Prince George, Duke of Southampton

Prince George
Duke of Southampton
Born	(1869-05-07)7 May 1869 Buckingham Palace, London
Died	30 December 1962(1962-12-30) (aged 93) Montpelier, Vermont, United States
Burial	22 January 1963 Westminster Abbey, London
Spouse	Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia (m. 1889; died 1920) Gloria Swanson (m. 1930; div. 1931) Rita Hayworth (m. 1942)
Issue	Prince Nicholas, Duke of Southampton Prince George Prince Peter Princess Mary Princess Julianne
Full name George William Leopold
House	Hanover
Father	William V
Mother	Charlotte of Belgium
Religion	Protestant
Military service
Branch/service	Royal Navy
Years of service	1887-1921
Rank	Rear admiral
Battles/wars	Anglo-Zanzibar War Cretan Revolt Boxer Rebellion First World War

Prince George, Duke of Southampton (George William Leopold; 7 May 1869 - 30 December 1962) was a British prince, a shipping magnate, and a noted Royal Navy officer. A lifelong enthusiast in exploration, George himself was notable for having taken part in a large number of expeditions to multiple spots across the world, ranging from the islands of the Caribbean to the islands far east in the Pacific region. Since then, the duke's own recollections of his international travels have been compiled together from his personal memoirs into an official publication, titled The Travels of the Duke of Southampton. Meanwhile, following his permanent move to the United States, George later founded a relatively successful shipping company, Southampton Line, which continues to operate to this day under the ownership of George's relatives, namely the British monarchs, Charles III and William VI, whose respective personal net worths are said to have massively increased as a result of directly owning the shipping company founded by George himself. As a result, he has been referred to by some media outlets as the "Capitalist Prince" and "the man who massively enriched the British royal family".

Having first been married to Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, with whom he had three children, he was then briefly remarried to the American actress, Gloria Swanson in 1930, before a subsequent divorce took place just a year later. Later on, in his third and final marriage, George was famously married to another American actress, Rita Hayworth, with whom he was married until his eventual death. His third marriage, which in contrast to his first, proved to be a source of considerable notoriety, particularly due to the couple's differing Christian denominations (George was an Anglican while Hayworth was a Catholic), along with the fifty eight year age gap between the two. Nonetheless, throughout the course of his third and final marriage, he fathered approximately two children with the actress, both of whom were initially disqualified from the line of succession due to their mother's Catholic faith, but were later restored to the line of succession decades after the prince's death in 1962, thanks to the Succession to the Crown Act 1995 spearheaded by his grand nephew, King Charles III.

Up until his death on December 1962, he was the last living legitimate children of the late King William V, having also been the youngest of the King's three legitimate children. However, in overall terms, he was otherwise succeeded by his half-brother, Frederick FitzRoy, 1st Viscount FitzRoy, whom passed away in 1992 at the age of ninety-six, and whom was also the youngest illegitimate child of his father and British socialite, Alice Keppel.

Before major reforms concerning the Kingdom of Hanover were undertaken by his nephew, King Frederick, George was the last serving viceroy and administrative head of the kingdom until 1924, when he was then subsequently replaced by the kingdom's first elected minister-president.

Early Life

George was born on May 7th 1869 as the youngest child of King William V and his wife, Queen Charlotte, formerly known as Princess Charlotte of Belgium. Named George William Leopold by his parents, the prince was successively named after his older brother, the future King George V, followed by his own father, and later his maternal grandfather, King Leopold I of Belgium.

In the first few years of his life, having grown up in a mostly male-majority environment, the young George was quick to replicate his father's somewhat militaristic character. On the other hand, while he did compulsorily learned the subjects in the liberal arts, as stressed by his mother, the young prince in particular quickly developed more of a personal interest in ships and navigation, an interest greatly encouraged by the King whom upon being aware of his youngest son's interest, promptly took the latter along on frequent trips by either boat or ships along the coasts of the United Kingdom, during which, a young George would also be extensively taught in fishing, which he then rather excelled at in just a short while of training.

