A Yorkshire Royal: The Story of Prince George & Master Frederick

Did you know that Kirby Misperton Hall, now part of Flamingo Land, once belonged to a man with a secret royal connection? Frederick Blomberg’s extraordinary link to King George III is the captivating focus of Rosalind Freeborn’s new book, Prince George & Master Frederick.

Does your family ever share stories about your ancestry that seem too fantastical to believe? Writer Rosalind Freeborn’s grandmother often claimed they were long-lost royalty.

Her grandmother certainly grew up in princely surroundings, with Kirby Misperton Hall as her home. The estate is now part of Flamingo Land in Malton, North Yorkshire. When claiming a connection to royalty, her grandmother often referenced a picture she saw hung on its walls as a child, depicting a boy called Frederick Blomberg.

“The more I researched, the more I realised the boy in the portrait was real,” she explains. “And I became convinced he was indeed the King’s son.”

“King George III was also known as ‘Farmer George’ as he liked to wander his rural estates,” Rosalind explains. On one of these rural walks, family lore suggested that he came across a beautiful farmer’s daughter with whom he had an affair. When the woman became pregnant, the King asked his best friend Blomberg to marry the woman and avoid a scandal.

According to her grandmother, Frederick Blomberg was the illegitimate child of King George III.

This family tale encouraged Rosalind to investigate. “The more I researched, the more I realised the boy in the portrait was real,” she explains. “And I became convinced he was indeed the King’s son.”

The story takes an even stranger turn in 1765, as recounted in The London Gazette. A ghostly apparition of Major Blomberg, who had died fighting the French, reportedly appeared to fellow officers, urging them to find his orphaned son and inform King George III.

“They found the child,” Rosalind explains. “The King adopted Young Frederick Blomberg, brought him up as a royal prince, and he became best friends with his younger half-brother, Prince George, the future Prince Regent, and King George IV.”

Her research pieced together the lives of these two brothers. “They stayed friends throughout their lives,” she explains, “but their lives diverged.”

“You can see advertisements in the Yorkshire Post and other local newspapers of James’s Powders, which claimed to treat gout, ‘recommended by Baron Blomberg of Kirkby Misperton Hall’.”

“Prince George was groomed to rule, while Frederick studied divinity at Cambridge and became a priest,” she explains. At just 24, Frederick secured a wealthy parish in Somerset and served as chaplain to the royal family at Windsor.

But Frederick struggled to claim his inheritance—Kirby Misperton Hall.

“It was very difficult for Frederick to prove he was entitled to the estate,” Rosalind explains. But then, his father, King George III, became mentally unwell, and his half-brother and best friend, Prince George, stepped up to become Prince Regent. “Once he was Regent, Prince George was able to gift Kirby Misperton Hall to Frederick in 1811.

“Frederick became a Yorkshireman, dividing his time between the estate and London.” He became known as Baron Blomberg and even provided ‘celebrity endorsements’ as discovered by Rosalind. “You can see advertisements in the Yorkshire Post and other local newspapers of James’s Powders, which claimed to treat gout, ‘recommended by Baron Blomberg of Kirkby Misperton Hall’.”

It was during his time as the owner of the hall that he acquired the drawn portrait by court artist Hugh Douglas Hamilton, probably gifted to him by the Prince Regent. “The portrait had been made when he was seven years old, and had been commissioned by Queen Charlotte of all her children, including Prince George, Prince Frederick, Prince William and Prince Edward. It remained on the wall despite the estate being sold multiple times and throughout my grandmother’s childhood.”

The portrait remained on the wall long after the estate was sold after Frederick’s death and was inherited by James Robert Twentyman, Rosalind’s great-grandfather. Rosalind also discovered during her research that despite Frederick’s long life and happy marriage, he never had any children.

“Growing up seeing that little portrait on the wall is probably why my grandmother thought we were related to Frederick Blomberg, but the connection is purely through the property, Kirby Misperton. It’s the kind of oral history you get in many families. I only wish I’d been more sensible when asking her about it. I dare say every family has a strange little story which gets passed down. And, as I found out, it’s worth just pursuing it. Because there’s probably a kernel of truth lurking in the middle of some outrageous claim that really did happen!”

“Investigating Frederick’s story opened up a panorama of fascinating history. I loved tracking his life through newspapers. The newspapers of the day were brilliant at recording not just an event but where it was, who was there, what they were wearing, what they ate, and the music they heard!”

One Somerset paper noted that he was frequently seen in his carriage, which he had transformed into a portable music room, playing his violin as he travelled the highways and byways of the county.”

Rosalind felt a novel unfolding in front of her eyes. “I had key events known in history and interlaced them with my imagination regarding what had happened in the intervening years. That’s how I strung the whole thing together.”

Through her research, she discovered that the key bond between the brothers was their love of music.

“They often played duets together, having both learned the violin and cello during their childhood. When Frederick became a vicar in Somerset, he was, by all accounts, not a very effective preacher. His voice lacked strength, and his sermons often fell flat. However, he had a unique way of connecting with his congregation: he would take out his fiddle and play, winning everyone’s admiration. One Somerset paper noted that he was frequently seen in his carriage, which he had transformed into a portable music room, playing his violin as he travelled the highways and byways of the county.”

His violins were so precious that when a disgruntled servant stole three of them, he used the Bow Street Runners, London’s newest police force, to track them down to a pawn shop in East London. “He had to pay five pounds, but he got them back!”

The book beautifully captures the deep bond between the two brothers, highlighting the striking contrasts between the boy destined to be King and his illegitimate sibling. It also unravels the long-standing mystery surrounding Rosalind’s family history. Central to this mystery was the portrait her grandmother often mentioned as proof. Rosalind was very delighted when she discovered that the little portrait of Frederick as a child was recently bought by King Charles III for the Royal Collection Trust. The curators accepted that he was a royal child.

Reflecting on the discovery, Rosalind observed, “Looking at that portrait, and the more impressive one which features on the book jacket, solidified in my mind that this child, whatever his background, was obviously loved by the royal family and given the same care and attention that was lavished upon the legal royal children. It pleases me to know that the little portrait which once hung on the wall of a home in Yorkshire is now back with his family, tucked up safely in the Print Room at Windsor Castle.”

Rosalind Freeborn’s debut novel, Prince George & Master Frederick,​ is published by Alliance Press and is available for preorder now. 

NorthernLife March/April/May 25