Prince George of Denmark ( da, Jørgen; 2 April 165328 October 1708) was the husband of
Anne, Queen of Great Britain
Anne (6 February 1665 – 1 August 1714) was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland from 8 March 1702 until 1 May 1707. On 1 May 1707, under the Acts of Union, the kingdoms of England and Scotland united as a single sovereign state known as ...
. He was the
consort of the British monarch
A royal consort is the spouse of a reigning king or queen. Consorts of monarchs of the United Kingdom and its predecessors have no constitutional status or power but many have had significant influence. There have been 11 royal consorts sin ...
from Anne's accession on 8 March 1702 until his death in 1708.
The marriage of George and Anne was arranged in the early 1680s with a view to developing an Anglo-Danish alliance to contain Dutch maritime power. As a result, George was unpopular with his Dutch brother-in-law,
William III, Prince of Orange, who was married to Anne's elder sister,
Mary
Mary may refer to:
People
* Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name)
Religious contexts
* New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below
* Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
. Anne and Mary's father, the British ruler
James II and VII, was deposed in the
Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution; gd, Rèabhlaid Ghlòrmhor; cy, Chwyldro Gogoneddus , also known as the ''Glorieuze Overtocht'' or ''Glorious Crossing'' in the Netherlands, is the sequence of events leading to the deposition of King James II and ...
in 1688, and William and Mary succeeded him as joint monarchs with Anne as
heir presumptive
An heir presumptive is the person entitled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of an heir apparent or a new heir presumptive with a better claim to the position in question.
...
. The new monarchs granted George the title of
Duke of Cumberland
Duke of Cumberland is a peerage title that was conferred upon junior members of the British Royal Family, named after the historic county of Cumberland.
History
The Earldom of Cumberland, created in 1525, became extinct in 1643. The dukedom ...
.
William excluded George from active military service, and neither George nor Anne wielded any great influence until after the deaths of Mary and then William, at which point Anne became queen. During his wife's reign, George occasionally used his influence in support of his wife, even when privately disagreeing with her views. He had an easy-going manner and little interest in politics; his appointment as
Lord High Admiral of England
Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The appellation can also denote certain persons who hold a title of the peerage in the United Kingdom, or are ...
in 1702 was largely honorary.
Anne's seventeen pregnancies by George resulted in twelve miscarriages or stillbirths, four infant deaths, and a chronically ill son,
Prince William, Duke of Gloucester
Prince William, Duke of Gloucester (24 July 1689 – 30 July 1700), was the son of Princess Anne (later Queen of England, Ireland and Scotland from 1702) and her husband, Prince George of Denmark. He was their only child to survive infanc ...
, who died at the age of eleven. Despite the deaths of their children, George and Anne's marriage was a strong one. George died aged 55 from a recurring and chronic lung disease, much to the devastation of his wife, and he was buried in
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...
.
Early life
George was born in
Copenhagen Castle
Copenhagen Castle ( da, Københavns Slot) was a castle on the islet of Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen, Denmark. It was built in the late 14th century and was located at the site of the current Christiansborg Palace.
History
In 1167, Bisho ...
, and was the younger son of
Frederick III,
King of Denmark
The monarchy of Denmark is a constitutional political system, institution and a historic office of the Kingdom of Denmark. The Kingdom includes Denmark proper and the autonomous administrative division, autonomous territories of the Faroe ...
and
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
, and
Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg
Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Calenberg (24 March 1628 – 20 February 1685) was Queen of Denmark and Norway as the consort of the King Frederick III of Denmark. She is known for her political influence, as well as for her cultural impact: she act ...
. His mother was the sister of
Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, later
Elector of Hanover
The Electorate of Hanover (german: Kurfürstentum Hannover or simply ''Kurhannover'') was an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire, located in northwestern Germany and taking its name from the capital city of Hanover. It was formally known as ...
. From 1661, his governor was
Otto Grote, later Hanoverian minister to Denmark. Grote was "more courtier and statesman than educator" and when he left for the Hanoverian court in 1665, he was replaced by the more effective
Christen Lodberg.
[Laursen, L. (1895)]
Jørgen (Georg), 1653–1708, Prins
. In: Bricka, Carl Frederik (ed.) ''Dansk biografisk Lexikon''. Copenhagen: Gyldendalske Boghandels. Vol. IX, pp. 14–18 George received military training, and undertook a
Grand Tour
The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tuto ...
of Europe, spending eight months in 1668–69 in France and mid-1669 in England.
