Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn

Prince Henry
Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn

The Duke of Cumberland, as painted by Thomas Gainsborough, 1777
Born (1745-11-07)7 November 1745
Leicester House, London
Died 18 September 1790(1790-09-18) (aged 44)
London
Spouse Anne Horton
House Hanover
Father Frederick, Prince of Wales
Mother Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha

Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn (Henry Frederick;[1] 7 November 1745 – 18 September 1790) was the sixth child and fourth son of Frederick, Prince of Wales and Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, and a younger brother of George III. His 1771 marriage to a commoner against the King's wishes prompted the Royal Marriages Act of 1772 .

Early life

Prince Henry, aged 9, by Liotard

Prince Henry of Wales was born on 7 November 1745 at Leicester House, London to Frederick, Prince of Wales, son of George II and Caroline of Ansbach, and his wife The Princess of Wales. He was christened at Leicester House twenty-three days later.[2]

Royal Dukedom

Equestrian portrait by David Morier around 1765

On 22 October 1766,[3] just prior to his twenty-first birthday, the prince was created Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn and Earl of Dublin.

Allegations

On 4 March 1767, the Duke of Cumberland allegedly married Olive Wilmot (later Mrs Payne), a commoner, in a secret ceremony. There reportedly was one child, Olivia Wilmot (1772–1834), from this relationship, though the duke's paternity was never proven, and Olivia Wilmot was accused of forging the evidence. A landscape painter and novelist, Olivia Wilmot married John Thomas Serres (1759–1825) and later, controversially, assumed the title of "Princess Olivia of Cumberland".

In 1769, the Duke of Cumberland was sued by Lord Grosvenor for "criminal conversation" (that is, adultery) after the Duke and Lady Grosvenor were discovered in flagrante delicto.[4] Lord Grosvenor was awarded damages of £10,000, which together with costs amounted to an award of £13,000 (equivalent to £1,630,000 in 2015).[5]

Royal Navy

In 1768, at the fairly late age of 22, the Duke entered the Royal Navy as a midshipman and was sent to Corsica in HMS Venus. However, he returned in September when the ship was recalled following the French invasion of the Corsican Republic. He was promoted to Rear-Admiral the following year and Vice-Admiral in 1770.[6]

Marriage

The Duke's marriage to a commoner, the widow Anne Horton (or Houghton) (1743–1808), on 2 October 1771 caused a rift with the King and was the catalyst for the Royal Marriages Act 1772, which forbids any descendant of George II to marry without the monarch's permission. There were no children from this marriage. Anne, though from a noble family – she was a daughter of Simon Luttrell, 1st Earl of Carhampton, and the widow of Christopher Horton of Catton Hall – seems to have been rather loose with her favours, given one wag's comment that she was "the Duke of Grafton's Mrs Houghton, the Duke of Dorset's Mrs Houghton, everyone's Mrs Houghton."[7]

The marriage between Anne Horton and the Duke of Cumberland was described as a “conquest at Brighthelmstone” (now Brighton) by Mrs. Horton, "who", Horace Walpole says, "had for many months been dallying with his passion, till she had fixed him to more serious views than he had intended."[8] Anne was however generally thought one of the great beauties of the age, and Thomas Gainsborough painted her several times.

Later life

In 1775, the Duke established the Cumberland Fleet, which would later become the Royal Thames Yacht Club. He was promoted Admiral in 1778, though he was forbidden from assuming any command.[6] The Duke was also instrumental in the development of Brighton as a popular resort. He had first visited in 1771, and in 1783, the Prince of Wales visited his uncle there.

The Duke of Cumberland died in London on 18 September 1790. His widow died in 1808.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

British Royalty
House of Hanover
Quarterly, I Gules three lions passant guardant in pale Or impaling Or a lion rampant within a double-tressure flory-counter-flory Gules; II Azure three fleurs-de-lys Or; III Azure a harp Or stringed Argent; IV tierced per pale and per chevron, I Gules two lions passant guardant Or, II Or a semy of hearts Gules a lion rampant Azure, III Gules a horse courant Argent, overall an escutcheon Gules charged with the crown of Charlemagne Or
George II
Frederick, Prince of Wales
Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange
Princess Amelia
Princess Caroline
Prince William, Duke of Cumberland
Mary, Landgravine of Hesse-Cassel
Louise, Queen of Denmark and Norway
Grandchildren
Augusta, Duchess of Brunswick
George III
Prince Edward, Duke of York and Albany
Princess Elizabeth of Wales
Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh
Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn
Princess Louisa of Wales
Prince Frederick of Wales
Caroline Matilda, Queen of Denmark and Norway
Great-grandchildren
Princess Sophia of Gloucester
Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh

Titles

The prince's full style, as recited by Garter King of Arms at his funeral, was the "Most High, Most Mighty and Illustrious Prince Henry Frederick, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn, Earl of Dublin, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter".[9]

Arms

Henry was granted use of the arms of the kingdom, differenced by a label argent of five points, the centre bearing a cross gules, the other points each bearing a fleur-de-lys azure.[10]

Ancestors

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 He is called simply "(His Royal Highness) Prince Henry" in the London Gazette 8 September 1761; 25 May; 28 December 1765; 14 December 1771
  2. Yvonne's Royalty Home Page: Royal Christenings
  3. Yvonne's Royalty: Peerage
  4. Stella Tillyard (2010). A Royal Affair: George III and His Troublesome Siblings. Random House. pp. 169–175. ISBN 1-4090-1769-9.
  5. UK CPI inflation numbers based on data available from Gregory Clark (2016), "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)" MeasuringWorth.
  6. 1 2 The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
  7. Walpole, Horace. Memoirs and Portraits, 195.
  8. Walpole, Horace. Memoirs and Portraits, 244.
  9. The London Gazette: no. 13241. p. 598. 2 October 1790.
  10. Marks of Cadency in the British Royal Family
Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn
Cadet branch of the House of Welf
Born: 7 November 1745 Died: 18 September 1790
Masonic offices
Preceded by
The Duke of Manchester
Grand Master of the Premier Grand Lodge of England
1782–1790
Succeeded by
The Earl of Moira
(as Acting Grand Master)
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/19/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.