Adulthood

Joining the Royal Navy

At the age of eighteen, having already inhibited much sense of passion and interest in ocean-related matters, George decidedly joined the Royal Navy, where he was first commissioned as a Midshipman. However, despite an exemplary record as a junior commissioned officer from the beginning, George would saw little to no active combat for almost a decade long, prior to the onset of the Anglo-Zanzibar War on August 27th 1896, which the prince himself participated in, thereby earning a subsequent promotion to the rank of Lieutenant. Nevertheless, during the interregnum prior to the war, George mostly resided at the strategic Royal Navy base at Malta, located in the center of the Mediterannean Sea. Then, in the following year after the war, George further participated in the Cretan Revolt, orchestrated by locals at the island of Crete, seeking to establish an independent state out of the Ottoman Empire in the east. During this conflict, he successively earned another promotion from his superiors, this time to the rank of Commander.

George the Navigator

Aside from his compulsory military service as part of the Royal Navy, George also extensively used the opportunity to undertake either personal or coordinated expeditions with fellow seamen or friends to various places across the globe. For instance, on his very first international trip abroad, the prince, along with approximately five close friends of his embarked on a private trip to the Caribbean island colony of Jamaica, where they were said to had interacted extensively with the locals there, with the prince himself in particular personally drawing up a roughly accurate map depicting the island, having surveyed a majority of the area on the island throughout the following days.

First World War

On July 1914, with the onset of the First World War, George was then recalled back from Malta and up north to England, after which he was then tasked onboard one of the Royal Navy ships that later took part in the Battle of Heligoland Bight on August that year, which was a British victory. In the meantime, his conduct during the battle received much praise from his superiors, whom subsequently awarded him with a promotion to the rank of Commodore. The following year, he also took part in the Battle of Dogger Bank, which was another British victory. Eventually, from May 31st to June 1st 1916, George went on to participate in the historic Battle of Jutland, which, despite not being a clear British victory or defeat, saw him being awarded with another and final promotion to the rank of Rear admiral.

Later on, with the end of the war on November 1918, George would gradually begin to distance himself from his military life, opting to spend the following post-war years with his wife, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna. However, this ambition was ultimately cut short with Maria Alexandrovna's passing on October 1920, thereby leaving the now fifty one year old George by himself, as all three of their children together have already gone on to establish their own respective families. In response, the prince subsequently sank into a lengthy period of depression, which was marked by one unsuccessful suicide attempt, in which George had attempted to shoot himself in the head with a handgun he personally owned.

Middle Years

Retreat to the United States

Around January 1924, George was tasked by his nephew, King Frederick to conduct an official visit to the United States, where he was expected to meet then-President Calvin Coolidge, whom had taken office just a year prior following the death of the previous officeholder, Warren G. Harding. Nonetheless, despite initial concerns surrounding his rather depressive state, which the British government feared would risk derailing the entire visit, it ultimately began and concluded in a largely spotless and positive manner, with then-President Coolidge himself even speaking rather positively of the British prince, whom he reportedly dubbed "an interesting fellow".

At the same time, the overall positivity associated with the visit would also lead the prince to eventually consider on permanently moving to the United States, which at the time was in a state of unprecedented economic prosperity, which further spurred George into ultimately leaving abroad for the United States just a few days later, after having made his intention of doing so known to the King.

Entrepreneurship

In the first few days since his arrival in the United States, George, whom despite being already rich himself due to his royalty credentials, nonetheless opted to find a suitable occupation for himself. Initially, the prince attempted to dabble in the world of acting. However, this was cut short as the prince quickly grew disinterested in becoming a professional actor himself, although, ironically enough, he was otherwise briefly married to Hollywood actress, Gloria Swanson, with whom he cohabited for around a year before eventually seeking a divorce.

