Prince George of Denmark

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George of Denmark
Duke of Cumberland
Portrait by Michael Dahl, c. 1705
Consort of the British monarch
Tenure8 March 1702 – 28 October 1708
Born(1653-04-02)2 April 1653[a]
Copenhagen Castle, Denmark
Died28 October 1708(1708-10-28) (aged 55)
Kensington Palace, London, England, Great Britain
Burial13 November 1708
Westminster Abbey
Spouse
Issue
detail...		Prince William, Duke of Gloucester
HouseOldenburg
FatherFrederick III of Denmark
MotherSophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg
ReligionLutheran

Prince George of Denmark and Norway, Duke of Cumberland (2 April 1653 – 28 October 1708), was the husband of Anne, Queen of Great Britain.

Life[change | change source]

George was born in Copenhagen Castle. His father was Frederick III, King of Denmark and Norway. His mother was Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

In 1674, George was a candidate to be elected King of Poland. King Louis XIV of France wanted him to be elected.[2] George was a Lutheran, but Poland was Roman Catholic,[3] so John Sobieski was chosen instead.[4]

Because George was Protestant, people thought he would be a good husband for Anne, Queen of Great Britain. She was just Lady Anne at the time. George and Anne were married on 28 July 1683. The wedding was in the Chapel Royal at St James's Palace, London. The guests included King Charles II, Queen Catherine, and the Duke and Duchess of York.[5]

When King William III died in 1702, Anne became queen.

George died on 28 October 1708. Anne lived until 1714.

Titles, styles, honours and arms[change | change source]

Coat of arms of Prince George, Duke of Cumberland, Knight of the Garter

Titles[change | change source]

  • 2 April 1653 – 10 April 1689: His Royal Highness Prince George of Denmark and Norway
  • 10 April 1689 – 28 October 1708: His Royal Highness Prince George of Denmark and Norway, Duke of Cumberland[6]

Honours[change | change source]

Arms[change | change source]

The royal coat of arms of Denmark with a label of three points Argent, each with three Ermine points. The whole surmounted by a crown of a prince of Denmark. His crest was "out of a coronet Or, a demi-lion rampant guardant Azure, crowned of the first".[9]


Children[change | change source]

Queen Anne became pregnant seventeen times. Many of the pregnancies ended in stillbirth or miscarriage. None of the children lived past childhood.

Birth Death
1 Stillborn daughter 12 May 1684[10]
2 Mary 2 June 1685 8 February 1687[11]
3 Anne Sophia 12 May 1686 2 February 1687[12]
4 Miscarriage 21 January 1687[13]
5 Stillborn son 22 October 1687[14]
6 Miscarriage 16 April 1688[15]
7 William, Duke of Gloucester 24 July 1689 30 July 1700[16]
8 Mary 14 October 1690[17]
9 George 17 April 1692[18]
10 Stillborn daughter 23 March 1693[19]
11 Stillborn child 21 January 1694[b]
12 Miscarried daughter[23] 17[24] or 18[25] February 1696
13 Miscarriage 20 September 1696[c]
14 Miscarriage 25 March 1697[29]
15 Miscarriage early December 1697[30][d]
16 Stillborn son 15 September 1698[33]
17 Stillborn son 24 January 1700[34]

Ancestry[change | change source]

Notes[change | change source]

  1. ↑ The date is occasionally given as 29 February, 21 April or 11 November 1653, but 2 April is the date on his coffin plate.[1]
  2. ↑ Narcissus Luttrell, who wrote at the time, did not say whether the child was a boy or a girl. He said only that Anne "miscarried of a dead child".[20] Modern historians Edward Gregg and Alison Weir do not agree on whether it was a son[21] or possibly a daughter.[22]
  3. ↑ Luttrell said Anne "miscarried of a son".[26] Dr Nathaniel Johnson told Theophilus Hastings, 7th Earl of Huntingdon, in a letter dated 24 October 1696, "Her Royal Highness miscarried of two children, the one of seven months' growth, the other of two or three months, as her physicians and midwife judged: one was born the day after the other."[27] If so, the smaller foetus was probably a blighted twin.[28]
  4. ↑ According to L'Hermitage, the Dutch resident in London, Anne miscarried twins who were "too early to determine their sex".[31] Other sources say the pregnancy ended in a stillborn son,[22] or "two male children, at least as far as could be recognised".[32]

References[change | change source]

