Born on this day November 2 in times past 1709 – Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange (d. 1759) Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange (2 November 1709 – 12 January 1759) was the second child and eldest daughter of King George II of Great Britain and his consort, Caroline of Ansbach. She was the spouse of William IV, Prince of Orange, the first hereditary stadtholder of the Netherlands. Princess Anne was the second daughter of a British sovereign to hold the title Princess Royal. She was Regent of the Netherlands from 1751 until her death in 1759, exercising extensive powers on behalf of her son William V. Because of her English upbringing and family connections, she was known as an Anglophile - despite being unable to convince the Dutch Republic to enter the Seven Years War on the side of the British Duchess Anne of Brunswick-Lunenburg was born at Herrenhausen Palace, Hanover, five years before her paternal grandfather, Elector George Louis, succeeded to the British throne as George I. She was christened shortly after birth at Herrenhausen Palace. She was named after her paternal grandfathers second cousin Anne, Queen of Great Britain. She learned German, French and English, and was taught music (including singing, harpsichord, and composition) by Georg Friedrich Händel. Händel did not like teaching, but said he would make the only exception for Anne, flower of princesses. She remained a lifelong supporter, attending his operas and subscribing to his music She contracted and survived smallpox in 1720, and two years later her mother helped to popularise the practice of variolation (an early type of immunisation against smallpox), which had been witnessed by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and Charles Maitland in Constantinople. At the direction of Caroline, six prisoners condemned to death were offered the chance to undergo variolation instead of execution: they all survived, as did six orphan children given the same treatment as a further test. Convinced of its medical value, the Queen had her two younger daughters, Amelia and Caroline, inoculated successfully. Annes face was scarred by the disease, and she was not considered as pretty as her two younger sisters. On 30 August 1727, George II created his eldest daughter Princess Royal. Charles I first bestowed this title on his eldest daughter, Mary, Princess of Orange (mother of William III), in 1642. However, the title fell from use until the reign of George II. (Princess Anne became Princess Royal during the lifetime of her aunt, Queen Sophia Dorothea of Prussia. Although the eldest daughter of a British monarch, George I, Sophia Dorothea had already married the King of Prussia eight years before her fathers succession.) When her husband died at the age of 40 in 1751, Anne was appointed regent for her 3 year-old son, Prince William V. She was hard-working, but arrogant and imperious, which made her unpopular. This would help William later in his tough life.[citation needed] The 1750s were years of increasing tension and commercial rivalry between Holland and Britain, which placed her in a difficult position. She continued to act as regent until her death from dropsy in 1759, at The Hague, Netherlands, when she was replaced by her mother-in-law, Marie Louise of Hesse-Kassel, and by Duke Louis Ernest of Brunswick-Lüneburg. When she too died, Annes daughter, Carolina, was made regent until William V turned 18 in 1766.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 11:43:31 +0000
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