Beginning in 1927, having rediscovered his own natural interest in ships, George subsequently decided to establish a shipping company of his own, which was aptly named Southampton Line, with the name Southampton referring to his ducal title of Duke of Southampton. For the first few months, the company saw modest success, thanks to both of George's personal riches (which gave him an edge in the process of starting up the company itself) and his own standing as a royal prince, which would prove handy in attracting potential customers. Reportedly, prior to the onset of the Great Depression in August 1919, the prince's shipping company business was said to have brought him roughly two hundred and fifty million dollars in profit.

Soon afterwards, as a result of the Great Depression, which began on August 1929, George's shipping company would consequently undergo a period of loss in terms of revenue, as economic activity across the world gradually declined. Despite this, beginning from mid-1934, the company was able to partially rebound to its former glory, albeit with limited success. Then, with the onset of the Second World War in 1939, profits for the prince's company began to triple as demand for ships substantially rose in the following months.

Eventually, by the time of his death in December 1962, his personal net worth is estimated to be around $675 million, an amount that was said to have even surpassed that of his grand nephew, King Charles III, whose own personal net worth is otherwise estimated to be around $510 million.

Death

While in the midst of visiting a friend of his in Montpelier, Vermont, George was suddenly beset with a stroke, which at the time left him severely incapacitated. His wife, the actress, Rita Hayworth, whom had been accompanying him on the visit immediately had him rushed to a nearby hospital, where after a couple minutes or so, he was ultimately declared dead by doctors. Then, according to Princess Mary, George's oldest child with Hayworth, the actress subsequently burst into tears and was said to have been "virtually inconsolable for about thirty minutes or so". The next day, the now-widowed Hayworth was later joined by the likes of fellow actresses, Hedy Lamarr and Lauren Bacall, both of whom were respectively married to George's royal relatives.

On January 22nd 1963, George was formally buried at the traditional site of Westmintser Abbey in London alongside most of his royal relatives there. At the same time, a will written by George himself stipulated that the remainder of his wealth would be bequeathed to none other than Rita Hayworth herself and their two children together, Mary and Julianne, thereby making Hayworth herself arguably the richest Hollywood actress at the time until her own death in May 1987. Then, after some initial controversy and debate over potentially burying the Catholic actress in a traditionally Protestant site such as the Westminster Abbey, she was ultimately buried there under the orders of King Charles III, where she was placed alongside her late husband. Meanwhile, the prince's death that year also notably threw his hugely profitable shipping company, Southampton Line into a near state of dissolution, as neither of his children nor his surviving widow wished to replace George in his position. Ultimately, after a months long legal process, full ownership of the company was transferred to George's grand nephew, King Charles III, whom on his part, later had his eldest son, the future King William VI listed as a beneficiary in the eventual case of his death, so as to avoid another legal process in the near future.

Marriage

Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna

At the age of twenty, in a mostly arranged manner, George was married off to the Russian Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna. The union itself, in addition to its mostly arranged manner, was also rather intended as a conciliatory gesture, which meant that neither Maria Alexandrovna nor George himself had much significant time to bond with another. Thus, the immediate complications surrounding their hastily arranged marriage promptly led to some initial disagreements between the two, with Maria Alexandrovna in particular opting more for the comfort of George's similarly named older brother, the Prince of Wales, whom the grand duchess already had feelings for, amidst their inability to actually marry one another, as the former was instead married off to Princess Sophia of Prussia, daughter of the German Emperor, Frederick III. Paradoxically, the cold nature of the relationship between the prince and the grand duchess soon led him to become more acquainted or close with his sister-in-law, the Princess of Wales instead whom, like George, was skeptical of the grand duchess's relationship with the Prince of Wales.

Nevertheless, after at least a couple of years long period, the couple's mutual animosity towards one another had apparently lessened, when Maria Alexandrovna gave birth to their eldest son and child, Prince Nicholas, whom was born on February 5th 1891, Soon after this, despite the lack of a fully mutual understanding or compassion for one another, the couple's relationship was nevertheless accepted as having generally improved over time, in contrast to the previous years before. Then, just three years later, following the birth of their second son, Prince George, which was subsequently followed by a third one, Prince Peter, just two years after, the couple was generally described of having shown "much compassion, respect, and love that was previously unheard of in the first few years of their marriage", with Maria Alexandrovna in particular being mostly labeled as the dominant partner in their relationship, perhaps due to her naturally tomboyish attitude since her youthful years.

