Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn

File:William Henry and Henry.jpg, from a family group portrait of 1751.]]

File:Henry Frederick, Duke of Cumberland 1754 by Liotard.jpg]]

Prince Henry was born on 27 October 1745 at Leicester House, London, to Frederick, Prince of Wales, son of George II and Caroline of Ansbach, and his wife Augusta, the Princess of Wales.Alison Weir, Britain's Royal Family: A Complete Genealogy (London, U.K.: The Bodley Head, 1999), page 280.

File:Henry Duke of Cumberland by David Morier 1765.jpg around 1765]]

On 22 October 1766, just prior to his twenty-first birthday, the prince was created Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn and Earl of Dublin.{{London Gazette| issue = 10668| date = 14 October 1766| pages = 2–3}} He was Ranger of Windsor Forest and Great Park, from 1766 to 1790. He became a Privy Councillor in 1766 and was appointed Knight of the Garter the following year (1767).

On 4 March 1767, the Duke of Cumberland allegedly married Olive Wilmot (later Mrs Payne), a commoner, in a secret ceremony. There reportedly was one child, Olivia Wilmot (1772–1834), from this relationship, though the duke's paternity was never proven, and a jury found unanimously that Olivia Wilmot had forged the evidence. A landscape painter and novelist, Olivia Wilmot married John Thomas Serres (1759–1825) and later, controversially, assumed the title of "Princess Olivia of Cumberland".

Cumberland's mistresses included Ann Elliot who had been an actress before another had taken her off the stage. Cumberland set her up in a house in Greek Street in Soho where she died after an illness in 1769. Cumberland arranged for her burial and memorial and gave a large sum to her estate.{{Cite ODNB |doi = 10.1093/ref:odnb/64332|title = The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography|year = 2004|isbn = 9780198614111}}

In 1769, the Duke of Cumberland was sued by Lord Grosvenor for "criminal conversation" (that is, adultery) after the Duke and Lady Grosvenor were discovered in flagrante delicto.{{cite book | title=A Royal Affair: George III and His Troublesome Siblings | author=Stella Tillyard | author-link=Stella Tillyard | publisher=Random House | year=2010 | isbn=978-1-4090-1769-1 | pages=169–175 }} Lord Grosvenor was awarded damages of £10,000, which together with costs amounted to an award of £13,000 ({{Inflation|UK|13000|1770|r=-4|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}).{{Inflation-fn|UK|df=y}}

In 1768, at the fairly late age of 22, the Duke entered the Royal Navy as a midshipman and was sent to Corsica in HMS Venus. However, he returned in September when the ship was recalled following the French invasion of the Corsican Republic. He was promoted to Rear-Admiral the following year and Vice-Admiral in 1770.The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

On 2 October 1771, the Duke married Anne Horton (1743–1808), daughter of Irish peer and British MP Simon Luttrell, 1st Earl of Carhampton (then Lord Irnham) and the widow of Christopher Horton of Catton Hall. The marriage caused a rift with the King, who considered it a mismatch, and was the catalyst for the Royal Marriages Act 1772, which forbade any descendant of George II to marry without the monarch's permission.

The marriage between Anne Horton and the Duke of Cumberland was described as a "conquest at Brighthelmstone" (now Brighton) by Mrs. Horton, "who", Horace Walpole says, "had for many months been dallying with his passion, till she had fixed him to more serious views than he had intended".{{cite book | last = Walpole | first = Horace | author-link = Horace Walpole | title = Memoirs and Portraits, 244}} Anne was however generally thought one of the great beauties of the age (even Walpole found her green eyes "enchanting"), and Thomas Gainsborough painted her several times.

In 1775, the Duke established the Cumberland Fleet, which would later become the Royal Thames Yacht Club. He was promoted vice-admiral of the White in 1776,{{London Gazette|issue=11637|page=1|date=3–6 February 1776}} admiral of the Blue in 1778,{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=11844|page=2|date=27–31 January 1778}} and admiral of the White in 1782,{{London Gazette|nolink=y|issue=12286|page=2|date=9–13 April 1782}} though he was forbidden from assuming any command. The Duke was also instrumental in the development of Brighton as a popular resort. He had first visited in 1771, and in 1783, the Prince of Wales visited his uncle there.

The Duke of Cumberland died in London on 18 September 1790. His widow died in 1808.

{{House of Hanover (UK)|george2}}

• 27 October 1745 – 22 October 1766: His Royal Highness Prince Henry
• 22 October 1766 – 18 September 1790: His Royal Highness The Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn

The prince's full style, as recited by Garter King of Arms at his funeral, was the "Most High, Most Mighty and Illustrious Prince Henry Frederick, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn, Earl of Dublin, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter".{{London Gazette|issue=13241|page=598|date=2 October 1790}}

Henry was granted use of the arms of the kingdom, differenced by a label argent of five points, the centre bearing a cross gules, the other points each bearing a fleur-de-lys azure.[http://www.heraldica.org/topics/britain/cadency.htm Marks of Cadency in the British Royal Family]

300x300px

{{ahnentafel

|collapsed=yes |align=center |ref={{cite book|title=Genealogie ascendante jusqu'au quatrieme degre inclusivement de tous les Rois et Princes de maisons souveraines de l'Europe actuellement vivans| trans-title=Genealogy up to the fourth degree inclusive of all the Kings and Princes of sovereign houses of Europe currently living |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AINPAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA4|year=1768|publisher=Frederic Guillaume Birnstiel|location=Bourdeaux|language=fr|page=4}}

|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;

|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;

|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;

|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;

|boxstyle_5=background-color: #9fe;

|1= 1. Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn

|2= 2. Frederick, Prince of Wales

|3= 3. Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha

|4= 4. George II of Great Britain

|5= 5. Princess Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach

|6= 6. Frederick II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg

|7= 7. Princess Magdalena Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst

|8= 8. George I of Great Britain

|9= 9. Duchess Sophia Dorothea of Brunswick-Celle

|10= 10. John Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach

|11= 11. Princess Eleonore Erdmuthe of Saxe-Eisenach

|12= 12. Frederick I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg

|13= 13. Princess Magdalena Sibylle of Saxe-Weissenfels

|14= 14. Charles, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst

|15= 15. Princess Sophia of Saxe-Weissenfels

}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20060830234237/http://ftp.cac.psu.edu/~saw/royal/r10.html#I337 Henry Churchyard "Royal Genealogies, Part 10"]
• [http://www.anusha.com/pafg733.htm#24060 Sam Sloan "Big Combined Family Trees (pafg733)"]

{{reflist}}

• {{NPG name}}

{{s-start}}

{{s-hou|House of Hanover|7 November|1745|18 September|1790|House of Welf}}

{{s-npo|mason}}

{{succession box | title=Grand Master of the Premier Grand Lodge of England | before=The Duke of Manchester | after=The Earl of Moira
(as Acting Grand Master) | years=1782–1790}}

{{s-end}}

{{PGLE}}

{{British princes}}

{{Dukes of Cumberland}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cumberland and Strathearn, Prince Henry, Duke of}}

Category:1745 births

Category:1790 deaths

Category:People from Old Windsor

Henry

Category:British princes

101

Category:Peers of Great Britain created by George III

Category:Earls of Dublin

Category:Peers of Ireland created by George III

Category:Fellows of the Royal Society

Category:Grand masters of the Premier Grand Lodge of England

Category:Freemasons of the Premier Grand Lodge of England

Category:Burials at Westminster Abbey

Category:Children of Frederick, Prince of Wales