The Unofficial British Royal Family Pages

Sunday 1 August 2004

The Dukes of York - Part II

Click here for Part I

This month my two-part series on the Dukes of York concludes with the dukes from the Stuart, Hanoverian, and Windsor dynasties. I have included relatively little information about those dukes who became king, as there is so much information available on them elsewhere.

Charles, Duke of York (1600-1649) King James VI and I created his second son, Charles, Duke of York. He became heir to the throne upon the death of his elder brother Henry, Prince of Wales on November 6, 1612, but was not created Prince of Wales until November 4, 1616. He inherited the throne in 1625 as King Charles I and was executed during the Civil War.

James, Duke of York (1633-1701) King Charles I created his second son, James, Duke of York on January 27, 1644. James escaped to the continent during the Civil War and Interregnum. He returned to England with the Restoration in 1660, then married Anne Hyde and had two daughters, Mary and Anne. His brother King Charles II granted him the American land that is still named New York in his honor. James converted to Catholicism and married a Catholic princess, Mary of Modena, after his first wife's death. After Charles II died in 1685, he became King James II. James was an arrogant and unpopular king. When the King and Queen had a son who would take precedence over his Protestant half-sisters in the succession and be raised as a Catholic, Parliament offered the throne to James' daughter Mary and her husband, William of Orange. James and Mary went into exile on the continent and had a daughter, Louise. James died September 16, 1701, and his coffin was placed in the Church of the English Benedictines in Paris, where it was destroyed when the church was attacked by the mob in the French Revolution.

When James II became king in 1685, the title of Duke of York merged with the Crown. Neither the British monarchs nor the Jacobite claimants to the throne had a second son to create Duke of York for forty years.

Henry, Cardinal Duke of York (1725-1807) James II's son, "The Old Pretender," gave his second son, Henry Benedict Maria Clement Thomas Francis Xavier Stuart, the title of Duke of York soon after his birth on March 21, 1725 in the Palazzo Balestra in Rome. He became a Roman Catholic cardinal in 1747, preferring the style of "Cardinal Duke of York," which he altered to "Cardinal called Duke of York" after the death of his elder brother in 1788 left him the Stuart claimant to the throne. The Cardinal spent his entire life in Italy, except for a trip to France at the time of the Jacobite Rebellion in Scotland in 1745, and is buried in the Vatican. Towards the end of his life, his home was destroyed, and George III granted him a pension. In gratitude the Cardinal bequeathed the Stuart crown jewels to the future George IV.
   
Ernest Augustus, Duke of York and Albany (1674-1728) Ernest Augustus of Brunswick-Luneburg, Bishop of Osnabruck, was the youngest brother of King George I, who created him Duke of York and Albany in 1716. As King George had another brother, Maximilian, who was older than Ernest Augustus, this was the only departure in centuries from the tradition that the Duke of York should be a second son. He remained in Hanover after his brother became king of England and had no heirs.

Edward Augustus, Duke of York and Albany (1739 -1767) Edward Augustus was the second son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and younger brother of the future King George III. His grandfather, King George II, created him Duke of York and Albany in 1760. He did not marry before his death at only twenty-eight in Monte Carlo. Queen Victoria's father, Edward, Duke of Kent, was named for him, having been born the day before his burial.

Frederick Augustus, Duke of York and Albany (1763-1827) "The Grand Old Duke of York" of the British nursery rhyme was Frederick Augustus, Duke of York, the second son of King George III. When he was six months old, his father arranged for him to become Bishop of Osnabruck, and he remains the youngest bishop ever. Upon coming of age in 1784 he was created Duke of York and Albany by his father, but known as "Duke of York." He married Princess Frederica of Prussia, but they did not have children and soon separated amicably. A professional soldier, he reformed the Army as commander in chief, although he was always unsuccessful in battle. He resigned from the Army in 1809 after his former mistress, Mary Anne Clarke, alleged that he had granted army commissions in exchange for bribes paid to her. An investigative committee acquitted him and the Prince Regent reappointed him commander-in-chief in 1811. He died in 1827, deeply in debt. A public subscription paid for the Duke of York's column to be erected in Carlton House gardens in his memory in 1833. Carlton House, then the home of George IV, has been demolished, but the column remains just off the Mall.

Interestingly, Queen Victoria did not grant the title of Duke of York to her second son, Alfred. Possibly this was because Victoria and Albert had promised that their second son would be the heir of Albert's childless brother Ernest as Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Before inheriting that title, he was Duke of Edinburgh.

George, Duke of York (1865-1936) By the time Queen Victoria granted the title of Duke of York to her grandson Prince George of Wales in 1892, he was already heir to the throne after the death of his elder brother, Prince Albert Edward, Duke of Clarence. Upon the death of Queen Victoria in January 1901, the Duke of York became the heir apparent and the Duke of Cornwall. He was known as the Duke of Cornwall and York until he was created Prince of Wales by his father, King Edward VII, on November 9, 1901. Upon his death the Prince succeeded to the throne as King George V.

Albert, Duke of York (1895-1952) King George V created his second son, Prince Albert Frederick Arthur George ("Bertie"), Duke of York in 1920. He became King George VI upon the abdication of his brother, King Edward VIII, later duke of Windsor. He led Britain through World War II and the difficult post-war period before dying at only fifty-six.

Andrew, Duke of York (1960- ) The present Duke of York is HRH Prince Andrew Albert Christian Edward, the Queen's second son and third child. Despite his successful career in the Royal Navy, he is best known for his active love life both before and after his marriage to the equally passionate and redheaded Sarah Ferguson. The Yorks married in 1986, had their daughter Beatrice on 8/8/88, welcomed daughter Eugenie in 1990, separated in 1992, and divorced in 1996. They held a dinner party to celebrate their tenth anniversary soon after their divorce. They shared their home for several years after their divorce, but are now living apart.

- Margaret Weatherford