[Gregg, p. 35] His father died in 1670, while George was in Italy, and George's elder brother,
Christian V, inherited the
Danish throne
The monarchy of Denmark is a constitutional institution and a historic office of the Kingdom of Denmark. The Kingdom includes Denmark proper and the autonomous territories of the Faroe Islands and Greenland. The Kingdom of Denmark was alre ...
. George returned home through Germany.
He travelled through Germany again in 1672–73, to visit two of his sisters,
Anna Sophia and
Wilhelmine Ernestine, who were married to the
electoral princes of
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
and the
Palatinate.
In 1674, George was a candidate for the
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
elective throne, for which he was backed by
King Louis XIV of France
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Ve ...
. George's staunch
Lutheranism
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...
was a barrier to election in
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
Poland,
[Beatty, p. 103] and
John Sobieski
John III Sobieski ( pl, Jan III Sobieski; lt, Jonas III Sobieskis; la, Ioannes III Sobiscius; 17 August 1629 – 17 June 1696) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1674 until his death in 1696.
Born into Polish nobility, Sobi ...
was chosen instead.
[ ] In 1677, George served with distinction with his elder brother Christian in the
Scanian War
The Scanian War ( da, Skånske Krig, , sv, Skånska kriget, german: Schonischer Krieg) was a part of the Northern Wars involving the union of Denmark–Norway, Brandenburg and Sweden. It was fought from 1675 to 1679 mainly on Scanian soil, ...
against Sweden.
His brother was captured by the Swedes at the
Battle of Landskrona, and George "cut his way through the enemies' numbers, and rescued him at the imminent danger of his own life."
[Fisher, p. 354]
As a
Protestant
Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
, George was considered a suitable partner for the niece of
King Charles II of England
Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651, and King of King of England, England, Scotland and King of Ireland, Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685.
Charles II ...
,
Lady Anne. They were distantly related (second cousins once removed; they were both descended from
King Frederick II of Denmark), and had never met. George was hosted by Charles II in London in 1669, but Anne had been in France at the time of George's visit. Both Denmark and Britain were Protestant, and Louis XIV was keen on an Anglo-Danish alliance to contain the power of the
Dutch Republic
The United Provinces of the Netherlands, also known as the (Seven) United Provinces, officially as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands (Dutch: ''Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden''), and commonly referred to in historiography ...
. Anne's uncle
Laurence Hyde, 1st Earl of Rochester
Laurence Hyde, 1st Earl of Rochester, (March 1642 – 2 May 1711) was an English statesman and writer. He was originally a supporter of James II but later supported the Glorious Revolution in 1688. He held high office under Queen Anne, daugh ...
, and the English
Secretary of State for the Northern Department,
Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland
Robert Spencer, 2nd Earl of Sunderland, (5 September 164128 September 1702) was an English nobleman and politician of the Spencer family. An able and gifted statesman, his caustic temper and belief in absolute monarchy nevertheless made him nu ...
, negotiated a marriage treaty with the Danes in secret, to prevent the plans leaking to the Dutch.
[Gregg, p. 32] Anne's father,
James, Duke of York, welcomed the marriage because it diminished the influence of his other son-in-law, Dutch
Stadtholder
In the Low Countries, ''stadtholder'' ( nl, stadhouder ) was an office of steward, designated a medieval official and then a national leader. The ''stadtholder'' was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and H ...
William III of Orange
William III (William Henry; ; 4 November 16508 March 1702), also widely known as William of Orange, was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from ...
, who was naturally unhappy with the match.
Marriage
![George, Prince of Denmark by John Riley](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/George%2C_Prince_of_Denmark_by_John_Riley.jpg)
George and Anne were married on 28 July 1683 in the
Chapel Royal
The Chapel Royal is an establishment in the Royal Household serving the spiritual needs of the sovereign and the British Royal Family. Historically it was a body of priests and singers that travelled with the monarch. The term is now also applie ...
at
St James's Palace
St James's Palace is the most senior royal palace in London, the capital of the United Kingdom. The palace gives its name to the Court of St James's, which is the monarch's royal court, and is located in the City of Westminster in London. Altho ...
,
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
, by
Henry Compton,
Bishop of London
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
. The guests included King Charles II,
Queen Catherine, and the Duke and
Duchess of York
Duchess of York is the principal Courtesy titles in the United Kingdom, courtesy title held by the wife of the duke of York. Three of the eleven dukes of York either did not marry or had already assumed the throne prior to marriage, whilst two of ...
