Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn

The Prince began his military training in the Electorate of Hanover in 1785. King George III intended to send him to the University of Göttingen, but decided against it upon the advice of the Duke of York. Instead, Edward went to Lüneburg and later Hanover, accompanied by his German tutor, Baron Wangenheim. On 30 May 1786, he was appointed a brevet colonel in the British Army.[8] From 1788 to 1789, he completed his education in Geneva.[7] On 5 August 1789, aged 22, he became a mason in L'Union, the most important Genevan masonic lodge in the 19th century.[9]

In 1789, he was appointed colonel of the 7th Regiment of Foot (Royal Fusiliers). In 1790, he returned home without leave and, in disgrace, was sent off to Gibraltar as an ordinary officer. He was joined from Marseilles by Madame de Saint-Laurent.[7]

Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, Commander-in-Chief, North America, 1791–1802

Due to the extreme Mediterranean heat, Edward requested to be transferred to present-day Canada, specifically Quebec, in 1791.[10] Edward arrived in Canada in time to witness the proclamation of the Constitutional Act of 1791, become the first member of the Royal Family to tour Upper Canada and became a fixture of British North American society. Edward and his mistress, Julie St. Laurent, became close friends with the French Canadian family of Ignace-Michel-Louis-Antoine d'Irumberry de Salaberry; the Prince mentored all of the family's sons throughout their military careers. Edward guided Charles de Salaberry throughout his career, and made sure that the famous commander was duly honoured after his leadership during the Battle of Chateauguay.

The prince was promoted to the rank of major-general in October 1793.[11] He served successfully in the West Indies campaign the following year, and was commander of the British camp at La Coste during the Battle of Martinique, for which he was mentioned in dispatches by General Charles Grey for his "great Spirit and Activity."[12] He subsequently received the thanks of Parliament.

After 1794, Prince Edward lived at the headquarters of the Royal Navy's North American Station located in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He was instrumental in shaping that settlement's military defences, protecting its important Royal Navy base, as well as influencing the city's and colony's socio-political and economic institutions. Edward was responsible for the construction of Halifax's iconic Garrison Clock, as well as numerous other civic projects such as St. George's Round Church. Lieutenant Governor Sir John Wentworth and Lady Francis Wentworth provided their country residence for the use of Prince Edward and Julie St. Laurent. Extensively renovated, the estate became known as "Prince's Lodge" as the couple hosted numerous dignitaries, including Louis-Phillippe of Orléans (the future King of the French). All that remains of the residence is a small rotunda built by Edward for his regimental band to play music.

After suffering a fall from his horse in late 1798, he was allowed to return to England.[7] On 24 April 1799,[2] Prince Edward was created Duke of Kent and Strathearn and Earl of Dublin, received the thanks of parliament and an income of £12,000 (£1.25 million in 2021).[13] In May that same year, the Duke was promoted to the rank of general and appointed Commander-in-Chief of British forces in North America.[7] He took leave of his parents 22 July 1799[14] and sailed to Halifax. Just over twelve months later he left Halifax[15] and arrived in England on 31 August 1800 where it was confidently expected his next appointment would be Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.[note 1]

The Duke of Kent and Strathearn by George Dawe

Appointed Governor of Gibraltar by the War Office, gazetted 23 March 1802,[16] the Duke took up his post on 24 May 1802 with express orders from the government to restore discipline among the drunken troops. The Duke's harsh discipline precipitated a mutiny by soldiers in his own and the 25th Regiment on Christmas Eve 1802. His brother Frederick, the Duke of York, then Commander-in-Chief of the Forces, recalled him in May 1803 after receiving reports of the mutiny, but despite this direct order he refused to return to England until his successor arrived. He was refused permission to return to Gibraltar for an inquiry and, although allowed to continue to hold the governorship of Gibraltar until his death, he was forbidden to return.[7]

As a consolation for the end of his active military career at age 35, he was promoted to the rank of field marshal[4] and appointed Ranger of Hampton Court Park on 5 September 1805.[17] This office provided him with a residence now known as The Pavilion. (His sailor brother, William, with children to provide for, had been made Ranger of Bushy Park in 1797.) The Duke continued to serve as honorary colonel of the 1st Regiment of Foot (the Royal Scots) until his death.[7]

Though it was a tendency shared to some extent with his brothers, the Duke's excesses as a military disciplinarian may have been due less to natural disposition and more to what he had learned from his tutor Baron Wangenheim. Certainly Wangenheim, by keeping his allowance very small, accustomed Edward to borrowing at an early age. The Duke applied the same military discipline to his own duties that he demanded of others. Though it seems inconsistent with his unpopularity among the army's rank and file, his friendliness toward others and popularity with servants has been emphasized. He also introduced the first regimental school. The Duke of Wellington considered him a first-class speaker. He took a continuing interest in the social experiments of Robert Owen, voted for Catholic emancipation, and supported literary, Bible, and abolitionist societies.[7]

