George Nassau Clavering-Cowper, 3rd Earl Cowper, Prince of Nassau d'Auverquerque (26 August 1738 – 22 December 1789) was an expatriate British nobleman, art collector, and absentee politician. Going on the Grand Tour as a young man, he emigrated to Florence. Despite becoming a member of parliament (representing Hertford in the House of Commons for two years) and later inheriting lands and the title of Earl Cowper in England, he remained in Italy. He amassed a valuable art collection and became a Prince of the Holy Roman Empire. He was a patron of the arts and science.
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Biography
George Nassau Clavering-Cowper was the son of the 2nd Earl Cowper and the godson of George II. He was educated at Eton College. His education was planned to be completed with a Grand Tour. This rite of passage for British aristocrats required that they tour the continent in the company of a tutor.
Clavering-Cowper was at the time known as Viscount Fordwich. Accompanied by his tutor, they travelled through France, the Netherlands, and Germany before Clavering-Cowper studied for two years in Switzerland. Unlike other Grand Tourers, Fordwich was independent of his parents as he had inherited a fortune from his grandfather the Earl of Grantham in 1754. The tourers arrived in Florence on 7 July 1759.