. Anne was voted a parliamentary allowance of £20,000 a year, while George received £10,000 a year from his Danish estates, although payments from Denmark were often late or incomplete. King Charles gave them a set of buildings in the
Palace of Whitehall
The Palace of Whitehall (also spelt White Hall) at Westminster was the main residence of the English monarchs from 1530 until 1698, when most of its structures, except notably Inigo Jones's Banqueting House of 1622, were destroyed by fire. H ...
known as
the Cockpit The Cockpit can refer to:
* Cockpit Theatre, a 17th-century theatre in London (also known as the Phoenix) that opened in 1616
* The Cockpit Theatre (Marylebone), Cockpit, a theatre in London, England that opened in 1970
* The Cockpit (OVA), ''The C ...
(near the site of what is now
Downing Street
Downing Street is a street in Westminster in London that houses the official residences and offices of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Situated off Whitehall, it is long, and a few minutes' walk ...
in
Westminster
Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster.
The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Bu ...
) as their London residence.
George was not ambitious, and hoped to live a quiet life of domesticity with his wife. He wrote to a friend: "We talk here of going to tea, of going to Winchester, and everything else except sitting still all summer, which was the height of my ambition. God send me a quiet life somewhere, for I shall not be long able to bear this perpetual motion."
Within months of the marriage, Anne was pregnant but the baby, a girl, was stillborn in May. Anne recovered at the
spa town
A spa town is a resort town based on a mineral spa (a developed mineral spring). Patrons visit spas to "take the waters" for their purported health benefits.
Thomas Guidott set up a medical practice in the English town of Bath in 1668. He ...
of
Tunbridge Wells
Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the Weald, High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Roc ...
, and over the next two years, she gave birth to two daughters in quick succession, Mary and Anne Sophia. In early 1687, within a matter of days, George and his two young daughters caught
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
, and Anne suffered another miscarriage. George recovered, but both his daughters died.
Lady Rachel Russell
Rachel, Lady Russell ( Wriothesley ; – 29 September 1723) was an English noblewoman, heiress, and author. Her second husband was William, Lord Russell, who was implicated in the Rye House Plot and later executed. A collection of the many ...
wrote that George and Anne had "taken
he deathsvery heavily. The first relief of that sorrow proceeded from the threatening of a greater, the Prince being so ill of a fever. I never heard any relation more moving than that of seeing them together. Sometimes they wept, sometimes they mourned in words; then sat silent, hand in hand; he sick in bed, and she the carefullest nurse to him that can be imagined." He returned to Denmark for a two-month visit in mid-1687, while Anne remained in England. Later that year, after his return, Anne gave birth to another dead child, this time a son.
In February 1685, King Charles II died without legitimate issue, and George's father-in-law, the
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
Duke of York, became king as James II in England and Ireland and James VII in Scotland. George was appointed to the
Privy Council
A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...
and invited to attend Cabinet meetings, although he had no power to alter or affect decisions.
[Gregg, p. 37] William of Orange refused to attend James's
coronation
A coronation is the act of placement or bestowal of a coronation crown, crown upon a monarch's head. The term also generally refers not only to the physical crowning but to the whole ceremony wherein the act of crowning occurs, along with the ...
largely because George would take precedence over him. Although they were both sons-in-law of King James, George was also the son and brother of a king and so outranked William, who was an elected stadtholder of a republic.
Anne's older sister
Mary
Mary may refer to:
People
* Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name)
Religious contexts
* New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below
* Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...
had moved to the Netherlands after her marriage to William of Orange. Protestant opposition to James was therefore increasingly focused around Anne and George instead of Mary, who was
heir presumptive
An heir presumptive is the person entitled to inherit a throne, peerage, or other hereditary honour, but whose position can be displaced by the birth of an heir apparent or a new heir presumptive with a better claim to the position in question.
...
. The social and political grouping centred on George and Anne was known as the "Cockpit Circle" after their London residence.
On 5 November 1688, William invaded England in an action, known as the "
Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution; gd, Rèabhlaid Ghlòrmhor; cy, Chwyldro Gogoneddus , also known as the ''Glorieuze Overtocht'' or ''Glorious Crossing'' in the Netherlands, is the sequence of events leading to the deposition of King James II and ...
