GEORGE III 



3480 



GEORGE IV 



England fell through. At Hanover 

 he lived until 1714 the somewhat 

 coarse life of a prince who was 

 without either ambition or culture. 

 In 1714 the prince followed his 

 father to England, and for thirteen 

 years he was prince of Wales. The 

 relations be- 

 tween the two 

 had been bad 

 for some time, 

 and in London 

 they reached 

 such a state 

 that the prince 

 was ordered to 

 leave the 

 court. He re- 

 plied by set- 

 ting up a court 

 of his own, 

 which became 

 opposition to 



After Zf email 



the centre of all 

 George I and his ministers. 



In 1727 George became king, 

 and he reigned for 33 years. The 

 reign may be divided into two 

 parts, the break being the resigna- 

 tion of Wai pole in 1742. In both 

 he acted as a constitutional sove- 

 reign, realizing that there was a 

 new power in the state the will of 

 the people. His own quarrels with 

 his father were repeated in the case 

 of himself and his son Frederick, 

 who, driven from court, formed his 

 own circle of opposition to the king 

 and the ministry. He had the sense 

 to heed the wise advice of his wife 

 Caroline, whose influence over him 

 was considerable. He had several 

 mistresses, both before and after his 

 wife's death. In addition to Frede- 

 rick, George had a son, William 

 Augustus, duke of Cumberland, 

 and five daughters. He died at 

 Kensington Palace, Oct. 25, 1760. 

 George was the founder of the uni- 

 versity of Gottingen. See Memoirs 

 of the Reign of George II, H. Wai- 

 pole, 1847 ; Memoirs of the Reign 

 of George II, Lord Hervey, 1884. 



George III (1738-1820). King 

 of Great Britain and Ireland. The 

 eldest son of Frederick, prince of 

 Wales, he was 

 born June 4, 

 1738, and was 

 baptized as 

 George William 

 Frederick. His 

 father died in 

 1751, and he 

 was educated 

 under the eyes 

 of his mother, 

 Augusta, aprin- 

 cess of Saxe- 

 Coburg,and the 

 earl of Bute, who became the head 

 of his household when this was set 

 up in 1756. Their aim was to make 

 him a king of the older type, one 

 who dominated domestic and for- 



eign politics, rather than one of the 

 constitutional type as was his 

 grandfather, George II. In Oct., 

 1760, he became king. 



George was the first ruler of his 

 house who could claim to be a 

 Briton born and bred. His reign 

 began with an attempt to secure 

 power for himself. The earl of 

 Bute succeeded Pitt and New- 

 castle in 1761, but he left office in 

 1 763, and it was evident that some 

 other method or some other minis- 

 ter would have to be tried if the 

 plan was to succeed. Other prime 

 ministers, less pliable, followed, but 

 by 1770 the king had formed his 

 own party, the king's friends, and 

 Lord North became premier. For 

 twelve years George directed, 

 through him, the affairs of the 

 country, the period being marked 

 by the independence of America. 

 In 1780 the king's mind had given 

 way, and a regency was necessary, 

 but he soon recovered and was able 

 to throw his influence into the pro- 

 secution of the war against France 

 and to declare strongly against any 

 concessions to the Roman Catho- 

 lics. From time to time fresh 

 attacks of insanity came on, and in 

 1811 he was finally incapacitated. 

 He lingered, however, until Jan. 29, 

 1820, when he died at Windsor. 



George was neither a wise nor a 

 constitutional king, and a good deal 

 cf responsibility attaches to him for 

 the misfortunes of the reign. His 

 private life, on the other hand, was 

 blameless, and in his later years his 

 popularity was great, due in part to 

 his homely ways, seen in his name 

 of Farmer George. When a young 

 man he had strongly wanted to 

 marry Lady Sarah Lennox, but he 

 was dissuaded, and in Charlotte, 

 princess of Meeklenburg-Strelitz, he 

 found a partner who made him hap- 

 py. His family consisted of nine sons 

 and six daughters. The sons who 

 grew to manhood were George IV, 

 William IV, and the dukes of York, 

 Kent. Cumberland, Sussex and Cam- 

 bridge. See History of England, 

 W. E. H. Lecky, vols. Ill -VI, 1899- 

 1901 ; see also Caricature. 



George IV (1762-1830). King 

 of Great Britain and Ireland. The 

 eldest son of George III, he was 

 born in Lon- 

 don, Aug. 12, 

 1762 and was 

 baptized as 

 George Augus- 

 tus Frederick. 

 A few days 

 afterwards he 

 was created 

 prince of 

 Wales. With 



considerable ^/ rf / (IV) 

 abilities, h e 



Was Carefully AJler Lawrence 



educated, but he early entered on 

 a life of extravagance that con- 

 tinued to the end. 



The prince of Wales became 

 prominent politically owing to the 

 insanity of his father. In 1788 the 

 country was agitated over the 

 question of the regency. Should 

 the prince, as Fox contended, be- 

 come regent by right of birth and 

 receive the kingly power without 

 limitations, or should the office be 

 conferred upon him subject to cer- 

 tain restrictions laid down by Par- 

 liament ? The latter view, that of 

 Pitt, prevailed, but George was 

 only their regent for a short time. 

 In 1811, however, the king's in- 

 sanity returned and he became 

 regent again, retaining the position 

 until his accession in Jan., 1820. 



As ruler of the country between 

 1811 and 1830, George IV was 

 neither successful nor popular. He 

 resisted reform as long as he could, 

 for he was old and feeble when he 

 consented to the measures that 

 granted relief to Nonconformists 

 and Roman Catholics. 



The chief interest of the reign, 

 from the popular point of view, 

 was in the relations between the 

 king and his wife, Caroline of 

 Brunswick, whom he married in 

 1795. The two soon separated, but 

 their discords were the subject of 

 public inquiry in 1806 and of great 

 public excitement when he be- 

 came king. A bill to deprive the 

 queen of her royal position was 

 introduced, but it failed to pass, 

 public sympathy being vocifer- 

 ousty on the side of the lady. 



George had a succession of 

 mistresses Mary Robinson, the 

 actress, Lady Jersey, Lady Hert- 

 ford, Lady Conyngham, and others. 

 His most lasting union was with 

 Mrs. Fitzherbert, who secretly be- 

 came his morganatic wife in 1785 

 and lived with him until 1813. His 

 only legitimate child, the princess 

 Charlotte, died in 1817, a year 

 after her marriage with Leopold, 

 prince of Saxe-Coburg. Ths king's 

 admirers called him the first gen- 

 tleman of Europe, and although 

 " a bad son, a bad husband, a bad 

 father, a bad subject, a bad mon- 

 arch, and a bad friend," there is 

 some slight justification for the 

 title in the courtly way he behaved 

 on state occasions, while in his 

 younger days he was a handsome 

 man. He was a great gambler and a 

 drunkard, and one reason for his un- 

 popularity was the fact that the 

 nation had more than once to pay 

 his debts. George died at Windsor, 

 June 26, 1830. See Greville Me- 

 moirs, ed. H. Reeve, 1875; Mrs. 

 Fitzherbert and George IV, W. H. 

 Wilkins, 1905; The First Gentleman 

 of Europe, L. Melville, 1906. 





