Octavius ​​of Great Britain, Ireland and Hanover

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Prince Octavius, 1782, painting by Thomas Gainsborough

Prince Octavius ​​of Great Britain, Ireland and Hanover (born February 23, 1779 in Buckingham Palace , † May 3, 1783 in Kew Palace , London) was a member of the British royal family. He was the thirteenth child and the eighth son of the British King George III. and his wife Queen Charlotte . Six months after the death of his younger brother Alfred , Octavius ​​was vaccinated against smallpox. A few days later he got sick and died. His death at the age of four rocked his parents, especially his father. In his later fits of madness, the king had hallucinations of his young son.

Early years

Prince Octavius ​​was born at Buckingham Palace on February 23, 1779. He was the thirteenth child and the eighth son of King George III and his wife, Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The prince's name is derived from the Latin Octavus, the eighth , as an indication that he was the eighth son of his parents.

The Little Prince was baptized by Frederick Cornwallis the Archbishop of Canterbury on March 23, 1779 in the Great Council Chamber of St James's Palace . His godparents were Duke of Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel (husband of a second cousin, who was represented by the Marquess of Hertford, Lord Chamberlain ), the Duke of Mecklenburg (his first cousin, who was represented by the Earl of Ashburnham) and the Duchess von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (wife of his cousin, she was represented by Alicia Wyndham, Countess of Egremont , a lady-in-waiting to Queen Charlotte).

The king was very fond of Octavius, who was too young to cause him the kind of trouble his older brothers had done the year he was born. The king was deeply indulgent and indulgent to his younger children. He tried to organize birthday parties and other events for their entertainment. A contemporary witness wrote that George and Charlotte “have their children playing with them all the time,” and in the evenings they were usually brought in from 6 am to 7 am to play for an hour or two. The king was kept informed about the school progress of his children.

Octavius ​​was very close to his sister Sophia , who called Octavius ​​"her son"; he traveled with her and her siblings Elizabeth and Edward in the summer of 1780 to Eastborne on the Sussex coast , where they could enjoy the fresh air. When Octavius ​​was 19 months old, his younger brother Prince Alfred was born. Octavius ​​was three years old when Alfred died on August 20, 1782, making him the youngest surviving child again. Horace Walpole wrote to Sir Horace Mann that on Prince Alfred's death King George had declared, “I am very sorry for Alfred; but if it had been Octavius ​​I could have died too ”In 1820 the historian Edward Holt wrote of the prince's character:“ Although Prince Octavius ​​was less than five years old, he was considered very docile and had a good nature in such an unusual degree that he was the joy of everyone around him. ”According to biographer John Watkins, Octavius ​​was“ one of the most beautiful of the royal offspring. ”

Death and aftermath

Apotheosis of Prince Octavius, 1783, painting by Benjamin West
Prince Octavius, 1783, painting by Benjamin West

Six months after Alfred's death, Octavius ​​and Sophia were vaccinated with the smallpox virus at Kew Palace in London . While Sophia recovered without complications, Octavius ​​fell ill and died a few days later on May 3, 1783 at 8 a.m. in Kew Palace. He was four years old. Traditionally, the household did not mourn the death of royal children under fourteen.

Octavius ​​was the last member of the British royal family to develop smallpox. On May 10th, he was buried at the side of his brother Alfred in Westminster Abbey . On the orders of King George, at around 3:00 a.m. on February 11, 1820, her remains were transferred to St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle .

According to Queen Charlotte, Octavius' death had been unexpected; she wrote to a friend who had experienced a similar tragedy, "I have felt what you are feeling twice, the last time without the slightest preparation for such a blow, for in less than 48 hours my son Octavius ​​was in perfect health, sick and sudden death. ”The prince's death had a marked impact on the mental and physical health of Queen Charlotte, who at the time was pregnant with her youngest child, Princess Amalia . Octavius' death destroyed his father; Walpole wrote, “The king has lost another small child; a beautiful boy who was said to have been fond of his Majesties. ”Shortly thereafter, King George said,“ There will be no heaven for me if Octavius ​​is not there. ”The day after his son's death, the king left through the room where artist Thomas Gainsborough put the finishing touches on a portrait of the family. The king asked him to stop, but when he found out it was a painting by Octavius, he let the painter continue. When this picture was exhibited a week later, his sisters were so distraught they broke down and cried in front of everyone. In later years, King George had imaginative conversations with his two youngest sons. During one of his fits of madness in 1788, King George held a pillow for Octavius, who by then had been dead for five years.

