Prince George, Duke of Southampton

Full name
	George Nicholas Frederick William

Prince George
Prince George
Duke of Southampton
Born	George Nicholas Frederick William; 22 May 1871; Buckingham Palace, London
Died	4 April 1970 (aged 98); Southampton, England
Burial	10 April 1970; Westminster Abbey, London
Spouse	Princess Viktoria of Prussia; (m. 1887; died 1929); Rita Hayworth (m. 1945)
Issue; Detail	Frederick William, Duke of Southampton; Henry, Duke of Gloucester; Victoria, Duchess of Södermanland; Princess Irene; Princess Anne; ; Illegitimate: Elizabeth Dudley-Ward, Duchess of Kendal;
Full name
Full name
	George Nicholas Frederick William
House	Hanover
Father	William V
Mother	Charlotte of Belgium
Religion	Protestant

Prince George, Duke of Southampton (George Nicholas Frederick William; 22 May 1871 - 4 April 1970) was a British prince and explorer. He was the youngest out of four children of King William V and Queen Charlotte and was also the longest to live, having outlived both his parents and siblings until his death in 1970. He is famously known for his controversial marriage to Roman Catholic American actress, Rita Hayworth and his string of affairs during his lifetime.

Early Life

George was born on the 22nd of May 1871 as the fourth and youngest child of King William V. In contrast to his siblings, George's birth proved a difficult affair for his mother, though this would immediately bring him into the "spotlight" of his mother's affections. Noted for his striking similarities to the German Crown Prince Frederick, George's given name was also a subject of debate between his parents, for his father had insisted on a different name, while George's mother opted to name her newborn son in honour of her eldest living son and prematurely deceased son of the same name.

Like his siblings, George underwent a fairly stable and harmonious upbringing. As he was the youngest of his siblings and was deemed unlikely to ever succeed to the throne, the younger George's upbringing was left entirely in the hands of his mother, who avidly professed a liberal-minded upbringing. Regardless, George found solace in the activities of horse riding and archery, where his prowess in those activities were reportedly unmatched. At the same time, George was quick to embrace his exposure to the liberal arts.

Adulthood

As the youngest of his siblings, the younger George was allowed free rein in determining his own fate, unlike his brothers who were used by their father as diplomatic tools through the form of arranged marriages. For the young prince, he came to inhibit a deep sense of passion for exploration, much to the chagrin of his parents. However, this was initially cut short by a hasty marriage to the German princess Viktoria. Regardless, in 1888, George personally underwent a private trip to the northernmost part of Iceland, where his findings were extensively documented in his writings. Consequently, the prince further went on several consecutive trips to the northern areas of Canada, Norway and Greenland. In 1900, an expedition consisting of the prince and a group of specialists to Antarctica was unexpectedly thwarted when the group were forced to return to Britain after nearly being shipwrecked while journeying through the Atlantic Sea.

Marriage

First Marriage

As the younger George was deemed unlikely to ever succeed to the throne, he was also consequently deemed as being less of importance by his father. As a result, George was theoretically allowed to choose his spouse, opposed to that of his siblings. However, as a result of unexpected complications, the young George was hastily married to the German princess Viktoria, who is five years his senior as a compromise while his brother, who was previously engaged to Viktoria married the princess's younger sister instead in a dual marriage ceremony. Almost expectedly, the newlyweds initially found no sense of attraction towards the other, exemplified by their respective refusals to reside in the same bedroom.

For the next seven years, the couple, with the encouragement of both of their parents began undergoing a lengthy process of reconciliation. However, at the same time this was complicated by a blooming liaison between George and Alice Keppel, a young British hostess. As it was generally accepted that Keppel proved to be far more attractive compared to Viktoria herself, this led the German princess to a considerable degree of mental instability, which ultimately led to a timely intervention that annulled George's two years long affair, which purportedly resulted in a child claimed to be that of George and Keppel's. Luckily, the intervention proved a fruitful decision when the two agreed to reconcile once more.

Within a month into the process, signs of success was first shown when Viktoria gave birth to their first born child. This further drew the two closer into a lifelong harmonious marriage, a stark opposite compared to their first few years together, followed by a couple of pregnancies which resulted in the birth of an another son and the couple's only daughter. Subsequently, Victoria began to indulge herself in her husband's explorations and numerous other activities, to which she would then often writs in passion and excitement in her recounts. However, Viktoria's death from pneumonia in 1929 proved a difficult blow to the prince who was then already in his 60's. Almost immediately, the prince withdrew solitarily to his residence in Southampton. At the same time, he was introduced by a close friend to a married British socialite Freda Dudley-Ward, who is almost thrice his junior. Soon after their first meeting, the couple began their relationship, with Freda being the prince's principal companion.

The couple's passionate affair quickly became an interest of the public, and even in the aristocratic circle, with George's nephew Edward remarking that "it is not a surprise should they decide to marry". Freda's consequential divorce from her husband in 1931 further amplified the affair, with Freda herself being labelled as the prince's "unmarried wife". In 1934, she gave birth to the couple's only child, Elizabeth Dudley-Ward who would later become a notable English actress. Despite George's initial reservations, the couple began appearing in public, embarking on several trips to Africa and Australia.

Despite their intimacy, the couple peacefully separated when George himself withdrew to the United States on the early days of World War 2. Shortly after, by George's request, she was accommodated with a well-built estate in Scotland, a sum of £350,000 of money as financial provisions and was created Duchess of Kendal, which was subsequently inherited by her descendants.

Second Marriage

Following likely rumours of an impending German attack on Britain, the prince and a select number of his close contacts decided to move to the United States where they were warmly received by President Roosevelt, while his nephew and his immediate family chose to remain in Britain. Regardless, throughout the duration of the war, George was an avid supporter of the Allied war effort. At the same time, George came into contact with his grandnephew Charles, the future Charles III.

In 1944, the prince who had been residing in the United States first came into contact with Rita Hayworth, an up-and-coming American actress who had prior starred in numbers of films, mostly of moderate success. Hayworth's unpleasant marriage, coupled with the prince's own sense of attraction immediately led the two into a private relationship, though it was quickly deduced by the public. Following an imminent divorce between Hayworth and her husband in 1945, the two were subsequently wed a day after the prince's birthday. Almost immediately, as Hayworth herself was a Roman Catholic, George found himself disqualified from the line of succession, though this did not affected the standing of his children shared with his first wife. Regardless, with the intervention of his grandnephew who was coincidentally married to the upcoming Jewish American actress Lauren Bacall, Hayworth was permitted to style herself as Duchess of Southampton.

Despite the glaring disparity in their ages, with Hayworth aged 26 at the time of their marriage and George being of 73 years old, both Hayworth and George endured an extremely stable and peaceful marriage, in contrast to those of the former's previous marriages. The two often traveled around the world, at times in conjunction with the then king and queen, whom the couple enjoyed close relations due to the similar nature of their respective marriages; a British royal and an American commoner that is not of the Anglican faith. Additionally, both Hayworth and Bacall had been upcoming actresses prior to their respective marriages. While Hayworth would go on to survive her husband for seventeen years, the two were survived by their two daughters, Irene and Anne, with their respective births regarded as a miracle due to George's old age at the time of their marriage, in contrast to Hayworth's much younger age. Following the implementation of the Succession To The Crown Act 1996, George's position in the line of succession was posthumously restored while the position of his two daughters from his second marriage remained unaffected as they were raised as Anglicans.