", which ultimately deposed King James. George was forewarned by the Danish envoy in London, Frederick Gersdorff, that William was assembling an invasion fleet. George informed Gersdorff that James's army was disaffected, and as a result he would refuse any command under James, but only serve as an uncommissioned volunteer. Gersdorff's alternative plan to evacuate George and Anne to Denmark was rejected by George. George accompanied the King's troops to Salisbury in mid-November, but other nobles and their soldiers soon deserted James for William. At each defection, George apparently exclaimed, "''Est-il possible?''" (Is it possible?).
He abandoned James on 24 November, and sided with William. "So 'Est-il possible' is gone too", James supposedly remarked.
In his memoirs, James dismissed George's defection as trivial, saying the loss of one good trooper was of more consequence, but Gersdorff claimed the defection greatly perturbed the King. The defection of George and other nobles was instrumental in whittling away the King's support. In December, James fled to France, and early the following year William and Mary were declared joint monarchs, with Anne as heir presumptive.
Duke of Cumberland
![Prince George as Lord High Admiral](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3f/Prince_George_as_Lord_High_Admiral.jpg)
In early April 1689, William assented to a bill naturalizing George as an English subject, and George was created
Duke of Cumberland
Duke of Cumberland is a peerage title that was conferred upon junior members of the British Royal Family, named after the historic county of Cumberland.
History
The Earldom of Cumberland, created in 1525, became extinct in 1643. The dukedom ...
,
Earl of Kendal
Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...
and Baron of Okingham (Wokingham) by the new monarchs.
He took his seat in the House of Lords on 20 April 1689, being introduced by the Dukes of
Somerset
( en, All The People of Somerset)
, locator_map =
, coordinates =
, region = South West England
, established_date = Ancient
, established_by =
, preceded_by =
, origin =
, lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset
, lord_ ...
and
Ormonde Ormonde is a surname occurring in Portugal (mainly Azores), Brazil, England, and United States. It may refer to:
People
* Ann Ormonde (born 1935), an Irish politician
* James Ormond or Ormonde (c. 1418–1497), the illegitimate son of John Butl ...
.
The mistrust between George and William was set aside during the revolution of 1688–89 but dogged relations during the latter's reign. George held mortgages on
Femern
Fehmarn (, da, Femern; from Old Wagrian Slavic "''Fe More''", meaning "''In the Sea''") is an island in the Baltic Sea, off the eastern coast of Germany's northernmost state of Schleswig-Holstein. It is Germany's third-largest island, after Rüg ...
,
Tremsbüttel
Tremsbüttel is a municipality in the district of Stormarn, in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after ...
and
Steinhorst, Schleswig-Holstein, which he surrendered to the
Duke of Holstein
The Duchy of Holstein (german: Herzogtum Holstein, da, Hertugdømmet Holsten) was the northernmost state of the Holy Roman Empire, located in the present German state of Schleswig-Holstein. It originated when King Christian I of Denmark had hi ...
as part of the peace of Altona of 1689 negotiated by William between Denmark and Sweden. William agreed to pay George interest and the capital in compensation, but George remained unpaid. During the
military campaign against James's supporters in Ireland, George accompanied the Williamite troops at his own expense, but was excluded from command, and was even refused permission to travel in his brother-in-law's coach. Snubbed from the army by William, George sought to join the navy, without rank, but was again thwarted by his brother-in-law. When William's Dutch guards failed to salute George, Anne assumed they were acting under orders. George and Anne retired from court. Some degree of reconciliation was achieved following Queen Mary's sudden and unexpected death from smallpox in 1694, which made Anne
heiress apparent
An heir apparent, often shortened to heir, is a person who is first in an order of succession and cannot be displaced from inheriting by the birth of another person; a person who is first in the order of succession but can be displaced by the b ...
. In November 1699, William finally recommended that Parliament pay the mortgage debt to George and, in early 1700, the debt was honoured.
By 1700, Anne had been pregnant at least seventeen times; twelve times, she miscarried or gave birth to stillborn children, and two of their five children born alive died within a day. The only one of the couple's children to survive infancy—
Prince William, Duke of Gloucester
Prince William, Duke of Gloucester (24 July 1689 – 30 July 1700), was the son of Princess Anne (later Queen of England, Ireland and Scotland from 1702) and her husband, Prince George of Denmark. He was their only child to survive infanc ...
