GEORGE (AUGUSTUS) IL, King of Great Britain, the only son of George L and his queen Sophia Dorothea, was born at Hanover, October 30,1633. On the 22nd of August 1705 he married Wilhelmina Caroline, daughter of John Frederick, margravo of Brandenburg Anspach. On the 9th of November 1706 he was created a British peer by the title of Duke of Cambridge; but he never received a writ of summons to the House of Lords, nor indeed did he visit England till his father succeeded to the throne. The project that was at one time entertained of bringing him over has been noticed in the preceding article. In the war with France he served with his father in the army of the allies, and distinguished himself at tho battle of Oudenarde, gained 11th of July 1708 by the Duke of Marlborough over the French forces commanded by the Duke of Burgundy.
On the death of Queen Anne he accompanied his father to England, and was declared Prince of Wales at the first privy council held by George L, 22nd of September 1714. The heir-apparent was immedi ately seized upon as an instrument of political intrigue. In the debates on the civil list in May 1715, one of the propositions of the Tories was to settle an independent revenue of 100,000/. per annum on the Prince of Wales, but the motion to that effect was negatived in the House of Commons by a great majority. The same sum however was allowed to the prince by the king out of the income of 700,0001. voted to his majesty by parliament. On the 5th of May 1715 the prince received the appointment of Captain-General of the Artillery Company, and on the 6th of July 1716 he was constituted guardian of the realm and lieutenant of the king during the king'. absence in Hanover. While thus left to administer the government, he was present on the 6th of December at Drury Lane Theatre, when a lunatic of the name of Freeman, • man of property in Surrey, suddenly rushed towards the box where he was, fired at the sentinel who endeavoured to stop him, and severely wounded him in the shoulder, and was not secured without great difficulty, when three other loaded pistols were found about his person. In the general confusion and alarm the prince is said to have shown perfect presence of mind and self-possession. A
quarrel between the -king and the prince broke out on the 28th of November 1717, on occasion of the baptism of a son of which the l'rincess of Wales had been delivered on the 3rd of that month : tho immediate cause of tho rupture was the displeasnro expressed by the prince at the Duke of Newcastle standing godfather with the king, instead of the king's brother, the Duke of York, whom he wished to have been appointed. The prince, as soon as the baptismal ceremony was over, addressed some very strong language to the duke; and the king, incensed at this public want of respect to himself, ordered the prince to keep his own apartment till his pleasure should be further known. Soon after the princo was desired to quit St. James's, on which his royal highness and the princess went to the house of the Earl of Grantham in Albemarle-street. The children however, by the king's order, remained at St. James's; and shortly after the judges being consulted, decided, by a majority of ten to two, that the care of the education of the royal family belonged of right to the king. (See an account of the proceedings in Hargrave's State Triale, xi. 295-302.) At this time the family of the Prince of Wales consisted of a son, Frederick Lewis, born in 1707, and three princesses, Anne, born 1709, Amelia, born 1711, and Caroline, born 1713, besides the infant prince. George William, who died in the beginning of the following year. On the 24th of December his majesty's pleasure was formally signified to all the peers and peeresses, and to all priv,y-couticillors and their wives, that all persons who should go to see the Prince and Princess of Wales should forbear coming into his majesty's presence ; such persons also as had employments both under the king and prince were obliged to quit the service of one of them. The prince, on his part, took up his residence in Leicester-House, where he kept his own court, and lived in open resistance to his father. The king formed a house hold for the young princesses, and on the 10th of January 1718 he created his grandson, Prince Frederick Lewis, duke of Gloucester.