Eugenie, the younger daughter of the Duke of York and Sarah, Duchess of York, gave birth to her first child at the Portland Hospital on February 9.
The names honor the baby's great-grandfather, Prince Philip, and two 5 five times grandparents: Prince Albert (1819-1861), the consort of Queen Victoria, and the Reverend Edward Hawke Brooksbank (1789-1893).
Prince Albert was the younger son of Ernst I, Prince of Saxe-Coburg-Saafeld and Princess Luise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg.
His grandmother, Auguste, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saafeld, wrote in her diary on August 26: "a healthy little boy has been born. I hurried here, and found mother and child as well as possible, and Ernest overjoyed."
Augusta, a Countess of Reuss-Ebersdorf by birth, may have been named for her great-grandfather, Georg August, Count of Schönberg-Fürstenau. Heinrich is the only name for male members of the Reuss princely family.
"Ernest wishes him to be given the old Saxon name of Albert." Augusta wrote in her diary. His full name given at his baptism on August 29, 1819, was baptized Franz Albrecht August Carl Emmanuel.
Albert's older brother, Duke Ernst II's names also included August: Ernst August Karl Johann Leopold Alexander Eduard.
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| Ernst August, Elector of Hanover, father of George I |
August is the German version of Augustus. George I was the son of Ernst August, Elector of Hanover. George's younger brother, Friedrich August, who died in 1691 in battle, was known in the family as Gutschen.
King George I's full name was George Augustus, although, in Hanover, where he was also the sovereign, he was styled as Georg II.
George II's seventh child was named William Augustus. William was created Duke of Cumberland and is best known for defeating the Jacobite rebellion at the Battle of Culloden (1746.)
Frederick, the Prince of Wales, eldest son of King George II, married Princess Auguste (Augusta) of Saxe-Gotha. Their eldest child, Princess Augusta, married Carl, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. She and her husband were the parents of seven children, including a daughter, Auguste, and a son, August.
Prince Frederick's second son was given the name Edward Augustus.
The Prince of Wales died in 1751, leaving his young son, George as the heir to George II. George III succeeded in 1760. A year later he married Duchess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Several of their fifteen children had the name Augustus or Augusta. Their eldest son, the future George IV, was named George Augustus Frederick. Augustus was also the middle names of their second and fourth sons, Frederick Augustus, Duke of York and Albany, and Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent and Strathearn. The Duke of Kent was Queen Victoria's father.
George's eldest daughter was baptized Charlotte Augusta Matilda.
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| Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent & Streatheard, father of Queen Victoria |
George III's second daughter was named Augusta Sophia.
George looked back to his Hanover roots when he named his fifth son after his great-great-grandfather, Ernest Augustus, a double first name.
Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale, succeeded his brother William IV, as King of Hanover. His only child, King Georg V lost his kingdom after siding with Austria in the Austro-Prussian War. Prussia's revenge was to annex Hanover into the Kingdom of Prussia. Georg V died in 1878. His only son and heir Prince Ernst August married Princess Thyra of Denmark. Prince Ernst August chose to be styled as Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale.
Ernst August and Thyra were the parents of three sons and three daughters. The youngest of the three sons was named Ernst August, who became heir after the premature deaths of his two older brothers.
This Ernst August, who became the Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, married Kaiser Wilhelm II's daughter, Victoria Luise. Their eldest son was named Ernst August, whose eldest legitimate son was named Ernst August as well. This latter Prince Ernst August is separated from his second wife, Princess Caroline of Monaco. He has two sons by his first wife, Chantal Hochuli. They named their elder son Ernst August, continuing the tradition for four generations. This tradition came to an end when the Hereditary Prince Ernst August and his wife, Ekaterina, named their first son, Welf August.
George III's sixth son was Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex. He married twice in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act. His first wife was Lady Augusta Murray, daughter of the 4th Earl of Dunmore. They had two children, Augusta and Augustus.
George IV and his wife, Princess Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (whose mother was George III's older sister, Princess Augusta) had one daughter, Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales.
Several of George III's grandchildren, including the aforementioned Augusta and Augustus d'Este, had the name Augusta as a first or a middle name: George Augustus Frederick Fitzclarence, 1st Earl of Munster, Lady Augusta Gordon, Lord Augustus Fitzclarence, Princess Charlotte Augusta Louisa of Clarence.
Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, the seventh son of King George III, married Princess Augusta of Hesse-Cassel. They had three children. Their second child and eldest daughter's first name was Augusta. The British royal family are descendants of the third child and second daughter, Princess Mary Adelaide.
Mary Adelaide and her husband, Franz, Duke of Teck had four children. Their only daughter was named Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes and the youngest child Alexander Augustus Frederick William Alfred George.
The name Augusta was used only once by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Their third daughter was named Helena Augusta Victoria. Princess Eugenie's middle names are Helena and Victoria.
Princess Eugenie has met Hereditary Prince Ernst August of Hanover on several occasions. She and her older sister, Princess Beatrice, represented the Queen at the 2013 reopening of Schloss Herrenhausen in Hanover. Prince Ernst August and his wife, Ekaterina, were guests at Princess Eugenie's wedding Eugenie and Beatrice attended the wedding of Prince Christian of Hanover to Alessandra de Osma in March 2018.
Although August honors Prince Albert (as the 5x grandparent), it is a name that appears often in Eugenie's maternal line through Queen Victoria (the Hanovers) and Albert (through his paternal grandmother's family).
I feel sure that August is in honor of Prince Albert, but conveniently there is another "Augustus" within the 5x great grandfather parameter: Lord William Charles Augustus Cavendish-Bentinck, a great grandfather of the Queen Mother.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed this. I've spent some odd hours recently with Wikepedia, working through the royal family's genealogy from George I onwards. It's fascinating following the lines of descent, seeing how they connect, diverge, and then connect again with various European royal families. Thanks for your work here.
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