Elizabeth, Princess Berkeley (born Lady Elizabeth Berkeley; 17 December 1750 – 13 January 1828), sometimes unofficially styled Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach, previously Elizabeth Craven, Baroness Craven of Hamstead Marshall, was an author and playwright, perhaps best known for her travelogues.

Biography

Early life

Elizabeth Berkeley was born in

Mayfair Mayfair is an area of Westminster, London, England, in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. It is between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane and one of the most expensive districts ...

, London, the fifth child of

Augustus Berkeley, 4th Earl of Berkeley Lieutenant-Colonel Augustus Berkeley, 4th Earl of Berkeley, KT (18 February 1715 – 9 January 1755) was the son of Vice-Admiral James Berkeley, 3rd Earl of Berkeley, and the former Lady Louisa Lennox. Biography He was made an ensign in the 1 ...

and his wife,

Elizabeth Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to: People * Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name) * Empress Elisabeth (disambiguation), lists various empresses named ''Elisabeth'' or ''Elizabeth'' * Princess Elizabeth ...

, daughter of Henry Drax and Elizabeth Ernle. She was the second child in the family to survive infancy.

Marriages and later life

Her life was full of scandal: on 30 May 1767, "much against her will at the age of sixteen", she was married to

William Craven, 6th Baron Craven William Craven, 6th Baron Craven (11 September 1738 – 26 September 1791) was an English nobility, English nobleman and a landowner. Biography William Craven was the son of Revd John Craven, Vicar of Stanton Lacy, Shropshire (1708–1752) ...

. After thirteen years of marriage, seven children, and affairs reported on both sides, the couple parted permanently in 1780. She had an affair with

Charles Francis Greville Charles Francis Greville PC FRS FRSE FLS FSA (12 May 1749 – 23 April 1809) was a British antiquarian, collector and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1774 to 1790. Early life Greville was the second son of Francis Greville ...

sometime in late 1783. Thereafter she lived in France and traveled extensively on the Continent. She lost contact with her eldest six children, but her seventh child, Richard Keppel Craven, who was four, lived with her. For a number of years she maintained a romantic relationship with Alexander, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach. During her years at the Ansbach court, Lady Craven formed an

amateur theatre Amateur theatre, also known as amateur dramatics, is theatre performed by amateur actors and singers. Amateur theatre groups may stage plays, revues, musicals, light opera, pantomime or variety shows, and do so for the social activity as well as f ...

at court, which counted the composer Maria Theresia von Ahlefeldt among its members. Princess Frederica Caroline of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, the Margrave's wife since 1754, died on 18 February 1791, and Lord Craven died in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

on 26 September 1791. Lady Craven and the Margrave then married in

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

on 30 October 1791 and settled in England. While the Margravine was snubbed by ladies mindful of their reputations, as well as by her new husband's cousin, King

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

, and by Queen

Marie Antoinette Marie Antoinette (; ; Maria Antonia Josefa Johanna; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was the last List of French royal consorts, queen of France before the French Revolution and the establishment of the French First Republic. She was the ...

when she visited France, the couple lived a full and opulent life in

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. It ...

, London, and at

Benham Park Benham Park is a mansion (on the site of Benham Valence Manor) in the English ceremonial county of Berkshire and district of West Berkshire. It is west of Newbury within 500m of a junction of the A34 trunk road Newbury bypass outside the to ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

. Lady Craven was never legally entitled to share her husband's German rank and title, though on 20 February 1801, she was granted the

morganatic Morganatic marriage, sometimes called a left-handed marriage, is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which in the context of royalty or other inherited title prevents the principal's position or privileges being passed to the spous ...

title of "Princess ''(

Fürst ' (, female form ', plural '; from Old High German ', "the first", a translation of the Latin ') is a German language, German word for a ruler as well as a princely title. ' were, starting in the Middle Ages, members of the highest nobility who ...

in)'' Berkeley" by the last

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...

