

From / His Majesty / GEORGE IV. / King of the United Kingdom / OF / GREAT BRITAIN & IRELAND / TO / FIELD MARSHAL/ His Royal Highnefs / WILLIAM FREDERICK / Duke of Gloucester / k.g. / 1821, weight 366g all in, small repair to St George’s arm and lance replaced, extremely fine condition
His widow Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester (1776-1857) became the last-surviving and longest-lived of the children of George III, and is believed to have become the only one to be photographed. Having no children of her own she and her nephew George, 2nd Duke of Cambridge became extremely close and were deeply fond of one another, as the Duke’s personal diaries clearly demonstrate. The Duchess bequeathed to him her home, Gloucester House, as well as many of her possessions, and whether George was given the baton by his aunt during her lifetime or whether he inherited it, it has formed part of the Cambridge Collection ever since George’s death in 1904. The whereabouts of his own baton, however, which was presumably presented to him following his appointment as Field Marshal on 9 November 1862, are unknown (as mentioned above; see also the preceding lot).