Portrait of Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh

Birthday profile

Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh

Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh (died 1857)

Born
April 25, 1776
Died
April 30, 1857
Zodiac sign
Taurus
Birth year
1776

About Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh

Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh (25 April 1776 – 30 April 1857) was the eleventh child and fourth daughter of King George III and his consort Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. She married her first cousin, Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, when both were 40, and was his widow in later life. In her last years, her niece Queen Victoria was on the throne as the fourth monarch during Mary's life, after her father and two of her brothers, George IV and William IV. Dying aged 81 at Gloucester House, Weymouth, Mary was the longest-lived and last survivor of George III's fifteen children (thirteen of whom lived to adulthood). == Early life and family == Mary was born on 25 April 1776, at Buckingham Palace, London. Her father was the reigning British monarch, George III. Her mother was Queen Charlotte, the daughter of Charles, reigning Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Mary was baptised on 19 May 1776, in the Great Council Chamber at St. James's Palace, by Frederick Cornwallis, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Her godparents were: Landgrave Frederick of Hesse-Cassel (her first cousin once-removed, for whom the Earl of Hertford, Lord Chamberlain stood proxy) The Duchess of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (wife of her first cousin once-removed, for whom the Duchess of Argyll, Lady of the Bedchamber to the Queen, was proxy) Princess Charles of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (her third cousin once-removed, for whom the Dowager Countess of Effingham, Lady of the Bedchamber to the Queen, stood proxy). The king was a devoted father, finding time to regularly visit the royal nursery. Engaging in active play with his young children, he behaved quite informally in contrast to the dignified Queen Charlotte, who had more difficulty abandoning the formal behaviour expected of their class.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

The world when Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh was born

Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh was born in 1776. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1776

  • Best-selling bookCommon Sense by Thomas Paine

Headlines and milestones

  • Top headlineAmerican Declaration of Independence signed
  • Technology milestoneJames Watt installs first commercial steam engine
  • World population~770M

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderContinental Congress (no president yet)
  • U.S. population2.5M

1776 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure17762026
Population2.5M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, Library of Congress, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.