Elizabeth Craven
Encyclopedia
Elizabeth Craven (17 December 1750 – 13 January 1828), Princess Berkeley (though styled "Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach"), previously "Lady Craven
" of Hamstead Marshall
, was an author, playwright, traveller, and socialite
, perhaps best known for her travelogue
s. She was the third child of the 4th Earl of Berkeley
, born near Trafalgar Square
in the English
City of Westminster
s, pantomime
s, and fable
s, many of which were performed in London
to no great acclaim. She knew Samuel Johnson
and James Boswell
, and became a close friend of Horace Walpole, who published her early works which, with later efforts, include:
Very few of her musical compositions survive:
, 6th Baron Craven, (married since 30 May 1767), parted permanently in 1780. Thereafter she lived in France and travelled extensively on the Continent.
For a number of years she maintained a romantic relationship with Alexander, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach and Bayreuth
. His wife since 1754, Princess Friederike of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
, died in Germany on 18 February 1791, and Lady Craven's husband died in Lausanne
on 26 September 1791. The couple then married in Lisbon
on 30 October 1791 and settled in England. While the Margravine
was snubbed by ladies mindful of their reputations, as well as by her latest husband's cousin, King George III
himself, the couple lived a full and opulent life in Hammersmith
, London
, and Benham Park
at Speen
in Berkshire
.
Nonetheless, Elizabeth was never legally entitled to share her husband's German rank and title: on 20 February 1801, she was granted the morganatic
title of "Princess (Fürstin) Berkeley" by the last Holy Roman Emperor
, Francis II
. In fact, Christian Frederick, being the last of his cadet branch
of the House of Hohenzollern
, and childless, had exchanged his hereditary birthright
to the appanage
s of Ansbach
and Bayreuth
for an annuity
of 300,000 guilder
s from his pater familias
, King Frederick William II of Prussia
, a month after his second marriage. In England, however, the couple were usually known as the "Margrave and Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach".
After the Margrave's death at Benham Park in 1806, his widow moved back to the Continent, to Naples
, where she died at Craven Villa in Posillipo
and was buried in 1828 in the English Cemetery
. Her links with the Hammersmith area are commemorated in the name of two roads in the area - Margravine Gardens and Margravine Road.
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Earl of Craven
Earl of Craven, in the County of York, is a title that has been created twice, once in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The first creation came in the Peerage of England in 1664 in favour of the soldier William Craven, the eldest son of Sir William Craven, Lord...
" of Hamstead Marshall
Hamstead Marshall
Hamstead Marshall is a village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire. Although the village name is spelt Hamstead Marshall, the alternative Hampstead Marshall was quite commonly used in the past, and remains the official name of the civil parish...
, was an author, playwright, traveller, and socialite
Socialite
A socialite is a person who participates in social activities and spends a significant amount of time entertaining and being entertained at fashionable upper-class events....
, perhaps best known for her travelogue
Travel literature
Travel literature is travel writing of literary value. Travel literature typically records the experiences of an author touring a place for the pleasure of travel. An individual work is sometimes called a travelogue or itinerary. Travel literature may be cross-cultural or transnational in focus, or...
s. She was the third child of the 4th Earl of Berkeley
Augustus Berkeley, 4th Earl of Berkeley
Lt.-Col. Augustus Berkeley, 4th Earl of Berkeley KT was the son of Vice-Admiral James Berkeley, 3rd Earl of Berkeley and Lady Louisa Lennox....
, born near Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square
Trafalgar Square is a public space and tourist attraction in central London, England, United Kingdom. At its centre is Nelson's Column, which is guarded by four lion statues at its base. There are a number of statues and sculptures in the square, with one plinth displaying changing pieces of...
in the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
City of Westminster
City of Westminster
The City of Westminster is a London borough occupying much of the central area of London, England, including most of the West End. It is located to the west of and adjoining the ancient City of London, directly to the east of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, and its southern boundary...
