 30, 1493, in the Duchy of Milan. Bianca Maria then traveled with her large dowry and large escort to Innsbruck, County of Tyrol, now in Austria. However, because Maximilian was dealing with a Turkish invasion of his Duchy of Styria, Bianca had to wait until March 16, 1494, to marry Maximilian in person.

The marriage was not a happy one. Maximilian complained that Bianca Maria may have been more beautiful than his first wife Mary of Burgundy, but she was not as intelligent. He considered Bianca Maria uneducated, talkative, naive, careless, and wasteful with money. Bianca Maria had a miscarriage shortly after her marriage and it seems that she was never able to conceive again. She was a stepmother to the two surviving children of Maximilian and his first wife Mary of Burgundy. They were relatively close in age to Bianca Maria and she very much liked them.

Bianca Maria’s stepchildren:

After 1500, Maximilian lost all interest in Bianca Maria. She lived with her own court of 150 – 200 people from Milan, traveling to various castles. Maximilian did not allow Bianca Maria to control her own finances and so she seemed to be living in luxury one day and in poverty the next day. Bianca Maria’s court was arranged around the Roman Catholic church feasts with lavish celebrations at Easter, Christmas, Pentecost, and Corpus Christi. Carnivals, dances, tournaments, music, theater, hunting, and fishing were integral parts of Bianca Maria’s court life.

The Abbey Church at Stams Abbey where Bianca Maria is buried; Credit – Di Zairon – Opera propria, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50155281

In the last years of her life, Bianca Maria suffered from a debilitating illness, and died on December 31, 1510, aged 38, in Innsbruck, County of Tyrol, now in Austria. Maximilian was not in Innsbruck at the time of her death and did not return to attend her funeral. Bianca Maria was buried at the Abbey Church in the Crypt of the Princes of Tyrol at Stams Abbey (link in Italian) in Stams, County of Tyrol, one of Maximilian’s lands, now in Austria. Traditionally, a gilded statue of those interred in the Crypt of the Princes of Tyrol was placed in the crypt but no gilded statue or any type of memorial was ever made for Bianca Maria. She is only memorialized in the Hofkirche (Court Church) in Innsbruck where her bronze statue is one of twenty-eight statues on Maximilian’s cenotaph that depicts twenty-four events in Maximilian’s life. The Hofkirche and the cenotaph were built by Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I as a memorial to his grandfather Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I. One has to doubt that Bianca Maria would have been included if Maximilian had designed his own cenotaph.

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

  • Abbazia di Stams (2021) Wikipedia (Italian). Available at: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbazia_di_Stams (Accessed: 13 May 2023).
  • Bianca Maria Sforza (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bianca_Maria_Sforza (Accessed: 13 May 2023).
  • Bianca Maria Sforza (2022) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bianca_Maria_Sforza (Accessed: 13 May 2023).
  • Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Austria, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/maximilian-i-holy-roman-emperor-duke-of-styria-carinthia-and-carniola-archduke-of-austria/ (Accessed: 13 May 2023).
  • Wheatcroft, Andrew. (1995) The Habsburgs. London: Viking.
  • Wilson, Peter H. (2016) Heart of Europe – A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

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.

Mary, Duchess of Burgundy, Archduchess of Austria

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Mary, Duchess of Burgundy; Credit – Wikipedia

Mary, Duchess of Burgundy in her own right was the only child of Charles I the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and the second of his three wives Isabella of Bourbon. She was born on February 13, 1457, at the Palace of Coudenberg in Brussels, Duchy of Brabant in the Burgundian State, now in Belgium. Mary’s paternal grandparents were Philip III the Good, Duke of Burgundy and the third of his three wives Isabella of Portugal. Her maternal grandparents were Charles I, Duke of Bourbon and Agnes of Burgundy, also Mary’s paternal great-aunt. At the time of Mary’s birth, her paternal grandfather Philip III the Good was Duke of Burgundy.

Mary was baptized Marie-Blanche (in French) on February 17, 1457, in the chapel at the Palace of Coudenberg by Jean of Burgundy, Bishop of Cambrai, who was the illegitimate son of Mary’s great-grandfather Jean I the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy. Mary’s grandfather Philip III the Good, Duke of Burgundy chose not to attend the baptism as it was only for a girl.

