Duke Ernest Gottlob of Mecklenburg
| Duke Ernest Gottlob | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
27 August 1742 Mirow, Mecklenburg-Strelitz |
| Died | 27 January 1814 (aged 71) |
| House | House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz |
| Father | Duke Charles Louis Frederick of Mecklenburg, Prince of Mirow |
| Mother | Princess Elizabeth Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen |
Duke Ernest Gottlob Albert of Mecklenburg (27 August 1742 – 27 January 1814) was a member of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. As a younger son of Duke Charles Louis Frederick of Mecklenburg, Ernest was an elder brother of Queen Charlotte of the United Kingdom, who married King George III in 1761. Ernest followed his sister to England, where he unsuccessfully pursued marriage with the country's largest heiress, Mary Eleanor Bowes.
Enormous debt would later lead Ernest to attempt another marriage with a princess from the House of Holstein-Gottorp, but Charlotte managed to dissuade him. Ernest eventually became the military governor of Celle in the Electorate of Hanover, of which his brother-in-law George III was the head. Ernest died in 1814 at the age of 71 during the reign of George III but under the regency of his nephew George IV.
Ernest Gottlob Albert was the seventh child and third son of Duke Charles Louis Frederick of Mecklenburg and his wife Princess Elizabeth Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen. Ernest's younger sister Charlotte married George III of the United Kingdom in 1761, and Ernest followed her to London.
Ernest was described by novelist Sarah Scott as a "very pretty sort of man, with an agreeable person." In March 1762 Ernest was said, according to Scott, to have "fallen desperately in love with" Mary Eleanor Bowes, the richest heiress in Britain and possibly the richest in Europe. Scott speculated that were the marriage to take place, Ernest would become even richer than his elder brother Adolphus Frederick IV, Duke of Mecklenburg. However, King George III disallowed the marriage, as he disapproved of his brother-in-law marrying someone not of royal blood.Charlotte Papendiek, Queen Charlotte's wardrobe keeper, wrote many years later that the match would "have made him a Prince indeed; but as he was a younger brother, it might have disturbed the harmony of the house of Mecklenburg-Strelitz." Ernest does not appear in Mary's letters, and it does not seem likely that his affection was reciprocated.
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