The marriage produced one son (the future George II) and one daughter
(Sophia Dorothea, who married her cousin, Frederick William I, King of
Prussia). After ruling England for thirteen years, George I died of a
stroke on a journey to his beloved Hanover on October 11, 1727.
George, Elector of Hanover since 1698, ascended the throne upon the death
of Queen Anne, under the terms of the 1701 Act of Settlement. His mother
had recently died and he meticulously settled his affairs in Hanover before
coming to England. He realized his position and considered the better of
two evils to be the Whigs (the other alternative was the Catholic son of
James II by Mary of Modena, James Edward Stuart, the Old Pretender). George
knew that any decision was bound to offend at least half of the British
population. His character and mannerisms were strictly German; he never
troubled himself to learn the English language, and spent at least half of
his time in Hanover.
The pale little 54 year-old man arrived in Greenwich on September 29,
1714, with a full retinue of German friends, advisors and servants (two of
which, Mohamet and Mustapha, were Negroes captured during a Turkish
campaign). All were determined to profit from the venture, with George
leading the way. He also arrived with two mistresses and no wife - Sophia
had been imprisoned for adultery. The English population was unkind to the
two mistresses, labeling the tall, thin Ehrengard Melusina von Schulenberg
as the "maypole", and the short, fat Charlotte Sophia Kielmansegge as the
"elephant". Thackeray remarked, "Take what you can get was the old
monarch's maxim... The German women plundered, the German secretaries
plundered, the German cooks and attendants plundered, even Mustapha and
Mohamet... had a share in the booty."
The Jacobites, legitimist Tories, attempted to depose George and replace
him with the Old Pretender in 1715. The rebellion was a dismal failure. The
Old Pretender failed to arrive in Britain until it was over and French
backing evaporated with the death of Louis XIV. After the rebellion,
England settled into a much needed time of peace, with internal politics
and foreign affairs coming to the fore.
George's ignorance of the English language and customs actually became
the cornerstone of his style of rule: leave England to it's own devices and
live in Hanover as much as possible. Cabinet positions became of the utmost
importance; the king's ministers represented the executive branch of
government, while Parliament represented the legislative. George's frequent
absences required the creation of the post of Prime Minister, the majority
leader in the House of Commons who acted in the king's stead. The first was
Robert Walpole, whose political mettle was tried in 1720 with the South Sea
Company debacle. The South Sea Company was a highly speculative venture
(one of many that was currently plaguing British economics at that time),
whose investors cajoled government participation. Walpole resisted from the
beginning, and after the venture collapsed and thousands were financially
ruined, he worked feverishly to restore public credit and confidence in
George's government. His success put him in the position of dominating
British politics for the next 20 years, and the reliance on an executive
Cabinet marked an important step in the formation of a modern
constitutional monarchy in England.
George avoided entering European conflicts by establishing a complex web
of continental alliances. He and his Whig ministers were quite skillful;
the realm managed to stay out of war until George II declared war on Spain
in 1739. George I and his son, George II, literally hated each other, a
fact that the Tory party used to gain political strength. George I, on his
many trips to Hanover, never placed the leadership of government in his
son's hands, preferring to rely on his ministers when he was abroad. This
disdain between father and son was a blight which became a tradition in the
House of Hanover.
Thackeray, in The Four Georges, allows both a glimpse of George I's
character, and the circumstances under which he ruled England: "Though a
despot in Hanover, he was a moderate ruler in England. His aim was to leave
it to itself as much as possible, and to live out of it as much as he
could. His heart was in Hanover. He was more than fifty-four years of age
when he came amongst us: we took him because we wanted him, because he
served our turn; we laughed at his uncouth German ways, and sneered at him.
He took our loyalty for what it was worth; laid hands on what money he
could; kept us assuredly from Popery and wooden shoes. I, for one, would
have been on his side in those days. Cynical, and selfish, as he was, he
was better than a king out of St. Germains [the Old Pretender] with a
French King's orders in his pocket, and a swarm of Jesuits in his train."
