William III and Prince George of Denmark

[Prince_Christopher]

Maybe someone here can help me. I've looked but can't seem to find an answer.

When James II's daughters, Mary and Anne, ruled, Mary's husband William of Orange, her first cousin, was made a joint monarch.  They ruled together as William III and Mary II.  When Mary died and then William, Mary's sister Anne succeeded.  Why was her husband, Prince George of Denmark, not also made a joint-monarch, instead of just a prince consort?

[jehan]

Because William was the next heir after Anne anyways. (His mother was the sister of Charles 11 and James 11)- so he was a cousin of his wife and  closely related to the British royal family.
It was also a political move to have Mary and William claim the crown jointly, and reinforce their claim.  William might not have gone along with it just to put his wife on the throne.

Anne's husband was just an ordinary consort- he had no claim to the throne in his own right.

[ilyala]

i believe i read somewhere that william did not accept to be just a mere consort and that mary didn't want to be queen so she made him king...

and, of course, the fact that he was also a descendant of charles 1st helped

[Prince_Christopher]

Thank you both.

It slipped my mind that William III would have been the next heir.

[jackie3]

I've also read a quote from Mary that she wouldn't accept the crown unless William was made King (with all the power that went with it unlike the Mary I/Phillip of Spain situation).  I think it was from Elizabeth Longford's books on British royalty.

[ilyala]

i read the exact same thing in more than one place

[palatine]

Before he married Mary, William investigated the possibility that he should inherit the English and Scottish thrones ahead of Mary or Anne, due to the low birth of his cousins' mother, Anne Hyde.  He had some reason to believe that his claim on the thrones was better than theirs.

On the Continent at that time, if a prince married a commoner, it was automatically considered to be a morganatic marriage and any children from the match were not permitted to inherit their father's rank or hereditary lands.  The marriage of James, Duke of York and Anne Hyde was shocking to their contemporaries since Anne was recognized as his Duchess.  England had no such thing as morganatic marriages.  This fact was one of the main reasons William decided to marry Mary.

As for George of Denmark, it is true that he had no claim whatsoever on the English or Scottish thrones, which may have been a factor in the decision not to crown him as king, especially since Anne was already in bad health at her coronation.  Another reason was the fact that George was deeply stupid; no one wanted to make him so powerful.  

After George deserted him in 1688, James II said that the loss of a good trooper would have done more harm than losing "est-il possible?", as he nicknamed his son-in-law.

 

[Prince_Lieven]

Thanks palatine. I never knew William would be so unscupulous. Anne, who detested 'that Dutch Monster' would have been horrified at the very idea! Also, the Act of Settlment settled the succession on Anne, Anne's heirs and then any children William would have had with another wife, then the Hanoverians.

I don't think George was stupid, per se. He was a good soldier and an able administrator, but it's true he was very dull.

[ilyala]

charles the 2nd said about george:

'i tried him when he was sober and i tried him when he was drunk, but there's nothing i can do with him'

[Prince_Lieven]

  When George was worried about getting fat Charles said to him 'Walk with me, hunt with my brother and do justice by my niece and you will not be fat.'  

George had asthma, and people joked he had to breathe so loudly because if he didn't people would think he was dead and bury him.  

[palatine]

William brought George along when he went to Ireland to confront James II in 1689 largely to keep him out of trouble.  William had serious doubts about George and Anne's loyalty to the new regime; George was a sort of hostage for Anne's good behavior.  

Over the years, George was active in the House of Lords in support of the war against Louis XIV.  After Anne became Queen, George encouraged Anne to continue fighting the French.  Anne was appalled at the number of casualties and the money being spent, but allowed herself to be persuaded.  George was also a close friend of John Churchill, and supported him as the supreme commander, even as relations between Anne and Sarah Churchill grew colder.

[palatine]

George of Denmark was a first cousin of George I.  William much preferred the Hanoverian George to the Danish George.  Once he realized that his marriage to Mary would be childless, William urged George of Hanover to marry Anne, but he chose to marry Sophia Dorothea of Celle instead.  Oddly enough, George of Denmark was a suitor for Sophia Dorothea's hand before her marriage to his cousin.

[Prince_Lieven]

Thanks palatine, I never noticed that George I and George were cousins.

[Daniela]

Why didn't William III remarry, after Mary died? After all he wasn't that old when he became a widower.
And what would happen if he would have children? After his death who would be next in line to the throne?

Daniela

[bell_the_cat]

Why didn't William III remarry, after Mary died? After all he wasn't that old when he became a widower.
And what would happen if he would have children? After his death who would be next in line to the throne?

Daniela

Hi Daniela! The Bill of Rights 1689 fixed this: Succession should pass to the heirs of Mary, then to Mary's sister Princess Anne of Denmark and her heirs, then to any heirs of William by a later marriage. So after his death Anne would still succeed, followed by William's children by his second wife.

As to why he didn't marry again, this can only be a matter of speculation. Perhaps it didn't seem very urgent at first, as William was only 43 and Anne 30 with a six year old son. After the Duke of Gloucester died in 1700 things looked very different - perhaps it was too late. Like you I find it rather negligent, and perhaps fatalistic of him!

In 1701 the Act of Settlement provided for the (by then likely) extinction of Anne and William's lines, by fixing the succession on the Electress Sophia and her heirs. Nine months later William himself was dead.