John Van Der Kiste

The Dukes of Cumberland John Van Der Kiste

The title of Duke of Cumberland was originally created as one of several conferred on Prince Rupert ('of the Rhine'), cousin of King Charles I, in 1644. Like the next three princes to be thus known, he left no legitimate heir to succeed him. Prince George of Denmark, consort of Queen Anne, had the misfortune to father several children who died in infancy, while William, son of King George II (the victor or the butcher of Culloden in 1746, depending on one's point of view), only had mistresses but no sons or daughters, while King George III's brother Prince Henry, the fourth Duke, married but left no issue. The dukedom finally achieved continuity with Prince Ernest Augustus, one of King George III's sons, much vilified on the grounds of supposed incest and bigamy, and a somewhat reactionary figure strongly opposed to Catholic emancipation, but a brave soldier and in his last fourteen years an effective, popular and much respected King of Hanover. His son and successor as Duke and King, the unfortunate blind George V, was deposed after the annexation of his domains by Prussia in 1866, while his son and heir, another Prince Ernest Augustus, was a King without a throne, and after the First World War, a Duke without a duchy. This is the first book to survey the lives of all seven Dukes in one volume, spanning the Stuart, Hanoverian eras and the early twentieth century.