Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh
Princess Mary of Great Britain, Ireland and Hannover (* April 25, 1776 at Buckingham Palace, London, † April 30, 1857 at Gloucester House, London ) was a member of the British royal family from the House of Hanover.
Life
Mary was the eleventh child and one of six daughters of the British King George III. (1738-1820) and his wife Princess Sophie Charlotte of Mecklenburg -Strelitz (1744-1818), daughter of Prince Karl of Mecklenburg and Princess Elizabeth Albertine of Saxe- Hildburghausen. With her older brother, and later King George IV had a very cordial relationship.
To 1796 Princess Maria ( second degree ) fell in love with her cousin, Prince Frederick of Orange- Nassau ( 1774-1799 ), the second son of William V Erbstatthalters of the Netherlands and Princess Friederike Sophie Wilhelmine of Prussia, when his family in exile in London lived. However, there was no marriage, because he died in Padua in 1799 from an infectious disease.
On July 22, 1816 married Princess Mary in the Chapel Royal at St. James 's Palace with her cousin ( first degree) Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh ( 1776-1834 ), the only son of William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh (1743-1805) and his wife Maria Walpole ( 1736-1807 ). The harmonious marriage remained childless. Due to their childlessness, she developed a special relationship with her niece, and later Queen, Princess Alexandrina Victoria (1819-1901), the only child of her older brother Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent and Strathearn. After the death of her husband she moved from Bagshot Park to Richmond. In 1857, Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh, died in the White Lodge in Richmond Park and was buried in St. George 's Chapel at Windsor Castle.