Mary’s godparents were:

Mary’s aunt Anne of Burgundy, the illegitimate daughter of Mary’s grandfather Philip III the Good, Duke of Burgundy, was put in charge of her niece and appointed Jeanne de Clito as Mary’s governess. Jeanne was Mary’s most constant companion for the rest of her life. Mary received an excellent education befitting a future reigning Duchess of Burgundy. She enjoyed music, art, and chess but physical exercise was her greatest love. Mary especially enjoyed hunting, riding, falconry, and skating on the frozen ponds of the Palace of Coudenberg.

Mary’s father Charles I the Bold, Duke of Burgundy; Credit – Wikipedia

When Mary was eight-years-old, in 1465, her mother Isabella of Bourbon died from tuberculosis. In 1467, Mary’s grandfather Philip III the Good, Duke of Burgundy died and her father succeeded as Charles I, Duke of Burgundy. Charles had three marriages but ten-year-old Mary was his only child and became his heir presumptive.

Margaret of York, Mary’s stepmother; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1468, Mary’s widowed father married his third wife, the English Margaret of York, the daughter of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, the leader of the House of York during the Wars of the Roses until his death in battle in 1460, and the sister of King Edward IV of England and King Richard III of England. Margaret and Charles were half-second cousins. They were both great-grandchildren of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the third surviving son of King Edward III, but from different wives of John. The first meeting of Margaret of York with Charles’s mother Isabella of Portugal and 11-year-old Mary was a resounding success, and the three of them would remain close for the rest of their lives.

The Burgundian State during the reign of Charles the Bold; Credit – By Marco Zanoli, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3977827

The vast and rich Burgundian State consisted of parts of the present-day Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, and Germany. Because of this, Mary had many suitors for her hand in marriage including the future King Charles VIII of France, Nicholas I, Duke of Lorraine, and George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, supported by his sister and Mary’s stepmother Margaret of York. As early as 1463, when Mary was just six-year-old, Pope Pius II first suggested a marriage between Mary and four-year-old Archduke Maximilian of Austria, son of Friedrich III, Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria and Infanta Eleanor of Portugal. In the fall of 1473, the two fathers, Friedrich III and Charles the Bold, met to discuss a possible marriage. However, the negotiations failed and ended after two months.

Mary’s husband Maximilian; Credit – Wikipedia

Mary’s father’s main objective was to become a king by acquiring territories bordering and in between the territories of the Burgundian State. This caused the Burgundian Wars (1474 – 1477). On January 5, 1477, Charles I (the Bold), Duke of Burgundy was killed at the Battle of Nancy, and twenty-year-old Mary of Burgundy became the Duchess of Burgundy in her own right. Mary feared that King Louis XI of France would try to force her to marry his eldest son, and resumed the marriage negotiations with Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich III to marry his son Maximilian. King Louis XI of France tried to prevent the marriage by declaring that he was Mary’s overlord and refusing to consent to the marriage. However, Friedrich III agreed to the marriage of his son Maximilian and Mary. A proxy marriage was held on April 21, 1477, at Mary’s home, the Priesendorf in Bruges, County of Flanders, one of Mary’s lands, now in Belgium. On August 18, 1477, Maximilian arrived in Ghent, County of Flanders, now in Belgium, and on the next day, Maximilian and Mary were married in person.

Mary and Maximilian had three children:

Mary and Maximilian’s grandson Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor; Credit – Wikipedia

It was through the marriage of Maximilian and Mary’s son Philip to Juana I, Queen of Castile and León, Queen of Aragon that the Habsburg lands would be joined with the Spanish lands. Philip and Juana’s son Carlos, best known as Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, was one of the most powerful ever monarchs and had a large number of titles due to his vast inheritance of the Burgundian, Spanish, and Austrian realms. Carlos I was not only the first King of a united Spain and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, but he was also Charles I, Archduke of Austria, and Charles II, Lord of the Netherlands, among many other titles.