Then, during the First World War, which saw the prince being part of the Royal Navy's dreadnought fleet that participated in the famous Battle of Jutland against the German High Seas Fleet, both George and his wife wrote a large number of letters to one another, most of which were said to had been of a rather romantic nature, during the prince's absence abroad.

Ultimately, on October 24th 1920, while residing together at the royal-owned country house of Anmer Hall in Norfolk, England, Maria Alexandrovna passed away in her sleep at the age of sixty seven. The prince, whom had then been just fifty one years of age, was then described by his nephew, the later King Frederick, as a "man whose lifelong character had been erased completely in just a matter of seconds".

Interregnum

In the years following his wife's passing, George mostly remained at his Norfolk residence, presumably out of a sense of attachment to the residence itself, whilst being occasionally visited by either his own relatives, or a number of his closest friends. Then, sometime on February 1921, George briefly caught the attention of his contemporaries when his personal pistol, a Colt New Service revolver went off in the living room, partly damaging the house's wall. An incident initially thought to had been the prince scaring off an unexpected intruder, it was later believed that the former had attempted suicide but failed to do so midway. As a consequence, by the mutual agreement between his contemporaries and members of the royal family themselves, George was forcibly relocated back to Buckingham Palace, where he was placed under much strict supervision, with his personal gun having been immediately confiscated.

Over time, following a series of regular checkups and examinations done by professional doctors and alike, the prince's mental condition in particular, was generally thought to have improved in the following months since his relocation to Buckingham Palace. At the same time, as to further alleviate the trauma surrounding his beloved wife's death, George was also taken to, at times against his own will, on regular traveling routines on ships by either his contemporaries or close relatives, a habit that he had previously enjoyed and mostly identified with, primarily in his youth and so on.

Gloria Swanson

Around January 1924, on behalf of his nephew, the new King Frederick, George was chosen to undertake an official visit to the United States, where he met then-President of the United States, Calvin Coolidge, whom had been elected into office just a few months prior. While the royal visit itself was mostly successful in its objective, George, whom had found himself somewhat attracted to the American scenery and landscape during his said royal visit, then proved quick to consider a permanent relocation to the North American country, where by his own words, was a "suitable place to start afresh as George the American, and not to live further as George the Brit".

Soon enough, just a few days after the end of the visit, and upon his return to the United Kingdom, the prince, whom having first made known his intention to his nephew, the King, promptly departed back for the country, along with a rather small entourage accompanying him along for the journey. Then, upon his arrival at the Port of New York and New Jersey, he subsequently took up residence in New York City itself. Soon after this, perhaps due to his much publicised royal status, George quickly became a notable figure among the New York elite, with whom he would often reportedly attend high-end social events and alike.

On June 22nd 1930, in a highly exquisite and publicised wedding ceremony hosted in New York City, George was married for a second time in his life, namely to the rising American actress, Gloria Swanson, whom at the time of their marriage, was notably thrice divorced, and whom was also thirty years the prince's junior. Nevertheless, despite an initially promising start, the two ultimately sought for a divorce roughly eleven months later, with the divorce being finalised on May of the following year. Reportedly, while the two would only go on to see one another on only a few select occasions following their divorce, George himself in particular later spoke of his brief marriage to the actress in a somewhat positive light, having seemingly referred to it as a "lifelong lesson and guide in marrying an American commoner".

Rita Hayworth

During much of the 1930s, following his divorce from Swanson, George remained mostly unmarried in the following years, while at the same time, he was also rumoured to had been involved in several discreet romantic relationships with several leading Hollywood actresses at the time. Then, for a brief period during the latter half of the 1930s, he was reportedly said to had harboured some romantic interest in actress, Katharine Hepburn, although this was never exactly requited by the latter, whom around that same time, began courting George's much younger grand nephew, the later King Charles III, with whom Hepburn remained close friends until her passing in 2003.

