Prince George, Duke of Southampton
| Prince George | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Duke of Southampton | |||||
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| Born | 7 May 1869 Buckingham Palace, London | ||||
| Died | 30 December 1962 (aged 93) Montpelier, Vermont, United States | ||||
| Burial | 22 January 1963 | ||||
| Spouse | Abby Rockefeller (m. 1922) | ||||
| Issue | |||||
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| House | Hanover | ||||
| Father | William V | ||||
| Mother | Princess Louise of Prussia | ||||
| Religion | Protestant | ||||
| Military service | |||||
| Branch/service | |||||
| 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 I and Thomas, 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 as "the man who massively enriched the British royal family".
From 1889 to 1920, George was first married to Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, with whom he had three children. Then, following his wife's passing in 1920, George subsequently moved abroad to the United States, where after a couple of years there, he wedded Abby Rockefeller, granddaughter of Standard Oil co-founder, John D. Rockefeller. The couple, despite their 34-year age difference, went on to have six children in total. Meanwhile, through his marriage with Abby Rockefeller, the former New York governor and former Vice President of the United States, Nelson Rockefeller is his brother-in-law.
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, Princess Louise of Prussia. 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
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.
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
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 in 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 have 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, so 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.
Personal Information
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, Prince of the Netherlands and Luxembourg
Honours
Ancestry
| Ancestors of Prince George, Duke of Southampton |
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