"so frightful an object..." the monument of Princess Sophia (1777-1848), Kensal Green Cemetery

Royal patronage helped boost the popularity of the new cemetery at Kensal Green. It had been opened for just over 10 years when the sixth son of George III, Prince Augustus Frederick, the Duke of Sussex, was buried here in 1843. Put off a state funeral by the rather undignified ceremonials at the interments of his older brothers, George IV and William IV, the Duke of Sussex opted for a more low-key affair with burial in a public cemetery rather than in the Royal Chapel. When his sister Princess Sophia died five years later, she left instructions that she wished to be buried near her brother. And so they lie, almost side by side, in central plots on either side of the main pathway, in front of the Anglican Chapel. Princess Sophia’s memorial is the more visually striking. It is a not entirely successful mash-up; an ornate Italianate quattrocento sarcophagus with lions’ feet and winged lion heads marooned on top of a huge plain slab of Carrera marble which is in turn balanced precariously on a granite plinth. It may look as though it was designed by a nine-year-old but the man responsible for this ‘frightful object’ was Professor Ludwig Grüner of Dresden, Prince Albert’s artistic adviser who was responsible for the design of the royal mausoleums at Frogmore. According to The Truth of 07 May 1891, Queen Victoria was not amused by the monument placed over her aunt’s final resting place;

Prince Albert was one of the most cultivated men of the present century, and his taste, both in literature and art was superlatively good, but he was two or three times guilty of astonishing aberrations in art matters. The Sudbury window is one of these mistakes, and the frightful monument to Princess Sophia in Kensal Green Cemetery is another. There is a good story about this same monument. A few years ago the Queen took it into her head to visit the cemetery, in order that she might inspect the tombs of the Duke of Sussex and Princess Sophia; and after her Majesty had seen the monument to her aunt, she expressed very keen indignation that so frightful an object should have been placed over the grave of any member of the Royal family, declared that it had never been authorised, and ordered that the archives of the Household should be searched in order that it might be discovered what official had presumed to act in such a matter on his own responsibility. A few days after, down came the original sketch of the monument, when it was discovered that it bore the talismanic words, "Approved—Albert."

The princess at the age of 20

Princess Sophia was born in 1777, the 12th child (5th daughter) of that most fecund of Royal couples, George III and Queen Charlotte, who had, in case you had forgotten, 15 children in total. The later Hanoverians were a notoriously lusty lot, but George III and Queen Charlotte at least kept their amorousness strictly within the bounds of marriage, unlike their offspring. King George was very protective of his daughters and preferred them to his sons. Although he was always an affectionate father and, very unusually for the time, took a keen interest in the education and development of his girls they were brought up very strictly and kept away from the world as much as possible. Charlotte, the Princess Royal was the only daughter to marry early; the rest of the princesses had their share of suitors, but their mother was reluctant to let them marry; she felt questions of marriage adversely affected her husband’s precarious mental health and she was keen to keep them around as her own companions. Frustrated, the princesses sought outlets for their amorous instincts with wildly unsuitable courtiers, often of inferior rank. Sophia was rumoured to have fallen in love with her father’s equerry Major-General Thomas Garth who was not only 33 years her senior but had a large purple birth mark on his wrinkled visage.  There were also rumours of an incestuous relationship with her brother Ernest Augustus, the Duke of Cumberland.  Arrogant, irascible, deeply conservative, anti-Catholic (he was a master of the Orange Lodges) an inveterate womaniser and sex pest the Duke was so keenly disliked that any rumour about him found an audience willing to believe it. When Princess Sophia was rumoured to have had an illegitimate child in 1800, many thought Thomas Garth had to be the father though others pointed the finger at her own brother. Thomas Garth brought up this child and almost 30 years later, when he thought he was on his deathbed, is supposed to have confessed the secret of his parentage to him. Young Tommy immediately set about trying to blackmail the Royal family for the huge sum of £30,000. The ex-MP for Appleby Thomas Creevy wrote to his stepdaughter Elizabeth Ord on 14 February 1829 that “there is nothing going forward except this reported visit of the Duke of Cumberland. Are you aware that Captain Garth is the son of this Duke by Princess Sophia. General Garth, at the suit of the old King, consented to pass for the father of this son. The latter, in every way worthy of his villainous father, has shown all the letters upon this occasion, including one of the King’s. The poor woman has always said that this business would be her death. Garth asks £30,000 for the letters, and, to enhance their value, shews the worst part of them.”  Tommy Garth was never paid but continued his ‘bullying importunities’ for the rest of her life.

A satirical print of 1830 showing the much despised Duke of Cumberland as a satyr guarding a secured box entitled 'Garth Papers'

In later life Princess Sophia lived in Kensington Palace, her rooms adjoined those of her niece, Princess Victoria of Kent, the future Queen Victoria. The household was run by the Comptroller Sir John Conroy, a man detested by Victoria. Sophia on the other hand adored him, let him manage her money (which he shamelessly stole) and probably spied on the future Queen for him. Unsurprisingly Victoria was not fond of her aunt. When Sophia died in 1848 the Queen did not attend the funeral, sending Albert in her stead. The funeral was held at an unusually early hour, the procession left Kensington Palace at 5.30 in the morning and was over by 7.00am. Her body was initially laid in the catacombs beneath the Anglican Chapel until her vault and monument in the cemetery were ready for her. The North Wales Chronicle of Tuesday 13 June 1848 gives a good account of her rather melancholy obsequies;

FUNERAL OF THE PRINCESS SOPHIA. The mortal remains of her late Royal Highness the Princess Sophia were on Tuesday morning, at an early hour, consigned to their last resting-place in one of the vaults of the catacombs of Kensall-green Cemetery, situated near the vault which contains the ashes of her Royal brother, the late Duke of Sussex. The funeral cortege, agreeably to the expressed wishes of the illustrious deceased, was as private as possible - There was no pomp, no pride; the hearse containing the body did not display any armorial bearings, neither was there an escutcheon on the velvet covering of the hearse. The mournful procession left Kensington Palace at the early hour of five o'clock, and was composed of the hearse, drawn by six horses; nine mourning coaches, each drawn by four horses, containing the medical attendants and domestics of the late princess, preceded the hearse, and it was followed by one mourning coach only, in which were his Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, chief mourner, his Royal Highness Prince Albert, and his Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge. The procession arrived at the entrance to the cemetery about a quarter before seven o’clock and was there met by several clergymen who were in attendance, after which it moved slowly on to the chapel, where the Duke of Wellington, the Lord Chamberlain, Lord John Russell, and several of the Cabinet ministers, had previously arrived to attend the mournful ceremony. The body having been conveyed into the chapel, the impressive and solemn burial service of the Church was read by the Bishop of Norwich ; after which the coffin, which is made of Spanish mahogany, covered over with crimson silk velvet, and elaborately ornamented with silver gilt nails and massive gilt handles, and which bears the following simple inscription on the plate- "Her Royal Highness Princess Sophia, born Nov. 3, 1777, died May 27, 1848, aged 71 years," was lowered into the vault. The whole ceremony was over by half-past seven o'clock. There was no attendance of military, and only a few policemen to clear the line of road, should there be any obstruction, but their services were not required. We understand that orders have been given for the erection of a splendid vault for members of the Royal family who may hereafter express a wish for their remains to be interred at Kensal-green Cemetery. The great bell of Westminster t Abbey tolled at intervals during the morning, and the theatres were all closed in the evening. At the conclusion of the ceremony, the different Royal carriages, which, however, did not follow in the procession to the cemetery, were occupied by the illustrious owners, and drove off at a quick rate on their return to town.