Princess Amelia of the United Kingdom

"For other persons known as Princess Amelia, see Princess Amelia"Infobox British Royalty|royal
name =Princess Amelia
title =Princess Amalia of the United Kingdom


imgw =200
royal house =House of Hanover
titles ="HRH" The Princess Amelia
father =George III
mother =Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
date of birth =birth date|1783|8|7|df=y
place of birth =Royal Lodge, Windsor
date of death =death date and age|1810|11|2|1783|8|7|df=y
place of death =Augusta Lodge, Windsor
date of burial =13 November 1810
place of burial =St George's Chapel, Windsor|

The Princess Amelia (7 August 1783 – 2 November 1810), was a member of the British Royal Family.

Early life

Princess Amelia was born on 7 August 1783, at the Royal Lodge, Windsor, the youngest of George III and Queen Charlotte's fifteen children. She is reputed to have been her father's favourite and he called her "Emily." As the daughter of the monarch, she was styled "HRH" The Princess Amelia from birth.

'Unsuitable' Relationship

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

In 1803 Amelia fell in love with Hon. Sir Charles FitzRoy, an equerry 21 years older than herself, and the son of Charles FitzRoy, 1st Baron Southampton. 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, and the shock sending him into one of the bouts of mental illness to which he was becoming increasingly prone. 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).

Illness

Princess Amelia was quite healthy until the age of fifteen, when she wrote "I wish the wind would go down. It hurts the drumsticks of my ears". Later that year she started to suffer the early symptoms of what turned out to be tuberculosis. In 1808, she 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 for a seaside cure at 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. The dying princess had a mourning ring made for the king, composed of a lock of her hair, under crystal, set round with diamonds. 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. [http://www.thepeerage.com/e165.htm]

Her eldest brother, later George IV, was her godfather and is reputed to have requested her death mask.

After death

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 led to a decline in her father's health which resulted in his insanity and the subsequent invocation of the Regency Act of 1811. She was buried in the royal vault in St George's Chapel, Windsor

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

*7 August 1783 – 2 November 1810: "Her Royal Highness" The Princess Amelia

Arms

As of 1789, as a daughter of the sovereign, Amelia had use of the arms of the kingdom, differenced by a "label argent of three points, the centre point bearing a rose gules, the outer points each bearing a heart gules". [ [http://www.heraldica.org/topics/britain/cadency.htm Marks of Cadency in the British Royal Family] ]

Ancestors

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1= 1. Princess Amelia of the United Kingdom
2= 2. George III of the United Kingdom
3= 3. Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
4= 4. Frederick, Prince of Wales
5= 5. Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha
6= 6. Duke Charles Louis Frederick of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Prince of Mirow
7= 7. Princess Elizabeth Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen
8= 8. George II of Great Britain
9= 9. Caroline of Ansbach
10= 10. Frederick II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg
11= 11. Magdalena Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst
12= 12. Adolf Frederick II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
13= 13. Christiane Emilie of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
14= 14. Ernest Frederick I, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen
15= 15. Sophia Albertine of Erbach-Erbach
16= 16. George I of Great Britain
17= 17. Sophia Dorothea of Celle
18= 18. John Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach
19= 19. Eleanor Erdmuthe Louise of Saxe-Eisenach
20= 20. Frederick I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg
21= 21. Magdalena Sibylle of Saxe-Weissenfels
22= 22. Charles, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst
23= 23. Sophia of Saxe-Weissenfels
24= 24. Adolf Frederick I, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
25= 25. Maria Katharina of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
26= 26. Christian William I of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
27= 27. Antoine Sybille of Barby-Muhlingen
28= 28. Ernest III, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen
29= 29. Sofie of Waldeck
30= 30. George Louis I of Erbach-Erbach
31= 31. Amelie Katherine of Waldeck-Eisenberg

External links

* [http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/H/history/heads/footnotes/princeregent1.html The Prince Regent and His Circle]
* [http://www.georgianindex.net/Cranbourne/cranbourne_lodge.html Cranbourne Lodge, Georgian Index]
* [http://thepeerage.com/e165.htm Dictionary of National Biography]

References