Frederick of the United Kingdom and of the Netherlands

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Frederick
Medium
King of the British and of the People of his other Realms
Reign5 January 1923 - 7 July 1951
Coronation17 May 1923
PredecessorGeorge IV
SuccessorCharles III and I
Prime Ministers
King of the Dutch
Grand Duke of the Luxembourgers
Reign5 January 1923 - 15 August 1947
Inauguration1 January 1924
PredecessorGeorge IV
SuccessorCharles III and I
King of Hanover
Reign5 January 1923 - 20 November 1924
Coronation17 May 1923
PredecessorGeorge IV
SuccessorMerged with the United Kingdom through the Kingdom of Hanover Act 1924
Emperor of India
Reign5 January 1923 - 15 August 1947
PredecessorGeorge IV
SuccessorPosition abolished[1]
Prince Regent of the United Kingdom and of the Netherlands
Regency1 March 1921 - 5 January 1923
MonarchGeorge IV
BornPrince Frederick of Wales, the Netherlands, and Prussia
(1895-11-22)22 November 1895
Rideau Hall, Ottawa, Canada
Died7 July 1951(1951-07-07) (aged 57)
Buckingham Palace, London
Burial25 July 1951
Spouse
Victoria Louise of Prussia
(m. 1913; ann. 1919)

Issue
Detail
Full name
Edward Frederick William
HouseHanover-Stuart-Orange-Nassau (until 1924)
Amsterdam-Windsor (from 1924)
FatherGeorge IV
MotherSophia of Prussia
ReligionProtestant

Frederick (English: Edward Frederick William; German: Eduard Friedrich Wilhelm; Dutch: Eduard Frederik Willem; French: Édouard Frédéric Guillaume; 22 November 1895 - 7 July 1951) was King of the British, King of Hanover, King of the Dutch, and Grand Duke of the Luxembourgers from 5 January 1923 to 7 July 1951. He was also the last Emperor of India, reigning from 1923 to 1947 until the abolition of the British Raj and its subsequent partition into India and Pakistan. Additionally, he is the second British, Dutch, and Luxembourgish monarch to serve as a regent up until his ascension after King George III who had previously served as a regent under the capacity of his father King George II.

The eldest son of King George IV and Princess Sophia of Prussia, Frederick was born during the reign of his grandfather King William V, during which period, at the age of eighteen, he was married off to the daughter of Kaiser Wilhelm II Princess Victoria Louise in a last-ditch attempt at preserving the fragile peace between the two nations. Then, while living in temporary exile in Sweden, Frederick, now the heir apparent to the British, Dutch, and Luxembourgish thrones, oversaw the First World War which, upon coming to an end in 1918, resulted in the capture and subsequent exile of Kaiser Wilhelm II to the British island of Saint Helena. In the meantime, ideological and lifestyle differences, coupled with the deep resentment by Victoria Louise over her father's fate at the hands of the victorious Allies, eventually culminated in a state-sanctioned annulment of Frederick's marriage to his wife in 1919. Then, in 1925, he remarried Princess Margaretha of Sweden in a double wedding with his brother, the Duke of Clarence and Avondale, who otherwise married Margaretha's younger sister Astrid. Together, the couple enjoyed a comparably happier and loving marriage until the end, while also welcoming their only child and daughter together, Margaret, Duchess of York, who up until her passing in March 2017, was the oldest living member of the British royal family and the last surviving of her generation.

Upon ascending to the throne in 1924, Frederick oversaw a rather tumultuous post-war period, which was further aggravated by the occurrence of the Great Depression in 1929. However, it was during this time that Frederick would later gain much personal acclaim for his efforts in preserving the monarchical institution, amidst rising but small republican and other extreme sentiments across the country. In addition, as King, Frederick also oversaw his countries' involvement in the Second World War against Nazi Germany, a conflict that would mark the last few years of his reign, and which preceded a rather tumultuous and testy period afterwards marked by anti-colonial rebellions in various British and Dutch colonies in Asia, namely the British Raj and the Dutch East Indies. Meanwhile, in 1946, Frederick became the first President of the Hanoverian Union, a politico-economic union comprising the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. On 7 July 1951, at the age of fifty-five, Frederick passed away and was thereafter succeeded by his only living son and heir apparent King Charles III.

In 1924, amidst rising nationalist and anti-German sentiments, Frederick officially changed the family name from the "Hanover-Stuart-Orange-Nassau" to the new "House of Amsterdam-Windsor", thereby becoming the first of the three Amsterdam-Windsor monarchs until King Thomas reverted the family name back to the original "Hanover-Stuart-Orange-Nassau" in 2007, thereby re-establishing the previous line of monarchs and ending the temporary eighty-three-year-long Amsterdam-Windsor monarchy.

Early Life

Personal Information

Titles & Honours

  • 22 November 1895 - 23 November 1910 His Royal Highness Prince Edward of Wales, the Netherlands, and Prussia
  • 23 November 1910 - 30 January 1913 His Royal Highness Prince Edward of the Netherlands, Duke of Cambridge
  • 30 January 1913 - 1 March 1921 His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, Prince of Orange, and the Hereditary Grand Duke of the Luxembourgers
  • 1 March 1921 - 5 January 1923 His Royal Highness The Prince Regent
  • 5 January 1923 - 9 June 1924 His Majesty The King of the United Kingdom, King of Hanover, King of the Dutch, Grand Duke of the Luxembourgers
  • 9 June 1924 - 30 March 1951 His Majesty The King of the United Kingdom, King of the Dutch, Grand Duke of the Luxembourgers

Honours

Ancestry

  1. Frederick continued as titular Emperor of India until 22 June 1948.