Francis II Francis II may refer to: * Francis II, Duke of Brittany (1433–1488) * Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquess of Mantua (1466–1519), ruler of the Italian city of Mantua * Francis II of France (1544–1560), king of France * Francis II, Duke of Lorraine ...

. In fact, Alexander, being the last of his

cadet branch A cadet branch consists of the male-line descendants of a monarch's or patriarch's younger sons ( cadets). In the ruling dynasties and noble families of much of Europe and Asia, the family's major assets (realm, titles, fiefs, property and incom ...

of the

House of Hohenzollern The House of Hohenzollern (, ; , ; ) is a formerly royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) German dynasty whose members were variously princes, Prince-elector, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern Castle, Hohenzollern, Margraviate of Bran ...

, and childless, had exchanged his hereditary

birthright Birthright is the concept of things being due to a person upon or by fact of their birth, or due to the order of their birth. These may include rights of citizenship based on the place where the person was born or the citizenship of their paren ...

to the

appanage An appanage, or apanage (; ), is the grant of an estate, title, office or other thing of value to a younger child of a monarch, who would otherwise have no inheritance under the system of primogeniture (where only the eldest inherits). It was ...

s of

Ansbach Ansbach ( , ; ) is a city in the Germany, German state of Bavaria. It is the capital of the Regierungsbezirk, administrative region of Mittelfranken, Middle Franconia. Ansbach is southwest of Nuremberg and north of Munich, on the river Fränk ...

and

Bayreuth Bayreuth ( or ; High Franconian German, Upper Franconian: Bareid, ) is a Town#Germany, town in northern Bavaria, Germany, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Franconian Jura and the Fichtel Mountains. The town's roots date back to 11 ...

for an

annuity In investment, an annuity is a series of payments made at equal intervals based on a contract with a lump sum of money. Insurance companies are common annuity providers and are used by clients for things like retirement or death benefits. Examples ...

of 300,000

guilder Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch and German ''gulden'', originally shortened from Middle High German ''guldin pfenninc'' (" gold penny"). This was the term that became current in the southern and western parts of the Holy Rom ...

s from his ''

pater familias The ''pater familias'', also written as ''paterfamilias'' (: ''patres familias''), was the head of a Roman family. The ''pater familias'' was the oldest living male in a household, and could legally exercise autocratic authority over his extende ...

'', King

Frederick William II of Prussia Frederick William II (; 25 September 1744 – 16 November 1797) was King of Prussia from 1786 until his death in 1797. He was also the prince-elector of Brandenburg and (through the Orange-Nassau inheritance of his grandfather) sovereign princ ...

, a month after his second marriage. In England, however, the couple were usually known as the Margrave and Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach. After Alexander's death at Benham Park in 1806, Princess Berkeley moved to

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

. She died at Craven Villa in

Posillipo Posillipo (; ) is an affluent residential quarter of Naples, southern Italy, located along the northern coast of the Gulf of Naples. From the 1st century BC the Bay of Naples witnessed the rise of villas constructed by elite Romans along the mo ...

and was buried in 1828 in the English Cemetery at Naples. Her links with the Hammersmith area are commemorated in the names of two roads in the area – ''Margravine Gardens'' and ''Margravine Road''. There is a wall monument by Roubiliac to her in St Mary's Church, Scarborough. Her children were: * Hon. Elizabeth Craven (1768 – 1799), married John Edward Maddocks * Hon. Maria Margaret Craven (1769 – 1851), married

William Molyneux, 2nd Earl of Sefton William Philip Molyneux, 2nd Earl of Sefton (18 September 1772 – 20 November 1838), also known as Lord Dashalong, was a sportsman, gambler and a friend of the Prince Regent. Personal life Born in 1772, Lord Sefton was the only son of Charles ...

* Major-General William Craven, 1st Earl of Craven (1770 – 1825) * Hon. Georgiana Craven (1772 – 1839) * Hon. Arabella Craven (1774 – 1819), married General Hon. Frederick St John * Major-General Hon. Henry Augustus Berkeley Craven (1776 – 1836) * Hon. Richard Keppel Craven (1779 – 1851)

Works

Early in her literary career she wrote a number of light

farce Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable. Farce is also characterized by heavy use of physical comedy, physical humor; the use of delibe ...