—died in July 1700 at the age of 11. With Gloucester's death, Anne was the only person in the line of succession to the throne, as established by the "Glorious Revolution". To extend the line and secure the Protestant succession, Parliament passed the
Act of Settlement 1701, which designated William and Anne's nearest Protestant cousins, the
House of Hanover
The House of Hanover (german: Haus Hannover), whose members are known as Hanoverians, is a European royal house of German origin that ruled Hanover, Great Britain, and Ireland at various times during the 17th to 20th centuries. The house orig ...
, as the next in line after Anne.
George did not play a senior role in government until his wife Anne succeeded as queen on William's death in 1702. George was the chief mourner at William's funeral. Anne appointed him generalissimo of all English military forces on 17 April, and
Lord High Admiral, the official but nominal head of the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
, on 20 May. Actual power at the
Admiralty
Admiralty most often refers to:
*Admiralty, Hong Kong
*Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964
*The rank of admiral
*Admiralty law
Admiralty can also refer to:
Buildings
* Admiralty, Traf ...
was held by
George Churchill, whose elder brother was
John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough
General John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, 1st Prince of Mindelheim, 1st Count of Nellenburg, Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, (26 May 1650 – 16 June 1722 O.S.) was an English soldier and statesman whose career spanned the reign ...
, a great friend of Anne's and the captain-general of English land forces. Prince George had known the Churchills for years: another brother
Charles Churchill, had been one of his
gentlemen of the bedchamber in Denmark, and Marlborough had accompanied George on his journey from Denmark to England for his marriage to Anne in 1683. George's secretary in the 1680s was Colonel Edward Griffith, brother-in-law of the
Duchess of Marlborough, who was Anne's close confidante and friend.
George followed William III as Captain-General of the
Honourable Artillery Company
The Honourable Artillery Company (HAC) is a reserve regiment in the British Army. Incorporated by royal charter in 1537 by King Henry VIII, it is the oldest regiment in the British Army and is considered the second-oldest military unit in the w ...
, and was made
Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.
Anne failed, however, in her attempts to persuade the
States General of the Netherlands
The States General of the Netherlands ( nl, Staten-Generaal ) is the supreme bicameral legislature of the Netherlands consisting of the Senate () and the House of Representatives (). Both chambers meet at the Binnenhof in The Hague.
The States ...
to elect her husband captain-general of all Dutch forces, to maintain the unified command of the
Maritime Powers that William had held.
![Equestrian portrait of Prince George of Denmark - Dahl 1704](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/41/Equestrian_portrait_of_Prince_George_of_Denmark_-_Dahl_1704.jpg)
Anne obtained a parliamentary allowance of £100,000 a year for George in the event of her death. The bill sped through the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
easily but it was only narrowly passed by the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
. Marlborough supported the bill, but one of the lords against was Marlborough's son-in-law,
Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland
Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland, KG, PC (23 April 167519 April 1722), known as Lord Spencer from 1688 to 1702, was an English statesman and nobleman from the Spencer family. He served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1714–1717), Lord ...
. Marlborough dissuaded her from asking Parliament to make "her dearly loved husband King Consort".
Generally, during her reign, Anne and her husband spent the winter at
Kensington
Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London.
The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...
and
St James's Palace
St James's Palace is the most senior royal palace in London, the capital of the United Kingdom. The palace gives its name to the Court of St James's, which is the monarch's royal court, and is located in the City of Westminster in London. Altho ...
s, and the summer at
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history.
The original cast ...
or
Hampton Court Palace, where the air was fresher. George had recurrent
asthma
Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, cou ...
, and the cleaner air in the country was better for his breathing. They visited the spa town of
Bath, Somerset
Bath () is a city in the Bath and North East Somerset unitary area in the county of Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman-built baths. At the 2021 Census, the population was 101,557. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, ...
, in mid-1702, on the advice of George's doctors, and again in mid-1703. They occasionally visited
Newmarket, Suffolk
Newmarket is a market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. Located (14 miles) west of Bury St Edmunds and (14 miles) northeast of Cambridge. It is considered the birthplace and global centre of thoroughbred hor ...
, to view the
horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...
. On one visit, Anne bought George a horse, Leeds, for the vast sum of a thousand
guineas
The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where m ...
.
At the end of 1702, the Occasional Conformity Bill was introduced to Parliament. The bill aimed to disqualify Protestant
Dissenter
A dissenter (from the Latin ''dissentire'', "to disagree") is one who dissents (disagrees) in matters of opinion, belief, etc.
