The Impeachment of the House of BrunswickBradlaugh, Charles
History
The Impeachment of the House of Brunswick
Bradlaugh, Charles
Great Britain -- History -- 1714-1837; Hanover, House of
George I. came to England without his wife, the Princess of Zelle.
Years before, he had arrested her and placed her in close confinement in
Ahlden Castle, on account of her intrigue with Philip, Count Konigsmark,
whom some say George I. suspected of being the actual father of the
Electoral Prince George, afterwards George II. To use the language of
a writer patronized by George, Prince of Wales, in 1808, "The coldness
between George I. and his son and successor, George II., may be said to
have been _almost coeval with the existence_ of the latter." Our King,
George I., described by Thackeray as a "cold, selfish libertine," had
Konigsmark murdered in the palace of Heranhausen; confined his wife, at
twenty-eight years of age, in a dungeon, where she remained until she
was sixty; and when George Augustus, Electoral Prince of Hanover, tried
to get access to his mother, George Lewis, then Elector of Hanover,
arrested Prince George also, and it is said, would have put him to
death if the Emperor of Germany had not protected him as a Prince of
the German Empire. During the reign of George II., Frederick, Prince of
Wales, whom his father denounced as a "changeling," published an account
of how George I. had turned Frederick's father out of the palace. These
Guelphs have been a loving family. The _Edinburgh Review_ declares that
"the terms on which the eldest sons of this family have always lived
with their fathers have been those of distrust, opposition, and
hostility." Even after George Lewis had ascended the throne of England,
his hatred to George Augustus was so bitter, that there was some
proposition that James, Earl Berkeley and Lord High Admiral, should
carry off the Prince to America and keep him there.
Thackeray says: "When George I. made his first visit to Hanover, his son
was appointed regent during the Royal absence. But this honor was never
again conferred on the Prince of Wales; he and his father fell out
presently. On the occasion of the christening of his second son, a
Royal row took place, and the Prince, shaking his fist in the Duke of
Newcastle's face, called him a rogue, and provoked his august father. He
and his wife were turned out of St. James's, and their princely children
taken from them, by order of the Royal head of the family. Father and
mother wept piteously at parting from their little ones. The young ones
sent some cherries, with their love, to papa and mamma, the parents
watered the fruit with their tears. They had no tears thirty-five years
afterwards, when Prince Frederick died, their eldest son, their heir,
their enemy."
A satirical ballad on the expulsion of Prince George from St. James's
Palace, which was followed by the death of the newly-christened baby
Prince, is droll enough to here repeat:--
The King then took his gray goose quill,
And dip't it o'er in gall;
And, by Master Vice Chamberlain,
He sent to him this scrawl:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account