Augustus d'Este

Family and career

D'Este was the son of Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, and Lady Augusta Murray, and a grandson of King George III. His parents were secretly married on 4 April 1793, in a Church of England ceremony in Rome at the Hotel Sarmiento, and later married again on 5 December 1793 at St George's, Hanover Square, Westminster, using their correct names but without revealing their identities. Both marriages were in defiance of the Royal Marriages Act 1772 and were thus legally null and void, at least in English law. After the birth of their first child, the marriage was discovered by the King and formally annulled, making their son illegitimate in Great Britain. Christened "Augustus Frederick", he was briefly given the surname of "Hanover", but later took the name of d'Este. He attended Harrow School.

He was commissioned into the Army as a lieutenant in the 7th Regiment of Foot in 1811. He was promoted to be captain of a company in the York Chasseurs in 1815, shortly afterwards transferring to the 12th Regiment of Foot, and then to the captaincy of a troop in the 9th Regiment of Light Dragoons in 1817. In 1822 he purchased the rank of major in the 11th Regiment of Foot, exchanging into the 4th Regiment of Dragoon Guards later that year. He was promoted by purchase to lieutenant-colonel on the unattached list in 1824, and granted the brevet rank of colonel in 1838. In 1830 the new king William IV appointed him a knight commander in the civil division of the Hanoverian Guelphic Order and a British knight bachelor. He was also granted a civil list pension and made deputy ranger of St James's Park and Hyde Park.

An active member of the Aborigines Protection Society particularly interested in Native Americans, d'Este gave considerable assistance to Peter Jones, the Mississauga missionary and leader, who argued for Native Americans to have title to their lands in Upper Canada.

When his father died in 1843, Sir Augustus d'Este attempted to claim his dukedom of Sussex and other peerages, but the House of Lords decided against his claim, as the prince's marriage had been null and void. and, therefore, even if he had succeeded to his father's titles, they would have become extinct on his own death.

With the encouragement of his father, D'Este courted his cousin Princess Charlotte of Wales, but she found his constant attentions a nuisance and asked her uncle to persuade his son to stop pursuing her.

After being rejected by Charlotte, D'Este expressed an interest in Princess Feodora of Leiningen, the step-daughter of his uncle the Duke of Kent. While Feodora did not have a great personal fortune, her relation to Victoria, the British heir presumptive, made her an eligible match. D'Este first proposed to her on the 2 December 1825 while Feodora was on a visit to Coburg to her grandparents. His proposal was rejected by Feodora, but he continued his attempts to court her by sending letters and even gave her a gold ring. Feodora again rejected his suit and declined the ring.

Illness

Augustus d'Este is the earliest recorded person for whom a definite diagnosis of multiple sclerosis can be made.{{Cite journal

Ancestry

References

References

1. {{London Gazette. (28 September – 1 October 1811)
2. {{London Gazette. (28 March 1815)
3. {{London Gazette. (15 July 1815)
4. {{London Gazette. (6 May 1817)
5. {{London Gazette. (20 July 1822)
6. {{London Gazette. (23 November 1822)
7. {{London Gazette. (10 July 1824)
8. {{London Gazette. (3 July 1838)
9. William A. Shaw, ''The Knights of England'' (London, 1906) [https://archive.org/details/knightsofengland01shawuoft/knightsofengland01shawuoft/page/456/mode/1up vol. I, p. 456].
10. William A. Shaw, ''The Knights of England'' (London, 1906) [https://archive.org/details/knightsofengland02shawuoft/knightsofengland02shawuoft/page/329/mode/1up vol. II, p. 329].
11. Reynolds, K. D.. (2004). "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography". Oxford University Press.
12. (2015-09-18). "'My case': Sir Augustus Frederick d'Esté". Royal College of Physicians website.
13. Williams, Kate. (2013-05-31). "Becoming Queen". Random House.
14. Smith, Julia Abel. (2020-02-03). "Forbidden Wife: The Life and Trials of Lady Augusta Murray". The History Press.
15. Compston, Alastair. (2005). "McAlpine's Multiple Sclerosis". Churchill Livingstone.
16. Landtblom, Anne-Marie. (Feb 2010). "The first case history of multiple sclerosis: Augustus d'Este (1794–1848)". Neurol. Sci..
17. Firth, D. (1948). "The Case of August d'Esté". Cambridge University Press.