| Frederick | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prince of Wales (more...) | |||||
 Portrait byThomas Hudson, 1750 | |||||
| Born | (1707-01-31)31 January 1707 (New Style) Electorate of Hanover,Holy Roman Empire (nowGermany) | ||||
| Died | 31 March 1751(1751-03-31) (aged 44) Leicester House, London, England | ||||
| Burial | 13 April 1751 Westminster Abbey, London | ||||
| Spouse | |||||
| Issue | |||||
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| House | Hanover | ||||
| Father | George II of Great Britain | ||||
| Mother | Caroline of Ansbach | ||||
| Signature |  | ||||
Frederick, Prince of Wales (Frederick Louis, German:Friedrich Ludwig; 31 January 1707 – 31 March 1751), was the eldest son andheir apparent of KingGeorge II of Great Britain. He grew estranged from his parents, King George andQueen Caroline. Frederick was the father of KingGeorge III.
Under theAct of Settlement passed by theEnglish Parliament in 1701, Frederick was fourth in the line ofsuccession to the British throne at birth, after his great-grandmother ElectressSophia of Hanover; his grandfatherGeorge,Prince-Elector of Hanover; and his father,George. The Elector ascended the British throne in 1714. After his paternal grandfather died and his father became king in 1727, Frederick moved to Great Britain and was createdPrince of Wales in 1729. He predeceased his father and upon the latter's death in 1760, the throne passed to Frederick's eldest son, George III.
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Frederick was born on 31 January [O.S. 20 January] 1707 inHanover,Holy Roman Empire (Germany), as Duke Friedrich Ludwig of Brunswick-Lüneburg, toCaroline of Ansbach andPrince George, son ofGeorge, Elector of Hanover (who was also one of Frederick's two godfathers). The Elector was the son ofSophia of Hanover, who was heir presumptive toQueen Anne of Great Britain. However, in June 1714, Sophia died at the age of 83 before Anne, which elevated the Elector to heir presumptive. Queen Anne died on 1 August the same year, so the Elector becameKing George I. This made Frederick's father first-in-line to the British throne and Frederick himself second-in-line. Frederick's other godfather was his granduncleFrederick I, King in Prussia and Elector ofBrandenburg-Prussia.[citation needed] Within the family, Frederick was nicknamed "Griff".[1]
In the year of Anne's death and the coronation of George I, Frederick's parents, George, Prince of Wales (laterGeorge II), andCaroline of Ansbach, were called upon to leave Hanover for Great Britain when Frederick was only 7 years old. He was left in the care of his granduncleErnest Augustus,Prince-Bishop of Osnabrück, and did not see his parents again for 14 years.
In 1722, Frederick was inoculated againstsmallpox byCharles Maitland on the instructions of his mother, Caroline.[2] His grandfather George I created himDuke of Edinburgh, Marquess of theIsle of Ely,[3] Earl of Eltham in the county of Kent, Viscount of Launceston in the county of Cornwall, and Baron of Snaudon in the county of Carnarvon, on 26 July 1726.[4] The latter two titles have been interpreted differently since: theofs are omitted andSnaudon rendered asSnowdon.
Frederick arrived in Great Britain in 1728, the year after his father had becomeKing George II. By then, George and Caroline had several younger children, and Frederick was a high-spirited young man fond of drinking, gambling and women.[5] The long separation had damaged the relationship with his parents, and they would never be close to him.[6] That year also saw the foundation ofFredericksburg, Virginia, which was named after him.[7]
The motives for the ill-feeling between Frederick and his parents may have included the fact that he had been set up by his grandfather, even as a small child, as the representative of the House of Hanover, and was used to presiding over official occasions in the absence of his parents. He was not permitted to go to Great Britain until after his father took the throne asGeorge II on 11 June 1727. Frederick had continued to be known as Prince Friedrich Ludwig of Hanover (with his British HRH style) even after his father had been created Prince of Wales.
Frederick was created Prince of Wales on 7 January 1729.[8] He served as the tenthchancellor of the University of Dublin from 1728 to 1751, and a portrait of him still enjoys a commanding position in the Hall ofTrinity College Dublin.
