Published in Windlesora 32 (2016)
© WLHG 2016
Princess Elizabeth was born on 22 May 1770 at Buckingham House, the 3rd daughter and 7th child of George III and his Queen, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Elizabeth with her sisters Charlotte, Augusta, Mary, Sophia and Amelia led a very sheltered and restricted upbringing. They called it ‘the Nunnery; George III did not wish his daughters to marry. Charlotte the eldest was allowed to wed at the age of 31 in 1797, Although the Royal Princesses received an annual income of £13,000, it did not buy them any freedom.
Elizabeth, artistic and talented, was desperate to have her own household but all suitors were turned away. In 1808 she bought the Garden House at the Priory in Old Windsor, a converted cow-shed, that became Elizabeth’s favourite residence.*1 It was demolished in 1873. According to Stuart*2, Elizabeth borrowed £4,000 from her brother George, the Prince of Wales, in March 1809, although there is no mention of why she wanted the money, nor what she did with it. Perhaps it was to furnish her cottage. In August 1810 she wrote to Prince George:
Whenever it pleases God to grant me a chez moi I will certainly have un bon table in hopes of Your being one at the board, where You are sure of being the most agreeable Guest…*3
This she was soon able to do as by 1812 she had bought the lease of the Priory*4 where she could entertain on a grand scale and both buildings were fitted out to her own designs. The Windsor and Eton Express reported that Princess Elizabeth gave a dinner at her cottage for members of the royal family to which was also invited Colonel Disbrowe, who was standing for MP of Windsor that year.
Her lavish dinners and splendid entertainments were regularly reported in the local paper. The decor was always praised and admired. In September 1816 Princess Elizabeth gave a splendid fete at her ‘elegant cottage’ for the Queen, the Royal family,
From T E Harwood, Windsor old & New page 334. neighbouring nobility, and gentry. The ball-room ‘was formed of the beautiful tent of Tippoo Saib, elegantly decorated with artificial flowers’. There were ‘variegated lamps’ suspended from the roof, ‘brilliant mirrors placed on the walls surrounded by evergreens and flowers, and vines loaded with the finest fruit’, and the Royal Horse Guards band played until midnight.*6 The following year she hosted an equally lavish ball for the Russian ambassador, attended by the royal family and local nobility.*7 This was probably her last grand entertainment at Old Windsor.
Although it is said that she loved her cottage and that it was her favourite retreat, it is questionable how often she was able to live there. The weekly reports on the royal family have her constantly in attendance to her mother in London, Bath, or visiting grand houses and relatives, only occasionally is there a mention that she has ‘taken an airing’ to her ‘romantic’ cottage, and then mostly with a member of her family. Elizabeth did involve herself in charitable works in Old Windsor, establishing a girls’ school which the newspaper reported that the Queen and Princesses visited.
… her Royal Highness’s Female School of Industry in Old Windsor an establishment which, by the benevolence of her Royal Highness has materially contributed to the happiness and morals of the neighbouring children.*8
Elizabeth lost no time getting the family involved, possibly looking for their financial help. In May 1813 the weekly report on the royal family included this article:
The children of the School of industry established at Old Windsor, under the patronage of Princess Elizabeth dined at Clay-Hall, which has been lately most elegantly fitted up by Her Royal Highness. The Queen and Princesses, with several of the Royal Dukes, were present to partake the happiness which they had bestowed.*9
She also took and interest in the welfare of the poor of Old Windsor in July 1817 the Queen and princesses visited Princess Elizabeth’s cottage to view Messrs Hill & Bundy’s machinery for preparing hemp and flax, which should ‘afford much employment to the Poor’.*10 In December she went with her sister Augusta to visit the winter employment for the parish poor established at Princess Elizabeth’s Clay Farm at old Windsor a factory for spinning flax in Old Windsor set up by their direction. It employed 40 poor men women and children, who would otherwise have required parochial assistance.*11 The following year the parishes of New Windsor and Clewer followed Princess Elizabeth’s example to provide wok with for their own unemployed poor.*12
Finally in 1818 Elizabeth manage to escape the restrictions of the British Court, Against her mother’s wishes, she married the German Prince Frederick of Hesse-Homburg. In March she gave up the lease of Clay Farm, but she intended to keep up her charitable causes and have the Royal School remain under her direction. She left England in April 1818, promising to return once a year. It was not until April 1831, after the death of her husband, that she managed to keep her promise. She died in 1840 and was long remembered for her charitable works and artistic flair in her adopted country.
Dr Brigitte Mitchell
References
- ET Harwood Windsor Old and New, 1929
- Dorothy M Stuart Daughters of George III, 1939
- ibid
- Harwood
- Windsor and Eton Express (WEE) 29 August 1812
- WEE 15 September 1816
- WEE 3 Aug 1817
- WEE 27 September 1812
- WEE 23 May 1813
- WEE 27 July 1817
- WEE 21 December 1817
- WEE 11 January 1818
Windsor Local History Group 