Frederick, Prince of Wales (1707 - 1751). Frederick, Prince of Wales, was heir apparent to the British throne from 1727 until his death from a lung injury at the age of 44. He was the eldest but estranged son of King George II and Caroline of Ansbach, and the father of King George III. Under the Act of Settlement passed by the English Parliament in 1701, Frederick was fourth in the line of succession to the British throne at birth, after his great-grandmother, paternal grandfather and father. He moved to Great Britain following the accession of his father, and was created Prince of Wales. He predeceased his father, however, and upon the latter's death on 25 October 1760, the throne passed to Prince Frederick's eldest son, George III. Prince Frederick Lewis was born on 1 February 1707 in Hanover, Holy Roman Empire, as Duke Friedrich Ludwig of Brunswick-Lüneburg, to Prince George, son of George, Elector of Hanover, who was also one of Frederick's two godfathers. The Elector was the son of Sophia of Hanover, granddaughter of James VI and I and first cousin and heir presumptive to Queen Anne of Great Britain. However, Sophia died before Anne at age 83 in June 1714, which elevated the Elector to heir-presumptive; Queen Anne died on 1 August the same year, and Sophia's son became King George I. This made Frederick's father the new Prince of Wales and first-in-line to the British throne and Frederick himself second-in-line. Frederick's other godfather was his grand-uncle Frederick I, King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg-Prussia. Frederick was nicknamed Griff within the family. In the year of Anne's death and the coronation of George I, Frederick's parents, George, Prince of Wales, and Caroline of Ansbach, were called upon to leave Hanover for Great Britain when their eldest son was only seven years old. He was left in the care of his grand-uncle Ernest Augustus, Prince-Bishop of Osnabrück, and did not see his parents again for 14 years. In 1722, the 15-year-old Frederick was inoculated against smallpox by Charles Maitland on the instructions of his mother, Caroline. His grandfather George I created him Duke of Edinburgh, Marquess of the Isle of Ely, Earl of Eltham in the county of Kent, Viscount of Launceston in the county of Cornwall, and Baron of Snaudon in the county of Carnarvon, on 26 July 1726. The latter two titles have been interpreted differently since: the of s are omitted and Snaudon rendered as Snowdon. Frederick arrived in England in 1728 as a grown man, the year after his father had become King George II. By then, George and Caroline had had several younger children, and Frederick, himself now Prince of Wales, was a high-spirited youth fond of drinking, gambling and women. The long separation damaged their relationship, and they would never be close. 1728 also saw the foundation of Fredericksburg, Virginia, which was named after him, his other namesakes are Prince Frederick, Maryland, Fort Frederick, Maine, Fort Frederick, South Carolina, Fort Frederick, New York and Fort Frederica, Georgia, while Fort Frederick, Maryland, Point Frederick, Ontario, Fort Frederick, Ontario and Fort Frederick, New Brunswick were also named after him posthumously. The motives for the ill-feeling between Frederick and his parents may include the fact that he had been set up by his grandfather, even as a small child, as the representative of the House of Hanover, and was used to presiding over official occasions in the absence of his parents. He was not permitted to go to Great Britain until after his father took the throne as George II on 11 June 1727. Frederick had continued to be known as Prince Friedrich Ludwig of Hanover even after his father had been created Prince of Wales. In 1728, Frederick was finally brought to Britain and was created Prince of Wales on 8 January 1729. He served as the tenth Chancellor of the University of Dublin from 1728 to 1751, and a portrait of him still enjoys a commanding position in the Hall of the Trinity College, Dublin. He sponsored a court of 'opposition' politicians. Frederick and his group supported the Opera of the Nobility in Lincoln's Inn Fields as a rival to George Frideric Handel's royally sponsored opera at the King's Theatre in the Haymarket. Frederick was a lover of music who played the viola and cello; he is depicted playing a cello in three portraits by Philippe Mercier of Frederick and his sisters. He enjoyed the natural sciences and the arts, and became a thorn in the side of his parents, making a point of opposing them in everything, according to the court gossip Lord Hervey.
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