George Henry William Robert was born at Dumbarton Oaks, home of the heir to the throne of the United States in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C. on December 19, 1919. He was the second son of Princess Matilda, daughter of King Henry III, and HRH William, Duke of Abercromby. Several weeks earlier, letters patent had been issued so that the young prince would enjoy a royal and princely status he would not otherwise have been entitled to. Otherwise he would have been styled merely as the child of a duke.