GEORGE 



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GEORGE 



..THE FIVE GEORGES OF ENGLAND 



EORGE, the name of five kings of 

 England, of the House of Hanover. The early 

 Georges were unpopular because they were 

 more German than English, but . the present 

 bearer of the name (George V) is an Eng- 

 lishman, with a strong hold on the affections 

 of his people. 



George I (1660-1727) came to the English 

 throne on the death of Queen Anne in 1714. 

 He was a great-grandson of James I of Eng- 

 land, but his father was elector of Hanover 

 and he had been born and brought up in Ger- 

 many. In 1698 he succeeded his father as 

 elector, and three years later was declared heir 

 to the British crown. No opposition was made 

 to his accession, but his utter lack of sympathy 

 with England's traditions and ideals, as well 

 as his loose morals, prevented any personal 

 affection for him in Britain, while in the gov- 

 ernment he did not even pretend to exercise 

 much influence. As he could not understand 

 English, he did not attend the Cabinet meet- 

 ings, and indeed, he preferred to spend his 

 time among his old friends in Hanover rather 

 than in his island kingdom. The chief event 

 of his reign was the bursting of the "South 

 Sea Bubble," and it was not the king but Wai- 

 pole who saved England in that crisis. 



George II (1683-1760) was the son and suc- 

 cessor of George I. He, too, was born in Han- 

 over, and was thirty-one years old at the time 

 of his father's accession to the English throne. 

 Thus he was almost as German in his sym- 

 pathies as was his father. In 1708, while he 

 was electoral prince of Hanover, he fought 

 with distinguished gallantry under the Duke 

 of Marlborough, and in 1727 came to the 

 throne as king of Great Britain and Ireland. 

 Walpole, Carteret and Pitt were among the 

 men who guided the nation during the reign 

 of this second George. To his credit it may 

 be said that despite his obstinacy he was 

 always willing to follow his ministers' advice if 

 he could be convinced of its wisdom. Great 



colonial expansion marked George's reign, 

 Clive laid the foundations of a vast empire in 

 India, and Wolfe, by his victory on the Heights 

 of Abraham, ended French control in North 

 America and gave Canada to Britain. 



George III (1738-1820). The reign of this 

 third George is of peculiar interest to Amer- 

 icans, for at its beginning the thirteen English 

 colonies in America were still possessions of 

 England, discontented at times but on the 

 whole loyal ; while at its close they had become 

 a prosperous and independent nation which had 

 twice held its own against the mother-country 

 in war. George III succeeded his grandfather, 

 George II, in 1760, and proved in some ways 

 very different from his predecessors. He was 

 a man of high moral character, and his home 

 life with his wife, Charlotte Sophia of Meck- 

 lenburg, was most happy. George had no in- 

 tention of giving over the government to min- 

 isters he wished to be the real ruler, though 

 not in the absolute manner of the old Stuart 

 kings. He tried minister after minister, but 

 not until North was put in charge of affairs 

 in 1770 did he find one exactly to his liking. 

 For the twelve years that North was in office 

 the king practically dictated the national pol- 

 icies, and it was largely his determined atti- 

 tude toward the colonies that brought on the 

 American Revolution. During the ministry 

 of Pitt the war against France, which grew out 

 of the excesses of the French Revolution, was 

 vigorously prosecuted. 



More than once during his long reign the 

 king suffered from mental derangement, and 

 in 1811 he became hopelessly insane. The 

 Prince of Wales governed as regent, and on 

 the death of his father in 1820 became king 

 as George IV. 



George IV (1762-1830). While he was yet 

 Prince of Wales his immoral life, his unfilial 

 conduct and his repeated attempts to divorce 

 his wife, the Princess Caroline Amelia of 

 Brunswick, had almost broken his father's 