  1. ↑ Weir, p. 267
  2. ↑ Wójcik, p. 215
  3. ↑ Beatty, p. 103
  4. ↑ Speck, W. A. (2004). "George, prince of Denmark and duke of Cumberland (1653–1708)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/10543. Retrieved 6 October 2011. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  5. ↑ Green, p. 34; Gregg, p. 34
  6. ↑ "No. 2443". The London Gazette. 11 April 1689. p. 2.
  7. ↑ Matikkala, p. 239
  8. ↑ "No. 1891". The London Gazette. 31 December 1683. p. 2.
  9. ↑ Pinches and Pinches, p. 288
  10. ↑ Fisher, p. 355; Green, p. 335; Gregg, p. 36; Weir, p. 268
  11. ↑ Fisher, p. 355; Green, p. 335; Gregg, pp. 46–47; Weir, p. 268
  12. ↑ Fisher, p. 355; Gregg, pp. 46–47; Weir, p. 268
  13. ↑ Calendar of State Papers Domestic Series: James II (1964). London: HMSO, vol. II, p. 347; Gregg, p. 46; Weir, p. 268
  14. ↑ Gregg, p. 52; Weir, p. 268
  15. ↑ Green, p. 335; Gregg, p. 55; Weir, p. 268
  16. ↑ Fisher, p. 355; Green, pp. 54, 335; Gregg, pp. 72, 120; Weir, p. 268
  17. ↑ Green, p. 335; Gregg, p. 80; Weir, p. 268
  18. ↑ Fisher, p. 355; Green, pp. 62, 335; Gregg, p. 90; Weir, p. 268
  19. ↑ Gregg, p. 99; Luttrell, vol. III, p. 62: Weir, p. 268
  20. ↑ Luttrell, vol. III, p. 258
  21. ↑ Gregg, p. 100
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Weir, p. 269
  23. ↑ Luttrell, vol. IV, p. 20
  24. ↑ Gregg, p. 107
  25. ↑ Green, p. 335
  26. ↑ Luttrell, vol. IV, p. 114; Gregg, p. 108
  27. ↑ Bickley, Francis (ed.) (1930). Historical Manuscripts Commission: The Hastings Manuscripts. London: HMSO, vol. II, p. 286
  28. ↑ Emson, H. E. (23 May 1992). "For The Want Of An Heir: The Obstetrical History Of Queen Anne", British Medical Journal, vol. 304, no. 6838, pp. 1365–1366 (subscription required)
  29. ↑ Green, p. 335; Gregg, p. 108
  30. ↑ Green, p. 335; Luttrell, vol. IV, p. 316
  31. ↑ Gregg, p. 116
  32. ↑ Somerset, p. 156
  33. ↑ Green, p. 335; Luttrell, vol. IV, p. 428; Weir, p. 269
  34. ↑ Gregg, p. 120; Luttrell, vol. IV, p. 607
  35. ↑ Paget, pp. 110–112

Sources[change | change source]

  • Beatty, Michael A. (2003). The English Royal Family of America, from Jamestown to the American Revolution. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 0-7864-1558-4.
  • Churchill, Winston S. (1947) [1933–34]. Marlborough: His Life and Times. London: George G. Harrop & Co.
  • Fisher, George (1832). A Genealogical Companion and Key to the History of England. Part III. Book I. London: Simpkin & Marshall.
  • Green, David (1970). Queen Anne. London: Collins. ISBN 0-00-211693-6.
  • Gregg, Edward (2001). Queen Anne. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-09024-2.
  • Luttrell, Narcissus (1857). A Brief Historical Relation of State Affairs from September 1678 to April 1714. Oxford: University Press.
  • Matikkala, Antti (2008). The Orders of Knighthood and the Formation of the British Honours System 1660–1760. Rochester, New York: Boydell Press. ISBN 978-1-84383-423-6.
  • Paget, Gerald (1977). The Lineage & Ancestry of HRH Prince Charles, Prince of Wales. London & Edinburgh: Charles Skilton. OCLC 632784640.
  • Pinches, John Harvey; Pinches, Rosemary (1974). The Royal Heraldry of England. Heraldry Today. Slough, Buckinghamshire: Hollen Street Press. ISBN 0-900455-25-X.
  • Somerset, Anne (2012). Queen Anne: The Politics of Passion. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-00-720376-5.
  • Weir, Alison (1995). Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy, Revised Edition. London: Random House. ISBN 0-7126-7448-9.
  • Wójcik, Zbigniew (1983). Jan Sobieski, 1629–1696. Warsaw: Państwowy Instytut Wydawniczy. ISBN 83-06-00888-X. (in Polish)


Other websites[change | change source]

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Prince George of Denmark
Born: 2 April 1653 Died: 28 October 1708
British royalty
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Title next held by
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