George (german: Georg; 12 August 1779 – 6 September 1860) ruled the state of Mecklenburg-Strelitz as Grand Duke of Mecklenburg from 1816 until his death.

Early life

Duke George Frederick Charles Joseph of Mecklenburg was born in

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

, the eighth child of

Charles II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz Charles II (Charles Louis Frederick; 10 October 1741 – 6 November 1816) was ruler of the state of Mecklenburg-Strelitz from 1794 until his death. Originally ruling as duke, he was raised to the rank of grand duke in 1815. Prior to succeeding to ...

, and his first wife Princess Friederike of Hesse-Darmstadt. Following the death of his mother in 1782 his father married her sister

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

two years later in 1784 and the family moved from Hanover to

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the fourth largest city in the state of Hesse ...

. George remained in Darmstadt until 1794, when his father succeeded as the ruling Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and George accompanied his father to

Neustrelitz Neustrelitz (; East Low German: ''Niegenstrelitz'') is a town in the Mecklenburgische Seenplatte district in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is situated on the shore of the Zierker See in the Mecklenburg Lake District. From 17 ...

Heir apparent

Soon after arriving in Neustrelitz, George enrolled at the

University of Rostock The University of Rostock (german: link=no, Universität Rostock) is a public university located in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Founded in 1419, it is the third-oldest university in Germany. It is the oldest university in continen ...

, where he studied until 1799.See entry o
George, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
in

Rostock Matrikelportal The Rostock Matrikelportal (matriculation portal) disseminates about 186,000 individual-level datasets drawn from the student registers of the University of Rostock from its establishment in 1419 to today. Each entry is faithfully transcribed and li ...

After leaving university, George went to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

, where he lived at the Prussian court. George's sister Louise was married to the Prussian king,

Frederick William III Frederick William III (german: Friedrich Wilhelm III.; 3 August 1770 – 7 June 1840) was King of Prussia from 16 November 1797 until his death in 1840. He was concurrently Elector of Brandenburg in the Holy Roman Empire until 6 August 1806, wh ...

. In 1802 he went to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, where he lived until 1804, He then returned to Germany and settled in Darmstadt. Following the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt in 1806, George travelled to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

, where he negotiated the entry of Mecklenburg-Strelitz into the

Confederation of the Rhine The Confederated States of the Rhine, simply known as the Confederation of the Rhine, also known as Napoleonic Germany, was a confederation of German client states established at the behest of Napoleon some months after he defeated Austria a ...

. He also attended the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon ...

in 1814, where Mecklenburg-Strelitz was raised to the status of a

grand duchy A grand duchy is a country or territory whose official head of state or ruler is a monarch bearing the title of grand duke or grand duchess. Relatively rare until the abolition of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the term was often used in th ...

Grand Duke

When George succeeded his father on 6 November 1816, he found the grand duchy in a bad state. He set about raising the standard of education of his subjects by building schools. By the end of his reign, the majority of his subjects could read and write. He also improved agriculture in the grand duchy and abolished

serfdom Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which develop ...

. George died on 6 September 1860 at Neustrelitz and was succeeded by his eldest son Friedrich Wilhelm.

Marriage and children

On 12 August 1817 in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2020 ...

, George married

Princess Marie of Hesse-Cassel Princess Marie of Hesse-Kassel (german: Marie Wilhelmine Friederike von Hessen-Kassel; 21 January 1796 – 30 December 1880) was the consort of George, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Early life Princess Marie of Hesse-Kassel, second dau ...

, the daughter of Prince Frederick of Hesse-Kassel and his wife,

Princess Caroline of Nassau-Usingen , house =Nassau-Usingen , father = Karl Wilhelm, Prince of Nassau-Usingen , mother =Countess Caroline Felizitas of Leiningen-Dagsburg , birth_date = , birth_place = Biebrich, Nassau-Usingen , death_date = , death_place =Rum ...

. Together they had four children: *Duchess Luise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1818–1842) * Frederick William, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1819–1904) married

Princess Augusta of Cambridge Princess Augusta of Cambridge (19 July 1822 – 5 December 1916) was a member of the British royal family, a granddaughter of George III. She married into the Grand Ducal House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and became the Grand Duchess of Mecklenbu ...

* Duchess Caroline of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1821–1876) married

Frederick VII of Denmark Frederick VII (Frederik Carl Christian; 6 October 1808 – 15 November 1863) was King of Denmark from 1848 to 1863. He was the last Danish monarch of the older Royal branch of the House of Oldenburg and the last king of Denmark to rule as ...

Duke Georg August of Mecklenburg-Strelitz , spouse = Grand Duchess Catherine Mikhailovna of Russia , house = House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz , father = George, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz , mother = Princess Marie of Hesse-Kassel , birth_date = , birth_place ...

(1824–1876) married

Grand Duchess Catherine Mikhailovna of Russia Grand Duchess Catherine Mikhailovna of Russia (russian: Великая Княжна Екатерина Михайловна) (28 August 1827 – 12 May 1894), was the third of five daughters of Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich of Russia (youngest son ...

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:George Of Mecklenburg, Grand Duke 1779 births 1860 deaths Protestant monarchs University of Rostock alumni Nobility from Hanover Hereditary Grand Dukes of Mecklenburg-Strelitz