Once established in London, Frederick sponsored a court of 'opposition' politicians. They supported theOpera of the Nobility inLincoln's Inn Fields as a rival toGeorge Frideric Handel's royally sponsored opera at theKing's Theatre in theHaymarket.[9] His circle also backed opposition journalism and historiography: under the patronage ofChesterfield andGeorge Bubb Dodington, the Country-Whig paperOld England; or, the Constitutional Journal was paired with two large histories—William Guthrie’sA General History of England (to 1688) andJames Ralph’sThe History of England, During the Reigns of King William, Queen Anne, and King George I (1744–46).[10]Frederick was a lover of music who played the viola and cello;[11] he is depicted playing a cello in three portraits byPhilippe Mercier of Frederick and his sisters.[12] He enjoyed the natural sciences and the arts, and became a thorn in the side of his parents, making a point of opposing them in everything, according to the court gossipLord Hervey. At court, the favourite of George II and Queen Caroline was Frederick's younger brother,Prince William, Duke of Cumberland, to the extent that the king looked into ways of splitting his domains so that Frederick would succeed only in Britain, while Hanover would go to William.[13]
Hervey and Frederick (using a pseudonym "Captain Bodkin") wrote a theatrical comedy which was staged at theDrury Lane Theatre in October 1731. It was panned by the critics, and even the theatre's manager thought it so bad that it was unlikely to play out even the first night. He had soldiers stationed in the audience to maintain order, and when the play flopped, the audience were given their money back.[14] Hervey and Frederick also shared a mistress,Anne Vane, who had a son called FitzFrederick Vane in June 1732. Either of them orWilliam Stanhope, 1st Earl of Harrington, another of her lovers, could have been the father.[15] Jealousy between Frederick and Hervey may have contributed to a breach, and their friendship ended. Hervey later wrote bitterly that Frederick was "false ... never having the least hesitation in telling any lie that served his present purpose."[16]
A permanent result of Frederick's patronage of the arts is "Rule, Britannia!", one of the best-known British patriotic songs. It was composed by the English composerThomas Arne with words written by the Scottish poet and playwrightJames Thomson as part of themasqueAlfred, which was first performed on 1 August 1740 atCliveden. Thomas Arne was also one of Frederick's favourite artists. A masque linking the prince with both the Saxon hero-kingAlfred the Great's victories over theVikings and with the contemporary issue of building up Britishsea power accorded well with Frederick's political plans and aspirations. Later, the song gained a life of its own outside of the masque. Thomson, who supported the Prince of Wales politically, also dedicated an earlier work dedicated to him:Liberty (1734).
Unlike the king, Frederick was a knowledgeable amateur of painting, patronising immigrant artists such asJacopo Amigoni andJean-Baptiste van Loo, who painted the portraits of the prince and his consort for Frederick's championWilliam Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath. The list of other artists whom he employed—Philippe Mercier,John Wootton,George Knapton, and the engraverJoseph Goupy—includes some of the principal painters of the EnglishRococo. The prince was also crucially important in furthering the popularity of the Rococo style in the decorative arts, with a clear predilection for FrenchHuguenot craftsmen. He patronised silversmiths such as Nicolas Sprimont (1713–1771), "toyshop" owners such as Paul Bertrand, and also carvers and gilders. The most notable of the latter was Paul Petit (1729–c. 1756) who first worked for the prince onWilliam Kent'sneo-Palladianstate barge of 1732,[17] which is still preserved in theNational Maritime Museum. Petit worked on a handful of magnificent trophy frames in the Rococo style for Frederick, which are among the most significant remaining testaments to the prince's patronage of the decorative arts.[18] One frame, made in 1748 for his namesake cousinFrederick the Great of Prussia, was especially lavish and represented the esteem in which the prince held his cousin. This suggests the prince identified with Frederick the Great's style of enlightened rule, more than that of his own father George II. Petit's frame contained a portrait of Frederick the Great painted byAntoine Pesne, and remains today in theBritish Royal Collection.[19]
None of Frederick's homes are now left standing except for the country residence ofCliveden, which is in a much altered state. His London residences (Norfolk House,Carlton House,Leicester House, andKew House or the White House) have all been demolished.
Negotiations between George II and his first cousin and brother-in-lawFrederick William I of Prussia on a proposed marriage between the Prince of Wales and Frederick William's daughterWilhelmine were welcomed by Frederick even though the couple had never met.[20] George II was not keen on the proposal but continued talks for diplomatic reasons. Frustrated by the delay, Frederick sent an envoy of his own to thePrussian court. When George II discovered the plan, he immediately arranged for Frederick to leave Hanover for England.[21] The marriage negotiations floundered when Frederick William demanded that Frederick be made Regent in Hanover.[22]
Frederick also almost marriedLady Diana Spencer, daughter ofCharles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland andLady Anne Churchill. Lady Diana was the favourite grandchild of the powerfulSarah, Duchess of Marlborough. The duchess sought a royal alliance by marrying Lady Diana to the Prince of Wales with a massive dowry of £100,000. The prince, who was in great debt, agreed to the proposal, but the plan was vetoed byRobert Walpole and the king. Lady Diana soon marriedJohn Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford.