Usage in Christianity
Dissent from the Anglican church
In the social and religious history of England and Wales, and ...
s from public office by closing a loophole in the
Test Act
The Test Acts were a series of English penal laws that served as a religious test for public office and imposed various civil disabilities on Roman Catholics and nonconformists. The underlying principle was that only people taking communion in t ...
s, legislation that restricted public office to
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
conformist
Conformity is the act of matching attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to group norms, politics or being like-minded. Norms are implicit, specific rules, shared by a group of individuals, that guide their interactions with others. People often cho ...
s. The existing law permitted
nonconformist
Nonconformity or nonconformism may refer to:
Culture and society
* Insubordination, the act of willfully disobeying an order of one's superior
*Dissent, a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or entity
** ...
s to take office if they took Anglican
communion once a year. Anne was in favour of the measure, and forced George to vote for the bill in the House of Lords, even though, being a practising
Lutheran
Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...
, he was an occasional conformist himself.
As he cast his vote, he reportedly told an opponent of the bill, "My heart is vid you" . The bill did not gather sufficient parliamentary support and was eventually dropped.
[Curtis, p. 107; Green, pp. 108–109; Gregg, pp. 162–163] The following year, the bill was revived, but Anne withheld support, fearing its reintroduction was a deliberate pretence to cause a quarrel between the two main political groups: the
Tories
A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...
(who supported the bill) and the
Whigs (who opposed it). Once again it failed. George never became a member of the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
, which was headed by his wife throughout her reign. He remained Lutheran even after her accession, and had his own personal chapel.
In the first years of Anne's reign, the Whigs gained more power and influence at the expense of the Tories. In his capacity as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, George held influence in parliamentary boroughs on the south coast of England, which he used to support Whig candidates in the
general election of 1705.
In that year's election for
Speaker of the House of Commons Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a speaker to lead its proceedings.
Systems that have such a position include:
* Speaker of ...
, George and Anne supported a Whig candidate,
John Smith. George instructed his secretary,
George Clarke
George Clarke (7 May 1661 – 22 October 1736), of All Souls, Oxford, was an English architect, print collector and Tory politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1702 and 1736.
Life
The son of Sir William Clarke ...
, who was a
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
, to vote for Smith, but Clarke refused, instead supporting the Tory candidate
William Bromley. Clarke was sacked, and Smith was elected.
Illness and death
![Charles Boit, Queen Anne and Prince George crop](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Charles_Boit%2C_Queen_Anne_and_Prince_George_crop.jpg)
In March and April 1706, George was seriously ill. There was blood in his
sputum, but he seemed to recover, although he was too ill to attend a thanksgiving service at
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...
in June for a British victory in the
Battle of Ramillies
The Battle of Ramillies (), fought on 23 May 1706, was a battle of the War of the Spanish Succession. For the Grand Alliance – Austria, England, and the Dutch Republic – the battle had followed an indecisive campaign against the Bourbon a ...
. He missed another thanksgiving service in May 1707, to celebrate the Acts of Union 1707, union of England and Scotland, as he was recuperating at Hampton Court.
The Scilly naval disaster of 1707, in which a fleet commanded by Cloudesley Shovell, Sir Cloudesley Shovell foundered, highlighted mismanagement at the
Admiralty
Admiralty most often refers to:
*Admiralty, Hong Kong
*Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964
*The rank of admiral
*Admiralty law
Admiralty can also refer to:
Buildings
* Admiralty, Traf ...
, for which George was nominally responsible. Pressure grew to replace Admiral Churchill with someone more dynamic. By October 1708, five powerful politicians, known as the Whig Junto—Lords John Somers, 1st Baron Somers, Somers, Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, Halifax, Edward Russell, 1st Earl of Orford, Orford, Thomas Wharton, 1st Marquess of Wharton, Wharton and Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland, Sunderland—were clamouring for the removal of both Prince George and Churchill. Marlborough wrote to his brother telling him to resign, but Churchill refused, protected by Prince George.
Amid the political pressure, George was on his deathbed, suffering from severe
asthma
Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, cou ...
and dropsy. He died at 1:30 p.m. on 28 October 1708 at Kensington Palace. The Queen was devastated. James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos, James Brydges wrote to William Cadogan, 1st Earl Cadogan, General Cadogan,
His death has flung the Queen into an unspeakable grief. She never left him till he was dead, but continued kissing him the very moment his breath went out of his body, and 'twas with a great deal of difficulty my Lady Marlborough prevailed upon her to leave him.
