Regency Personalities Series-Charles Pierrepont 1st Earl Manvers

Regency Personalities Series

In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency (I include those who were born before 1811 and who died after 1795), today I continue with one of the many period notables.

Charles (Medows) Pierrepont 1st Earl Manvers
4 November 1737 – 17 June 1816

Charles Medows

Charles Pierrepont 1st Earl Manvers was the great great grandson of Daniel Meadows (d.1659) whose son was Sir Philip Meadows (d.1718), the successful parliamentarian. In 1710, Sir Philip’s fellow parliamentarian, Sir John Guise, 3rd Bart., was “informed by Queen Anne that Sir Philip had been promised the position as Envoy to Hanover, the role Guise had invisaged for himself. Sir Philip Meadows was knighted in 1658, made Knight Marshal of the King’s Palace and sent as an Ambassador to Sweden and Denmark.

In 1717, Sir Philip’s son – also named Sir Philip Meadows (d.1757) – was one of the twelve members of the Board of General Officers, working with Sir Robert Walpole, the First Commissioner (Lord) of the Treasury. Earlier, on 2 July 1700 he was appointed, as his father had been, knight-marshal of the King’s Household, and was formally knighted by King William on 23 December 1700 at Hampton Court. Sir Philip’s daughter, Mary (d.1743), was a Maid of honour to Queen Caroline and his first cousin was Philip Meadows (d.1752), who had been Mayor of Norwich in 1734. On the 29th of May of that year, Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole presented Mayor Meadows with his personal gift: the city’s new silver mace which bore Walpole’s own coat-of-arms. Like Prime Minister Walpole, Mayor Meadows had accumulated vast wealth owing to their success with the South Sea Company.

Another of Sir Philip’s sons, Sir Sidney Meadows, was also knight-marshal of the Kings Palace. Sidney died in Andover in 1792. Like his brother Philip, Sidney was Deputy Ranger of Richmond Park and worked under Prime Minister John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute who, by 1761, had been appointed Ranger by George III. At this time – shortly after he ascended the throne in 1760 – the King was sold the Rangership by his daughter Princess Amelia. King George, having appointed the third Lord Bute as Ranger, continued to keep up an interest in the park and instigated many repairs and improvements with Sir Sidney (and at times his brother Philip) as deputy. When Lord Bute died in 1792 the King took the Rangership back into his own keeping and for a short time areas were given over to farming. Sir Sydney died in 1792, aged 91, having worked alongside the King, managing the park’s agricultural and grazing branches.

Sarah Meadows Martineau was the daughter of Norwich Mayor Philip Meadows. Sarah was baptized at St George’s Church, Colegate, Norwich, Norfolk on 24 February 1725 and died in Norwich on 26 November 1800. Sarah was the subject of published poems by her friend, political writer Anna Letitia Barbauld, who had been “admired” by Horace Walpole, son of Prime Minister Walpole. Sarah Meadows Martineau is recorded as the matriarch of the Meadows of Norwich; “endowed with a strong mind and a well-cultivated understanding….her loss will be severely felt by a numerous family and by many whom her charity daily relieved and also by those who resorted to her judgement for advice”.

Educated at Oxford, Medows became a midshipman in the Royal Navy and was promoted to lieutenant on 7 August 1755. He became a commander on 5 April 1757 in Renown, a 20-gun sloop, but on 17 August the same year was promoted to post-captain in the frigate Shannon, and was ordered to join the Mediterranean Fleet. He commanded her until April 1761, when Vice-Admiral Saunders appointed him to the 50-gun frigate Isis, replacing Captain Edward Wheeler, who had been killed during the capture of the French ship Oriflamme. Medows continued on Isis, in the Mediterranean, until the end of the war in 1763, and in 1769 retired altogether from the Navy.

In 1773, Medows’s uncle, Evelyn Pierrepont, 2nd Duke of Kingston-upon-Hull, died and left his estates at Thoresby and elsewhere to his wife Elizabeth, Duchess of Kingston, the former wife of the Earl of Bristol. The duke’s nephews challenged the will on the grounds of bigamy, and the proceedings which followed established that the marriage of the Duchess had indeed been bigamous. However, this was found not to affect her inheritance, so she was able to retain the Pierrepont estates until her death, which took place in August 1788. Upon inheriting the estates, Medows adopted the surname of Pierrepont.

