Prince George, Duke of Kent

Not to be confused with Prince George of Cambridge.
Prince George
Duke of Kent
Successor Prince Edward
Born (1902-12-20)20 December 1902
York Cottage, Sandringham
Died 25 August 1942(1942-08-25) (aged 39)
Morven, Scotland
Burial 29 August 1942
St George's Chapel, Windsor and later Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore
Spouse Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark
(m. 1934)
Issue Prince Edward, Duke of Kent
Princess Alexandra, The Hon. Lady Ogilvy
Prince Michael of Kent
Full name
George Edward Alexander Edmund
House Windsor (since 1917)
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (until 1917)
Father George V
Mother Mary of Teck

Prince George, Duke of Kent, KG, KT, GCMG, GCVO (George Edward Alexander Edmund; 20 December 1902 – 25 August 1942) was the fourth son and fifth child of King George V and Queen Mary.

He was the younger brother of Kings Edward VIII and George VI. He held the title of Duke of Kent from 1934 until his death in a military air-crash on 25 August 1942.

Early life

Prince George was born on 20 December 1902 at York Cottage on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, England.[1] His father was George, Prince of Wales (later King George V), the eldest surviving son of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. His mother was the Princess of Wales (later Queen Mary), the daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Teck.[2] At the time of his birth, he was fifth in the line of succession to the throne, behind his father and three older brothers.

George was baptised in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle on 26 January 1903 by Francis Paget, Bishop of Oxford.[3][4]

Education and career

Prince George received his early education from a tutor and then followed his elder brother, Prince Henry (later the Duke of Gloucester), to St Peter's Court, a preparatory school at Broadstairs, Kent. At the age of thirteen, like his brothers, the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII) and Prince Albert (later King George VI), before him, he went to naval college, first at Osborne and, later, at Dartmouth.[1] He remained in the Royal Navy until March 1929, serving on HMS Iron Duke and later HMS Nelson.[1] After leaving the navy, he briefly held posts at the Foreign Office and later the Home Office, becoming the first member of the royal family to work as a civil servant.[1]

From January to April 1931 Prince George and his elder brother the Prince of Wales travelled 18,000 miles on a tour of South America. Their outward voyage was on the ocean liner Oropesa.[5] In Buenos Aires they opened a British Empire Exhibition.[6] They continued from the River Plate to Rio de Janeiro on the liner Alcantara and returned from Brazil to Europe on the liner Arlanza, landing at Lisbon.[7] The princes returned via Paris and an Imperial Airways flight from Paris–Le Bourget Airport that landed specially in Windsor Great Park.[8][9]

In October 1938 George was appointed Governor General of Australia in succession to Lord Gowrie with effect from November 1939.[10][11] On 11 September 1939 it was announced that, owing to the outbreak of the Second World War, the appointment was postponed.[12]

At the start of the Second World War, George returned to active military service in the rank of Rear Admiral, briefly serving on the Intelligence Division of the Admiralty. In April 1940, he transferred to the Royal Air Force. He temporarily relinquished his rank as Air Vice-Marshal (the equivalent of Rear Admiral) to assume the post of Staff Officer at RAF Training Command in the rank of Group Captain.

Marriage

On 12 October 1934, in anticipation of his forthcoming marriage to his second cousin Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark he was created Duke of Kent, Earl of St Andrews, and Baron Downpatrick.[2][13][14] The couple married on 29 November 1934 at Westminster Abbey.[15] With his wife, they had three children:

Personal life

The Duke and Duchess in 1934
British Royalty
House of Windsor
George V
Edward VIII, Duke of Windsor
George VI
Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood
Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester
Prince George, Duke of Kent
Prince John
Grandchildren
Elizabeth II
Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon
Prince William of Gloucester
Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester
Prince Edward, Duke of Kent
Prince Michael of Kent
Princess Alexandra, The Hon. Lady Ogilvy

Both before and after his marriage, Prince George had a string of affairs with both men and women, from socialites to Hollywood celebrities. The better known of his lovers included banking heiress Poppy Baring, socialite Margaret Whigham (later Duchess of Argyll and involved in a notoriously scandalous divorce case), and Barbara Cartland (who believed him to be the father of her daughter Raine McCorquodale).[16] There were "strong rumours" that he had affairs with musical star Jessie Matthews[17] and Noël Coward,[18] a relationship which Coward's long-term boyfriend, Graham Payn, denied.[19] The security services "reported that Coward and Kent had been seen parading together through the streets of London, dressed and made up as women, and had once been arrested by the police for suspected prostitution".[20]

The Duke of Kent is rumoured to have been addicted to drugs, especially morphine and cocaine, a rumour which reputedly originated with his friendship with Kiki Preston,[21][22][23] whom he first met in the mid-1920s. Reportedly, Prince George shared Kiki in a ménage à trois with Jorge Ferrara, the bisexual son of the Argentinian ambassador to Britain.[24] Other alleged sexual liaisons were with the art historian and Soviet spy Anthony Blunt and maharani of Cooch Behar, Indira Raje.[17]

