PAST MASTERS

Jessica Douglas-Home (A GRAND OLD

DUKE, NOVEMBER) expresses surprise at HRH The Duke of Kent’s role as Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of England (not “Britain’s Grand Master Freemason” as there are separate Grand Lodges of Ireland and of Scotland). The Duke is not the first member of the Blood Royal to be a prominent Freemason. There have been a further 19 members.

The first was King George II’s eldest son, Prince Frederick Lewis, Prince of Wales (1707-1751) and Frederick’s younger brother Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland (1721-1763).

Among the 19 were King George III’s eldest son, George, Prince of Wales (1762-1830), later King George IV, who was elected Grand Master of the “Moderns” or Premier Grand Lodge in 1791. In 1812 upon his appointment as Prince Regent, he resigned as Grand Master and took the title of Grand Patron, so setting the precedent by which a monarch retires from active participation in Freemasonry on his accession to the throne. King George III’s other sons followed, including William, Duke of Clarence and St Andrews (1765-1837), later King Willliam IV.

Queen Victoria’s eldest son, later King Edward VII, was initiated by the King of Sweden in Stockholm in 1868. He was elected Grand Master in 1874 until his accession in 1901 when he was succeeded as Grand Master by his brother, Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (1850-1942).

In the next generation of Freemasons were Edward, Prince of Wales, later King Edward VIII, and his brother, later King George VI, who in addition to being the Grand Master of the English Constitution was also Grand Master Mason of Scotland.

Their brother, George, Duke of Kent (1902-1942), the father of the present Grand Master, was installed as Grand Master in 1939 and was killed on active service in August 1942. The present Duke of Kent was elected Grand Master in 1967. His brother, Prince Michael of Kent, was elected Grand Master of English Mark Masonry in 1982. Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, was a Mason for over 50 years.

I hope this list of Royals who have played leading roles at the head of English Freemasonry will help to diminish Jessica Douglas-Home’s suspicions of the Craft.

Archie Walls

LONDON