A watercolour sketch entitled In Captain Pierrepont’s Grounds was made by the Preston-born artist Anthony Devis (1729–1817).

His family’s political dynasty ensured that Medows was a well connected, if not terribly effective parliamentarian. As a Whig, Medows had been on good terms with Horace Walpole, the son of Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole. Horace had voiced his concern about the impending death of Medows’ uncle, the 2nd Duke of Kingston. With the patronage of the prime minister’s protégé, Thomas Pelham Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, Medows was returned as one of the Members of Parliament for Nottinghamshire in December 1778. He continued to sit in the Commons as a knight of the shire until he was ennobled in 1796.

In Parliament, Medows (Pierrepont) supported the Duke of Portland, whose influence helped him to be raised to the peerage as Baron Pierrepont, of Holme Pierrepont in the County of Nottingham, and Viscount Newark, of Newark on Trent in the County of Nottingham, on 23 July 1796, and on 1 April 1806 he was promoted to an earldom as Earl Manvers. In the Lords, Manvers supported agricultural reform and was vice-president of the Board of Agriculture in 1803. He died in 1816 and was buried at Holme Pierrepont.

He married Anne Orton, daughter of William Mills of Richmond, in 1774. They had five children:

• Hon. Evelyn Henry Frederick Pierrepont (1775–1801).
• Charles Herbert Pierrepont, 2nd Earl Manvers (1778–1860).
• Hon. Henry Manvers Pierrepont (1780–1858).
• Hon. Philip Sydney Pierrepont (13 June 1786 – 15 February 1864), of Evenley Hall, Northamptonshire, married on 19 August 1810 Georgiana Browne, died without issue.
• Lady Frances Augusta Pierrepont (d. 1847), married on 20 October 1802 Admiral William Bentinck (1746–1813), married on 30 July 1821 Henry William Stephens.

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Regency Personalities Series-Princess Mary Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh

Regency Personalities Series
In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.

Princess Mary Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh
25 April 1776 – 30 April 1857

Princess Mary

Princess Mary Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh was the 11th child and fourth daughter of King George III of the United Kingdom.

She married her first cousin, Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, when both were 40, and was his widow in later life. In her last years, her niece, Victoria, was on the throne as the fourth monarch during Mary’s life, after her father and two of her brothers. Princess Mary was the longest-lived (at 81 years) and last survivor of George III’s fifteen children; of those fifteen issue, thirteen lived to adulthood. She was also the only one of George III’s children to be photographed. She died on 30 April 1857 at Gloucester House, London.

Princess Mary was born, on 25 April 1776, at Buckingham Palace, London. Her father was the reigning British monarch, George III. Her mother was Queen Charlotte, the daughter of Charles, reigning Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

Mary was christened 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 (her first cousin once-removed, for whom The Earl of Hertford, Lord Chamberlain stood proxy)
• The Duchess of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (wife of her first cousin once-removed, for whom The Duchess of Argyll, Lady of the Bedchamber to The Queen, was proxy)
• Princess Charles of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (her third cousin once-removed, for whom The Dowager Countess of Effingham, Lady of the Bedchamber to The Queen, stood proxy).

According to author and historian 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 officially 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, and 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, and 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 very sheltered and she spent most of her time with her parents and sisters. King George and Queen Charlotte were keen to shelter their children, particularly the girls. Mary, however, 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, at the Chapel Royal in St James’s Palace. 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 already entitled her.

The couple lived at Bagshot Park, but after William’s death she moved to White Lodge in Richmond Park. They had no children together. Princess Mary was said to be the favourite aunt of her niece, Queen Victoria.

Princess Mary was quite close to her eldest brother, and she shared his dislike toward his wife 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.”

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Regency Personalities Series-Prince Alfred of Great Britain

Regency Personalities Series
In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.

Prince Alfred of Great Britain
22 September 1780 – 20 August 1782

Alfred

Prince Alfred of Great Britain was born, on 22 September 1780, at Windsor Castle, Windsor, England. His father was King George III, his mother Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The prince was baptised by Frederick Cornwallis, The Archbishop of Canterbury, in the Great Council Chamber at St James’s Palace on 21 October 1780. His godparents were The Prince of Wales (his eldest brother), The Prince Frederick (his second brother) and The Princess Royal (his eldest sister). As his parents’ fourteenth child and ninth son, his birth was no surprise but it did bring joy to his family, especially to his older sister Sophia, who, their sister Elizabeth reported, called the new baby her “grandson”.