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment, generally combining gender-crossing actors and topical humour with a story more or less based on a well-known fairy tale, fable or ...

s, and

fable Fable is a literary genre defined as a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a parti ...

s, some of which were performed in London. She knew

Samuel Johnson Samuel Johnson ( – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, literary critic, sermonist, biographer, editor, and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...

and

James Boswell James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck (; 29 October 1740 ( N.S.) – 19 May 1795), was a Scottish biographer, diarist, and lawyer, born in Edinburgh. He is best known for his biography of the English writer Samuel Johnson, '' Life of Samuel ...

, and became a close friend of

Horace Walpole Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford (; 24 September 1717 – 2 March 1797), better known as Horace Walpole, was an English Whig politician, writer, historian and antiquarian. He had Strawberry Hill House built in Twickenham, southwest London ...

, who published her early works.

Publications

* : this is one of the few of Craven's musical compositions to survive. * : Translated from ''Le Somnambule'', a comedy by Antoine de Ferriol de Pont-de-Veyle; Craven also wrote the prologue and epilogue.Craven, Elizabeth
" The Women's Print History Project, 2019, Person ID 1168. Accessed 2022-08-27. *: translated from

Giuseppe Parini Giuseppe Parini (23 May 1729 – 15 August 1799) was an Italian satirist and Neoclassicism, Neoclassical poet. Biography Parini (originally spelled Parino) was born in Bosisio Parini, Bosisio (later renamed Bosisio Parini in his honour) in Brianz ...

's original Italian * : published anonymously; went into four editions by 1781. * : published anonymously; a new edition came out the following year after the play debuted professionally * : published anonymously * : there was a second edition, and an Irish edition, the same year *: this play was only translated into English in 2018 * * * * * *

Performances

Most of Craven's plays were produced as private theatricals at Brandenburgh House at

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

. Three of them were produced on the professional stage: *''The Miniature Picture'' ran four nights at

Drury Lane Drury Lane is a street on the boundary between the Covent Garden and Holborn areas of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of London Borough of Camden, Camden and the southern part in the City o ...

beginning Wednesday 24 May 1780. *''The Silver Tankard; or, The Point at Portsmouth'' (with music by Craven, Tommaso Giordani, and Samuel Arnold) began a six-performance run at the

Haymarket Theatre The Theatre Royal Haymarket (also known as Haymarket Theatre or the Little Theatre) is a West End theatre in Haymarket, London, Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in ...

on Wednesday 18 July 1781. *''The Princess of Georgia'' played at

Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist sit ...

on Friday 19 April 1799.

Etexts

* *''Modern anecdotes'' (1779)
full text
at Google Books *''The Miniature Picture'' (1780)
full text
at Google Books *''A journey through the Crimea'' (1789)
full text
at HathiTrust
full text
at Google Books *''Memoirs of the Margravine of Anspach'' (1826)
full text
at HathiTrust
full text
at Google Books

Notes

External links

*
Craven, Elizabeth
" The Women's Print History Project, 2019, Person ID 1168. Accessed 2022-08-27.
Elizabeth Craven
Covey Author Page.
Elizabeth Craven
at th
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive (ECPA)Lady Elizabeth CravenWomen’s Travel Writing, 1780–1840British Travel Writing
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Berkeley, Elizabeth, Princess 1750 births 1828 deaths Daughters of British earls English baronesses English dramatists and playwrights People from Hammersmith People from Speen, Berkshire People from Westminster British women dramatists and playwrights 18th-century British women writers 18th-century British writers 18th-century travel writers 19th-century English women writers 19th-century English writers 19th-century travel writers British women travel writers English classical composers English opera composers English women singers

Margravines of Brandenburg-Ansbach Princesses in the German Empire Morganatic spouses of German royalty British travel writers British women opera composers