Frances Burney
Frances Burney known as Fanny Burney and after her marriage as Madame d'Arblay, was an English satirical novelist and playwright. She was born in Lynn Regis, now King's Lynn, England, on 13 June 1752, to the musician and music historian Dr Charles Burney and his first wife, Esther Sleepe Burney; the third of her mother's six children, she was self-educated and began writing what she called her "scribblings" at the age of ten. In 1786–1790 she was an unusual appointment as a courtier, becoming "Keeper of the Robes" to Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, George III's queen. In 1793, aged 41, she married General Alexandre D'Arblay, their only son, was born in 1794. After a lengthy writing career, travels, during which she was stranded in France by warfare for more than ten years, she settled in Bath, where she died on 6 January 1840. Burney wrote four novels, of which the first, Evelina was the most successful, remains the most regarded, she wrote several plays, most never given public performances in her lifetime, a memoir of her father, left large quantities of letters and journals, which have been published since 1889.
Frances Burney was a novelist and playwright. In all, she wrote four novels, eight plays, one biography and twenty-five volumes of journals and letters, she has gained critical respect in her own right, but she foreshadowed such novelists of manners with a satirical bent as Jane Austen and Thackeray. She published her first novel, anonymously in 1778. During that period, novel reading was frowned upon as something young women of a certain social status should not do, while novel writing was out of the question. Burney feared that her father would discover what she called her "scribblings"; when she Burney published Evelina anonymously, she told only told her siblings and two trusted aunts. Her father read the novel and guessed that Burney was its author. News of her identity spread, it brought Burney immediate fame with its unique narrative and comic strengths. She followed it with Cecilia in 1782, Camilla in 1796 and The Wanderer in 1814. All Burney's novels explore the lives of English aristocrats and satirise their social pretensions and personal foibles, with an eye to larger questions such as the politics of female identity.
With one exception, Burney never succeeded in having her plays performed due to objections from her father, who thought that publicity from such an effort would be damaging to her reputation. The exception was Edwy and Elgiva, not well received by the public and closed after the first night's performance. Although her novels were hugely popular during her lifetime, Burney's reputation as a writer of fiction suffered after her death at the hands of biographers and critics, who felt that the extensive diaries, published posthumously in 1842–1846, offer a more interesting and accurate portrait of 18th-century life. Today critics are returning to her novels and plays with renewed interest in her outlook on the social lives and struggles of women in a predominantly male-oriented culture. Scholars continue to value Burney's diaries as well, for their candid depictions of English society. Throughout her writing career, Burney's wit and talent for satirical caricature were acknowledged: literary figures such as Dr Samuel Johnson, Edmund Burke, Hester Thrale and David Garrick were among her admirers.
Her early novels were read and enjoyed by Jane Austen, whose own title Pride and Prejudice derives from the final pages of Cecilia. William Makepeace Thackeray is reported to have drawn on the first-person account of the Battle of Waterloo, recorded in her diaries, while writing Vanity Fair. Burney's early career was affected by her relations with her father and the critical attentions of a family friend, Samuel Crisp. Both encouraged her writing, but used their influence in a critical fashion, dissuading her from publishing or performing her dramatic comedies, as they saw the genre as inappropriate for a lady. Many feminist critics have since seen her as an author whose natural talent for satire was somewhat stifled by such social pressures on female authors. Burney persisted despite the setbacks; when her comedies were poorly received, she returned to novel writing, tried her hand at tragedy. She supported both herself and her family on the proceeds of her novels and The Wanderer. Frances was the third child in a family of six.
Her elder siblings were Esther and James, the younger Susanna Elizabeth and Charlotte Ann. Of her brothers, James became an admiral and sailed with Captain James Cook on his second and third voyages; the younger Charles Burney became a well-known classical scholar, after whom The Burney Collection of Newspapers is named. Her younger sister Susanna married in 1781 Molesworth Phillips, an officer in the Royal Marines who had sailed in Captain Cook's last expedition, her younger half-sister, Sarah Harriet Burney became a novelist, publishing seven works of fiction. Esther Sleepe Burney bore two other boys, both named Charles, who died in infancy in 1752 and 1754. Frances Burney began composing small letters and stories as soon as she learned the alphabet, she joined with her brothers and sisters in writing and acting in plays. The Burney family had many close friends. "Daddy Crisp" was like a second father to Frances, a strong influence on her early writing years. Burney scholar Margaret Anne Doody has investigated conflicts within the Burney family that affected
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council known as the Privy Council of the United Kingdom or just the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership comprises senior politicians who are current or former members of either the House of Commons or the House of Lords; the Privy Council formally advises the sovereign on the exercise of the Royal Prerogative, corporately it issues executive instruments known as Orders in Council, which among other powers enact Acts of Parliament. The Council holds the delegated authority to issue Orders of Council used to regulate certain public institutions; the Council advises the sovereign on the issuing of Royal Charters, which are used to grant special status to incorporated bodies, city or borough status to local authorities. Otherwise, the Privy Council's powers have now been replaced by its executive committee, the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. Certain judicial functions are performed by the Queen-in-Council, although in practice its actual work of hearing and deciding upon cases is carried out day-to-day by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
The Judicial Committee consists of senior judges appointed as Privy Counsellors: predominantly Justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and senior judges from the Commonwealth. The Privy Council acted as the High Court of Appeal for the entire British Empire, continues to hear appeals from the Crown Dependencies, the British Overseas Territories, some independent Commonwealth states; the Privy Council of the United Kingdom was preceded by the Privy Council of Scotland and the Privy Council of England. The key events in the formation of the modern Privy Council are given below: In Anglo-Saxon England, Witenagemot was an early equivalent to the Privy Council of England. During the reigns of the Norman monarchs, the English Crown was advised by a royal court or curia regis, which consisted of magnates and high officials; the body concerned itself with advising the sovereign on legislation and justice. Different bodies assuming distinct functions evolved from the court; the courts of law took over the business of dispensing justice, while Parliament became the supreme legislature of the kingdom.
The Council retained the power to hear legal disputes, either in the first instance or on appeal. Furthermore, laws made by the sovereign on the advice of the Council, rather than on the advice of Parliament, were accepted as valid. Powerful sovereigns used the body to circumvent the Courts and Parliament. For example, a committee of the Council—which became the Court of the Star Chamber—was during the 15th century permitted to inflict any punishment except death, without being bound by normal court procedure. During Henry VIII's reign, the sovereign, on the advice of the Council, was allowed to enact laws by mere proclamation; the legislative pre-eminence of Parliament was not restored until after Henry VIII's death. Though the royal Council retained legislative and judicial responsibilities, it became a administrative body; the Council consisted of forty members in 1553, but the sovereign relied on a smaller committee, which evolved into the modern Cabinet. By the end of the English Civil War, the monarchy, House of Lords, Privy Council had been abolished.
The remaining parliamentary chamber, the House of Commons, instituted a Council of State to execute laws and to direct administrative policy. The forty-one members of the Council were elected by the House of Commons. In 1653, Cromwell became Lord Protector, the Council was reduced to between thirteen and twenty-one members, all elected by the Commons. In 1657, the Commons granted Cromwell greater powers, some of which were reminiscent of those enjoyed by monarchs; the Council became known as the Protector's Privy Council. In 1659, shortly before the restoration of the monarchy, the Protector's Council was abolished. Charles II restored the Royal Privy Council, but he, like previous Stuart monarchs, chose to rely on a small group of advisers. Under George I more power transferred to this committee, it now began to meet in the absence of the sovereign, communicating its decisions to him after the fact. Thus, the British Privy Council, as a whole, ceased to be a body of important confidential advisers to the sovereign.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the definition of the word privy in Privy Council is an obsolete meaning "of or pertaining to a particular person or persons, one's own". It is related to the word private, derives from the French word privé; the sovereign, when acting on the Council's advice, is known as the King-in-Council or Queen-in-Council. The members of the Council are collectively known as The Lords of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council; the chief officer of the body is the Lord President of the Council, the fourth highest Great Officer of State, a Cabinet member and either the Leader of the House of Lords or of the House of Commons. Another important official is the Clerk, whose signature is appended to all orders made in the Council. Both Privy Counsellor and Privy Councillor may be used to refer to a member of the Council; the former, however, is preferred by the Privy Council Office, emphasising English usage of the term Counsellor a
George III of the United Kingdom
George III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death in 1820. He was concurrently Duke and prince-elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg in the Holy Roman Empire before becoming King of Hanover on 12 October 1814, he was the third British monarch of the House of Hanover, but unlike his two predecessors, he was born in Great Britain, spoke English as his first language, never visited Hanover. His life and with it his reign, which were longer than those of any of his predecessors, were marked by a series of military conflicts involving his kingdoms, much of the rest of Europe, places farther afield in Africa, the Americas and Asia. Early in his reign, Great Britain defeated France in the Seven Years' War, becoming the dominant European power in North America and India. However, many of Britain's American colonies were soon lost in the American War of Independence.
Further wars against revolutionary and Napoleonic France from 1793 concluded in the defeat of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. In the part of his life, George III had recurrent, permanent, mental illness. Although it has since been suggested that he had bipolar disorder or the blood disease porphyria, the cause of his illness remains unknown. After a final relapse in 1810, a regency was established. George III's eldest son, Prince of Wales, ruled as Prince Regent until his father's death, when he succeeded as George IV. Historical analysis of George III's life has gone through a "kaleidoscope of changing views" that have depended on the prejudices of his biographers and the sources available to them; until it was reassessed in the second half of the 20th century, his reputation in the United States was one of a tyrant. George was born in London at Norfolk House in St James's Square, he was the grandson of King George II, the eldest son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, Augusta of Saxe-Gotha.
As he was born two months prematurely and thought unlikely to survive, he was baptised the same day by Thomas Secker, both Rector of St James's and Bishop of Oxford. One month he was publicly baptised at Norfolk House, again by Secker, his godparents were the King of Sweden, his uncle the Duke of Saxe-Gotha and his great-aunt the Queen of Prussia. Prince George grew into a healthy but shy child; the family moved to Leicester Square, where George and his younger brother Prince Edward, Duke of York and Albany, were educated together by private tutors. Family letters show that he could read and write in both English and German, as well as comment on political events of the time, by the age of eight, he was the first British monarch to study science systematically. Apart from chemistry and physics, his lessons included astronomy, French, history, geography, commerce and constitutional law, along with sporting and social accomplishments such as dancing and riding, his religious education was wholly Anglican.
At age 10, George took part in a family production of Joseph Addison's play Cato and said in the new prologue: "What, tho' a boy! It may with truth be said, A boy in England born, in England bred." Historian Romney Sedgwick argued that these lines appear "to be the source of the only historical phrase with which he is associated". George's grandfather, King George II, disliked the Prince of Wales, took little interest in his grandchildren. However, in 1751 the Prince of Wales died unexpectedly from a lung injury at the age of 44, George became heir apparent to the throne, he inherited his father's title of Duke of Edinburgh. Now more interested in his grandson, three weeks the King created George Prince of Wales. In the spring of 1756, as George approached his eighteenth birthday, the King offered him a grand establishment at St James's Palace, but George refused the offer, guided by his mother and her confidant, Lord Bute, who would serve as Prime Minister. George's mother, now the Dowager Princess of Wales, preferred to keep George at home where she could imbue him with her strict moral values.
In 1759, George was smitten with Lady Sarah Lennox, sister of the Duke of Richmond, but Lord Bute advised against the match and George abandoned his thoughts of marriage. "I am born for the happiness or misery of a great nation," he wrote, "and must act contrary to my passions." Attempts by the King to marry George to Princess Sophie Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel were resisted by him and his mother. The following year, at the age of 22, George succeeded to the throne when his grandfather, George II, died on 25 October 1760, two weeks before his 77th birthday; the search for a suitable wife intensified. On 8 September 1761 in the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace, the King married Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, whom he met on their wedding day. A fortnight on 22 September both were crowned at Westminster Abbey. George remarkably never took a mistress, the couple enjoyed a genuinely happy marriage until his mental illness struck, they had 15 children -- six daughters. In 1762, George purchased Buckingham House for use as a family retreat.
His other residences were Windsor Castle. St James's Palace was retained for
Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex
Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, was the sixth son and ninth child of King George III and his consort Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. He was the only surviving son of George III who did not pursue an navy career, he was known for his liberal views, which included reform of Parliament, abolition of the slave trade, Catholic emancipation, the removal of existing civil restrictions on Jews and dissenters. Augustus Frederick was born at London, he was the 9th child and 6th son of George Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. He was baptised in the Great Council Chamber at St James's Palace, on 25 February 1773, by Archbishop of Canterbury Frederick Cornwallis, his godparents were the Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, Duke George Augustus of Mecklenburg and Princess Charles of Hesse-Cassel. He was tutored at home before being sent to the University of Göttingen in Germany in the summer of 1786, along with his brothers Prince Ernest and Prince Adolphus. Prince Augustus, who suffered from asthma, did not join his brothers in receiving military training in Hanover.
He considered becoming a cleric in the Church of England. In 1805, during the Napoleonic War, he served at home in Britain as Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant of the "Loyal North Britons" Volunteers regiment. While travelling in Italy, the prince met Lady Augusta Murray, the second daughter of the 4th Earl of Dunmore; the couple secretly married in Rome on 4 April 1793. The King's minister of Hanover affairs Ernst zu Münster was sent to Italy to escort him back to London; the couple married again without revealing their full identities at St George's, Hanover Square, Westminster, on 5 December 1793. Both marriages took place without the consent, or the knowledge, of his father. In August 1794, the Court of Arches annulled the prince's first marriage on the grounds that it contravened the Royal Marriages Act 1772, not having been approved by the King. However, Prince Augustus Frederick continued to live with Lady Augusta until 1801, when he received a parliamentary grant of £12,000 and the couple separated.
Lady Augusta received maintenance of £ 4,000 a year. Their two children were named Augustus Frederick d'Este and Augusta Emma d'Este, both parents being descended from the royal House of Este. In 1806, their mother, Lady Augusta, was given royal licence to use the surname "de Ameland" instead of Murray. Augustus Frederick was invested as a Knight of the Garter on 2 June 1786, installed by dispensation on 28 May 1801; the King created him Duke of Sussex, Earl of Inverness, Baron Arklow in the Peerage of the United Kingdom on 24 November 1801. Since he had no legitimate issue, the title became extinct on his death in 1843. In 1815 the Duke became a patron of the Jews' Hospital and Orphan Asylum to become the charity known today as Norwood. Royal patronage continued, with Queen Elizabeth II becoming Norwood's patron. A known mistress was Mrs Bugge. Sir William Dillon recorded in his diary they were both present with him at a party held by Emma Hamilton where she rented tableware for the meal but neglected to rent a carving knife, creating great difficulty in serving the Christmas dinner to her guests.
In January 1813, Prince Augustus Frederick became Grand Master of the Premier Grand Lodge of England, in December of that year his brother, Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, became Grand Master of the Antient Grand Lodge of England. On 27 December 1813 the United Grand Lodge of England was constituted at Freemasons' Hall, London with Prince Augustus Frederick as Grand Master. George Oliver's "Signs and Symbols Illustrated and Explained in a Course of Twelve Lectures on Freemasonry" was dedicated to Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex. A year after the death of Lady Augusta D'Ameland, the Duke of Sussex married a second time on 2 May 1831 to Lady Cecilia Letitia Buggin, the eldest daughter of Arthur Gore, 2nd Earl of Arran, Elizabeth Underwood, the widow of Sir George Buggin. On the same day, Lady Cecilia assumed the surname Underwood by Royal Licence, she was never titled or recognized as the Duchess of Sussex, however she was created Duchess of Inverness in her own right by Queen Victoria in 1840.
William IV appointed his younger brother Chief Ranger and Keeper of St James's Park and Hyde Park on 29 January 1831, Queen Victoria appointed her uncle Governor of Windsor Castle in 1842. The Duke of Sussex was elected president of the Society of Arts in 1816 and held that post for the rest of his life, he held the honorary posts of Colonel of the Hon. Artillery Company from 1817, of Captain-General from 1837 onward, he was president of the Royal Society between 1830 and 1838, had a keen interest in biblical studies and Hebrew. His personal library contained over some in Hebrew. In 1838, he introduced in a meeting scientist John Herschel, the Duke gave a speech in which he spoke about the compatibility of science and religion: In making these remarks I am not presumptuous; the Duke of
St James's Palace
St James's Palace is the most senior royal palace in the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, although no longer the principal residence of the monarch, it is the ceremonial meeting place of the Accession Council and the London residence of several minor members of the royal family. Built by King Henry VIII on the site of a leper hospital dedicated to Saint James the Less, the palace was secondary in importance to the Palace of Whitehall for most Tudor and Stuart monarchs; the palace increased in importance during the reigns of the early Georgian monarchy, but was displaced by Buckingham Palace in the late-18th and early-19th centuries. After decades of being used for only formal occasions, the move was formalised by Queen Victoria in 1837. Today the palace houses a number of official offices and collections and all ambassadors and high commissioners to the United Kingdom are still accredited to the Court of St James's; the palace's Chapel Royal is still used for functions of the British royal family.
Built between 1531 and 1536 in red-brick, the palace's architecture is Tudor in style. A fire in 1809 destroyed parts of the structure, including the monarch's private apartments, which were never replaced; some 17th-century interiors survive. The palace was commissioned by Henry VIII, on the site of a former leper hospital dedicated to Saint James the Less; the new palace, secondary in the king's interest to Henry's Whitehall Palace, was constructed between 1531 and 1536 as a smaller residence to escape formal court life. Much smaller than the nearby Whitehall, St James's was arranged around a number of courtyards, including the Colour Court, the Ambassador's Court and the Friary Court; the most recognisable feature is the north gatehouse. It is decorated with the initials H. A. for Henry and his second wife, Anne Boleyn. Henry constructed the palace in red brick, with detail picked out in darker brick; the palace was remodelled in 1544, with ceilings painted by Hans Holbein, was described as a "pleasant royal house".
Two of Henry VIII's children died at Saint James's, Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset and Mary I. Elizabeth I resided at the palace, is said to have spent the night there while waiting for the Spanish Armada to sail up the Channel. In 1638, Charles I gave the palace to Marie de Medici, the mother of his wife Henrietta Maria. Marie remained in the palace for three years, but the residence of a Catholic former queen of France proved unpopular with parliament and she was soon asked to leave for Cologne. Charles I spent his final night at St James's before his execution. Oliver Cromwell took it over, turned it into barracks during the English Commonwealth period. Charles II, James II, Mary II and Anne were all born at the palace; the palace was restored by Charles II following the demise of the Commonwealth, laying out St James's Park at the same time. It became the principal residence of the monarch in London in 1698, during the reign of William III and Mary II after Whitehall Palace was destroyed by fire, became the administrative centre of the monarchy, a role it retains.
The first two monarchs of the House of Hanover used St James's Palace as their principal London residence. George I and George II both housed their mistresses, the Duchess of Kendal and the Countess of Suffolk at the palace. In 1757, George II donated the Palace library to the British Museum. In 1809, a fire destroyed part of the palace, including the monarch's private apartments at the south east corner; these apartments were not replaced, leaving the Queen's Chapel in isolation, Marlborough Road now runs between the two buildings. George III found St James's unsuitable; the Tudor palace was regarded too cramped for his ever-growing family. In 1762 George purchased Buckingham House – the predecessor to Buckingham Palace – for his queen, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz The royal family began spending the majority of their time at Buckingham House, with St James's used for only the most formal of occasions. In the late 18th century, George III refurbished the state apartments but neglected the living quarters.
Queen Victoria formalised the move in 1837, ending St James's status as the primary residence of the monarch. It was where Victoria married her husband, Prince Albert, in 1840, where, eighteen years Victoria and Albert's eldest child, Princess Victoria, married her husband, Prince Frederick of Prussia. For most of the time of the personal union between Great Britain and the Electorate of Hanover from 1714 until 1837 the ministers of the German Chancery were working in two small rooms within St James's Palace; the Second Round Table Conference, pertaining to Indian independence, was held at the palace. On 12 June 1941, Representatives of the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, the Union of South Africa, of the exiled governments of Belgium, Greece, Netherlands, Norway and Yugoslavia, as well as General de Gaulle of France and signed the Declaration of St James's Palace, the first of six treaties signed that established the United Nations and composed the Charter of the United Nations. St James's Palace is still a working palace, the Royal Court is still formally based there, despit
Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh
Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh was the eleventh child and fourth daughter of King George III of the United Kingdom and his consort Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. She married her first cousin, Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, when both were 40, was his widow in life. In her last years, her niece Queen Victoria was on the throne as the fourth monarch during Mary's life, after her father and two of her brothers, George IV and William IV of the United Kingdom. Princess Mary was the last survivor of George III's fifteen children, she was the only one of George III's children to be photographed. She died on 30 April 1857 at London. Princess Mary was born on 25 April 1776, at London, her father was the reigning British monarch, George III. Her mother was the daughter of Charles, reigning Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Mary was baptized on 19 May 1776, in the Great Council Chamber at St. James's Palace, by Frederick Cornwallis, The Archbishop of Canterbury.
Her godparents were: Landgrave Frederick of Hesse-Cassel The Duchess of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg Princess Charles of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The King was a devoted father, finding time to visit the royal nursery. Engaging in active play with his young children, he behaved quite informally in contrast to the dignified Queen Charlotte, who had more difficulty abandoning the formal behaviour expected of their class. Despite her outer reserve, Charlotte took a role as conscientious as her husband in their children's upbringing. For the royal princesses, the Queen oversaw their welfare and development of moral values. Faced with less time due to her public duties and close marriage to the King, she appointed Lady Charlotte Finch to manage the royal nursery and administer her ideas. According to Flora Fraser, Mary was considered to be the most beautiful daughter of George III. Mary danced a minuet for the first time in public at the age of sixteen in June 1791, during a court ball given for the king's birthday.
In the spring of 1792 she debuted at court. Around 1796 Mary fell in love with the Dutch Prince Frederick, while he and his family lived in exile in London. Frederik was a son of William V, Prince of Orange, the Dutch stadholder, younger brother to the future King William I of the Netherlands; however Frederik and Mary never wed because George III stipulated that her elder sisters should marry first. In 1799 Prince Frederik died of an infection while serving in the army, Mary was allowed to go into official mourning. Mary's youngest sister and beloved companion Princess Amelia called her "Mama's tool" because of her obedient nature. Amelia's premature death in 1810 devastated her sister, who had nursed her devotedly during her painful illness. Mary's upbringing was sheltered and she spent most of her time with her parents and sisters. King George and Queen Charlotte were keen to shelter their children the girls. Mary, married on 22 July 1816, to her first cousin, Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, the son of George III's brother, Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh.
On their wedding day, Mary's brother, The Prince Regent, raised the bridegroom's style from Highness to Royal Highness, an attribute to which Mary's rank as daughter of the King entitled her. William Frederick had sought to marry Mary's niece Princess Charlotte of Wales; the historian A. W. Purdue suggests that Mary's motive for marrying her cousin sprang from her dislike of Queen Charlotte's restrictive household. Princess Charlotte observed that the duke "is much in love, & and tells me he is the happiest creature on earth. I won't say does as much, but being her own mistress, having her own house, & being able to walk in the streets all delights her in their several ways." The couple lived at Bagshot Park, but after William's death she moved to White Lodge in Richmond Park. They had no children together. Mary was the last surviving child of George III, was said to be the favourite aunt of her niece, Queen Victoria. Princess Mary was quite close to her eldest brother, she shared his dislike toward his wife, their cousin Caroline of Brunswick.
When the latter left for Italy, Princess Mary congratulated her brother "on the prospect of a good riddance. Heaven grant that she may not return again and that we may never see more of her." Princess Mary died on 30 April 1857 at Gloucester House, aged 81. At the time of her death, she was the last surviving child as well as the longest-lived child of King George III and Queen Charlotte. 25 April 1776 – 22 July 1816: Her Royal Highness The Princess Mary 22 July 1816 – 30 November 1834: Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh 30 November 1834 – 30 April 1857: Her Royal Highness The Dowager Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh As of 1789, as a daughter of the sovereign, Mary had use of the arms of the kingdom, differenced by a label argent of three points, the centre point bearing a rose gules, the outer points each bearing a canton gules. List of British princesses Works cited "Archival material relating to Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh". UK National Archives
George IV of the United Kingdom
George IV was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover following the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten years later. From 1811 until his accession, he served as Prince Regent during his father's final mental illness. George IV led an extravagant lifestyle, he was a patron of new forms of leisure and taste. He commissioned John Nash to build the Royal Pavilion in Brighton and remodel Buckingham Palace, Sir Jeffry Wyattville to rebuild Windsor Castle, his charm and culture earned him the title "the first gentleman of England", but his dissolute way of life and poor relationships with his parents and his wife, Caroline of Brunswick, earned him the contempt of the people and dimmed the prestige of the monarchy. He forbade Caroline to attend his coronation and asked the government to introduce the unpopular Pains and Penalties Bill in a desperate, unsuccessful attempt to divorce her. For most of George's regency and reign, Lord Liverpool controlled the government as Prime Minister.
George's ministers found his behaviour selfish and irresponsible. At all times he was much under the influence of favourites. Taxpayers were angry at his wasteful spending during the Napoleonic Wars, he act as a role model for his people. Liverpool's government presided over Britain's ultimate victory, negotiated the peace settlement, attempted to deal with the social and economic malaise that followed. After Liverpool's retirement, George was forced to accept Catholic emancipation despite opposing it, his only legitimate child, Princess Charlotte, died before him in 1817 and so he was succeeded by his younger brother, William. George was born at St James's Palace, London, on 12 August 1762, the first child of the British king George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz; as the eldest son of a British sovereign, he automatically became Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay at birth. On 18 September of the same year, he was baptised by Archbishop of Canterbury, his godparents were the Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the Duke of Cumberland and the Dowager Princess of Wales.
George was a talented student, learned to speak French and Italian, in addition to his native English. At the age of 18 he was given a separate establishment, in dramatic contrast with his prosaic, scandal-free father, threw himself with zest into a life of dissipation and wild extravagance involving heavy drinking and numerous mistresses and escapades, he was a witty conversationalist, drunk or sober, showed good, but grossly expensive, taste in decorating his palace. The Prince of Wales turned 21 in 1783, obtained a grant of £60,000 from Parliament and an annual income of £50,000 from his father, it was far too little for his needs – the stables alone cost £31,000 a year. He established his residence in Carlton House, where he lived a profligate life. Animosity developed between the prince and his father, who desired more frugal behaviour on the part of the heir apparent; the King, a political conservative, was alienated by the prince's adherence to Charles James Fox and other radically inclined politicians.
Soon after he reached the age of 21, the prince became infatuated with Maria Fitzherbert. She was a commoner, six years his elder, twice widowed, a Roman Catholic; the prince was determined to marry her. This was in spite of the Act of Settlement 1701, which barred the spouse of a Catholic from succeeding to the throne, the Royal Marriages Act 1772, which prohibited his marriage without the King's consent; the couple went through a marriage ceremony on 15 December 1785 at her house in Park Street, Mayfair. The union was void, as the King's consent was not granted. However, Fitzherbert believed that she was the prince's canonical and true wife, holding the law of the Church to be superior to the law of the State. For political reasons, the union remained secret and Fitzherbert promised not to reveal it; the prince was plunged into debt by his exorbitant lifestyle. His father refused to assist him, forcing him to quit Carlton House and live at Fitzherbert's residence. In 1787, the prince's political allies proposed to relieve his debts with a parliamentary grant.
The prince's relationship with Fitzherbert was suspected, revelation of the illegal marriage would have scandalised the nation and doomed any parliamentary proposal to aid him. Acting on the prince's authority, the Whig leader Charles James Fox declared that the story was a calumny. Fitzherbert was not pleased with the public denial of the marriage in such vehement terms and contemplated severing her ties to the prince, he appeased her by asking another Whig, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, to restate Fox's forceful declaration in more careful words. Parliament, granted the prince £161,000 to pay his debts and £60,000 for improvements to Carlton House. In the summer of 1788 the King's mental health deteriorated as the result of the hereditary disease porphyria, he was nonetheless able to discharge some of his duties and to declare Parliament prorogued from 25 September to 20 November. During the prorogation he became deranged, posing a threat to his own life, when Parliament reconvened in November the King could not deliver th
.jpg)
.svg)