In 1782, Prince Alfred was inoculated against smallpox. The sickness proved too much for the baby and in June he was taken to Deal with his nurse Lady Charlotte Finch to recover. It was hoped that the sea air, bathing in the water, and horseback riding would improve his condition. While he was there, Alfred endeared himself to many, including an old woman whom he waved to. In spite of his charming disposition, he continued to break out in spots and his chest was troubling him. When he returned to Windsor in August 1782, the doctors inspected him and realized that the boy had only weeks to live. After suffering bouts of fever and continuing problems with his chest, Prince Alfred died on 20 August 1782, at Windsor Castle, Berkshire, not even two years old.

Although the household did not go into mourning (it was not prescribed for royal children younger than fourteen), his parents took the loss harshly. According to Lady Charlotte Finch, the Queen “cried vastly” and was “very much hurt by her loss and the King also.” Alfred was buried at Westminster Abbey, though his remains were later moved to the Royal Vault in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle on 11 February 1820. His father continued to dwell on his death, and the sight of Alfred’s posthumous portrait in a family painting by Thomas Gainsborough nearly a year after Alfred’s death sent his three eldest sisters into tears. Six months after Alfred’s death, his elder brother Octavius succumbed to the smallpox virus, further devastating the king. During one of his bouts of madness in 1812, George would have imaginary conversations with his two youngest sons.

His youngest sister Princess Amelia was conceived in the months after Alfred’s death, born almost exactly a year after he died. The first of George III and Queen Charlotte’s children to die, Alfred died nearly seventy five years before his older sister Mary, who was the last survivor of George III and Queen Charlotte’s fifteen children. Alfred is also unique among their first fourteen children for never being an older sibling while he was alive, as the only child younger than him was born after his death.

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Regency Personalities Series-Princess Augusta Sophia

Regency Personalities Series
In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.

Princess Augusta Sophia
8 November 1768 – 22 September 1840

Augusta Sophia

Princess Augusta Sophia was the second daughter of George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

Princess Augusta Sophia was born at Buckingham House, London, the sixth child and second daughter of George III (1738–1820) and his wife Queen Charlotte. Her father so much wanted the new baby to be a girl that the doctor presiding over the labor thought fit to protest that “whoever sees those lovely Princes above stairs must be glad to have another.” The King was so upset by this view he replied that “whoever sees that lovely child the Princess Royal above stairs must not wish to have the fellow to her.” To the King’s delight, and the Queen’s relief, the baby was a small and pretty girl.

The young princess was christened on 6 December 1768, by Frederick Cornwallis, The Archbishop of Canterbury, in the Great Council Chamber at St. James’s Palace. Her godparents were Prince Charles of Mecklenburg (her maternal uncle, who was visiting England), The Queen-consort of Denmark (her paternal aunt, for whom The Duchess of Ancaster and Kesteven, Mistress of the Robes to The Queen, stood proxy) and The Hereditary Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg (her paternal aunt, for whom The Duchess of Northumberland, Lady of the Bedchamber to The Queen, stood proxy). When only a month old, Lady Mary Coke declared her “the most beautiful infant I ever saw”.

Princess Augusta was the middle of the elder trio of Princesses that consisted of her, her older sister Charlotte (born 1766) and her younger sister Elizabeth (born 1770). In 1771, the two elder Princesses started traveling to Kew to take lessons under the supervision of Lady Charlotte Finch and Miss Planta. The Princesses, who had formerly been very close to their brothers now saw little of them, except when their paths crossed on daily walks. In 1774, Martha Goldsworthy, or “Gouly” became the new head of their educations. The Princesses learned typically feminine pursuits, such as deportment, music, dancing, and arts, but their mother also ensured that they learned English, French, German, Geography, and had well-educated governesses.