In his attempt to rescue his cocaine-addicted brother from the influence of Kiki, Edward VIII attempted for a while to persuade both George and Kiki to break off their contact, to no avail.[25] Eventually, Edward forced George to stop seeing Kiki and also forced Kiki to leave England, while she was visiting George there in the summer of 1929.[26] For years afterwards, Edward feared that George might relapse to drugs if he maintained his contact with Kiki. Indeed, in 1932, Prince George ran into Kiki unexpectedly at Cannes and had to be removed almost by force.[27]

It has been alleged for years that American publishing executive Michael Temple Canfield (1926–1969) was the illegitimate son of Prince George and Kiki Preston. According to various sources, both Prince George's brother, the Duke of Windsor and Laura, Duchess of Marlborough, Canfield's second wife, shared this belief.[28][29][30][31] Canfield was the adopted son of Cass Canfield, American publisher of Harper and Row.[32]

RAF career

The Duke of Kent before he crossed the Atlantic by air

Early on the duke came to the opinion that the future lay in aviation. It became his passion, and in 1929 the duke earned his pilot's licence. He was the first of the Royal family to cross the Atlantic by air. Prior to his flying days, he entered the Royal Navy, and was trained in intelligence work while stationed at Rosyth.[33]

In 1937, he was granted a commission in the Royal Air Force as a group captain.[34] He was also made the Honorary Air Commodore of No. 500 (County of Kent) Squadron Auxiliary Air Force.[35] Just before war broke out he became an RAF Air Vice-Marshal (approximately equal in rank to his Rear Admiral status earlier in the Royal Navy). In a characteristic gesture, he relinquished that rank in 1940 so that he would not be senior to more experienced officers, becoming a lower-ranked group captain and, in July 1941, an air commodore in the Welfare Section of the RAF Inspector General's Staff. In this role he went on official visits to RAF bases to help boost wartime morale.[36] His death while in the service of the RAF marked the first time in 500 years that a member of the Royal family died on active service.[37]

Death

Prince George died on 25 August 1942, at the age of 39, along with fourteen others, on board RAF Short Sunderland flying boat W4026, which crashed into a hillside near Dunbeath, Caithness, Scotland, while flying from Invergordon, Ross and Cromarty, to Iceland on non-operational duties.[38] Prince George had a briefcase full of 100-krona notes, worthless in Iceland, handcuffed to his wrist, leading to speculation the flight was a military mission to Sweden, the only place krona notes were of value.[39]

His body was transferred initially to St. George's Chapel, Windsor, and he was buried in the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore, directly behind Queen Victoria's mausoleum. He was succeeded as Duke of Kent by his elder son, seven-year-old Prince Edward. Princess Marina, his wife, had given birth to their third child, Prince Michael, only seven weeks before Prince George's death.

The Duke's early life is dramatised in Stephen Poliakoff's television serial The Lost Prince (2003), a biography of the life of the Duke's younger brother John. In the film, the teenage Prince 'Georgie' is portrayed as sensitive, intelligent, artistic and almost uniquely sympathetic to his brother's plight. He is shown as detesting his time at the Royal Naval College and as having a difficult relationship with his austere father.

Much of George's later life was outlined in the documentary film The Queen's Lost Uncle.[40] He is a recurring character in the revival of Upstairs, Downstairs (2010), played by Blake Ritson.[2] He is portrayed as a caring brother, terrified of the mistakes that his family is making; later, he is portrayed as an appeaser of the German regime, but also as a supportive friend of Hallam Holland.[2]

George and his eldest brother the Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII, are shown in Stephen Poliakoff's BBC television serial Dancing on the Edge (2013), in which they are portrayed as supporters of jazz and encouragers of Louis Lester's Jazz Band. A sexual attraction to Louis on George's part is also insinuated.[41]

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

At the time of his death, Prince George's full style was His Royal Highness The Prince George Edward Alexander Edmund, Duke of Kent, Earl of Saint Andrews and Baron Downpatrick, Royal Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Royal Knight of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order.

Prince George's coat of arms

Honours

British honours

Appointments

Arms

Around the time of his elder brother Prince Henry's twenty-first birthday, Prince George was granted the use of the Royal Arms, differenced by a label argent of three points, each bearing an anchor azure.

