12 August, 1762

Hanoverian. King George I, George II, George III, George IV, William IV, Victoria.

Length of reign:

King George ruled for 10 years in his own right, but effectively ruled from 1811 when he was appointed Prince Regent in light of his father's illness.

The young Prince George had many women in his life. He was married twice (once illegally) and had a succession of mistresses and illegitimate children. He first married Maria Anne Fitzherbert, but as she was a Catholic (Catholics were barred from the succession) and as George had not asked the permission of his father (any royal marriage must receive the agreement of the Sovereign) the marriage was never legal.

He next married Caroline of Brunswick in 1795, a marriage that neither husband nor wife could really stomach. After their first meeting, George declared himself sick at the very sight of her, while for her part, Caroline described George as 'fat and unhandsome'. There was one child however, born nine months after the wedding, after which the couple split. The child, Charlotte, died in 1817 aged 21.

Caroline continued to cause problems for George however. When he became king, she became desperate to be his queen. George frantically tried to keep her from coming to his coronation. She died shortly afterwards.

As a king, regent and prince, George has been very poorly judged by historians. It was perhaps in his legacy to art and architecture that highlights might be seen, but the general outlook is not one of a successful and well-loved man or king. The Regency did leave several modern landmarks though. He commissioned John Nash to redesign central London, the fruits of which can be seen by the development of areas today known as Regent's Park and Regent Street, while Buckingham Palace owes much to the work and designs of King George IV. George also acquired many of the works of art that form part of the Royal Collection.

In addition he was the first monarch since Richard II to visit Ireland, and the first Hanoverian to visit Scotland; both tours were looked upon as reasonably successful.

It has been suggested that the monarchy was fortunate to survive the effects of King George IV, which must surely be the greatest criticism placed upon the Hanoverian king. He was wasteful, he spent too much money, he paid little attention to his duties, his treatment of his second wife was unpopular, and his death seemed to be marked with little but scorn.

Such wastefulness and financial mismanagement was made worse by the fact that since the turn of the century, Britain had been involved in a costly war with Napoleon and the French. To have men starving and dying at the front while Prince George was attempting to persuade parliament to grant him more money to finish refurbishments at Brighton, was a bitter pill for many to swallow. 

The king seemed utterly oblivious to the political and social situation of the time. Men returning from the wars found unemployment and shortages. Feelings boiled over and government troops fired on a gathering crown in Manchester in became known as Peterloo. A conspiracy was later uncovered to overthrow the government, while throughout the 1820s there were calls for reform to the political system.
 
Both his conduct and personality weakened the crown and he left a dangerous position for his successor, King William IV, who in fact contrived to make things even worse. It was left to Queen Victoria to restore the position of the British monarchy to what it had been under King George III.

The reason that King George IV became Regent in 1811, was that his father was no longer able to govern. It was long thought that King George III was mad, but modern science has indicated that he might have suffered from porphyria.

When George IV died in 1830, The Times commented that 'there never was an individual less regretted by his fellow-creatures than this deceased King'.
 
Wellington was rather more generous in saying, 'he was, indeed, the most extraordinary compound of talent, wit buffoonery, obstinacy and good feeling - in short a medley of the most opposite qualities, with a great preponderance of good - that I ever saw in any character in my life.'