The young Augusta was a great favorite with Miss Planta, who called her “the handsomest of all the Princesses” though compared to her older sister, she was “childish”. However, the Princess was painfully shy, and stammered when in front of people she didn’t know. From an early age Augusta was fixed on being good and was often upset when she did not succeed. Her behavior veered in between troublesome and well-mannered. She sometimes threw tantrums and hit her governesses, though she also often had a calm disposition and family-minded ways. She strongly disliked the political tensions that by 1780 had sprung up between her elder brothers and their parents, and preferred to occupy herself with her coin collection. As all her sisters were, Augusta was sheltered from the outside world so much that her only friends were her attendants, with whom she kept up a frequent correspondence.

In 1782, Augusta was debuted at the King’s birthday celebrations. As she was still terrified of crowds, her mother did not tell her daughter about her debut until two days before it happened. Later that year, the Princess’ youngest brother Alfred died, followed eight months later by her next youngest brother Octavius. When the Princesses went to see the summer exhibition in 1783 at the Royal Academy, they were so distraught by the portraits of their two youngest brothers that they broke down and cried in front of everyone. Augusta was soon a big sister again, with the birth of her youngest sibling Amelia in August 1783. She stood as a godmother, along with Charlotte and George. Though the birth of her sister did not erase the pain she felt at losing her brothers, Augusta did not dwell on their deaths as her father did.

By the time they reached their teens, the three eldest Princesses were spending a great deal of time with their parents. They accompanied them to the theater, to the Opera, and to Court, and their once academic lessons began to wind down, with music and the arts becoming the new focus. They heard famous actresses such as Sarah Siddons read, and along with Charlotte and their parents, Augusta met John Adams when he was presented to the Queen. The three girls were always dressed alike at public functions, the only difference ever in their dresses being color. Though so often displayed in public, Augusta still was happiest at home, where she adored her younger brothers Ernest, Augustus, and Adolphus. She was also extremely close to her sister Elizabeth, as Charlotte was often haughty and overly conscious of her position as Princess Royal.

Since they were quickly approaching a marriageable age, Augusta and the Princess Royal were given their first lady-in-waiting in July 1783. Augusta frequently wrote to her elder brother William, who was in Hanover for military training. She was a good correspondent, telling him family news and encouraging him to tell her what was happening in his life. She reveled in his attention and in the little gifts he sent her, even though the Queen tried to discourage William from taking up his sister’s valuable time. Though their academic lessons were nearly over, the Queen was loath to have her daughters waste time, and made sure that the Princesses spent hours studying music or art, learning many types of specialty work from different masters.

The Princesses did not “dress” until dinner, wearing morning gowns nearly all day. Even when “dressed”, the Royal family often wore plain clothes, far removed from the ornate splendor of other courts. As there were six Princesses, the Queen’s expenses even for these clothes was enormous, and she tried to keep costs down and within the allowance she was given. Moving into this new phase of life meant that the amount of money the Queen was spending on her three eldest daughters was rapidly increasing. The Princesses constantly needed dresses, hats, trimmings, fans, and other items. The quarterly expense for their clothes was estimated to be £2000, and the expense of all their servants and tutors added to that. Yet it all paid off in one way: the Princesses were quickly becoming a familiar sight to the public. When their group portrait was exhibited to the people, it was marveled at for the porcelain impersonal beauty they displayed. They were dressed the same, and only their accessories hinted at the very different personalities that lay underneath the painted masks.

By 1785, Augusta and Charlotte were reaching an age where they could be considered as potential brides for foreign Princes. In that year the Prince Royal of Denmark (later King Frederick VI) indicated to King George III that he would break off every other discussed proposal for the hand in marriage of a British Princess. He was also supposed to prefer Augusta to her older sister. However, the King declared that after the horrible treatment of his younger sister by the Prince Royal’s father, King Christian VII, he would never send one of his daughters to the Danish court. As their friends and ladies of the court began to get married, the Princesses wondered when their turn would come. In 1797, she received a proposal from Prince Frederick Adolf of Sweden, a proposal given without the approval of the Swedish royal house. A British Princess, especially from so fertile a mother, was a prize, but Augusta’s father seemed increasingly unwilling to allow his daughters to marry.

According to a flyer held by the V&A Archives, Princess Augusta was a patron of L. Bertolotto’s flea circus.