Ancestry

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Duke of Kent once called sailor prince". Pittsburg Post Gazette. 26 August 1945. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Upstairs life of a royal rogue". Daily Express. 26 February 2012. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
  3. 1 2 Yvonne's Royalty Home Page— Royal Christenings
  4. ↑ Unlike many previous royal baptisms, George was christened using local water, rather than water from the River Jordan.[3]
  5. ↑ Erskine, Barry, "Oropesa (II)", Pacific Steam Navigation Company, retrieved 15 December 2013
  6. ↑ Nicol, Stuart (2001). MacQueen's Legacy; Ships of the Royal Mail Line. Two. Brimscombe Port and Charleston, SC: Tempus Publishing. p. 130. ISBN 0-7524-2119-0.
  7. ↑ Nicol, Stuart (2001). MacQueen's Legacy; A History of the Royal Mail Line. One. Brimscombe Port and Charleston, SC: Tempus Publishing. p. 158. ISBN 0-7524-2118-2.
  8. ↑ "Arrival at Windsor by Air", The Straits Times, National Library, Singapore, 30 April 1931, retrieved 18 December 2013
  9. ↑ "Princes Home", The Advertiser and Register, National Library of Australia, 1 May 1931, retrieved 18 December 2013
  10. ↑ "The Duke of Kent: Appointment in Australia", The Times (26 October 1938): 14.
  11. ↑ "Marina, a tragic but well-loved Princess". The Sydney Morning Herald. London. 28 August 1968. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  12. ↑ "Duke of Kent and Australia", The Times (12 September 1939): 6.
  13. ↑ Yvonne's Royalty: Peerage
  14. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 34094. p. 6365. 9 October 1934. Retrieved 1 May 2011.
  15. ↑ "King and Queen". The Calgary Daily Herald. 29 November 1934. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
  16. ↑ Thornton, Michael (24 October 2008). "A drunken husband and five secret lovers: The novel Barbara Cartland never wanted you to read". Daily Mail. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  17. 1 2 Kenneth J. Panton Historical Dictionary of the British Monarchy, Lanham,MD: Scarecrow Press, 2011, p.217
  18. ↑ Barry Day, ed., "The Letters of Noël Coward," (NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2007), p. 691
  19. ↑ Brandreth, Gyles (2004). Philip and Elizabeth: Portrait of a Marriage. London: Century. ISBN 0-7126-6103-4, p. ??
  20. ↑ Thorton, Michael (9 November 2007). "How predatory Noel Coward tried to seduce me when I was 19". The Daily Mail. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
  21. ↑ Lynn Kear and John Rossman Kay Francis: A Passionate Life and Career, Jefferson: NC: McFarland & Company, 2006, p. 28
  22. ↑ Farrant, Leda (1994). Diana, Lady Delamere and the Lord Erroll Murder, p. 77. Publishers Distribution Services.
  23. ↑ McLeod, Kirsty. Battle Royal: Edward VIII & George VI, Brother Against Brother, p. 122. Constable
  24. ↑ Nicholson, Stuart (1999). Reminiscing in Tempo: A Portrait of Duke Ellinson, p. 146. Northeastern University Press
  25. ↑ Ziegler, Philip (2001). King Edward VIII, p. 200. Sutton
  26. ↑ Williams, Susan A. (2004). The People's King: The True Story of the Abdication, p. 31. New York: Palgrave Macmillan
  27. ↑ Kiste, John van Der (1991). George V's Children, p. 71. A. Sutton.
  28. ↑ Higham, Charles (1988). Wallis: Secret Lives of the Duchess of Windsor, p. 392. Sidgwick & Jackson
  29. ↑ Horsler, Val (2006). All For Love: Seven Centuries of Illicit Liaison, p. 183. National Archives
  30. ↑ Lindsay, Loelia (1961). Grace and Favour: The Memoirs of Loelia, Duchess of Westminster. Reynal
  31. ↑ Bradford, Sarah (2000). America's Queen: The Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, p. 84. Viking
  32. ↑ "The Prince's Cousin", Reading Eagle, September 10, 1967
  33. ↑ Macwhirter, Robin, 'The Tragedy at Eagle's Rock', Scotsman, 24 August 1985
  34. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 34379. p. 1646. 12 March 1937. Retrieved 5 June 2009.
  35. ↑ Hunt 1972, p. 314.
  36. ↑ "Royal family; aircraft engineer; 1942". Flight Archive. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
  37. ↑ https://newbattleatwar.wordpress.com/category/aviation-2/
  38. ↑ "Duke of Kent Dies in an R.A.F. Crash on way to Iceland". The New York Times. 26 August 1942. Retrieved 11 September 2012.
  39. ↑ Double Standards p.424
  40. ↑ "The Queen's Lost Uncle". Channel 4. Retrieved 18 May 2015.
  41. ↑ Furness, Hannah (1 February 2013). "New BBC drama to show the scandalous stories of the playboy Princes". The Telegraph. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
  42. ↑ As a grandchild of a British monarch in the male line, he was styled His Royal Highness Prince George of Wales.

Further reading

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Prince George, Duke of Kent
Cadet branch of the House of Wettin
Born: 20 December 1902 Died: 25 August 1942
Masonic offices
Preceded by
Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn		 Grand Master of the United
Grand Lodge of England
1939–1942 		Succeeded by
Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood
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Preceded by
Office established		 Duke of Kent
1934–1942 		Succeeded by
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