Anne wrote to her nephew, Frederick IV of Denmark, "the loss of such a husband, who loved me so dearly and so devotedly, is too crushing for me to be able to bear it as I ought." Anne was desperate to stay at Kensington with the body of her husband, but under pressure from the Duchess of Marlborough, she reluctantly left Kensington for St James's Palace. Anne resented the Duchess's intrusive actions, which included removing a portrait of George from the Queen's bedchamber and then refusing to return it, in the belief that it was natural "to avoid seeing of papers or anything that belonged to one that one loved when they were just dead". Anne and the Duchess had been very close, but their friendship had become strained over political differences. The immediate aftermath of George's death damaged their relationship further. He was buried privately at midnight on 13 November in Westminster Abbey.
Legacy
![Statue of Prince George on Windsor Guildhall](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ec/Statue_of_Prince_George_on_Windsor_Guildhall.jpg)
Anne refused initially to appoint a new Lord High Admiral, and insisted on carrying out the duties of the office herself, without appointing a member of the government to take George's place. She burst into tears on the first occasion she was brought papers to sign in George's stead. Undeterred, the Junto demanded the appointment of Lord Orford, a member of the Junto and one of Prince George's leading critics, as First Lord of the Admiralty. Admiral Churchill retired, and Anne appointed the moderate Tory Thomas Herbert, 8th Earl of Pembroke, Lord Pembroke to lead the Admiralty, instead of a Whig. The Junto Whigs Somers and Wharton, however, were appointed to the Cabinet in Pembroke's vacated posts of Lord President of the Council and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. The Whigs were still dissatisfied, and continued to pressure Pembroke and the Queen. Pembroke resigned after less than a year in office. Another month of arguments followed before the Queen finally consented to put Orford in control of the Admiralty as First Lord in November 1709.
Personal traits and portrayal
Charles II of England, Charles II, Anne's uncle, famously said of Prince George, "I have tried him drunk, and I have tried him sober and there is nothing in him". He was quiet and self-effacing. John Macky thought him "of a familiar, easy disposition with a good sound understanding but modest in showing it ... very fat, loves news, his bottle & the Queen." In making fun of George's asthma, John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, Lord Mulgrave said the Prince was forced to breathe hard in case people mistook him for dead and buried him. By the time of Queen Victoria, George had a reputation as a dullard, and was the target of disdain. Victoria hoped her own husband, Albert, Prince Consort, Prince Albert, would never fill the "subordinate part played by the very stupid and insignificant husband of Queen Anne". In the 1930s, Winston Churchill said he "mattered very little", except to Anne.
![Miniature of Prince George](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/04/Miniature_of_Prince_George.jpg)
He had little impact on the running of the navy, but he was interested enough in navigation and welfare at sea to sponsor the publication of John Flamsteed's ''Observations'' in 1704.
He was not one of the most colourful political characters of his day—he was content to spend his time building model ships—but he was a loyal and supportive husband to Queen Anne. Their marriage was a devoted, loving and faithful one, though beset by personal tragedy.
The previous husband of a British queen regnant, William of Orange, had become king, refusing to take a subordinate rank to Mary. William and Mary had exemplified the traditional gender roles of seventeenth-century Europe: Mary was the dutiful wife and William held the power. George and Anne, however, reversed the roles: George was the dutiful husband and it was Anne who exercised the royal prerogatives. William had assumed incorrectly that George would use his marriage to Anne as a means of building a separate power base in Britain, but George never challenged his wife's authority and never strove to accrue influence. Anne occasionally used the image of wifely virtue to escape unpalatable situations by claiming, as a woman, she knew "nothing except what the prince tells me", but it was an artifice. Husbands had a legal right to their wife's property, and it was argued that it was unnatural and against the church's teachings for a man to be subject to his wife. George made no such claim or demand; he was content to remain a prince and duke. "I am her Majesty's subject", he said, "I shall do naught but what she commands me." In the words of historian Anne Somerset (historian), Anne Somerset, "the fact that Prince George was widely regarded as a nonentity helped reconcile people to his anomalous status, and so, almost by accident, George achieved a major advance for feminism." Winston Churchill wrote that he
was a fine-looking man, tall, blond, and good-natured ... He was neither clever nor learned—a simple, normal man without envy or ambition, and disposed by remarkable appetite and thirst for all the pleasures of the table. Charles's well-known verdict ... does not do justice to the homely virtues and unfailing good-humour of his staid and trustworthy character.
