Friedrich Ludwig of Hanover

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Thomas Hudson : Frederick Louis of Hanover (1750)

Friedrich Ludwig , English Frederick Louis or Frederick Lewis , from 1729 Prince of Wales (* January 31, 1707 in Hanover ; † March 20 Jul. / March 31,  1751 greg. in St James's Palace ) was the eldest son of King George II. of Great Britain and his wife Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach . He was the father of King George III. from the house of Hanover .

Life

Jacopo Amigoni : Frederick Louis of Hanover, Prince of Wales (1735)
Coat of arms of Friedrich Ludwig as Prince of Wales

Friedrich Ludwig's grandfather George I founded the House of Hanover when he ascended the throne , which ruled the Kingdom of Great Britain from 1714 to 1901 and the Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Electorate of Hanover) until 1837 . Friedrich Ludwig's parents also moved to England. Friedrich Ludwig remained under the care of his uncle Ernst August II of Hanover and represented the Electorate of Hanover in his absence .

On 26 July 1726 he was granted the hereditary peer titles , Duke of Edinburgh , Marquess of the Isle of Ely , Earl of Eltham , Viscount of Launceston and Baron Snowdon . When his father became King George II in 1727, Frederick Louis became first in line to the British and Hanoverian thrones, and also received the titles Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay . In 1728 his father brought him to London, where he was ceremonially proclaimed Prince of Wales on January 8, 1729 . As a result, there were considerable differences between him and his parents. The mutual dislike increased steadily until Friedrich Ludwig's death and damaged the reputation of the entire royal family. The prince also opposed his father and his government on political issues.
In conscious and deliberate competition with his parents and eldest sisters, who supported George Frideric Handel's opera company , Frederick founded the Opera of the Nobility (1733–1737) together with other nobles , which proceeded very aggressively, poaching almost all of Handel's singers and hired the famous Farinelli to destroy Handel and the Royal Opera. In the end, both companies failed.

The prince had been engaged to Wilhelmine of Prussia since 1717 . However, the engagement was canceled because both fathers pursued other political interests. A clandestine marriage to the wealthy Lady Diana Spencer (1710-1735), allegedly arranged by her grandmother Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough without the knowledge of the king and intended to bring in a dowry of £100,000 for the indebted crown prince, was arranged by Prime Minister Robert Walpole prevented. She instead married John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford in 1731 .

In 1736 Friedrich married 16-year-old Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg . When she was expecting her first child, he took her from Hampton Court Palace to St James's Palace shortly before the confinement , so that his parents could not, as tradition dictated, be present as witnesses at the birth. Exiled from the royal residence, Friedrich Ludwig took up residence in a private house in Leicester Square . Most of the time he lived with his family at his country estate in Kew . He is said to have been an excellent father, good-natured, impulsive and generous, who wanted to please everyone as much as possible. Each of his children was brought up to take care of a small piece of garden and to spend a lot of time outdoors with games and sports. He was proud to be the first "real" Englishman from the House of Hanover, and English was the only language spoken in the family. Through the intermediary of Lukas Schaub and John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville , Johann Kaspar Wettstein became Friedrich 's English teacher and chaplain in April 1736 .

Friedrich Ludwig was musical and worked as a patron of the arts. He was Chancellor of Dublin University .

Friedrich Ludwig died in 1751, nine years before his father. The cause of death is not exactly known. According to some reports, he died of pneumonia caused by excessive heating at a tennis tournament. On the other hand, it is said that he died of an abscess, which was located exactly where a ball had hit him at cricket weeks earlier. Heir to the throne was his son George III. In Britain , "Prince Frederick" was remembered as a patron of the arts. He was buried in Henry VII Chapel in Westminster Abbey .

Marriage and Offspring

The family of Friedrich Ludwig of Hanover. On the picture made after his death, Friedrich Ludwig is represented by a painting.

On May 8, 1736 he married Augusta of Saxe-Gotha (1719–1772). The couple had the following children:

See also

literature

web links

Commons : Friedrich Ludwig von Hannover  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

itemizations

  1. ↑ William Connely, The true Chesterfield: manners, women, education . Cassel, 1939.
  2. ↑ Thea Leitner: Scandal at court . Ueberreuter, 1993, ISBN 3-8000-3492-1 .
  3. ↑ Andreas Staehelin : Caspar Wettstein from England: a sketch of his curriculum vitae In: Basel journal for history and archeology , vol. 57, 1958, p. 175.
  4. ↑ Thea Leitner: Scandal at court . Ueberreuter, 1993, ISBN 3-8000-3492-1 .
  5. ↑ The Universal magazine. 1760, vol. 27, p. 256 (English, Google Books ).
predecessor government office successor
Title recreated Duke of Edinburgh
1726-1751 		Prince George
Prince George Duke of Cornwall
Duke of Rothesay
1727-1751 		vacant
(from 1762: Prince George )
Prince George Prince of Wales
1729-1751 		Prince George
personal data
SURNAME Friedrich Ludwig of Hanover
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ludwig, Frederick; Louis, Frederick; Lewis, Frederick
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Prince of Wales
BIRTH DATE January 31, 1707
PLACE OF BIRTH Hanover
DATE OF DEATH March 31, 1751
PLACE OF DEATH St James's Palace