Portraits

Several portraits of Octavius ​​have been preserved. Five portraits of him alone and one with his brother Alfred are now in the Royal Collection . The first and best known is Thomas Gainsborough's 1782 painting. It is part of a series of paintings by the younger of the royal children. The second was made from the 1782 portrait of Gainsborough and is dated to around 1782 or 1784. The third portrait is of Benjamin West and was painted shortly before Octavius' death. In addition to these five portraits, there are two enamels, both after Gainsborough's portrait from 1782. One is by William Bone and the other is by an anonymous artist. The sixth and final portrait depicts the apotheosis (becoming god) of Octavius ​​and Alfred and was painted by West. Another portrait, this time of Queen Charlotte, also shows Octavius. Painted by West in 1779, this is a portrait of the Queen with her children in the background. Prince Octavius ​​is in the middle of the group, wearing baby clothes and driving a small Phaeton . He is pulled by Prince Ernest and pushed by Prince Adolphus .

Two other portraits are in the National Portrait Gallery in London. The first is an engraving by Samuel Freeman after Gainsborough from 1817. The second is another engraving entitled The Apotheosis of the Princes Octavius ​​and Alfred and of the Princess Amelia . It was published by Robert Hicks in 1820. Three other lesser-known portraits are in the United States, including at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts .

Web links

Commons : Octavius ​​of Great Britain, Ireland and Hanover  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Weir, Alison (2008). Britain's Royal Families, The Complete Genealogy. London: Vintage Books. ISBN 978-0-09-953973-5 , p. 300
  2. ^ Watkins, John (1819). Memoirs of Her most excellent Majesty Sophia-Charlotte: Queen of Great Britain, Volume 1. London: Henry Colburn, p. 270.
  3. ^ Sheppard, Edgar (1894). Memorials of St James's Palace. London: Longmans, Green, and Co., p. 59
  4. ↑ Hibbert, Christopher (2000). George III: A Personal History. Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-02724-5 , pp. 98-99.
  5. ↑ Hibbert, Christopher (2000). George III: A Personal History. Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-02724-5 , p. 99
  6. ^ Fraser, Flora (2004). Princesses: The Six Daughters of George III. London: John Murray. ISBN 0-7195-6109-4 , p. 70
  7. ^ Fraser, Flora (2004). Princesses: The Six Daughters of George III. London: John Murray. ISBN 0-7195-6109-4 , pp. 65-66.
  8. ^ Fraser, Flora (2004). Princesses: The Six Daughters of George III. London: John Murray. ISBN 0-7195-6109-4 , pp. 65, 70, 76-79
  9. ↑ Walpole, Horace; Peter Cunningham (1891). The letters of Horace Walpole, fourth earl of Orford, Volume VIII. London: Richard Bentley and Son, p. 363
  10. ↑ Holt, Edward (1820). The public and domestic life of His late Most Gracious Majesty, George the Third, Volume 1. London: Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, p. 256
  11. ^ Watkins, John (1819). Memoirs of Her most excellent Majesty Sophia-Charlotte: Queen of Great Britain, Volume 1. London: Henry Colburn, p. 291
  12. ↑ Holt, Edward (1820). The public and domestic life of His late Most Gracious Majesty, George the Third, Volume 1. London: Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, p. 256
  13. ^ Fraser, Flora (2004). Princesses: The Six Daughters of George III. London: John Murray. ISBN 0-7195-6109-4 , p. 77
  14. ^ Fritz, Paul S. (1982). The Trade in Death: The Royal Funerals in England, 1685-1830. Eighteenth-Century Studies 15 (3): 291-316. Retrieved November 19, 2011, p. 305.
  15. ^ Panton, Kenneth J. (2011). Historical Dictionary of the British Monarchy. Scarebrow Press, Inc. ISBN 0-8108-5779-0 , p. 359
  16. ↑ Holt, Edward (1820). The public and domestic life of His late Most Gracious Majesty, George the Third, Volume 1. London: Sherwood, Neely, and Jones, p. 256
  17. ↑ Burials in the Chapel since 1805 ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on St-Georges-Windsor.org @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.stgeorges-windsor.org
  18. ↑ Baxby, Derrick (1984). A Death From Inoculated Smallpox in the English Royal Family . Medical History 28: 303-307. PMC 1139449 (free full text). PMID 6390027 , p. 304
  19. ^ Watkins, John (1819). Memoirs of Her most excellent Majesty Sophia-Charlotte: Queen of Great Britain, Volume 1. London: Henry Colburn, p. 292
  20. ↑ Walpole, Horace; Peter Cunningham (1891). The letters of Horace Walpole, fourth earl of Orford, Volume VIII. London: Richard Bentley and Son, p. 363
  21. ↑ Hibbert, Christopher (2000). George III: A Personal History. Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-02724-5 , p. 99
  22. ↑ Hibbert, Christopher (2000). George III: A Personal History . Basic Books. ISBN 0-465-02724-5 , p. 280
personal data
SURNAME Octavius ​​of Great Britain, Ireland and Hanover
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Member of the British royal family from the House of Hanover
DATE OF BIRTH February 23, 1779
PLACE OF BIRTH Buckingham Palace , London
DATE OF DEATH May 3, 1783
Place of death Kew Palace , London