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Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange (12 January 1759) was the second child and eldest daughter of King George II of Great Britain and his consort
Caroline of Ansbach , father = John Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach , mother = Princess Eleonore Erdmuthe of Saxe-Eisenach , birth_date = , birth_place = Ansbach, Principality of Ansbach, Holy Roman Empire , death_date = , death_place = St James's Pal ...
. She was the wife of William IV, Prince of Orange, the first hereditary
stadtholder In the Low Countries, ''stadtholder'' ( nl, stadhouder ) was an office of steward, designated a medieval official and then a national leader. The ''stadtholder'' was the replacement of the duke or count of a province during the Burgundian and H ...
of all seven provinces of the Northern Netherlands. She was Regent of the Netherlands from 1751 until her death in 1759, exercising extensive powers on behalf of her son William V. She was known as an
Anglophile An Anglophile is a person who admires or loves England, its people, its culture, its language, and/or its various accents. Etymology The word is derived from the Latin word ''Anglii'' and Ancient Greek word φίλος ''philos'', meaning "fr ...
, due to her English upbringing and family connections, but was unable to convince the Dutch Republic to enter the Seven Years' War on the side of the British. Princess Anne was the second daughter of a British sovereign to hold the title
Princess Royal Princess Royal is a style customarily (but not automatically) awarded by a British monarch to their eldest daughter. Although purely honorary, it is the highest honour that may be given to a female member of the royal family. There have been sev ...
. In the Netherlands she was styled Anna van Hannover.


Early life

Anne was born at
Herrenhausen Palace Herrenhausen Palace (German: ''Schloss Herrenhausen'') is a former royal summer residence of the House of Hanover in the Herrenhausen district of the German city of Hanover. It is the centerpiece of Herrenhausen Gardens. The original palac ...
, Hanover, five years before her paternal grandfather, Elector George Louis, succeeded to the thrones of Great Britain and Ireland as
George I George I or 1 may refer to: People * Patriarch George I of Alexandria (fl. 621–631) * George I of Constantinople (d. 686) * George I of Antioch (d. 790) * George I of Abkhazia (ruled 872/3–878/9) * George I of Georgia (d. 1027) * Yuri Dol ...
. She was christened shortly after her birth at Herrenhausen Palace. She was named after her paternal grandfather's second cousin
Anne, Queen of Great Britain Anne (6 February 1665 – 1 August 1714) was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland from 8 March 1702 until 1 May 1707. On 1 May 1707, under the Acts of Union, the kingdoms of England and Scotland united as a single sovereign state known as ...
. She learned German, French and English,Van der Kiste, p. 84 and was taught music (including singing,
harpsichord A harpsichord ( it, clavicembalo; french: clavecin; german: Cembalo; es, clavecín; pt, cravo; nl, klavecimbel; pl, klawesyn) is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism ...
, and composition) by
Georg Friedrich Händel George Frideric (or Frederick) Handel (; baptised , ; 23 February 1685 – 14 April 1759) was a German-British Baroque composer well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. Handel received his training ...
. 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. Anne 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 Caroline may refer to: People *Caroline (given name), a feminine given name * J. C. Caroline (born 1933), American college and National Football League player * Jordan Caroline (born 1996), American (men's) basketball player Places Antarctica * ...
, inoculated successfully. Anne's face was scarred by the disease, and she was not considered as pretty as her two younger sisters. On 30 August 1727,
George II George II or 2 may refer to: People * George II of Antioch (seventh century AD) * George II of Armenia (late ninth century) * George II of Abkhazia (916–960) * Patriarch George II of Alexandria (1021–1051) * George II of Georgia (1072–1089) ...
created his eldest daughter
Princess Royal Princess Royal is a style customarily (but not automatically) awarded by a British monarch to their eldest daughter. Although purely honorary, it is the highest honour that may be given to a female member of the royal family. There have been sev ...
, a title which had fallen from use since its creation by
Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...
for his daughter Mary, Princess of Orange in 1642.


