Frederick Augustus, Duke of York and Albany (1763 -1827)

Frederick Augustus was born on 16 August 1763, at St. James's Palace, London, the second eldest child, and second son, of King George III., and Queen Charlotte. From the death of his father in 1820 until his own death in 1827, he was the heir presumptive to his elder brother, King George IV, both to the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Hanover. On 27 February 1764, when Prince Frederick was six months old, his father secured his election as Prince-Bishop of Osnabrück. In 1767 he was invested Knight of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, and on 19 June 1771, as a Knight of the Order of the Garter. On 27 November 1784 he was created Duke of York and Albany and Earl of Ulster, and became a member of the Privy Council. On the wishes of his father, the Duke pursued a military career, and in 1795 took command of the regular British Army, and instituted reforms that created the force which later was able to serve in the Peninsular War, as well as the preparations for the expected French invasion of the United Kingdom in 1803. In 1791 he married his cousin Princess Frederica Charlotte of Prussia, daughter of King Frederick William II of Prussia, and Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Lüneburg. The marriage did not last, and ended in separation. The Duchess retired to Oatlands Park, Weybridge, where she lived eccentrically and died in 1820. Although the Duke and Duchess of York had no children, the Duke was rumoured to have sired several illegitimate offspring by different mothers.