His daughter, Victoria, after hearing Lord Melbourne's opinions, was able to add to her private journal of 1 August 1838 "from all what I heard, he was the best of all".[7]

Following the death of Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales in November 1817, the only legitimate grandchild of George III at the time, the royal succession began to look uncertain. The Prince Regent (later King George IV) and his younger brother Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, though married, were estranged from their wives and had no surviving legitimate children. The king's surviving daughters were all childless and past likely childbearing age. The King's unmarried sons, William, Duke of Clarence (later King William IV), Edward the Duke of Kent, and Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, all rushed to contract lawful marriages and provide an heir to the throne. The King's fifth son, Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, was already married but had no living children at that time, whilst the marriage of the sixth son, Augustus, Duke of Sussex, was void because he had married in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act 1772.

For his part the Duke of Kent, aged 50, was already considering marriage, and he became engaged to Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld,[7] who had been the sister-in-law of his now-deceased niece Princess Charlotte. They were married on 29 May 1818 at Schloss Ehrenburg, Coburg, in a Lutheran rite, and again on 11 July 1818 at Kew Palace, Kew, Surrey.[7]

Princess Victoria was the daughter of Francis, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, and the sister of Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, husband of the recently deceased Princess Charlotte. She was a widow: her first husband had been Emich Carl, 2nd Prince of Leiningen, with whom she had had two children: a son, Carl, 3rd Prince of Leiningen, and a daughter, Princess Feodora of Leiningen.

They had one child, Princess Alexandrina Victoria of Kent, who became Queen Victoria on 20 June 1837. He was 51 years old at the time of her birth. The Duke took great pride in his daughter, telling his friends to look at her well, for she would be Queen of the United Kingdom.[7]

Madame de Saint-Laurent, a mistress of Prince Edward

Various sources report that the Duke of Kent had mistresses. In Geneva, he had two mistresses, Adelaide Dubus and Anne Moré. Dubus died at the birth of her daughter Adelaide Dubus (1789 – in or after 1832). Anne Gabrielle Alexandrine Moré was the mother of Edward Schenker Scheener (1789–1853). Brought up in Geneva as the ostensible son of Thimothée Schencker, his father promised to find him a post in the UK civil service and in 1809 he was appointed a clerk in the Foreign Office, being retired with a pension in 1826. When his half-sister Victoria became Queen in 1837, with his English wife Harriet Boyn (1781-1852) he returned to Geneva, where he died in 1853. He had no children.[18]

In 1790, while still in Geneva, the Duke took up with "Madame de Saint-Laurent" (born Thérèse-Bernardine Montgenet), the wife of a French colonel. She went with him to Canada in 1791, where she was known as "Julie de Saint-Laurent". She accompanied the Duke for the next 28 years, until his marriage in 1818.[7] The portrait of the Duke by Beechey was hers.[19]

Mollie Gillen, who was granted access to the Royal Archive at Windsor Castle,[20] established that no children were born of the 27-year relationship between Edward Augustus and Madame de Saint-Laurent; although many Canadian families and individuals (including the Nova Scotian soldier Sir William Fenwick Williams, 1st Baronet),[21] have claimed descent from them. Such claims can now be discounted in light of this research.[7]

The Duke of Kent died of pneumonia on 23 January 1820 at Woolbrook Cottage, Sidmouth,[7] and was interred in St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.[7] He died six days before his father, George III, and less than a year after his daughter's birth.

He predeceased his father and his three elder brothers but, as none of his elder brothers had any surviving legitimate children, his daughter Victoria succeeded to the throne on the death of her uncle King William IV in 1837, and ruled until 1901.

In 1829 the Duke's former aide-de-camp purchased the unoccupied Castle Hill Lodge from the Duchess in an attempt to reduce her debts;[24] the debts were finally discharged after Victoria took the throne and paid them over time from her income.

• 2 November 1767 – 24 April 1799: His Royal Highness The Prince Edward
• 24 April 1799 – 23 January 1820: His Royal Highness The Duke of Kent and Strathearn

• Knight Founder of St. Patrick, 11 March 1783[26]
• Royal Knight of the Garter, 2 June 1786[27]
• Privy Councilor of the United Kingdom, 5 September 1799
• Knight Grand Cross of the Bath (military), 2 January 1815[28]
• Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order (military), 12 April 1815[29]

As a son of the sovereign, the Duke of Kent had use of the arms of the kingdom from 1801 to his death, differenced by a label argent of three points, the centre point bearing a cross gules, the outer points each bearing a fleur-de-lys azure.[30]