Edward Duke of York
1739 – 1767 · Generation XXXI · House of Hanover
Edward Duke of York (1739–1767). The second son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, he shared with his elder brother, the future George III, a crowded schoolroom of Latin, Greek, French, German, mathematics and dancing besides. The sea drew him. In the Seven Years’ War he sailed with the descents on the French coast, including the failed raid on St Malo in 1758; he took command of HMS Phoenix the next year and rose through the flag ranks to Admiral of the Blue by 1766. His grandfather George II created him Duke of York and Albany in 1760, and until the future George IV was born in 1762 he stood next in line to the throne. Taken ill on a voyage to Genoa in 1767, he was landed at Monaco and died in the prince’s palace there, in a chamber still called the York Room. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.
Place in the family
- Edward Duke of York was a great-uncle of Queen Victoria.
- Edward Duke of York was the third of 9 children of Frederick Prince of Wales and Augusta of Saxe-Gotha recorded in this archive.
One of 35 people of House of Hanover (from 1700) in this archive. Called from Germany by the Act of Settlement; the Georges, then Victoria.
Line of descent: Owen Tudor → Edmund Tudor → King Henry VII → Margaret Tudor → King James V of Scotland → Mary Queen of Scots → King James I → Elizabeth Stuart → Sophia of Hanover → King George I → King George II → Frederick Prince of Wales → Edward Duke of York.
Parents
- Frederick Prince of Wales (1707 – 1751)
- Augusta of Saxe-Gotha (1719 – 1772)
Siblings
- Augusta of Great Britain (1737 – 1813)
- King George III (1738 – 1820)
- Elizabeth of Great Britain (1741 – 1759)
- William Henry Duke of Gloucester (1743 – 1805)
- Henry Duke of Cumberland (1745 – 1790)
- Louisa of Great Britain (1749 – 1768)
- Frederick of Great Britain (1750 – 1765)
- Caroline Matilda of Great Britain (1751 – 1775)