Mary’s reign as Duchess of Burgundy and her marriage to Maximilian lasted only five years. In March 1482, despite being pregnant, Mary participated in a hunt in the woods near Wijnendale Castle in Flanders along with her husband. She was an experienced rider and she held her falcon in one hand and the reins in the other hand. However, Mary’s horse stumbled over a tree stump while jumping over a newly dug canal. The saddle belt under the horse’s belly broke causing Mary to fall out of the saddle and into the canal with the horse on top of her. Mary died from internal injuries, aged twenty-five, several weeks later, on March 27, 1482, at Wijnendale Castle, Flanders, Burgundian Netherlands, now Wijnendale, West Flanders in Belgium. She was buried in a beautiful tomb next to her father in the Church of Our Lady in Bruges in the County of Flanders, now in Belgium. Maximilian and Mary’s son Philip, who was not quite four years old, succeeded his mother as ruler of the Burgundian State under the guardianship of his father Maximilian.

Tomb of Mary, Duchess of Burgundy; Photo Credit – © Susan Flantzer

After Mary’s death, Maximilian’s father Friedrich III, Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria died in 1493, and Maximilian succeeded to the Habsburg hereditary lands, becoming the reigning Archduke of Austria. He also became the de facto ruler of the Holy Roman Empire via his election as King of the Romans, heir to the Holy Roman Emperor, in 1486. In 1508, Maximilian proclaimed himself the elected Holy Roman Emperor with the approval of Pope Julius II, ending the long tradition of requiring a papal coronation for the adoption of the Holy Roman Emperor title.

After a very short marriage in name only to Anne, Duchess of Brittany in her own right, which the French forced Anne to annul, Maximilian married again, in 1494, to Bianca Maria Sforza. The marriage was not a happy one. Maximilian complained that Bianca Maria may have been more beautiful than his first wife Mary of Burgundy, but she was not as intelligent. Maximilian survived his first wife Mary by thirty-seven years, dying on January 12, 1519, aged 59 at the Castle of Wels in Wels, Upper Austria, now in Austria. He was buried at St. George’s Cathedral in Wiener Neustadt Castle in Wiener Neustadt in Lower Austria, now in Austria. However, as per his will, Maximilian’s heart was placed in the tomb of his first wife Mary, Duchess of Burgundy in the Church of Our Lady in Bruges, County of Flanders, now in Belgium.

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

  • Abernethy, Susan. (2013) Mary of Burgundy, The Freelance History Writer. Available at: https://thefreelancehistorywriter.com/2013/03/23/mary-of-burgundy/ (Accessed: 03 May 2023).
  • Flantzer, Susan. (2022) Margaret of York, Duchess of Burgundy, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/margaret-of-york-duchess-of-burgundy/ (Accessed: 03 May 2023).
  • Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Austria, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/maximilian-i-holy-roman-emperor-duke-of-styria-carinthia-and-carniola-archduke-of-austria/ (Accessed: 03 May 2023).
  • Marie de Bourgogne (2023) Wikipedia (French). Available at: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_de_Bourgogne (Accessed: 03 May 2023).
  • Maria von Burgund (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_von_Burgund (Accessed: 03 May 2023).
  • Mary of Burgundy (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_of_Burgundy (Accessed: 03 May 2023).

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.

Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Austria

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Austria by Bernhard Strigel; Credit – Wikipedia

The Holy Roman Empire was a limited elective monarchy composed of hundreds of kingdoms, principalities, duchies, counties, prince-bishoprics, and Free Imperial Cities in central Europe. The Holy Roman Empire was not really holy since, after Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in 1530, no emperors were crowned by the pope or a bishop. It was not Roman but rather German because it was mainly in the regions of present-day Germany and Austria. It was an empire in name only – the territories it covered were mostly independent each with its own rulers. The Holy Roman Emperor directly ruled over only his family territories, and could not issue decrees and rule autonomously over the Holy Roman Empire. A Holy Roman Emperor was only as strong as his army and alliances, including marriage alliances, made him, and his power was severely restricted by the many sovereigns of the constituent monarchies of the Holy Roman Empire. From the 13th century, prince-electors, or electors for short, elected the Holy Roman Emperor from among the sovereigns of the constituent states.

Frequently but not always, it was common practice to elect the deceased Holy Roman Emperor’s heir. The Holy Roman Empire was an elective monarchy. No person had a legal right to the succession simply because he was related to the current Holy Roman Emperor. However, the Holy Roman Emperor could and often did, while still alive, have a relative (usually a son) elected to succeed him after his death. This elected heir apparent used the title King of the Romans.

********************

Maximilian’s parents Friedrich III, Holy Roman Emperor and Eleanor of Portugal

Maximilian I reigned as King of the Romans, the de facto leader of the Holy Roman Empire from 1493 – 1508, Holy Roman Emperor from 1508 – 1519, and ruled his family lands as Archduke of Austria from 1493 – 1519. Maximilian was born on March 22, 1459, at Wiener Neustadt Castle in Wiener Neustadt, Archduchy of Austria now in the state of Lower Austria in Austria. He was the second of the five children and the second but the eldest surviving son of Friedrich III, Holy Roman Emperor, Duke of Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola, Archduke of Austria and Infanta Eleanor of Portugal. As his father was sovereign of the Austrian hereditary lands, Maximilian and his siblings received the title of Archduke/Archduchess of Austria at birth. Maximilian’s paternal grandparents were Ernst II, Duke of Styria, Carinthia and Carniola and his second wife Cymburgis of Masovia, a member of the Polish Piast dynasty. His maternal grandparents were King Duarte of Portugal and Eleanor of Aragon.

Maximilian had four siblings but only one survived childhood:

  • Archduke Christoph of Austria (1455 – 1456), died in infancy
  • Archduchess Helene of Austria (1460 – 1462), died in early childhood
  • Archduchess Kunigunde of Austria (1465 – 1520), married Albrecht IV, Duke of Bavaria, had seven children
  • Archduke Johannes of Austria (1466 – 1467), died in early childhood

Since his elder brother died in infancy, Maximilian was prepared to be his father’s heir from an early age. When Maximilian was eight-years-old, his mother Eleanor, aged 32, died on September 3, 1467, from dysentery. In 1486, Friedrich III, Holy Roman Emperor ensured that his son Maximilian would succeed him as Holy Roman Emperor when the prince-electors unanimously elected Maximilian King of the Romans. The title King of the Romans was used to designate the successor to a Holy Roman Emperor elected during the lifetime of a sitting Emperor.

As early as 1463, when Maximilian was just four years old, Pope Pius II, who had previously been an advisor to Maximilian’s father as Enea Silvio Piccolomini, suggested a marriage between Maximilian and six-year-old Mary of Burgundy, the only child of Charles the Bold of Burgundy and the second of his three wives Isabella of Portugal. In 1467, Charles succeeded his father Philip III, Duke of Burgundy, and became Charles I, Duke of Burgundy, the ruler of the vast and rich Burgundian State that consisted of parts of the present-day Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, and Germany. If Charles the Bold did not have a son, his daughter Mary would become the Duchess of Burgundy in her own right. In the fall of 1473, the two fathers, Friedrich III and Charles the Bold, met to discuss a possible marriage. However, the negotiations failed and ended after two months.

Maximilian’s first wife Mary, Duchess of Burgundy; Credit – Wikipedia

On January 5, 1477, during the Burgundian Wars, Charles I (the Bold), Duke of Burgundy was killed at the Battle of Nancy. Twenty-year-old Mary of Burgundy, the only child of Charles I, became the Duchess of Burgundy in her own right. Mary feared that King Louis XI of France would try to force her to marry his eldest son, and resumed the marriage negotiations with Holy Roman Emperor Friedrich III to marry his son Maximilian. King Louis XI of France tried to prevent the marriage by declaring that he was Mary’s overlord and refusing to consent to the marriage. However, Friedrich III agreed to the marriage of his son Maximilian and Mary. A proxy marriage was held on April 21, 1477, at Mary’s home, the Priesendorf in Bruges, County of Flanders, one of Mary’s lands, now in Belgium. On August 18, 1477, Maximilian arrived in Ghent, County of Flanders, now in Belgium, and on the next day, Maximilian and Mary were married in person.

