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Duke of Cambridge, Edgar Atheling, Edgar of Scotland, Edgar Stuart, Edgar the Peaceful, King James II-VII of England and Scotland, Lady Anne Hyde
Edgar Stuart, Duke of Cambridge (September 14, 1667 – June 1671) was the fourth son of James, Duke of York (later James II-VII of England) and his first wife Anne Hyde. He was second in the line of succession to the English and Scottish thrones.
James II and VII (October 14, 1633O.S. – September 16, 1701) was King of England and Ireland as James II and King of Scotland as James VII.
James II-VII, King of England, Scotland and Ireland
In 1629, Edward Hyde married his first wife, Anne Ayliffe of Grittenham. Six months into the marriage Anne caught smallpox, miscarried and died. Three years later, Hyde married Frances Aylesbury. In 1637, Anne, the couple’s eldest daughter, was born at Cranbourne Lodge in Windsor. Almost nothing except that she was named after Edward Hyde’s first wife is known of her life before 1649, when her family fled to the Netherlands after the execution of the deposed King Charles I.
Lady Anne Hyde
Edgar was born on 14 September 1667 at St James’s Palace and baptized there with the Duke of Albemarle, the Marquis of Worcester, and the Countess of Suffolk as sponsors. The name “Edgar” had ancient roots in both the English (Edgar the Peaceful, King of the English, c. 943-975) and Scottish (Edgar, King of Scotland c. 1074-1107) monarchies. Continuing with the reference of the name Edgar: Edgar, King of Scotland was the son of King Malcolm III of Scotland and Margaret of Wessex. Margaret of Wessex was the daughter of the English prince Edward the Exile, and granddaughter of Edmund Ironside, King of the English, and sister of the sister of Edgar Ætheling, the uncrowned Anglo-Saxon claimant on the throne of England after the death of Harold II when William II of Normandy conquered England in 1066.
On October 7, 1667 Edgar was created Duke and Earl of Cambridge and Baron of Dauntsey. His elder brother Charles had died at the age of six months in 1661 before the patent for the title of Duke of Cambridge was passed and another brother, James was formally created Duke of Cambridge before his death in 1667 at the age of three. Edgar’s titles became extinct until the birth of another son, also named Charles, in 1677.
James and Anne
His mother was ill for months following his birth and never fully recovered, though she gave birth twice more to daughters who died before their first birthdays; Anne, Duchess of York, died on March 13, 1671. Edgar died at Richmond Palace on June 8, 1671 and was entombed in the royal vault in the Henry VII Chapel in Westminster Abbey on June 12, 1671, his coffin placed atop that of his mother.
European Royal History 