Works
Early in her literary career she wrote a number of light farceFarce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...
s, pantomime
Pantomime
Pantomime — not to be confused with a mime artist, a theatrical performer of mime—is a musical-comedy theatrical production traditionally found in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, South Africa, India, Ireland, Gibraltar and Malta, and is mostly performed during the...
s, and fable
Fable
A fable is a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects or forces of nature which are anthropomorphized , and that illustrates a moral lesson , which may at the end be expressed explicitly in a pithy maxim.A fable differs from...
s, many of which were performed in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to no great acclaim. She knew Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...
and James Boswell
James Boswell
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck was a lawyer, diarist, and author born in Edinburgh, Scotland; he is best known for the biography he wrote of one of his contemporaries, the English literary figure Samuel Johnson....
, and became a close friend of Horace Walpole, who published her early works which, with later efforts, include:
- The Sleep-Walker (trans. of Pont de Vile's comedy La somnambule, 1778)
- Modern Anecdotes of the Ancient Family of the Kinkvervankotsdarsprakengotchderns (satire, 1779)
- The Miniature Picture (play, 1781)
- A Journey through the Crimea to Constantinople (travel writing, 1789)
- The Georgian Princess (produced 1798; published 1799). Ed. with an introduction by John Franceschina. British Women Playwrights around 1800. 15 January 2001.
- Letters from the Right Honorable Lady Craven, to his serene highness the margrave of Anspach, during her travels through France, Germany, and Russia in 1785 and 1786 (travel writing, 1814)
- Memoirs (1826)
Very few of her musical compositions survive:
- O Mistress Mine (musical arrangement, about 1875)
- The Princess of Georgia (opera, 1799)
Personal life
Her life was full of scandal: after thirteen years of marriage, six children, and affairs reported on both sides, she and her first husband, William CravenWilliam Craven, 6th Baron Craven
William Craven, 6th Baron Craven was an English nobleman.He was the son of Rev John Craven of Staunton Lacy in Shropshire and succeeded his uncle, William Craven, as Baron Craven in 1769...
, 6th Baron Craven, (married since 30 May 1767), parted permanently in 1780. Thereafter she lived in France and travelled extensively on the Continent.
For a number of years she maintained a romantic relationship with Alexander, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach and Bayreuth
Christian Frederick Charles Alexander, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach
Christian Frederick Charles Alexander was the last Margrave of the two Franconian principalities Brandenburg-Ansbach and Brandenburg-Bayreuth, which he sold to the King of Prussia, a fellow member of the House of Hohenzollern.-Life:His parents were Charles William...
. His wife since 1754, Princess Friederike of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
The Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld was one of the Saxon Duchies held by the Ernestine line of the Wettin Dynasty. Established in the 17th century, the Saxe-Coburg-Saalfield line lasted until the reshuffle of Ernestine territories that occurred following the extinction of the Saxe-Gotha line in...
, died in Germany on 18 February 1791, and Lady Craven's husband died in Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
on 26 September 1791. The couple then married in Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
on 30 October 1791 and settled in England. While the Margravine
Margrave
A margrave or margravine was a medieval hereditary nobleman with military responsibilities in a border province of a kingdom. Border provinces usually had more exposure to military incursions from the outside, compared to interior provinces, and thus a margrave usually had larger and more active...
was snubbed by ladies mindful of their reputations, as well as by her latest husband's cousin, King George III
George III of the United Kingdom
George III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...
himself, the couple lived a full and opulent life in Hammersmith
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is an urban centre in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London, England, in the United Kingdom, approximately five miles west of Charing Cross on the north bank of the River Thames...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, and Benham Park
Benham Park
Benham Park is a mansion in the English county of Berkshire, within the civil parish of Speen. It is located west of Newbury, not far off the A34, near the village of Marsh Benham....
at Speen
Speen, Berkshire
Speen is a village and civil parish in the unitary district of West Berkshire and county of Berkshire, England. The parish is about north west of Newbury....
in Berkshire
Berkshire
Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
.
Nonetheless, Elizabeth was never legally entitled to share her husband's German rank and title: on 20 February 1801, she was granted the morganatic
Morganatic marriage
In the context of European royalty, a morganatic marriage is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which prevents the passage of the husband's titles and privileges to the wife and any children born of the marriage...
title of "Princess (Fürstin) Berkeley" by the last Holy Roman Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
, Francis II
Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor
Francis II was the last Holy Roman Emperor, ruling from 1792 until 6 August 1806, when he dissolved the Empire after the disastrous defeat of the Third Coalition by Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz...
. In fact, Christian Frederick, being the last of his cadet branch
Cadet branch
Cadet branch is a term in genealogy to describe the lineage of the descendants of the younger sons of a monarch or patriarch. In the ruling dynasties and noble families of much of Europe and Asia, the family's major assets – titles, realms, fiefs, property and income – have...
of the House of Hohenzollern
House of Hohenzollern
The House of Hohenzollern is a noble family and royal dynasty of electors, kings and emperors of Prussia, Germany and Romania. It originated in the area around the town of Hechingen in Swabia during the 11th century. They took their name from their ancestral home, the Burg Hohenzollern castle near...
, and childless, had exchanged his hereditary birthright
Inheritance
Inheritance is the practice of passing on property, titles, debts, rights and obligations upon the death of an individual. It has long played an important role in human societies...
to the appanage
Appanage
An apanage or appanage or is the grant of an estate, titles, offices, or other things of value to the younger male children of a sovereign, who would otherwise have no inheritance under the system of primogeniture...
s of Ansbach
Principality of Ansbach
The Principality of Ansbach or Brandenburg-Ansbach was a reichsfrei principality in the Holy Roman Empire centered on the Bavarian city of Ansbach...
and Bayreuth
Principality of Bayreuth
The Principality of Bayreuth or Brandenburg-Bayreuth was a reichsfrei principality in the Holy Roman Empire centered on the Bavarian city of Bayreuth. Until 1604 its capital city was Kulmbach; then the margraves used their palaces in Bayreuth as their residence...
for an annuity
Life annuity
A life annuity is a financial contract in the form of an insurance product according to which a seller — typically a financial institution such as a life insurance company — makes a series of future payments to a buyer in exchange for the immediate payment of a lump sum or a series...
of 300,000 guilder
Guilder
Guilder is the English translation of the Dutch gulden — from Old Dutch for 'golden'. The guilder originated as a gold coin but has been a common name for a silver or base metal coin for some centuries...
s from his pater familias
Pater familias
The pater familias, also written as paterfamilias was the head of a Roman family. The term is Latin for "father of the family" or the "owner of the family estate". The form is irregular and archaic in Latin, preserving the old genitive ending in -as...
, King Frederick William II of Prussia
Frederick William II of Prussia
Frederick William II was the King of Prussia, reigning from 1786 until his death. He was in personal union the Prince-Elector of Brandenburg and the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel.-Early life:...
, a month after his second marriage. In England, however, the couple were usually known as the "Margrave and Margravine of Brandenburg-Ansbach".
After the Margrave's death at Benham Park in 1806, his widow moved back to the Continent, to Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, where she died at Craven Villa in Posillipo
Posillipo
Posillipo is a residential quarter of Naples, southern Italy, located along the northern coast of the Gulf of Naples; it is called Pusilleco in the Neapolitan language.-Geography:...
and was buried in 1828 in the English Cemetery
English Cemetery, Naples
The English Cemetery, Il Cimitero degli Inglesi, or more correctly, Il Cimitero acattolico di Santa Maria delle Fede, is located near Piazza Garibaldi, Naples, Italy...
. Her links with the Hammersmith area are commemorated in the name of two roads in the area - Margravine Gardens and Margravine Road.
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