Marriage

In 1725, a potential marriage contract between Anne and King Louis XV of France was considered. From a French viewpoint, such a marriage could give France valuable neutrality from The Netherlands and Prussia, as well as protection against Spain. However, the religious issues caused problems. While it was taken for granted that Anne would have to convert to Catholicism, there were concerns that this would still not be enough for the Pope, whose support was needed, particularly regarding the broken betrothal between Louis XV and a Spanish princess, and the prospect of Anne becoming Regent of France in case of a minor regency was feared because of her presumed religious inclinations toward the Huguenots in France. The plans was eventually discarded when the French insisted that Anne must convert to Roman Catholicism. On in the
Chapel Royal The Chapel Royal is an establishment in the Royal Household serving the spiritual needs of the sovereign and the British Royal Family. Historically it was a body of priests and singers that travelled with the monarch. The term is now also appl ...
at St. James's Palace, she married William IV, Prince of Orange. She then ceased to use her British title in favour of the new one she gained by marriage. The music played at her wedding, '' This is the day'' was set by Handel to the princess's own words based on Psalms 45 and 118. Handel also composed an operatic entertainment, '' Parnasso in Festa'', in honour of her wedding which was performed for the first time at the King's Theatre, London, on 13 March 1734, with great success. William suffered from a spinal deformity, which affected his appearance, but Anne said she would marry him even "if he were a baboon". Her reason for being so insistent upon this marriage was reported to be simply that she wished to be married, to avoid a life as a
spinster ''Spinster'' is a term referring to an unmarried woman who is older than what is perceived as the prime age range during which women usually marry. It can also indicate that a woman is considered unlikely to ever marry. The term originally den ...
at the court of her father and her brother, with whom she did not get along; and as the only match considered suitable for her was with a monarch or heir to a throne, William was essentially her only remaining Protestant choice, and when questioned by her father, she stated that it was not a matter of whether she should marry William, the question was rather whether she should marry at all.John Van der Kiste, ''The Georgian Princesses'' She quarreled with her brother, the
Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the ruler ...
, about her choice. William and Anne sailed to Holland after a honeymoon at
Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...
. In the Netherlands, they resided at Leeuwarden. Anne soon felt homesick when William went on campaign in the Rhineland, and she travelled back to England, believing herself to be pregnant, Anne thought she should give birth to the child in her homeland as the child would be in the line of succession to the British throne. However, this decision was not well received with her husband and her father, who both commanded her to return to Holland after a brief stay. By April 1735, it was clear that Anne was not with child after all. In 1736, she did become pregnant, but the child (a daughter) was stillborn. Anne was not well liked by the Dutch people and did not get on well with her mother-in-law
Marie Louise of Hesse-Kassel Dutch: ''Maria Louise'' , house =Hesse-Kassel , father =Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel , mother =Princess Maria Amalia of Courland , birth_date = , birth_place =Kassel , death_date ...
. However, Anne was considered to have a regal essence but seemed to have a belief in British superiority over the Dutch; she was also thought to be neglectful of her duties and seemed to isolate herself in her interests in music and literature; and she was accused of displaying little consideration for her courtiers, for example by forcing her ladies-in-waiting to read for her for hours, ignoring their fatigue. Her relationship with William, however, which was at first distant, eventually developed into harmony and intimacy, which is displayed in their correspondence. In 1747, William became stadtholder of all the Seven United Provinces, and this was followed by a constitutional reform which made his new wider authority hereditary. William and Anne moved to the Hague, where Anne introduced Händel to the Netherlands: he accepted her invitation to her music life at the Hague in 1750. The composer Josina van Aerssen was one of her ladies-in-waiting.


