- 1799: created as Duke of Kent and Strathearn and Earl of Dublin
- 1799: appointed a General and commander-in-chief of British forces in the Maritime Provinces of North America
- 1802: he was appointed Governor of Gibraltar
- 1805: The Duke was appointed Field-Marshal of the Forces
- Edward Augustus Hanover, 1st Duke of Kent
Edward Augustus Hanover, 1st Duke of Kent, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, was born 2 November 1767 in Buckingham House, London, Greater London, England, United Kingdom to George III of the United Kingdom (1738-1820) and Charlotte von Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1744-1818) and died 23 January 1820 Woolbrook Cottage, Sidmouth, Devon, England, United Kingdom of pneumonia. He married Viktoria von Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld (1786-1861) 29 May 1818 in Schloss Ehrenburg, Coburg, Oberfranken, Bavaria, Germany.
Biography
Edward was the first member of the royal family to live in North America for more than a short visit (1791–1800) and, in 1794, the first prince to enter the United States (travelling to Boston on foot from Lower Canada) after independence. He is credited with the first use, on 27 June 1792, of the term Canadian to mean both French and English settlers in Upper and Lower Canada. The Prince used the term in an effort to quell a riot between the two groups at a polling station in Charlesbourg, Lower Canada.[1] In the 21st century, he has been styled the "Father of the Canadian Crown" for his impact on the development of Canada.[2]
Death
The Duke of Kent died of pneumonia on 23 January 1820 at Woolbrook Cottage, Sidmouth,[3] and was interred in St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.[3] He died six days before his father, George III, and less than a year after his daughter's birth.
He predeceased his father and his three elder brothers but, as none of his elder brothers had any surviving legitimate children, his daughter Victoria succeeded to the throne on the death of her uncle King William IV in 1837, and ruled until 1901.
In 1829 the Duke's former aide-de-camp purchased the unoccupied Castle Hill Lodge from the Duchess in an attempt to reduce her debts;[4] the debts were finally discharged after Victoria took the throne and paid them over time from her income.
Marriage and Family
Following the death of Princess Charlotte of Wales in November 1817, the only legitimate grandchild of George III at the time, the royal succession began to look uncertain. The Prince Regent (later King George IV) and his younger brother Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, though married, were estranged from their wives and had no surviving legitimate children. The king's surviving daughters were all childless and past likely childbearing age. The King's unmarried sons, William, Duke of Clarence (later King William IV), Edward, Duke of Kent, and Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, all rushed to contract lawful marriages and provide an heir to the throne. The King's fifth son, Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, was already married but had no living children at that time, whilst the marriage of the sixth son, Augustus, Duke of Sussex, was void because he had married in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act 1772.
Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
For his part the Duke of Kent, aged 50, was already considering marriage, and he became engaged to Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld,[3] who had been the sister-in-law of his now-deceased niece Princess Charlotte. They were married on 29 May 1818 at Schloss Ehrenburg, Coburg, in a Lutheran rite, and again on 11 July 1818 at Kew Palace, Kew, Surrey.[3]
Princess Victoria was the daughter of Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and the sister of Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, husband of the recently deceased Princess Charlotte. She was a widow: her first husband was Emich Karl, 2nd Prince of Leiningen, with whom she had had two children: a son, Karl, 3rd Prince of Leiningen, and a daughter, Princess Feodora of Leiningen.
They had one child, Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent (who became Queen Victoria) born 24 May 1819. He was 51 years old at the time of her birth. The Duke took great pride in his daughter, telling his friends to look at her well, for she would be Queen of the United Kingdom.[3]
Their only child, Victoria, became Queen of the United Kingdom 17 years after his death.
Mistresses
Madame de Saint-Laurent, a mistress of Prince Edward
Various sources report that the Duke of Kent had mistresses. In Geneva, he had two mistresses, Adelaide Dubus and Anne Moré. Dubus died at the birth of her daughter Adelaide Dubus (1789 – in or after 1832). Anne Gabrielle Alexandrine Moré was the mother of Edward Schenker Scheener (1789–1853). Brought up in Geneva as the ostensible son of Thimothée Schencker, his father promised to find him a post in the UK civil service and in 1809 he was appointed a clerk in the Foreign Office, being retired with a pension in 1826. When his half-sister Victoria became Queen in 1837, with his English wife Harriet Boyn (1781-1852) he returned to Geneva, where he died in 1853. He had no children.[5]
In 1790, while still in Geneva, the Duke took up with "Madame de Saint-Laurent" (born Thérèse-Bernardine Montgenet), the wife of a French colonel. She went with him to Canada in 1791, where she was known as "Julie de Saint-Laurent". She accompanied the Duke for the next 28 years, until his marriage in 1818.[3] The portrait of the Duke by Beechey was hers.[6]
Mollie Gillen, who was granted access to the Royal Archive at Windsor Castle,[7] established that no children were born of the 27-year relationship between Edward Augustus and Madame de Saint-Laurent; although many Canadian families and individuals (including the Nova Scotian soldier Sir William Fenwick Williams, 1st Baronet),[8] have claimed descent from them. Such claims can now be discounted in light of this research.[3]
Children
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Victoria of the United Kingdom (1819-1901) | 24 May 1819 Kensington Palace, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom | 22 January 1901 Osborne House, Isle of Wight, England, United Kingdom | Albert von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha (1819-1861) |
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Edward Schenker Scheener (1789–1853) | |||
| Name | Birth | Death | Joined with |
| Adelaide Victoria Augusta Dubus (1789-1790) | |||
Siblings
See Also
- Edward Hanover
- Hanover Family
- Hanover in England
Bibliography
External Links
- wikipedia:en:Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn
- Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn at thePeerage
- Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, Geni.com, https://www.geni.com/people/Duke-Edward-Hannover-Prince-Duke-of-Kent-and-Strathearn/4087038607800049893, retrieved 01 May 2023
- Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn at Find A Grave
- Cottage Orné: Woolbrook cottage in May 2009, now the Royal Glen hotel
- MacNutt (1983). "Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent and Strathearn". In Halpenny, Francess G. Dictionary of Canadian Biography. V (1801–1820) (online ed.). University of Toronto Press.
