Prince Octavius | |
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1783 portrait of Prince Octavius by royal painter Benjamin West
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Born |
Buckingham House, London, England |
23 February 1779
Died | 3 May 1783 Kew Palace, Kew, England |
(aged 4)
Burial | 11 February 1820 St. George's Chapel, Windsor, England |
House | Hanover |
Father | George III |
Mother | Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz |
The Prince Octavius (23 February 1779 – 3 May 1783) was the 13th child and 8th son of King George III and his queen consort Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Six months after the death of his brother Prince Alfred, Octavius was inoculated with the smallpox virus. Several days later, he became ill. His subsequent death at the age of four devastated his parents, and in particular his father. George bemoaned the death of his son, of whom he was exceedingly fond; the king's later bouts of madness would involve hallucinations of his young son.
Prince Octavius was born on 23 February 1779, at Buckingham House, London, England. He was the thirteenth child and eighth son of King George III and his queen consort Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The prince's name derives from Latin octavus, the eighth, indicating that he was the eighth son of his parents.
Octavius was christened on 23 March 1779, in the Great Council Chamber at St James's Palace, by Frederick Cornwallis, The Archbishop of Canterbury. His godparents were The Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (husband of his first cousin twice-removed, for whom The Earl of Hertford, Lord Chamberlain, stood proxy); The Duke of Mecklenburg (his first cousin once-removed, for whom The Earl of Ashburnham, Groom of the Stole, stood proxy); and The Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (wife of his sixth cousin, for whom Alicia Wyndham, Countess of Egremont and Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Charlotte, was proxy).