In 1828 Augusta was heard to remark to a friend: “I was ashamed to hear myself called Princess Augusta, and never could persuade myself that I was so, as long as any of the Stuart family were alive; but after the death of Cardinal York, I felt myself to be really Princess Augusta”.

She died on 22 September 1840 at Clarence House, St. James, London, and was buried at St George’s Chapel, Windsor on 2 October, after lying in state at Frogmore.

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Regency Personalities Series-Princess Amelia of the United Kingdom

Regency Personalities Series
In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.

Princess Amelia of the United Kingdom
7 August 1783 – 2 November 1810

Princess Amelia

Princess Amelia of the United Kingdom was born on 7 August 1783, at the Royal Lodge, Windsor, the youngest of George III and Queen Charlotte’s fifteen children as well as the only of her siblings born at Windsor Castle. It is often said that she was her father’s favourite, and accordingly, he affectionately called her, “Emily”. She was born after the early deaths of her two elder brothers: Octavius (23 February 1779 – 3 May 1783) and Alfred (22 September 1780 – 20 August 1782). The death of these two princes left a gap of almost six years between Amelia and her nearest surviving sibling, Princess Sophia. She was twenty-one years younger than her eldest sibling George and nearly seventeen years younger than her eldest sister Charlotte. As the daughter of the monarch, she was styled Her Royal Highness The Princess Amelia from birth.

Amelia was christened at the Chapel Royal, St James’s Palace by John Moore, The Archbishop of Canterbury, on 17 September 1783. Her godparents were The Prince of Wales (Amelia’s eldest brother), The Princess Royal (her eldest sister), and The Princess Augusta Sophia (her second eldest sister). She was the fifteenth sibling christened there.

Coming so soon after the death of Octavius and shortly before the end of the war between Great Britain and the United States, Amelia’s birth was felt to be a beginning of a new period of hope, and much was expected of her, even from birth. “Our littlest sister is without exception one of the prettiest children I have ever seen,” her oldest sister wrote to Prince William when Amelia was only a month old. She was expected to be as beautiful, charming, and winning as Octavius, her father’s previous favorite child, had been. As a result of her two brothers’ deaths, Amelia was considered as her father’s favourite.

From an early age, Amelia was conscious of her rank. A popular tale relates that when the famous tragedian, Sarah Siddons, expressed a desire to kiss the beautiful baby, Amelia “…instantly held her little hand out to be kissed, so early had she learnt the lessons of Royalty.” When Amelia was three, Fanny Burney, the Queen’s Keeper of the Robes, commented that the princess could be “decorous and dignified when called upon to act en princess to any strangers, as if conscious of her high rank, and the importance of condescendingly sustaining it.” Burney even dubbed her “the little idol”. As the youngest of the thirteen surviving children, Amelia was grouped with her sisters Mary and Sophia, and spent most of her time with them, living in various royal residences. From the beginning, the three younger princesses did not receive as much parental attention as their elder sisters had, and spent a good deal of time away from the King and Queen, communicating with them mostly by letter.

It seems that the three youngest princesses were much wilder than their elder sisters, as evidenced by their behavior when they sat for a portrait in 1785. In 1770, Zoffany had been able to paint the King, the Queen, and all six eldest children with little difficulty. In 1785, however, Copley had so much difficulty getting the dogs, birds, and especially the three royal children to sit still, that he never painted another portrait. Compared to the carefully planned education that Charlotte, Augusta, and Elizabeth had been given, the education given to Mary, Sophia, and Amelia was based solely on what had come before. Amelia was only five years old when her father suffered his first bout of madness. As a consequence of her father’s declining health, she never experienced the closeness and affection that had characterized the family during her elder sisters’ early years.

Prior to 1788, King George had told his daughters that he would take them to Hanover and find them suitable husbands despite misgivings he had, which stemmed from his sisters’ own unhappy marriages. He remarked, “I cannot deny that I have never wished to see any of them marry: I am happy in their company, and do not in the least want a separation.” However, the King suffered his first bout of madness that year, when Amelia was aged five. Further lapses into insanity occurred in 1801 and 1804, thus forestalling talk of marriage for his daughters. The question of matrimony was rarely raised; Queen Charlotte feared that the subject, which had always discomforted the King, would push him back into insanity. Furthermore the queen, strained from her husband’s illness, wanted the princesses to remain close to her.

