page_title: Prince Charles of Hesse-Kassel
section_title: Early life
hierarchical_section_title: Prince Charles of Hesse-Kassel / Early life
caption_attribution_description: Princess Mary portrayed as Hereditary Princess of Hesse-Kassel
context_page_description: Prince Charles of Hesse-Kassel, German and Norwegian: Karl; 19 December 1744 – 17 August 1836 was a cadet member of the house of Hesse-Kassel and a Danish general field marshal. Brought up with relatives at the Danish court, he spent most of his life in Denmark, serving as royal governor of the twin duchies of Schleswig-Holstein from 1769 to 1836 and commander-in-chief of the Norwegian army from 1772 to 1814.
context_section_description: Charles was born in Kassel on 19 December 1744 as the second surviving son of Hesse-Kassel's then hereditary prince, the future Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel and his first wife Princess Mary of Great Britain. His mother was a daughter of King George II of Great Britain and Princess Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach and a sister of Queen Louise of Denmark.
  His father, the future landgrave (who reigned from 1760 and died in 1785), left the family in 1747 and converted to Catholicism in 1749. In 1755 he formally ended the marriage with Mary. The grandfather, William VIII, Landgrave of Hesse, granted the county of Hanau and its revenues to Mary and her sons. 
  The young Prince Charles and his two brothers, William and Frederick, were raised by their mother and fostered by Protestant relatives since 1747.
  In 1756, Mary moved to Denmark to look after her sister, Queen Louise of Denmark's children. She took her own children with her and they were raised at the royal court at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen. The Hessian princes later remained in Denmark, becoming important lords and royal functionaries. Only the eldest brother William returned to Hesse, in 1785, upon ascending the landgraviate.
caption: Prince Charles' mother, Princess Mary of Great Britain
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