Maximilian and Mary had three children:

It was through the marriage of Maximilian and Mary’s son Philip to Juana I, Queen of Castile and León, Queen of Aragon that the Habsburg lands would be joined with the Spanish lands. Philip and Juana’s son Carlos, best known as Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, was one of the most powerful ever monarchs and had a large number of titles due to his vast inheritance of the Burgundian, Spanish, and Austrian realms. Carlos I was not only the first King of a united Spain and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, but he was also Charles I, Archduke of Austria, and Charles II, Lord of the Netherlands, among many other titles.

Sadly, Maximilian and Mary’s marriage lasted only five years. In March 1482, despite being pregnant, Mary participated in a hunt in the woods near Wijnendale Castle in Flanders along with her husband. She was an experienced rider and she held her falcon in one hand and the reins in the other hand. However, Mary’s horse stumbled over a tree stump while jumping over a newly dug canal. The saddle belt under the horse’s belly broke causing Mary to fall out of the saddle and into the canal with the horse on top of her. Mary was seriously injured and was transported to Prinsenhof, her palace in Bruges, where she died, aged twenty-five, several weeks later from internal injuries. Mary was buried next to her father in the Church of Our Lady in Bruges in Flanders, now in Belgium. Maximilian and Mary’s son Philip, who was not quite four years old, succeeded his mother as ruler of the Burgundian State under the guardianship of his father Maximilian.

Anne, Duchess of Brittany, Maximilian’s second wife; Credit – Wikipedia

Maximilian had a short second marriage to Anne, Duchess of Brittany in her own right. On September 9, 1488, Anne’s father François II, Duke of Brittany died as a result of a fall from his horse, and Anne became the Duchess of Brittany in her own right. Anne feared for the independence of her duchy against the might of France and so she arranged a marriage for herself with Maximilian. Maximilian and Anne were married by proxy in 1490, which turned out to be a marriage in name only. King Charles VIII succeeded his father as King of France in 1483. However, he was a minor, and his elder sister Anne of France and her husband Peter II, Duke of Bourbon, served as regents. They refused to allow an in-person marriage between Anne and Maximilian because it would put the Habsburgs, Maximilian’s family, on two French borders. A month before Anne of Brittany’s father died, he had been forced to sign the Treaty of Verger and thereby becoming a vassal of King Charles VIII of France and agreeing to seek Charles’ consent before arranging the marriage of his daughters. The Treaty of Verger was used to force Anne of Brittany to annul her proxy marriage to Maximilian and marry King Charles VIII of France.

On August 19, 1493, Maximilian’s father died and he succeeded to the Habsburg hereditary lands, becoming the reigning Archduke of Austria. He also became the de facto ruler of the Holy Roman Empire via his election as King of the Romans in 1486. In 1508, Maximilian proclaimed himself the elected Holy Roman Emperor with the approval of Pope Julius II, ending the long tradition of requiring a papal coronation for the adoption of the Holy Roman Emperor title.

Bianca Maria Sforza, Maximilian’s third wife; Credit – Wikipedia

Maximilian married again to twenty-one-year-old Bianca Maria Sforza, the daughter of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, 5th Duke of Milan and his second wife Bona of Savoy. In 1476, at the age of 4, Bianca Maria had been married to her 11-year-old first cousin Philibert I, Duke of Savoy, who died from tuberculosis at the age of 17. Maximilian and Bianca Maria were married by proxy on November 30, 1493, in the Duchy of Milan. Bianca Maria then traveled with her large dowry and large escort to Innsbruck. However, because Maximilian was dealing with a Turkish invasion of his Duchy of Styria, Bianca had to wait until March 16, 1494, to marry Maximilian in person.

The marriage was not a happy one. Maximilian complained that Bianca Maria may have been more beautiful than his first wife Mary of Burgundy, but she was not as intelligent. He considered Bianca Maria uneducated, talkative, naive, wasteful with money, and careless. Bianca Maria had a miscarriage shortly after her marriage and it seems that she was never able to conceive again. After 1500, Maximilian lost all interest in Bianca Maria. She lived with her own court of people from Milan in various castles. Bianca Maria, aged 38, died on December 31, 1510, in Innsbruck, County of Tyrol, now in Austria. Maximilian was not in Innsbruck at the time of her death and did not return to attend her funeral.