- Nathan Tidridge's "Prince Edward, Duke of Kent: Father of the Canadian Crown"
- Prince Edward Augustus of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Kent and Strathearn at Genealogics
- 4.13.1.1.1.1.4. on Descendants of King James I & VI
- welf7 on genealogy.euweb.cz
Ancestry Trees
- Charlemagne Family Ancestry
- Rurik Family Ancestry
- Rollo Family Ancestry
- Alfred the Great Family Ancestry
- House of Hanover
- Plantagenet Family Line
- Capetian dynasty
Original Citations
1800 Times of London
Source: "The Duke of Kent". The Times. No. 4890. 3 September 1800. p. 2. "We have the pleasure to announce the safe arrival of the Duke of Kent in England. His Royal Highness landed at Plymouth on Sunday evening under a Royal Salute from the Forts, the ships on the Sound, Cawsand Bay and the Hamoaze and set off immediately for Weymouth to pay his respects to their Majesties. While we rejoice in his safe arrival we cannot but regret that ill health should again have been the cause of his Royal Highness's return to this country, especially when we reflect on the motives which induced him to quit England.
"Before his Royal Highness was created Duke of Kent with a suitable income, he had incurred some debts. On his returning to England on finding that he was unable to live in any degree suitable to his rank, and at the same time to discharge his debts, he generously resolved again to go to America, and to remain there, living solely on his pay as an Officer, till his debts were entirely liquidated, to which purpose he gave up the whole of his income allowed him by Government, and in this resolution he persisted, till repeated bilious attacks compelled him to quit that country.
"We are sensible that an idea once prevailed that his Royal Highness, in early life, had participated in several of the fashionable vices of the age; but nothing was ever more remote from the truth—for it may be truly said of the Duke of Kent (what can be said of very few men of Rank) that he never was known to be intoxicated, or ever won or lost a farthing at any kind of play in his life; that he never endeavored to seduce the wife of another, or even made a promise he did not do his utmost to perform—his rigid adherence to his word is so remarkable that no consideration has ever induced him to swerve from a promise he has once given. To these good qualities his Royal Highness united a most benevolent disposition; and amidst all his pecuniary embarrassments he has invariably set apart 500l. a year of his income for the relief of private indigence and distress—throughout all British America he was so universally beloved, that the loss of his presence is reckoned one of the greatest misfortunes that could have befallen the country. And we have no hesitation in expressing our conviction, that no measure will more strongly contribute to pacify and reconcile all ranks of people in Ireland, than the presence of his Royal Highness in that country, where we now understand it is the intention of the Government to employ him."
Royal Succession Charts
Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (1767-1820) Cadet branch of the House of Welf Born: 2 November 1767 Died: 23 January 1820
| ||
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Charles O'Hara |
Governor of Gibraltar 1802–1820 |
Succeeded by Henry Fox (acting) |
| Military offices | ||
| Preceded by John Campbell, of Strachur |
Commander-in-Chief, North America 1799–1800 |
Succeeded by George Prevost |
| Preceded by William Gordon |
Colonel of the 7th Regiment of Foot (Royal Fuzileers) 1789–1801 |
Succeeded by Sir Alured Clarke |
| Preceded by Lord Adam Gordon |
Colonel of the 1st Regiment of Foot (Royal Scots) 1801–1820 |
Succeeded by Marquess of Huntly |
| Freemasonry offices | ||
| Preceded by The Duke of Atholl |
Grand Master of the Antient Grand Lodge of England 1813 |
Succeeded by The Duke of Sussex as Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England |
Footnotes
- ^ Nathan Tidridge, "Prince Edward, Duke of Kent: Father of the Canadian Crown (Toronto, Dundurn Press, 2013), 90.
- ^ Michael Taube, "A Neglected Royal" (Toronto: Literary Review of Canada, 2013), 43.
- ^ a b c d e f g Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedodnb - ^ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedTTF - ^ Jones (2004). "Scheener, Edward Schencker (1789–1853)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/53528. https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/53528. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
- ^ Halpenny, Francess G, ed (1987). "MONTGENET, THÉRÈSE-BERNARDINE". Dictionary of Canadian Biography. VI (1821–1835) (online ed.). University of Toronto/Université Laval.
- ^ The Prince and His Lady- The Love Story of the Duke of Kent and Madame de St Laurent, Mollie Gillen, Griffin Press Ltd, 1970, pp. 25, 44
- ^ Template:Cite dcb
Footnotes (including sources)
Thurstan, Phlox, Rtol, MainTour
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