Regency

William IV died on 22 October 1751, at the age of forty, and Anne was appointed as regent for her three-year-old son, William V. She gained all the prerogatives normally held by a hereditary stadtholder of the Netherlands, with the exception of the military duties of the office, which were entrusted to
Duke Louis Ernest of Brunswick-Lüneburg Louis Ernest of Brunswick-Lüneburg-Bevern (25 September 1718, Wolfenbüttel – 12 May 1788, Eisenach) was a field-marshal in the armies of the Holy Roman Empire and the Dutch Republic, the elected Duke of Courland (1741). From 13 November 1750 t ...
. She was hard-working, but arrogant and imperious, which made her unpopular. The 1750s were years of increasing tension and commercial rivalry between Holland and Great Britain, which placed her in a difficult position. Anne's interior policy focused on defending the authority of the central hereditary stadtholder government over the traditional rights of the Dutch states. The reform of the hereditary post of stadtholder had been introduced during the reign of her late husband; it was new and controversial and was questioned after his death, but Anne effectively defended the centralized government. In the conflict with the city of Haarlem, for example, she prevented the city from holding its election by refusing the release of its list of candidates. Her harsh rule was resented, but her consolidation policy effectively secured the new hereditary Stadtholder rule in the Netherlands. In her foreign policy, Anne favored the British alliance with the Emperor before the French, a policy which was not popular in the Netherlands, and her fortification of the southern provinces against the French Netherlands was met with great opposition. Anne continued to act as regent until her death from
dropsy Edema, also spelled oedema, and also known as fluid retention, dropsy, hydropsy and swelling, is the build-up of fluid in the body's tissue. Most commonly, the legs or arms are affected. Symptoms may include skin which feels tight, the area ma ...
in 1759, at The Hague, when she was replaced by her mother-in-law,
Marie Louise of Hesse-Kassel Dutch: ''Maria Louise'' , house =Hesse-Kassel , father =Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel , mother =Princess Maria Amalia of Courland , birth_date = , birth_place =Kassel , death_date ...
, who was assisted by
Duke Louis Ernest of Brunswick-Lüneburg Louis Ernest of Brunswick-Lüneburg-Bevern (25 September 1718, Wolfenbüttel – 12 May 1788, Eisenach) was a field-marshal in the armies of the Holy Roman Empire and the Dutch Republic, the elected Duke of Courland (1741). From 13 November 1750 t ...
. When she too died in 1765, Anne's daughter, Carolina, was made regent until William V reached the age of eighteen in 1766.


Works

The princess took drawing and painting lessons from
Herman van der Mijn Herman van der Mijn, or Heroman van der Myn (1684 in Amsterdam – 1741 in London), was an 18th-century painter from the Northern Netherlands. According to Houbraken he introduced Jan van Nickelen to Jan Frans van Douven. ...
and made a self-portrait in 1740 that is in the collection of the House of Orange-Nassau Historic Collections Trust. She also made a portrait of van der Mijn himself while he was at work making portraits of other family members. Clayton, Ellen Creathorne. '' English female artists, volume 2'' (London, Tinsley brothers, 1876) p. 81 ff. File:Anna van Hannover - Heroman van der Myn.jpg, Portrait of Herman van der Mijn by Anna van Hannover File:Anna van Hannover - self-portrait 1740 - Stichting Historische Verzamelingen van het Huis Oranje-Nassau 15072010-019-470.jpeg, Self-portrait of Anna van Hannover in 1740


Legacy

Princess Anne, Maryland, is named for her.


Arms

On 31 January 1719, as a grandchild of the sovereign, Anne was granted use of the arms of the realm, differenced by a ''label argent of five points, each bearing a cross gules''. On 30 August 1727, as a child of the sovereign, Anne's difference changed to a ''label argent of three points, each bearing a cross gules''.


Issue


Ancestors


References

* Van der Kiste, John (1997) ''George II and Queen Caroline''. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing.


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anne, Princess Royal And Princess Of Orange 1709 births 1759 deaths 18th-century women rulers 18th-century Dutch politicians 18th-century English people 18th-century English women British princesses Princesses Royal Princesses of Orange House of Hanover Dutch princesses Dutch regents Nobility from Hanover Burials in the Royal Crypt at Nieuwe Kerk, Delft German people of Scottish descent Children of George II of Great Britain Daughters of kings