Maximilian’s grandson Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, also King of Spain, Archduke of Austria, Lord of the Netherlands, and Duke of Burgundy by Bernard van Orley, 1519; Credit – Wikipedia

Maximilian’s reign was marked by the military and political restoration of the House of Habsburg and by the modernization of the administration of the Holy Roman Empire. Maximilian expanded the influence of the House of Habsburg through war, through his own marriage to Mary, Duchess of Burgundy, and the marriage of his son Philip to Juana I, Queen of Castile and León, Queen of Aragon. His grandson, the son of Philip and Juana, was Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, (reigned 1519 – 1556), King of Spain (reigned 1516 – 1556), Archduke of Austria (reigned 1519 – 1521), Lord of the Netherlands, and Duke of Burgundy (reigned 1506 – 1555). Charles, one of the most powerful ever monarchs, inherited and reigned over the dominions of his mother Juana (Castile and León, and Aragon) which would be united under Charles as the Kingdom of Spain, the dominions of his father Philip (the Burgundian State Philip had inherited from his mother Mary, Duchess of Burgundy, consisting of parts of the present-day Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, and Germany), and also the Habsburg dominions of his paternal grandfather Maximilian (Archduchy of Austria, Duchy of Styria, Duchy of Carinthia, and Duchy of Carniola, today parts of Austria and Slovenia). Charles would be elected Holy Roman Emperor after the death of his grandfather Maximilian in 1519.

Maximilian in the last year of his life, holding his personal emblem, a pomegranate by Albrecht Dürer, 1519; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1501, Maximilian fell from his horse and badly injured his leg, causing him pain for the rest of his life. From 1514, he traveled everywhere with his coffin. In 1518, feeling his death was near after seeing an eclipse, he tried to return to his beloved Innsbruck but made it only to Wels in Upper Austria, where he suffered a stroke on December 15, 1518, that left him bedridden. However, Maximilian continued to read documents and receive foreign envoys. On January 12, 1519, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor,  Archduke of Austria died, aged 59 at the Castle of Wels in Wels, Upper Austria.

Tomb of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor; Credit – By krischnig – Self-photographed, Copyrighted free use, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=87779171

Maximilian was buried under the steps of the altar at St. George’s Cathedral in Wiener Neustadt Castle in Wiener Neustadt in Lower Austria, now in Austria. As per his will, his heart was placed in the tomb of his first wife Mary, Duchess of Burgundy in the Church of Our Lady in Bruges, County of Flanders, now in Belgium.

Tomb of Mary, Duchess of Burgundy, where Maximilian’s heart was interred; Photo Credit – © Susan Flantzer

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. (2023) Friedrich III, Holy Roman Emperor, Duke of Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola, Archduke of Austria, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/friedrich-iii-holy-roman-emperor-duke-of-styria-carinthia-and-carniola-archduke-of-austria/ (Accessed: 02 May 2023).
  • Flantzer, Susan. (2021) What was the Holy Roman Empire?, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/what-was-the-holy-roman-empire/ (Accessed: May 2, 2023).
  • Mary of Burgundy (2023) Encyclopedia.com. Available at: https://www.encyclopedia.com/women/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/mary-burgundy-1457-1482 (Accessed: 02 May 2023).
  • Maximilian I. (HRR) (2023) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_I._(HRR) (Accessed: 02 May 2023).
  • Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (2023a) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_I,_Holy_Roman_Emperor (Accessed: 02 May 2023).
  • Максимилиан I (император Священной Римской империи)  Maximilian (2023) Wikipedia (Russian). Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%B0%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%B0%D0%BD_I_(%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%BE%D1%80_%D0%A1%D0%B2%D1%8F%D1%89%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B9_%D0%A0%D0%B8%D0%BC%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B9_%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BF%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B8) (Accessed: 02 May 2023).
  • Wheatcroft, Andrew. (1995) The Habsburgs. London: Viking.
  • Wilson, Peter H. (2016) Heart of Europe – A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

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.