The Prince of Denmark's March by Jeremiah Clarke was written in his honour, and Prince George's County, Maryland, was named after him in 1696. Portraits by Godfrey Kneller, Sir Godfrey Kneller are at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfriesshire, and (in a double portrait with
George Clarke
George Clarke (7 May 1661 – 22 October 1736), of All Souls, Oxford, was an English architect, print collector and Tory politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1702 and 1736.
Life
The son of Sir William Clarke ...
) All Souls College, Oxford. Portraits in Denmark include one by Willem Wissing in the Reedtz-Thott collection and one by Karel van Mander III, Karel van Mander in the national collection at Frederiksborg Palace.
Prince George was a character in the 2015 play ''Queen Anne (play), Queen Anne'' by Helen Edmundson. Despite being alive and married to Queen Anne for the majority of the timeframe depicted in 2018 period comedy film ''The Favourite'', he was not depicted at all.
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Titles
*2 April 1653 – 10 April 1689: ''His Royal Highness'' Prince George of Denmark and Norway
*10 April 1689 – 28 October 1708: ''His Royal Highness'' Prince George of Denmark and Norway, Duke of Cumberland
Honours
*R af E: Order of the Elephant, Knight of the Elephant, ''from birth''
*KG: Order of the Garter, Knight of the Garter, ''1 January 1684''
Arms
The Coat of arms of Denmark, royal coat of arms of Denmark with a Label (heraldry), label of three points Argent, each with three Ermine (heraldry), Ermine points. The whole surmounted by a Crown (heraldry), crown of a prince of Denmark. His crest was "out of a coronet Or (heraldry), Or, a demi-lion rampant guardant Azure (heraldry), Azure, crowned of the first".
[Pinches and Pinches, p. 288]
Issue
Ancestry
Notes
Sources
References
* Beatty, Michael A. (2003). ''The English Royal Family of America, from Jamestown to the American Revolution''. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. .
* Winston Churchill, Churchill, Winston S. (1947) [1933–34]. ''Marlborough: His Life and Times''. London: George G. Harrop & Co.
* Curtis, Gila; introduced by Antonia Fraser (1972). ''The Life and Times of Queen Anne''. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. .
* Fisher, George (1832). ''A Genealogical Companion and Key to the History of England''. Part III. Book I. London: Simpkin & Marshall.
* Vicary Gibbs (St Albans MP), Gibbs, Vicary; Doubleday, H. A. (1913). ''Complete Peerage''. Volume III. London: St Catherine's Press.
* Green, David (1970). ''Queen Anne''. London: Collins. .
* Gregg, Edward (2001). ''Queen Anne''. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. .
* Narcissus Luttrell, Luttrell, Narcissus (1857). ''A Brief Historical Relation of State Affairs from September 1678 to April 1714.'' Oxford: University Press.
* Matikkala, Antti (2008). ''The Orders of Knighthood and the Formation of the British Honours System 1660–1760''. Rochester, New York: Boydell Press. .
* Paget, Gerald (1977). ''The Lineage & Ancestry of HRH Prince Charles, Prince of Wales''. London & Edinburgh: Charles Skilton. .
* John Pinches, Pinches, John Harvey; Pinches, Rosemary (1974). ''The Royal Heraldry of England''. Heraldry Today. Slough, Buckinghamshire: Hollen Street Press. .
* Anne Somerset (historian), Somerset, Anne (2012). ''Queen Anne: The Politics of Passion''. London: HarperCollins. .
* Alison Weir, Weir, Alison (1995). ''Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy, Revised Edition''. London: Random House. .
* Wójcik, Zbigniew (1983). ''Jan Sobieski, 1629–1696''. Warsaw: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy. .
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:George Of Denmark
Prince George of Denmark,
1653 births
1708 deaths
Anne, Queen of Great Britain
British royal consorts
Burials at Westminster Abbey
Candidates for the Polish elective throne
Danish princes
Dukes of Cumberland, 201
Earls of Kendal
Peers of England created by William III
House of Oldenburg in Denmark
Irish royal consorts
Knights of the Garter
Lord High Admirals
Lord High Admirals of England
Lords Warden of the Cinque Ports
Members of the Privy Council of England
Norwegian princes, George of Norway, Prince
17th-century Scottish people
17th-century English people
17th-century Irish people
18th-century Scottish people
18th-century English people
18th-century Irish people
Deaths from asthma
Deaths from edema
Sons of kings