Amelia and her sisters, Charlotte, Augusta Sophia, Elizabeth, Mary and Sophia were over-protected and isolated, which restricted them meeting eligible suitors of their own age.

In 1798 Princess Amelia developed a pain in the joint of her knee, and was sent to the large seaside town of Worthing for recovery. She wrote to her father, “Certainly the vapour and warm sea bath are of use and therefore I hope that I shall be able to assure you that I am better.” The following year Amelia temporarily recovered enough to join her family at Weymouth, where she doted upon her niece Princess Charlotte of Wales. Throughout her life Amelia was often in poor health; at the age of fifteen, she started to suffer the early symptoms of what turned out to be tuberculosis.

In 1801 the princess was sent for a seaside cure at Weymouth to improve her health. Among those staying with her was the Hon. Charles FitzRoy, an equerry 21 years older than herself, and the son of Charles FitzRoy, 1st Baron Southampton. Amelia fell in love with the equerry, desiring to marry him. The Queen was told of the affair by a servant, but turned a blind eye. It was hoped that such discretion would prevent the King from discovering the liaison, which may have risked sending him into one of the bouts of mental illness to which he was becoming increasingly prone. Though she never gave up hope of marrying him, Amelia knew she could not legally marry FitzRoy due to the provisions of the Royal Marriages Act passed by her father’s Parliament (at least until she reached the age of 25, after which she could receive permission by assent of the Privy Council). She would later tell her brother Frederick that she considered herself to be married, taking the initials A. F. R. (Amelia FitzRoy).

In 1808, Amelia had a severe attack of measles and the depressed atmosphere at home with her mother in Windsor made her even more miserable. The anxious King George decided to send Amelia to Weymouth accompanied by her sister Mary. Her health was improved only a little, but she found comfort in quietly resting. In 1809 she could occasionally take short walks in the garden. This improvement was but temporary, however, and in August 1810 her sufferings grew sharper, whilst in October of that year she was seized with St. Anthony’s fire (erysipelas), which cut off all hope and confined her to her bed on the 25th. The king summoned his daughter’s physicians to him at seven o’clock every morning and three or four other times during the day, questioning them minutely as to her condition. She lingered a few days more, waited upon to the last by her favourite and devoted sister, the Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh. Her 2 November death occurred on her brother Edward’s birthday.

The dying princess had a mourning ring made for the king, composed of a lock of her hair, under crystal, set round with diamonds. He purportedly burst into tears upon receiving it. Otherwise, her will dictated all her possessions be given to Charles FitzRoy. Amelia was buried in the royal vault in St George’s Chapel, Windsor. Her eldest brother, later George IV, was her godfather and is reputed to have requested her death mask.

After Amelia’s death, George Villiers, the King’s bailiff, and younger brother of Thomas Villiers, 2nd Earl of Clarendon, attempted to blackmail the King and Queen with letters belonging to Amelia, after the disappearance of £280,000 in his control. Villiers was father of later diplomat and statesman George Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon.

Her death is partly credited to the decline in her father’s health which resulted in his insanity and the subsequent invocation of the Regency Act of 1811. According to his doctor Dr. Willis, the king would later cry “in a wild, monotonous, delirious way, ‘Oh Emily [Princess Amelia], why won’t you save your father? I hate all the physicians…” Another of King George’s delusions included the belief that a healthy Amelia was only staying in Hanover with a large family of her own, where she would “never grow older and always be well.”

Amelia has been described as a beautiful, slender girl with ruby lips and auburn hair. Reportedly she was the “most turbulent and tempestuous of all the Princesses”. However, she is also said to have been gentle, unselfish and highly intelligent. These qualities led her sister-in-law Princess Caroline, who was known to despise her in-laws, to call Amelia the “most amiable of the bunch”. Amelia was a favorite of both the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Sussex, who called her a “lovely creature”. Amelia adored the former and once told him that she had always loved him better than her other brothers. He for his part loved her perhaps more than he did his other sisters (with the possible exception of Princess Mary) and was devastated when she died. So deeply affected was he by her death that after her funeral, he could never again sleep in a room that was not lit by several wax candles. He also burst into tears at the mention of her name more than three years after her demise.

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