Posted by Damian
on 28/10/2009, 19:01:13
195.93.21.106
28 October 1708: Prince George of Denmark & Norway,Duke of Cumberland,husband and consort of Queen Anne,died at the age of 55.
On the occasion of his marriage to Anne in 1683,the bride's uncle,King Charles II famously observed: "I have tried him drunk and I have tried him sober and there's nothing to him."While it is true that George was not particularly clever,he was a kind and loyal man and a brave soldier too.He and Anne were happily married for 25 years,the only shadow on their happiness being the deaths in infancy or childhood of every single one of their 17 children.He remained very proud of his Danish roots and always insisted on using his royal Danish title rather than the English peerage his wife conferred on him in order to have a seat in the House of Lords.Even after his wife became Queen and therefore Supreme Governor of the Church of England,George always remained a practicing Lutheran,the faith of his childhood and had his own private chapel and Lutheran minister.Unlike Philip of Spain in the 16th century and his brother-in-law,William III,Parliament did not bestow the title of king upon him after his wife's accession but simply made him an English peer.After he died,Anne sank into depression and her health,never very good,declined rapidly.She survived him by just 6 years.
George was the second of three Danish consorts to an English monarch.(The other two being Anne,consort of Charles I and Alexandra,consort of Edward VII).
A portrait of Prince George of Denmark with his wife,Queen Anne:
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