Prince George, Duke of Cambridge was born on 26 March 1819 at Cambridge House, Hanover. His father was Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, a son of King George III of the United Kingdom. His mother was Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel.
Prince George of Cambridge was educated in Hanover until 1830. He was then educated in England. His uncle King William IV hoped that George and his cousin Princess Victoria of Kent would marry when they were older, but George did not believe in arranged marriages; he felt they were almost always certain to fail. Victoria also did not want an arranged marriage, but was agreeable to marrying her first cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
In 1837, his cousin Victoria became queen of the united kingdom, upon their uncle’s death. Almost ten years later, on 8 January 1847, George married Sarah Fairbrother, without the queen’s consent. This meant the marriage was considered null and void, as it was in contravention of the 1772 Royal Marriages Act. Sarah was not titled Duchess of Cambridge or entitled to the style of Her Royal Highness. They had two sons born before they married, George and Adolphus, and their only son born after they married was Augustus, but because they married without consent of the queen, Augustus was declared illegitimate and ineligible to succeed to the Duke’s titles. The Queen ignored Sarah’s existence. Their children took the surname FitzGeorge, and Sarah called herself Mrs FitzGeorge.
George had many affairs and mistresses over the years. His most notable being Louisa Beauclerk, whom he had a relationship with from 1847 until 1882, when she died.
He embarked on a long military career, becoming a colonel in the Hanoverian Army. On 3 November 1837, he became a brevet colonel in the British Army. From October 1838 to April 1839, he worked in Gibraltar for the army, then served in Ireland. By May 1845, he held the rank of Major-General.
After his father’s death on 8 July 1850, George succeeded to his father’s titles of Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Tipperary and Baron Culloden. During the Crimean War, he received command of the 1st Division of the British Army in the East, and in 1854, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general. He was present for a number of battles, including the Battle of Alma, Balaclava, and Inkerman. In 1856, he was appointed general commanding-in-chief, and later in 1862, to field marshal commanding-in-chief. In 1887, he became the commander-in-chief of the forces.
As Commander in Chief, George was involved in the formation of the Staff college and the royal military school of music, and he became the governor of the royal military academy in woolwich. In 1860, he changed the strict corporal punishment; soldiers would only be flogged for serious offenses, such as mutinous conduct during wartime. The Duke was opposed to many new reforms, and resisted almost every attempt to reform or modernise the army.
Parliament passed the War Office Act 1870, which subordinated the Commander-in-Chief of the Forces to the Secretary of State for War, and in 1871, the custom of purchasing an office, which had instilled elitism among the army, was abolished. The Duke of Cambridge strongly resented this move, which was shared with many.
A number of reformers opposed to George banded together, and with mounting pressure against him for reform, the Duke was forced to resign on 1 November 1895. He was succeeded by Lord Wolseley. He was given the title of honorary colonel-in-chief to the forces, upon his resignation.
As George aged, his strength and hearing began to fade. At Queen Victoria’s funeral, he was unable to ride to the funeral, and had to attend in a carriage. On 17 March 1904, George passed away from a stomach haemorrhage, and was buried next to his wife, whom had died in 1890, in Kensal Green Cemetery.
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15 окт 2024