Although in his youth he was a spendthrift and womaniser, Frederick settled down following his marriage to the sixteen-year-oldAugusta of Saxe-Gotha on 27 April 1736.[23] The wedding was held at theChapel Royal atSt James's Palace in London,[24] presided over byEdmund Gibson, Bishop of London and Dean of the Chapel Royal.Handel provided the new anthem 'Sing unto God' for the service, and the wedding was also marked in London by two rival operas, Handel'sAtalanta andPorpora'sLa festa d'Imeneo.[25]
In May 1736, George II returned to Hanover, which was unpopular in England. A satirical notice was pinned to the gates of St James's Palace decrying his absence: "Lost or strayed out of this house", it read, "a man who has left a wife and six children on the parish."[26] The King made plans to return, in the face of inclement weather; when his ship was caught in a storm, gossip swept London that he had drowned. Eventually, in January 1737, he arrived back in England.[27] Immediately he fell ill, withpiles and a fever, and withdrew to his bed. The Prince of Wales put it about that the King was dying, with the result that George insisted on getting up and attending a social event to disprove the gossip-mongers.[28]
Quickly accumulating large debts, Frederick relied for an income on his wealthy friendGeorge Bubb Dodington. The prince's father refused to make him a financial allowance of the size that the prince considered should have been his. Frederick's public opposition to his father's government continued; he opposed the unpopularGin Act 1736, which tried to control theGin Craze.[29] Frederick applied to Parliament for an increased financial allowance, and public disagreement over the payment of the money drove a further wedge between parents and son. Frederick's allowance was raised, but by less than he had asked for.[30]
In June 1737, Frederick informed his parents that Augusta was pregnant, and was due to give birth in October. Traditionally, royal births were witnessed by members of the family and senior courtiers to guard againstsupposititious children. But in fact, Augusta's due date was earlier. When she went into labour in July, the Prince snuck her out ofHampton Court Palace in the middle of the night and forced her to ride 21 kilometres (13 mi) in a rattling carriage to St James's Palace, so that the King and Queen could not be present at the birth.[31] When they learned of the Prince's action, George and Caroline were horrified. With a party including two of her daughters andLord Hervey, the Queen rushed to St James.[32] There, Caroline was relieved to discover that Augusta had given birth to a "poor, ugly little she-mouse" rather than a "large, fat, healthy boy". That made a supposititious child unlikely, since the baby was so pitiful. The circumstances of the birth deepened the estrangement between mother and son.[33]
Frederick was banished from the king's court,[13] and a rival court grew up at Frederick's new residence,Leicester House, where his father and mother had themselves lived after becoming estranged from George I.[34] His mother fell fatally ill at the end of the year, but the king refused Frederick permission to see her.[35] Frederick became a devoted family man, taking his wife and children to live in the countryside atCliveden, where he fished, shot, and rowed.[36] In 1742,Robert Walpole left office, and the realignment of the government led to a reconciliation between father and son, asFrederick's friends in Parliament gained influence.[37]
After theJacobite Rising of 1745, Frederick metFlora MacDonald, who had been imprisoned in theTower of London for aiding the escape of the Rising's leaderCharles Edward Stuart, and helped to secure her eventual release.[38] In 1747, Frederick rejoined the political opposition, and the king responded by dissolving Parliament. In the subsequentearly general election, Frederick's allies lost.[39]
By the time Frederick arrived in Great Britain,cricket had developed into the country's most popular team sport, and it thrived on gambling. Perhaps because he wished to anglicise and so fit in with society, Frederick developed an academic interest in cricket and soon became a genuine enthusiast. He began to make wagers and then to patronise and play the sport, even forming his own team on several occasions.
The earliest mention of Frederick in cricket annals is in a contemporary report of a match on 28 September 1731 betweenSurrey andLondon, played onKennington Common. No post-match report was found despite advance promotion as "likely to be the best performance of this kind that has been seen for some time". The records show that "for the convenience of the gamesters, the ground is to be staked and roped out" – a new practice in 1731 and possibly done partly for the benefit of a royal visitor. The advertisement refers to "the whole county of Surrey" as London's opponents and states that the Prince of Wales is "expected to attend".[40]
In August 1732, theWhitehall Evening Post reported that Frederick attended "a great cricket match" at Kew on 27 July.[41]
By the 1733 season, Frederick was seriously involved in the game, in effect as a county cricketer for Surrey.[42] He was said to have given a guinea to each player in a Surrey vs.Middlesex game atMoulsey Hurst.[43] Then he awarded a silver cup to a combined Surrey and Middlesex team which had just beatenKent, arguably the best county team at the time, at Moulsey Hurst on 1 August.[43] This is the first reference in cricket history to any kind of trophy (other than hard cash) being contested. On 31 August, the Prince of Wales XI playedSir William Gage's XI on Moulsey Hurst. The result is unknown but the teams were said to be of county standard, so presumably it was in effect a Surrey vs. Sussex match.[44]
In the years following 1733, there are frequent references to the Prince of Wales as a patron of cricket and as an occasional player.