GEORGE II (1727-60)
George II was born November 10, 1683, the only son of George I and
Sophia. His youth was spent in the Hanoverian court in Germany, and he
married Caroline of Anspach in 1705. He was truly devoted to Caroline; she
bore him three sons and five daughters, and actively participated in
government affairs, before she died in 1737. Like his father, George was
very much a German prince, but at the age of 30 when George I ascended the
throne, he was young enough to absorb the English culture that escaped his
father. George II died of a stroke on October 25, 1760.
George possessed three passions: the army, music and his wife. He was
exceptionally brave and has the distinction of being the last British
sovereign to command troops in the field (at Dettingen against the French
in 1743). He inherited his father's love of opera, particularly the work of
George Frederick Handel, who had been George I's court musician in Hanover.
Caroline proved to be his greatest asset. She revived traditional court
life (which had all but vanished under George I, was fiercely intelligent
and an ardent supporter of Robert Walpole. Walpole continued in the role of
Prime Minister at Caroline's behest, as George was loathe keeping his
father's head Cabinet member. The hatred George felt towards his father was
reciprocated by his son, Frederick, Prince of Wales, who died in 1751.
Walpole retired in 1742, after establishing the foundation of the modern
constitutional monarchy: a Cabinet responsible to a Parliament, which was,
in turn, responsible to an electorate. At that time, the system was far
from truly democratic; the electorate was essentially the voice of wealthy
landowners and mercantilists. The Whig party was firmly in control,
although legitimist Tories attempted one last Jacobite rebellion in 1745,
by again trying to restore a Stuart to the throne. Prince Charles Edward
Stuart, known as the Young Pretender or Bonnie Prince Charlie, landed in
Scotland and marched as far south as Derby, causing yet another wave of
Anti-Catholicism to wash over England. The Scots retreated, and in 1746,
were butchered by the Royal Army at Culloden Moor. Bonnie Prince Charlie
escaped to France and died in Rome. The Tories became suspect due to their
associations with Jacobitism, ensuring oligarchic Whig rule for the
following fifty years.
Walpole managed to keep George out of continental conflicts for the first
twelve years of the reign, but George declared war on Spain in 1739,
against Walpole's wishes. The Spanish war extended into the 1740's as a
component of the War of Austrian Succession, in which England fought
against French dominance in Europe. George shrank away from the situation
quickly: he negotiated a hasty peace with France, to protect Hanover. The
1750's found England again at war with France, this time over imperial
claims. Fighting was intense in Europe, but North America and India were
also theatres of the war. Government faltering in response to the French
crisis brought William Pitt the Elder, later Earl of Chatham, to the
forefront of British politics.
Thackeray describes George II and Walpole as such, in The Four Georges
"... how he was a choleric little sovereign; how he shook his fist in the
face of his father's courtiers; how he kicked his coat and wig about in his
rages; and called everybody thief, liar, rascal with whom he differed: you
will read in all the history books; and how he speedily and shrewdly
reconciled himself with the bold minister, whom he had hated during his
father's life, and by whom he was served during fifteen years of his own
with admirable prudence, fidelity, and success. But for Robert Walpole, we
should have had the Pretender back again."
GEORGE III (r. 1760-1820)
George III was born on 4 June 1738 in London, the eldest son of
Frederick, Prince of Wales, and Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. He became
heir to the throne on the death of his father in 1751, succeeding his
grandfather, George II, in 1760. He was the third Hanoverian monarch and
the first one to be born in England and to use English as his first
language.
George III is widely remembered for two things: losing the American
colonies and going mad. This is far from the whole truth. George's direct
responsibility for the loss of the colonies is not great. He opposed their
bid for independence to the end, but he did not develop the policies (such
as the Stamp Act of 1765 and the Townshend duties of 1767 on tea, paper and
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