House of Schomberg

House of Schomberg
Schönberg
House of Schomberg; Schönberg
Parent house	Schönburg auf Wesel
Country	United Kingdom
Place of origin	Rhineland
Founded	1672
Founder	Frederick Schomberg, 1st Duke of Schomberg
Titles	King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain; Duke of Schomberg ; Duke of Leinster ; Marquess of Harwich ; Earl of Brentford ; Earl of Bangor ; Baron Teyes ; Count of Mertola

The House of Schomberg (also transcribed Schoenberg or Scombergh; High German: Schönburg; Norwegian: Skjønnberg; French: Cheumbourg; /ʃɔmbəː(ɹ)g/), is a reigning European royal house of Huguenot-Rhenish origin that has ruled the United Kingdom since 1777 and previously Norway from 1815 to 1843. Schomberg translates to 'beautiful mountain' in High German.

Members of the dynasty trace their descent back to Count Hans Meinhard von Schönberg, a 16th-century nobleman of the Electoral Palatinate. In 1672, his son, Frederick Schomberg, was invited to London by Henrietta I to take command of a contingent of the English Army. After the decisive defeat of France by a coalition of England, the Netherlands, and Spain in 1676, the Schomberg family settled in Middlesex. By 1700, the Schombergs had acquired numerous British titles and properties, thus firmly establishing themselves as British nobles.

In 1777, with the death of the Stuart-Nassau queen Elizabeth II, the majority of the British Parliament threw their support behind Frederick Schomberg as successor due to his seventh-generation descent from James VI & I of Scotland, England, and Ireland through his grandmother Princess Louise Apollonia of Salm and great-grandmother Raugravine Caroline Elisabeth.

History

The Schomberg dynasty arises from an old Rhenish noble family, Schönburg auf Wesel. Schönburg Castle in the town of Oberwesel has been the ancestral seat of the family since the 12th century. Several distinct lines of the family were living at the Castle throughout the 1500s. This Schomberg family is not to be confused with the Saxon-Thuringian noble family of the same name.

In the early 17th century, Hans Meinhard von Schönberg was elevated to the rank of imperial count. He served as a field marshal of the House of Palatinate-Simmern and as the bailiff of his hometown of Bacharach. Throughout his life, he also worked as a diplomat to the Netherlands & Britain as well as a commander in the Dutch, Prussian, Palatine, and Brunswick-Lüneburg armies. While on a mission in England, he married noblewoman Anna Sutton-Dudley on 22 March 1615, giving birth to Frederick Schomberg the same year.

Orphaned young, Frederick was raised by Frederick V of the Palatinate and other family friends. He began his military career under Frederick Henry of the Netherlands, eventually also entering the armed forces of Sweden and France. From 1650 to 1672, he served in the French army as a Marshal of France (he had also served Portugal, gaining the title Count of Mértola in 1663). Frederick benefited from his close association with his distant Saxon relative, Charles de Schomberg, also a Marshal of France. In 1672, as Huguenots (French Protestants) became increasingly prosecuted in France, he accepted an offer from Henrietta I of England to serve as a commander in the English army. Frederick became a notable and valued military leader for the Triple Alliance (England, Sweden, and the Netherlands). From 1690 until his death, he acquired the British titles Duke of Schomberg, Marquess of Harwich, Earl of Brentford, Earl of Bangor, and Baron Teyes.

Frederick's eldest son, the Prussian general Charles, predeceased him in 1697. Thus, his titles transferred to his second son, Meinhardt Schomberg, 2nd Duke Schomberg. He married Raugravine Caroline Elisabeth, the great-granddaughter of Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia, giving birth to a son, Charles-Louis. Meinhardt's daughter, Lady Frederica Schomberg, married who is considered the first British prime minister, Robert Darcy, cementing the Schombergs' influence in British politics. Charles-Louis married German noblewoman Louise Apollonia of Salm, also a great-granddaughter of Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia.

Elizabeth II died in 1777 with no issue, prompting the question of succession. The Act of Settlement 1692, passed under Henrietta, governed that only Protestant descendants of James VI & I were eligible. In the 1730s, the Placard of Right granted extensive powers to Parliament, thus giving them authority to approve the next monarch. Frederick Schomberg, MP for Harwich from 1762 to 1773, used his family's ties to the British political establishment to secure his succession to the throne. Thus, shortly after Elizabeth II's death, he became the first British monarch from the Schomberg family and the first member of Parliament to become king, assuming the regnal name Frederick I.

List of notable members

Name	Birth	Death
Field Marshal General Meinhard von Schönberg auf Wesel	26 April 1530 Oberwesel, Hesse-Darmstadt Son of Friedrich von Schönburg auf Wesel and Elisabeth von Langeln	22 April 1596 Schönburg Castle, Oberwesel, Hesse-Darmstadt
Hofmeister Hans Meinhard von Schönberg	28 August 1582 Bacharach, the Palatinate Son of Meinhard von Schönberg auf Wesel and Dorothea Riedesel von Bellersheim	3 August 1616 Heidelberg, the Palatinate
Frederick Schomberg 1st Duke Schomberg	6 December 1615 Heidelberg, the Palatinate Son of Hans Meinhard von Schönberg and Anne Sutton-Dudley	26 May 1702 Dublin, Kingdom of Ireland
Meinhardt Schomberg 2nd Duke Schomberg	30 June 1641 Cologne, Holy Roman Empire Son of Frederick Schomberg and Johanna Elizabeth de Schomberg	16 July 1716 Hillingdon, Middlesex, Great Britain
Charles-Louis Schomberg 3rd Duke Schomberg	16 January 1681 London, Great Britain Son of Meinhardt Schomberg and Raugravine Caroline Elisabeth	14 February 1751 Folkestone, Great Britain
Edward Schomberg 4th Duke Schomberg	18 December 1704 Schomberg House, London, Great Britain Son of Charles Schomberg and Louise Apollonia of Salm	5 May 1772 Folkestone, Great Britain
Frederick I King of Great Britain and Ireland	6 February 1737 Hillingdon House, London, Great Britain Son of Edward Schomberg and Lady Valerie Primrose	28 April 1779 Palace of Whitehall, London, Great Britain
George I King of Great Britain and Ireland	23 July 1743 Schomberg House, London, Great Britain Son of Edward Schomberg and Lady Valerie Primrose	6 July 1804 Palace of Whitehall, London, Great Britain
George II King of Great Britain and Ireland	15 October 1779 Palace of Whitehall, London, Great Britain Son of George I and Lady Barbara Beauclerk-Lennox	8 March 1821 Windsor Castle, Berkshire, Great Britain
Ernest I King of the United Kingdom	10 May 1798 Palace of Whitehall, London, Great Britain Son of George II and Wilhelmina Marianne of the Netherlands	4 August 1873 Brightstone House, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom
Edward VII King of the United Kingdom	24 April 1824 Palace of Whitehall, London, Great Britain Son of Ernest I and Charlotte Sophia of Pomerania	28 December 1878 Lombard Street, London, United Kingdom
Alexander I & IV King of the United Kingdom	18 January 1827 Hampton Court Palace, London, Great Britain Son of Ernest I and Charlotte Sophia of Pomerania	22 April 1896 Balmoral Castle, Aberdeenshire, United Kingdom
Elizabeth III Queen of Great Britain	30 June 1871 Cumberland Lodge, Berkshire, United Kingdom Daughter of Prince Alfred and Georgiana Victoria of Hanover	21 September 1947 Palace of Whitehall, London, Great Britain