George III decided that his second son would pursue an army career and had him
gazetted
colonel on 4 November 1780. From 1781 to 1787, Prince Frederick lived in Hanover, where he studied (along with his younger brothers,
Prince Edward,
Prince Ernest,
Prince Augustus and
Prince Adolphus) at the
University of Göttingen. He was appointed colonel of the 2nd Horse Grenadier Guards (later
2nd Life Guards) on 26 March 1782 before being promoted to
major-general on 20 November 1782. He was created
Duke of York and Albany and
Earl of Ulster on 27 November 1784 and became a member of the
Privy Council.
Flanders '' by
Philip James de Loutherbourg, 1794. The
Siege of Valenciennes was an early Allied success but the campaign soon turned against them. On 12 April 1793, Frederick was promoted to full general. That year, he was sent to
Flanders in command of the British contingent of
Coburg's army destined for the invasion of
France. but was defeated at the
Battle of Hondschoote in September 1793. although the title was not confirmed until three years later. He was also colonel of the
60th Regiment of Foot from 19 August 1797. On appointment as Commander-in-Chief he immediately declared, reflecting on the
Flanders Campaign of 1793–94, "that no officer should ever be subject to the same disadvantages under which he had laboured". Sir
Ralph Abercromby and Admiral Sir Charles Mitchell, in charge of the vanguard, had succeeded in capturing some Dutch warships in
Den Helder. However, following the Duke's arrival with the main body of the army, a number of disasters befell the allied forces, including shortage of supplies. On 17 October 1799, the Duke signed the
Convention of Alkmaar, by which the allied expedition withdrew after giving up its prisoners. Frederick's military setbacks of 1799 were inevitable given his lack of experience as a field commander, the poor state of the British army at the time, and the conflicting military objectives of the protagonists. After this ineffectual campaign, Frederick was mocked, perhaps unfairly, in the rhyme "
The Grand Old Duke of York": by
Isaac Cruikshank, 15 March 1809. The prince resigned as head of the British army ten days after the caricature's publication. Frederick's experience in the Dutch campaign made a strong impression on him. That campaign, and the Flanders campaign, had demonstrated the numerous weaknesses of the British army after years of neglect. Frederick as Commander-in-Chief of the British army carried through a massive programme of reform. In 1892 the Royal Military Asylum was renamed the
Duke of York's Royal Military School. The school relocated to Dover, Kent in 1909. On 14 September 1805 he was given the honorary title of Warden of Windsor Forest. Frederick resigned as Commander-in-Chief on 25 March 1809, as the result of a scandal caused by the activities of his latest mistress,
Mary Anne Clarke. and the
Prince Regent reappointed the exonerated Frederick as Commander-in-Chief on 29 May 1811. The Duke's relationship with Mary Anne Clarke is used by Mary Anne's descendant,
Daphne du Maurier, in her historical novel
Mary Anne. ==Residences==