Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, predates Prince William by more than a century. Born in Hanover 26 March 1819, he was both Queen Victoria’s cousin and grandson of George III. He was a stalwart of colonial battles, including Inkerman and Balaclava, and rose to the position of Field Marshal in 1862. His private life too proved itself quite as raucous. When he died in March 1904, his fifty-seven year marriage to the actress Sarah Fairbrother since 1847 was declared null and void. Their liaison had not been approved by the young Queen, in line with the Royal Marriages Act (1772), with his children subsequently denied inheriting his title. Nonetheless, throughout his marriage he had kept at least one mistress, the actress and so-called love of his life Louisa Beauclerk, near whom both he and his wife were interred in Kensal Green cemetery after their Earth-bound days had ended. A presence to the last, the Duke’s mounted equestrian statue still adorns Whitehall in London - lest he be forgotten. So fast forward to 2011 when the Late Queen Elizabeth II at last resurrected the dukedom for her grandson, the present Prince of Wales, making the present Prince William the first Duke of Cambridge in 107 years. A noble title indeed.
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