When he died on 31 March 1751, cricket suffered a double blow as his death closely followed that ofCharles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, the game's greatest financial patron at the time. The number of top-class matches declined for several years.
His political ambitions unfulfilled, Frederick died at Leicester House at the age of 44 on 31 March 1751 (20 MarchOS).[45] This had once been attributed to a burstlung abscess caused by a blow from a cricket or areal tennis ball,[46] but as of 2016[update] it is thought to have been from apulmonary embolism.[47] He was buried atWestminster Abbey on 13 April 1751. He is the most recent Prince of Wales not to have acceded to the British throne.
The Prince of Wales'sepigram (quoted byWilliam Makepeace Thackeray, "Four Georges"):
"Here lies poor Fred who was alive and is dead,
Had it been his father I had much rather,
Had it been his sister nobody would have missed her,
Had it been his brother, still better than another,
Had it been the whole generation, so much better for the nation,
But since it is Fred who was alive and is dead,
There is no more to be said!"
Three months after his death, on 22 July, Augusta gave birth to their last child,Princess Caroline Matilda, who would later marryChristian VII of Denmark.
He was given the titleDuke of Gloucester on 10 January 1717,[48] but when he was raised to the peerage on 26 July 1726 it was as Duke of Edinburgh.[4][49] He becameDuke of Cornwall on 11 June 1727 and Prince of Wales on 7 January 1729.[3]
Between his creation as Duke of Edinburgh in 1726 and his creation as Prince of Wales, he bore the arms of the kingdom, differentiated by alabel argent of three points, the centre point bearing a cross gules.As Prince of Wales, the difference changed to simply alabel argent of three points.[51] Frederick never succeeded his father as Treasurer of the Holy Roman Empire and so the red escutcheon in the centre of his Hanover quarter is empty.[52]
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| Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| By The HonourableAnne Vane | |||
| FitzFrederick Cornwall Vane | 4 June 1732 | 23 February 1736 | Born onSt James's Street and baptised on 17 June 1732 with The HonourableHenry Vane (his maternal uncle),Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore and Lady Elizabeth Mansel as his godparents. He died in London of "a fit of convulsions" while in the care of his uncle Henry. |
| Amelia Vane | 21 April 1733 | 22 April 1733 | Died the day after her birth. |
| By Margaret, Countess of Marsacreputed | |||
| Charles | 1736 | 22 December 1820 | Died aged 84. |
| ByPrincess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha | |||
| Princess Augusta | 31 July 1737 | 23 March 1813 | Married, 1764,Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel; had issue. |
| George III | 4 June 1738 | 29 January 1820 | Married, 1761,Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz; had issue, includingGeorge IV andWilliam IV. |
| Prince Edward, Duke of York and Albany | 25 March 1739 | 17 September 1767 | Died aged 28, unmarried. |
| Princess Elizabeth | 10 January 1741 | 4 September 1759 | Died aged 18, unmarried. |
| Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh | 25 November 1743 | 25 August 1805 | Married, 1766,Maria Waldegrave, Dowager Countess Waldegrave; had issue. |
| Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn | 7 November 1745 | 18 September 1790 | Married, 1771,Anne Horton; no issue. |
| Princess Louisa | 19 March 1749 | 13 May 1768 | Died aged 19, unmarried. |
| Prince Frederick | 13 May 1750 | 29 December 1765 | Died aged 15, unmarried. |
| Princess Caroline Matilda | 11 July 1751 | 10 May 1775 | Born posthumously; Married, 1766,Christian VII of Denmark and Norway; had issue. |
Media related toFrederick, Prince of Wales at Wikimedia Commons
Frederick, Prince of Wales Cadet branch of theHouse of Welf Born: 1 February 1707 Died: 31 March 1751 | ||
| Royal titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Duke of Cornwall Duke of Rothesay 1727–1751 | Vacant Title next held by George (IV) |
| Prince of Wales 1729–1751 | Succeeded by | |
| New creation | Duke of Edinburgh 1st creation 1726–1751 | |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chancellor of the University of Dublin 1728–1751 | Succeeded by |
|  | |
See also:Principality of Wales | ||
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