On April 20th 1942, in the midst of the Second World War in Europe, George was once more married for a third and final time to leading American actress, Rita Hayworth, whom the prince had prior known from the actress's largely successful movies during the previous years. At the same time, when it was made public his decision to marry Hayworth, he received considerable criticism from both the British government and members of his own royal family, most of whom generally took issue with Hayworth's Catholic denomination, which meant that the couple's union was largely forbidden as per the Royal Marriages Act 1772, which strictly forbade marriages between an Anglican royal with a partner of the Catholic faith. However, in the days immediately following the prince's open declaration of his intended marriage, it was soon "approved of" by both the British government and monarch, particularly his nephew, Frederick, whom declared that the marriage was to proceed as usual, with the notable trade-off being that any children he would legally have with Hayworth, regardless of their own Christian denominations, would be excluded from the line of succession for as long as George's wife chose not to convert to Protestantism instead, a decision Hayworth herself stood by for the rest of her life.

Throughout the following years, despite the almost fifty years age difference, with George being seventy three and Hayworth herself being only twenty four years old at the time of the wedding, the two notably exhibited a lifelong mutual sense of respect and love for one another throughout most of their marital years, while the birth of their two children together, Princess Mary and Princess Julianne, were notably referred to by a New York Times article as "a double miracle", since it was perceived by many that George's rather advanced age meant that it would be impossible for Hayworth to be impregnated. In addition to mostly supporting his wife's acting career in the form of financial provisions, George's own personal interests in both exploration and traveling persisted well into his last few years, with the prince often taking his wife on various tours around the globe on his personal ship at any given opportunity. As a result, one media outlet at the time reportedly niconamed both George and Hayworth "George Nelson" and "Rita Nelson", in a reference to the famed Royal Navy admiral, Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, while another media outlet dubbed Hayworth "the actress who sailed the seven seas".

Amidst rumours alleging that Hayworth had been discreetly unfaithful to the prince due to his much more advanced age compared to herself, the actress promptly denied the accusations, going so far as to declare the elderly prince her "beloved husband and friend", while George himself would also refer to Hayworth as "the light of my elderly life", along with a number of other equally positive descriptions of the actress. Later on, when George himself passed away at the age of ninety three while visiting a friend in Vermont, he in turn had all of his personal wealth amassed to that point bequeathed solely to Hayworth and their two children together. Later on, following her own death on May 14th 1987, almost twenty five years later, the actress was buried together with the prince at the traditional site of Westminster Abbey, amidst initial controversy surrounding the fact that she had died a Catholic, thereby becoming one of the few Catholic occupants of the Anglican church and burial site.

In 1994, following the marriage of the American model, Anna Nicole Smith to billionaire, J. Howard Marshall, the late prince's marriage with actress, Rita Hayworth was briefly met with renewed interest by the American media, which likened the marriage between the twenty seven year old Smith and the eighty nine year old Marshall to that involving the prince and Hayworth, whom were seventy three years old and twenty four years old respectively at the time of their marriage in 1942. However, despite the glaring similarities, one notable difference is that unlike Smith and Marshall, whom were married to one another for less than a year before the latter's death the following year, George and Hayworth were otherwise married to one another for roughly twenty one years long, with their marriage resulting in the birth of two children, while no confirmed children ever came about from the brief relationship involving Smith and Marshall.

Titles & Honours

• 7 May 1869 - 11 January 1889 His Royal Highness The Prince George
• 11 January 1889 - 30 December 1962 His Royal Highness The Duke of Southampton

Ancestry

Ancestors of Prince George, Duke of Southampton

8. George III of the United Kingdom 4. William IV of the United Kingdom 9. Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz 2. William V of the United Kingdom 10. George I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen 5. Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen 11. Luise Eleonore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg 1. Prince George of the United Kingdom 12. Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld 6. Leopold I of Belgium 13. Countess Augusta Reuss-Ebersdorf 3. Charlotte of Belgium 14. Louis Philippe I of France 7. Louise of Orléans 15. Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily