Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, (15 January 1776 – 30 November 1834) was a great-grandson of King George II of Great Britain and the nephew and son-in-law of

King George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great B ...

. He was the grandson of both

Frederick, Prince of Wales Frederick, Prince of Wales, (Frederick Louis, ; 31 January 170731 March 1751), was the eldest son and heir apparent of King George II of Great Britain. He grew estranged from his parents, King George and Queen Caroline. Frederick was the fa ...

(George II's eldest son), and Edward Walpole. Prince William married Princess Mary, the fourth daughter of George III.

Early life

Prince William Frederick was born on 15 January 1776 at Palazzo Teodoli in via del Corso,

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

. His father was Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, the third son of the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rule ...

. His mother, Maria, was the illegitimate daughter of Edward Walpole and granddaughter of

Robert Walpole Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, (26 August 1676 – 18 March 1745; known between 1725 and 1742 as Sir Robert Walpole) was a British statesman and Whig politician who, as First Lord of the Treasury, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Lea ...

. As a great-grandson of George II he held the title of Prince of Great Britain with the style ''

His Highness Highness (abbreviation HH, oral address Your Highness) is a formal style used to address (in second person) or refer to (in third person) certain members of a reigning or formerly reigning dynasty. It is typically used with a possessive adje ...

'', not ''His Royal Highness'', at birth. The young prince was baptized at Teodoli Palace, on 12 February 1776 by a Rev Salter. His godparents were his father's cousin and cousin-in-law, the Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg; and the Duke of Gloucester's second cousin, the Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach. During his stay in Stockholm in 1802–1803, William's interest and rumoured affair with

Aurora Wilhelmina Koskull Aurora Wilhelmina Brahe née Koskull (22 November 1778 – 19 February 1852) was a Swedish lady-in-waiting and politically active salonist. Life Aurora Wilhelmina Koskull was the daughter of the courtier Baron Otto Anders Koskull and Amalia Bea ...

attracted a lot of attention, and he reportedly had plans to marry her. Queen Charlotte recalled that William said of Koskull: "If she was your daughter, I would marry her!" William was admitted to the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

(

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

) in 1787, and granted his MA in 1790. He set up his London home at 31

Upper Grosvenor Street Upper Grosvenor Street is a one-way Georgian street in Mayfair, London, United Kingdom. It runs from the north side of the Grosvenor House Hotel (fronting Park Lane) to the south side of the London Chancery Building (fronting Grosvenor Squar ...

Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world ...

. On 25 August 1805, Prince William's father died, and he inherited the titles Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh and Earl of Connaught. From 1811 until his death William was Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He was offered the throne of Sweden in 1812 by some members of the Swedish nobility, but the British government would not allow it; the French marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte was eventually selected to become King Charles XIV John.

Marriage

On 22 July 1816, Prince William married his first cousin Princess Mary, the fourth daughter of

. The marriage took place 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. Al ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, 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 dow ...

. On that day, the Prince Regent granted the Duke the style of ''

His Royal Highness Royal Highness is a style used to address or refer to some members of royal families, usually princes or princesses. Monarchs and their consorts are usually styled ''Majesty''. When used as a direct form of address, spoken or written, it t ...

'' by Order in Council. The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester lived at Bagshot Park in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

. They had no children together; they had married when both were 40. The Duke had been encouraged to stay single, so that there might be a suitable groom for Princess Charlotte of Wales, the heiress to the throne, even if no foreign match proved suitable; she had married Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg ten weeks earlier.

Later life

William was active in many walks of life, and on 27 April 1822 he chaired the first Annual General Meeting of

's new United University Club. Politics, however, was not among them; he entered the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...

rarely, and he voted on few of the great issues of his time. He did advocate the abolition of slavery, and he supported Caroline of Brunswick and Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, against

King George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten ye ...

.A. W. Purdue
‘William Frederick, Prince, second duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh (1776–1834)’
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edn, May 2009. The Duke of Gloucester kept more state than the King; he never permitted a gentleman to be seated in his presence (which King George did as an exceptional favour) and expected to be served coffee by the ladies of any party he attended, and that they would stand while he drank it. The general estimate of his capacity is given by his nickname, "Silly Billy"; he was also called "Slice of Gloucester" and "Cheese", a reference to

Gloucester cheese Gloucester is a traditional, semi-hard cheese which has been made in Gloucestershire, England, since the 16th century. There are two varieties of the cheese, Single and Double; both are traditionally made from milk from Gloucester cattle. Both ...

. Because of the unequal character of his parents' marriage, the Duke was excluded from 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 or ...

, being considered only a British prince. For instance, he and his sister Sophia were not listed in the genealogical listing of the electoral house of Hanover in the ''Königlicher Groß-Britannischer und Kurfürstlicher Braunschweig-Lüneburgscher Staats-Kalender''. He was also not invited to sign the family compact of the house of Brunswick-Lüneburg in 1831, which means that he was not considered an agnate of the royal (electoral) house in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. The Duke died on 30 November 1834 at Bagshot Park, and was buried in St. George's Chapel, Windsor.

Honours

*KG: Knight of the Garter, ''16 July 1794''

Arms

William was granted use of his father's arms (being the arms of the kingdom, differenced by a ''label argent of five points, the centre bearing a fleur-de-lys azure, the other points each bearing a cross gules''), the whole differenced by a ''label argent'' (or ''azure'').Marks of Cadency in the British Royal Family
Heraldica.org. Retrieved on 15 July 2012.

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:William Frederick, Duke Of Gloucester And Edinburgh, Prince 1776 births 1834 deaths Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Princes of Great Britain Princes of the United Kingdom British field marshals Chancellors of the University of Cambridge

102 102 may refer to: *102 (number), the number * AD 102, a year in the 2nd century AD *102 BC, a year in the 2nd century BC * 102 (ambulance service), an emergency medical transport service in Uttar Pradesh, India * 102 (Clyde) Field Squadron, Royal En ...

Grenadier Guards officers House of Hanover Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Knights of the Garter Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People from Bagshot Fellows of the Royal Society Royal Warwickshire Fusiliers officers Scots Guards officers Burials at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle