Prince Charles of Hesse-Kassel
Prince Charles of Hesse-Kassel was a cadet member of the house of Hesse-Kassel and a Danish general field marshal. Brought up with relatives at the Danish court, he spent most of his life in Denmark, serving as royal governor of the twin duchies of Schleswig-Holstein from 1769 to 1836. Charles was born in Kassel on 19 December 1744 as the second surviving son of Hesse-Kassel's hereditary prince, the future Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel and his first wife Princess Mary of Great Britain, his mother was a daughter of King George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Ansbach and a sister of Queen Louise of Denmark. His father, the future landgrave, left the family in 1747 and converted to Catholicism in 1749. In 1755 he formally ended the marriage with Mary; the grandfather, William VIII, Landgrave of Hesse, granted the county of Hanau and its revenues to Mary and her sons. The young Prince Charles and his two brothers and Frederick, were raised by their mother and fostered by Protestant relatives since 1747.
In 1756, Mary moved to Denmark to look after Queen Louise of Denmark's children. She took her own children with her and they were raised at the royal court at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen; the Hessian princes remained in Denmark, becoming important lords and royal functionaries. Only the eldest brother William returned in 1785, upon ascending the landgraviate. Charles began a military career in Denmark. In 1758 he was appointed colonel, at the age of 20 major general and in 1765 was put in charge of the artillery. After his cousin, King Christian VII, acceded to the throne in 1766, he was appointed lieutenant general, commander of the Royal Guard, knight of the Order of the Elephant and member of the Privy Council. In 1766, he was appointed Governor-General of Norway, a position he held until 1768 but which remained titular, as he never went to Norway during this period. In 1763, his elder brother William married Danish Princess Caroline. Charles followed suit on 30 August 1766 at Christiansborg Palace — his wife was Louise of Denmark, Charles thus became brother-in-law to his cousin, King Christian VII.
The marriage took place despite advice given against it, due to many accusations of debauchery by Prince Charles and the poor influence he had on the King. Shortly after, Charles fell into disfavour at court, in early 1767 he and Louise left Copenhagen to live with his mother in the county of Hanau, they would have their first child, Marie Sophie, there in 1767 and their second child, William, in 1769. In 1768, Charles purchased the landed property and village of Offenbach-Rumpenheim from the Edelsheim family. In 1771 he had the manor expanded into a princely seat, his mother Mary lived in the palace until her death in 1772. In 1781, Charles sold the Rumpenheim Palace to Frederick. In 1769, Prince Charles of Hesse was appointed royal Governor of the twin duchies of Schleswig and Holstein on behalf of the government of his brother-in-law, King Christian VII of Denmark and Norway. Charles took up residence at Gottorp Castle in Schleswig with his family, they would have their third child Frederick there in 1771.
In 1770, King Christian VII gave his sister the estate of Tegelhof in Güby between the City of Schleswig and Eckernförde. From 1772 to 1776, Charles had a summer residence constructed on the site which he named Louisenlund in honour of his wife. In September 1772, Charles was appointed commander-in-chief of the Norwegian army and he and Louise moved to Christiana; the assignement was a consequence of the coup d'état of King Gustav III of Sweden on 19 August 1772 and the subsequent prospect of war with Sweden. While in Norway, Princess Louise gave birth to their fourth child Juliane in 1773. Though Charles returned to Schleswig-Holstein in 1774, he continued to function as commander-in-chief of the Norwegian army until 1814. At the time of his return from Norway, he was appointed field marshal. During the War of the Bavarian Succession in 1778-79, he acted as a volunteer in the army of Frederick the Great and gained the trust of the Prussian king. Once, when Frederick was speaking against Christianity, he noticed a lack of sympathy of Charles' part.
In response to an inquiry from the king, Charles said, "Sire, I am not more sure of having the honour of seeing you, than I am that Jesus Christ existed and died for us as our Saviour on the cross." After a moment of surprised silence, Frederick declared, "You are the first man who has declared such a belief in my hearing."In 1788, the Swedish attack on Russia during the Russo Swedish War forced Denmark-Norway to declare war on Sweden in accordance with its 1773 treaty obligations to Russia. Prince Charles was put in command of a Norwegian army which invaded Sweden through Bohuslän and won the Battle of Kvistrum Bridge; the army was closing in on Gothenburg, when peace was signed on 9 July 1789 following the diplomatic intervention of Great Britain and Prussia, bringing this socalled Lingonberry War to an end. On 12 November, the Norwegian army retreated back to Norway. During the retreat, the Danish-Norwegian army lost 1,500-3,000 men to hunger, poor sanitary conditions, exposure to continual autumn rainfall.
Prince Charles was criticised for his direction of the campaign and although he continued to function as commander-in-chief, he had lost his popularity in Norway. When the crown prince and regent of Denmark, the future Frederick VI married Charles's eldest daughter Marie Sophie
London
London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south-east of England, at the head of its 50-mile estuary leading to the North Sea, London has been a major settlement for two millennia. Londinium was founded by the Romans; the City of London, London's ancient core − an area of just 1.12 square miles and colloquially known as the Square Mile − retains boundaries that follow its medieval limits. The City of Westminster is an Inner London borough holding city status. Greater London is governed by the Mayor of the London Assembly. London is considered to be one of the world's most important global cities and has been termed the world's most powerful, most desirable, most influential, most visited, most expensive, sustainable, most investment friendly, most popular for work, the most vegetarian friendly city in the world. London exerts a considerable impact upon the arts, education, fashion, healthcare, professional services and development, tourism and transportation.
London ranks 26 out of 300 major cities for economic performance. It is one of the largest financial centres and has either the fifth or sixth largest metropolitan area GDP, it is the most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the busiest city airport system as measured by passenger traffic. It is the leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. London's universities form the largest concentration of higher education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted three modern Summer Olympic Games. London has a diverse range of people and cultures, more than 300 languages are spoken in the region, its estimated mid-2016 municipal population was 8,787,892, the most populous of any city in the European Union and accounting for 13.4% of the UK population. London's urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census.
The population within the London commuter belt is the most populous in the EU with 14,040,163 inhabitants in 2016. London was the world's most populous city from c. 1831 to 1925. London contains four World Heritage Sites: the Tower of London. Other landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Paul's Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square and The Shard. London has numerous museums, galleries and sporting events; these include the British Museum, National Gallery, Natural History Museum, Tate Modern, British Library and West End theatres. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world. "London" is an ancient name, attested in the first century AD in the Latinised form Londinium. Over the years, the name has attracted many mythicising explanations; the earliest attested appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, written around 1136. This had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had taken over the city and named it Kaerlud.
Modern scientific analyses of the name must account for the origins of the different forms found in early sources Latin, Old English, Welsh, with reference to the known developments over time of sounds in those different languages. It is agreed; this was adapted into Latin as Londinium and borrowed into Old English, the ancestor-language of English. The toponymy of the Common Brythonic form is much debated. A prominent explanation was Richard Coates's 1998 argument that the name derived from pre-Celtic Old European *lowonida, meaning "river too wide to ford". Coates suggested that this was a name given to the part of the River Thames which flows through London. However, most work has accepted a Celtic origin for the name, recent studies have favoured an explanation along the lines of a Celtic derivative of a proto-Indo-European root *lendh-, combined with the Celtic suffix *-injo- or *-onjo-. Peter Schrijver has suggested, on these grounds, that the name meant'place that floods'; until 1889, the name "London" applied to the City of London, but since it has referred to the County of London and Greater London.
"London" is sometimes written informally as "LDN". In 1993, the remains of a Bronze Age bridge were found on the south foreshore, upstream of Vauxhall Bridge; this bridge either reached a now lost island in it. Two of those timbers were radiocarbon dated to between 1750 BC and 1285 BC. In 2010 the foundations of a large timber structure, dated to between 4800 BC and 4500 BC, were found on the Thames's south foreshore, downstream of Vauxhall Bridge; the function of the mesolithic structure is not known. Both structures are on the south bank. Although there is evidence of scattered Brythonic settlements in the area, the first major settlement was founded by the Romans about four years after the invasion
Princess Wilhelmina Caroline of Denmark
Princess Wilhelmina Caroline of Denmark and Norway, was the Landgravine consort of Hesse-Kassel and the Electress of Hesse-Kassel by marriage to William I, Elector of Hesse. She was one of the daughters of King Frederick V of Denmark, his first spouse Louise, daughter of King George II of Great Britain. At Christiansborg Palace on 1 September 1764 she married her cousin Prince William of Hesse, Count of Hanau, one of the wealthiest rulers of the period. Wilhelmina Caroline and William had grown up together, as William and his siblings had been evacuated to the Danish royal court during the Seven Years' War, as his and Wilhelmina Caroline's mother were sisters, he was introduced to her as a playmate during her childhood, it was decided during their childhood that they should marry each other when they became adults. One month after their wedding, Wilhelmina Caroline and William left Denmark and settled in Hesse, were her father-in-law gave William the city of Hanau as their residence, where they lived with their own court.
During the first years of their marriage, the relationship between Wilhelmina Caroline and William was described as happy. In 1770, six years after their marriage, Hesse was visited by her brother-in-law Crown Prince Gustav of Sweden and his brother Prince Frederick, at that occasion, the marriage between Wilhelmina Caroline and William was favorably compared to the marriage of her sister Sophia Magdalena of Denmark and Gustav of Sweden, a suggestion was made for her and William to visit Sweden, with the unofficial thought that their example might have a good effect on her sister and royal brother-in-law; the courtier Gustaf Johan Ehrensvärd, a member of the Swedish entourage, described Wilhelmina Caroline and William on this occasion in 1770: "She is the sister of our Crown Princess, but as soon as she opens her mouth, the words come out different. She is charming, worshiped by her court... when the couple are with each other, they play as children, during their games they produce one new child each year...
I believe that it is the fault of the husband, when a woman, not of bad character, neglects him..." However, this good relationship was not to last: five years William had his first mistress, Charlotte Christine Buissine, after this, the marriage deteriorated with William being unfaithful and introducing a succession of official mistresses at court, with Buissine followed by Rosa Dorothea Ritter and Karoline von Schlotheim and William producing a great number of illegitimate children. Wilhelmina Caroline herself was described as beautiful, distant and sympathetic: in 1804, she still spoke Danish without accent and had a strong attachment to her birth country. William succeeded as Landgrave William IX of Hesse-Kassel in 1785, in 1803 was raised to the rank of Elector of Hesse as William I. In 1806, Hesse was occupied by France, her spouse and son fled to her brother-in-law Charles of Hesse in Schleswig, but she remained until a French governor was installed, after which she moved to her daughter Amalie in Gotha.
She spent the duration of the Kingdom of Westphalia in exile, among other places in Schleswig and in Prague. In 1813, the spouses returned to Kassel. Landgravine Maria Frederica, married Alexius Frederick Christian, Duke of Anhalt-Bernburg Landgravine Karoline Amalie, married Augustus, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg Frederick William II Dansk biografisk Lexikon / XVIII. Bind. Ubbe – Wimpffen
Louise of Great Britain
Louise of Great Britain was Queen of Denmark and Norway from 1746 until her death, as the first wife of King Frederick V. She was the youngest surviving daughter of King George II of Great Caroline of Ansbach. Princess Louise was born as the fifth daughter and youngest child of the Prince and Princess of Wales, on 7 December 1724, at Leicester House, London, she was baptised "Louisa" there on 22 December. Her godparents were her elder sister and two cousins: Princess Amelia of Great Britain, Princess Louisa Ulrika of Prussia, Frederick, Prince Royal of Prussia Frederick the Great. On 11 June 1727, when Louise was two years old, her grandfather, George I, her father ascended the throne as George II. On 30 August, as a child of the sovereign, Louise was granted use of the arms of the realm, differenced by a label argent of three points, each bearing torteaux gules. In a dynastic marriage, Louise wed Prince Frederick of Denmark and Norway on 11 December 1743 in Copenhagen. A first ceremony was conducted on 10 November 1743 in Hanover with her brother, the Duke of Cumberland, as the representative of the groom.
After this, the entourages of Louise and Frederick met at Altona, where Louise exchanged her English retinue for a Danish one, headed by her new chamberlain Carl Juel and her head lady-in-waiting Christiane Henriette Louise Juel. Louise and Frederick traveled together to Copenhagen, where they held their official entry into the capital, followed by a second ceremony with the groom present; the marriage was proposed by Great Britain. At the time of the marriage, both France and Great Britain wished to make an alliance with Denmark, Great Britain had the advantage of being able to make a marriage alliance. Frederick's father, King Christian VI, hoped the marriage would lead to British support for his or his son's claim to the throne of Sweden. On a more personal level, there were hopes that marriage would suppress the frequent drinking and debauched behavior of the Crown Prince; the couple had five children. Although the marriage was arranged, the couple got along quite well, at least during the first years, their relationship was described as happy.
Frederick was comfortable with her, Louise pretended not to notice his adultery with multiple partners, notably with Else Hansen. Though Frederick came to feel high regard for her and always treated her with kindness, however, he was not in love with her and continued to have affairs after their marriage, she made herself popular in the Danish court, her father-in-law remarked that she seemed to him to be kind and agreeable. When her husband ascended the throne, on 6 August 1746, as Frederick V, Louise became Queen of Denmark and Queen of Norway. Queen Louise was popular in Denmark, the great popularity of the royal couple has been attributed to Louise. Interested in music and theatre, the royal court acquired a more easy-going tone than under her religious parents-in-law. Louise had a vivacious personality, allowing her to socialize with others. In 1747, she arranged for the Italian opera company of Pietro Mingotti, whose members included Christoph Willibald Gluck and Giuseppe Sarti, to play at the royal court theater, in 1748, the French Du Londel Troupe was invited for dramatic performances.
Her effort to speak the Danish language, including with her children, was much appreciated, as the royal Danish court spoke German. She studied the Danish language under the court priest Erik Pontoppidan, hired teachers so that her children could learn to speak their country's language, she was described as well educated and good at conversation, not beautiful but dignified and well suited to her role as queen. A Swedish diplomat stationed in Denmark described her as follows: "She has good sense and is easy with words, friendly in tone, knows how to converse on many subjects and can speak several languages, she finds pleasure in reading and music, she plays the clavichord well and teaches her daughters to sing."Queen Louise unsuccessfully opposed the dynastic marriage between her daughter Sophia Magdalena and Crown Prince of Sweden in 1751. The reason was her fear that her daughter would not be well treated by the Queen of Sweden, Louisa Ulrika of Prussia. Louisa Ulrika was known for her anti-Danish views and for being opposed to the match, it was known that she was the real ruler at the Swedish court.
Louise disliked arranged marriages because of her own marriage. While pregnant with her sixth child, Louise died due to complications from a miscarriage on 19 December 1751, a day after her 27th birthday, at Christiansborg Palace, predeceasing her husband by fourteen years, she was buried at Roskilde Cathedral. Bibliography Queen Louise at the website of the Royal Danish Collection at Rosenborg Castle
William I, Elector of Hesse
William I, Elector of Hesse was the eldest surviving son of Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel and Princess Mary of Great Britain, the daughter of George II. William was born in Kassel, Hesse in 1743, his father, landgrave Frederick II, had in 1747 reverted to Catholicism. In 1755 he formally annulled his marriage. William's grandfather, Landgrave William, granted the newly acquired principality of Hanau to his daughter-in-law and grandsons. Technically, young William became the reigning prince of Hanau; the young prince William, together with his two younger brothers, lived with their mother, the landgravine Mary. From 1747 they were moved to Denmark. There they lived with Mary's sister, Louise of Great Britain, her family. On 1 September 1764, William married his first cousin, Wilhelmina Caroline of Denmark and Norway, the second surviving daughter of Frederick V of Denmark and Norway, they married at Christiansborg Palace and resided for two decades in Denmark. In 1785 they moved to Kassel.
During the lifetime of his father, William had received the Principality of Hanau, south of the Hessian territories near Frankfurt, as successor of its newly extinct princes. The Hanau people did not want to have a Catholic ruler. William's younger brother Charles in 1766 married another of their Danish first cousins, Princess Louise of Denmark. Upon the death of his father on 31 October 1785, he became William Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, he was said to have inherited one of the largest fortunes in Europe at the time. William looked for help in managing his estate, he hired Mayer Amschel Rothschild as "Hoffaktor" in 1769, to supervise the operation of his properties and tax-gathering. The wealth of William's estate provided a good living for Rothschild and the men had a strong relationship. Although they had been acquainted since 1775, William IX did not formally designate Rothschild as his overseer until 1801; the early fortunes of the Rothschild family were made through a conjunction of financial intelligence and the wealth of Prince William.
During the Napoleonic Wars, William used the Frankfurt Rothschilds to hide his fortune from Napoleon. This money saw its way through to Nathan Mayer, in London, where it helped fund the British movements through Portugal and Spain; the interest made from this venture was reaped by the budding banker barons, who used it to swiftly develop their fortune and prestige in Europe and Britain. It was not long before their riches outweighed those of William of Hesse-Kassel. In 1803, Landgrave William was created His Serene Highness The Prince-Elector of Hesse. In 1806 his electorate was annexed by the Kingdom of Westphalia, ruled by Jérôme Bonaparte, Napoleon's brother. William escaped to Denmark with his family and lived there in exile until the French were expelled from Germany. Following the defeat of the Napoleonic armies in the Battle of Leipzig, William was restored in 1813, he was a member of the Tugendbund, a quasi-Masonic secret society founded after the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt in June 1808 at Koningsberg.
Several other prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire had been recognized as kings at the Congress of Vienna, William attempted to join them by declaring himself King of the Chatti. However, the European powers refused to recognize this title at the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle and instead granted him the grand ducal style of "Royal Highness." Deeming the title of Prince-Elector to be superior in dignity to that of Grand Duke, William chose to remain an Elector though there was no longer a Holy Roman Emperor to elect. Hesse-Kassel would remain an Electorate until it was annexed by Prussia in 1866, he ruled until his death in Kassel in 1821. He was succeeded by his son William. With his wife Wilhelmina Caroline of Denmark and Norway he had four children: Marie Friederike, married Alexius Frederick Christian, Duke of Anhalt-Bernburg on 29 November 1794, divorced 1817 Karoline Amalie, married Augustus, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg on 24 April 1802. No issue Friedrich Wilhelm, his successorHe had several mistresses and fathered over twenty recognized illegitimate children and provided some financial means to each of them.
With his mistress Charlotte Christine Buissine: Wilhelm of Heimrod Karl of Heimrod Friedrich of Heimrod Friedrich of Heimrod With his mistress Rosa Dorothea Ritter: Wilhelm Karl of Hanau George Wilhelm of Hanau Philipp Ludway of Hanau Wilhelmine of Hanau Moritz of Hanau Marie Sophie of Hanau Julius Jacob von Haynau Otto of Hanau With his mistress Karoline von Schlotheim: Wilhelm Friedrich of Hessenstein Wilhelm Karl of Hessenstein Ferdinand of Hessenstein Karoline of Hessenstein Auguste of Hessenstein Ludwig Karl of Hessenstein Friederike of Hessenstein Wilhelm Ludwig Friedrich Ludwig Karoline of Hessenstein stillborn child stillborn child stillborn child Rulers of Hesse Article in the ADB The Jewish Encyclopedia
Westminster
Westminster is an area in central London within the City of Westminster, part of the West End, on the north bank of the River Thames. Westminster's concentration of visitor attractions and historic landmarks, one of the highest in London, includes the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral; the area lay within St Margaret's parish, City & Liberty of Westminster, Middlesex. The name Westminster originated from the informal description of the abbey church and royal peculiar of St Peter's West of the City of London; the abbey was part of the royal palace, created here by Edward the Confessor. It has been the home of the permanent institutions of England's government continuously since about 1200, from 1707 the British Government — formally titled Her Majesty's Government. In a government context, Westminster refers to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, located in the UNESCO World Heritage Palace of Westminster — also known as the Houses of Parliament.
The closest tube stations are Westminster and St James's Park, on the Jubilee and District lines. The area is the centre of Her Majesty's Government, with Parliament in the Palace of Westminster and most of the major Government ministries known as Whitehall, itself the site of the royal palace that replaced that at Westminster. Within the area is Westminster School, a major public school which grew out of the Abbey, the University of Westminster, attended by over 20,000 students. Bounding Westminster to the north is Green Park, a Royal Park of London; the area has a substantial residential population. By the 20th Century Westminster has seen rising residential condominiums with wealthy inhabitants. Hotels, large Victorian homes and barracks exist near to Buckingham Palace. For a list of street name etymologies for Westminster see Street names of Westminster The name describes an area no more than 1 mile from Westminster Abbey and the Palace of Westminster to the west of the River Thames; the settlement grew up as a service area for them.
The need for a parish church, St Margaret's Westminster for the servants of the palace and of the abbey who could not worship there indicates that it had a population as large as that of a small village. It became larger and in the Georgian period became connected through urban ribbon development with the City along the Strand, it did not become a viable local government unit created as a civil parish. Henry VIII's Reformation in the early 16th century abolished the Abbey and established a Cathedral - thus the parish ranked as a "City", although it was only a fraction of the size of the City of London and the Borough of Southwark at that time. Indeed, the Cathedral and diocesan status of the church lasted only from 1539 to 1556, but the "city" status remained for a mere parish within Middlesex; as such it is first known to have had two Members of Parliament in 1545 as a new Parliamentary Borough, centuries after the City of London and Southwark were enfranchised. The former Thorney Island, the site of Westminster Abbey, formed the historic core of Westminster.
The abbey became the traditional venue of the coronations of the kings and queens of England from that of Harold Godwinson onwards. From about 1200 the Palace of Westminster, near the abbey, became the principal royal residence, a transition marked by the transfer of royal treasury and financial records to Westminster from Winchester; the palace housed the developing Parliament and England's law courts. Thus London developed two focal points: the City of Westminster; the monarchs moved their principal residence to the Palace of Whitehall to St James's Palace in 1698, to Buckingham Palace and other palaces after 1762. The main law courts moved to the Royal Courts of Justice in the late-19th century. Charles Booth's poverty map showing Westminster in 1889 recorded the full range of income and capital brackets living in adjacent streets within the area. Westminster has shed the abject poverty with the clearance of this slum and with drainage improvement, but there is a typical Central London property distinction within the area, acute, epitomised by grandiose 21st-century developments, architectural high-point listed buildings and nearby social housing buildings of the Peabody Trust founded by philanthropist George Peabody.
The Westminster area formed part of the Liberty of Westminster in Middlesex. The ancient parish was St Margaret; the area around Westminster Abbey formed the extra-parochial Close of the Collegiate Church of St Peter surrounded by — but not part of — either parish. Until 1900 the local authority was the combined vestry of St Margaret and St John, based at Westminster City Hall in Caxton Street from 1883; the Liberty of Westminster, governed by the Westminster Court of Burgesses included St Martin in the Fields and several other parishes and places. Westminster had its own quarter sessions, but the Middlesex sessions had jurisdiction
