other products) which led to war in 1775-76 and which had the support of
Parliament. These policies were largely due to the financial burdens of
garrisoning and administering the vast expansion of territory brought under
the British Crown in America, the costs of a series of wars with France and
Spain in North America, and the loans given to the East India Company (then
responsible for administering India). By the 1770s, and at a time when
there was no income tax, the national debt required an annual revenue of Ј4
million to service it.
The declaration of American independence on 4 July 1776, the end of the
war with the surrender by British forces in 1782, and the defeat which the
loss of the American colonies represented, could have threatened the
Hanoverian throne. However, George's strong defence of what he saw as the
national interest and the prospect of long war with revolutionary France
made him, if anything, more popular than before.
The American war, its political aftermath and family anxieties placed
great strain on George in the 1780s. After serious bouts of illness in 1788-
89 and again in 1801, George became permanently deranged in 1810. He was
mentally unfit to rule in the last decade of his reign; his eldest son -
the later George IV - acted as Prince Regent from 1811. Some medical
historians have said that George III's mental instability was caused by a
hereditary physical disorder called porphyria.
George's accession in 1760 marked a significant change in royal finances.
Since 1697, the monarch had received an annual grant of Ј700,000 from
Parliament as a contribution to the Civil List, i.e. civil government costs
(such as judges' and ambassadors' salaries) and the expenses of the Royal
Household. In 1760, it was decided that the whole cost of the Civil List
should be provided by Parliament in return for the surrender of the
hereditary revenues by the King for the duration of his reign. (This
arrangement still applies today, although civil government costs are now
paid by Parliament, rather than financed directly by the monarch from the
Civil List.)
The first 25 years of George's reign were politically controversial for
reasons other than the conflict with America. The King was accused by some
critics, particularly Whigs (a leading political grouping), of attempting
to reassert royal authority in an unconstitutional manner. In fact, George
took a conventional view of the constitution and the powers left to the
Crown after the conflicts between Crown and Parliament in the 17th century.
Although he was careful not to exceed his powers, George's limited
ability and lack of subtlety in dealing with the shifting alliances within
the Tory and Whig political groupings in Parliament meant that he found it
difficult to bring together ministries which could enjoy the support of the
House of Commons. His problem was solved first by the long-lasting ministry
of Lord North (1770-82) and then, from 1783, by Pitt the Younger, whose
ministry lasted until 1801.
George III was the most attractive of the Hanoverian monarchs. He was a
good family man (there were 15 children) and devoted to his wife, Charlotte
of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, for whom he bought the Queen's House (later
enlarged to become Buckingham Palace). However, his sons disappointed him
and, after his brothers made unsuitable secret marriages, the Royal
Marriages Act of 1772 was passed at George's insistence. (Under this Act,
the Sovereign must give consent to the marriage of any lineal descendant of
George II, with certain exceptions.)
Being extremely conscientious, George read all government papers and
sometimes annoyed his ministers by taking such a prominent interest in
government and policy. His political influence could be decisive. In 1801,
he forced Pitt the Younger to resign when the two men disagreed about
whether Roman Catholics should have full civil rights. George III, because
of his coronation oath to maintain the rights and privileges of the Church
of England, was against the proposed measure.
One of the most cultured of monarchs, George started a new royal
collection of books (65,000 of his books were later given to the British
Museum, as the nucleus of a national library) and opened his library to
scholars. In 1768, George founded and paid the initial costs of the Royal
Academy of Arts (now famous for its exhibitions). He was the first king to
study science as part of his education (he had his own astronomical
observatory), and examples of his collection of scientific instruments can
now be seen in the Science Museum.
George III also took a keen interest in agriculture, particularly on the
crown estates at Richmond and Windsor, being known as 'Farmer George'. In
his last years, physical as well as mental powers deserted him and he
became blind. He died at Windsor Castle on 29 January 1820, after a reign
of almost 60 years - the second longest in British history.
GEORGE IV (1820-30)
George IV was 48 when he became Regent in 1811. He had secretly and
illegally married a Roman Catholic, Mrs Fitzherbert. In 1795 he officially
married Princess Caroline of Brunswick, but the marriage was a failure and
he tried unsuccessfully to divorce her after his accession in 1820
(Caroline died in 1821). Their only child Princess Charlotte died giving
birth to a stillborn child.
An outstanding, if extravagant, collector and builder, George IV acquired
many important works of art (now in the Royal Collection), built the Royal
Pavilion at Brighton, and transformed Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace.
George's fondness for pageantry helped to develop the ceremonial side of
monarchy. After his father's long illness, George resumed royal visits; he
visited Hanover in 1821 (it had not been visited by its ruler since the
1750s), and Ireland and Scotland over the next couple of years.
Beset by debts, George was in a weak position in relation to his Cabinet
of ministers. His concern for royal prerogative was sporadic; when the
Prime Minister Lord Liverpool fell ill in 1827, George at one stage
suggested that ministers should choose Liverpool's successor. In 1829,
George IV was forced by his ministers, much against his will and his
interpretation of his coronation oath, to agree to Catholic Emancipation.
By reducing religious discrimination, this emancipation enabled the
monarchy to play a more national role.
George's profligacy and marriage difficulties meant that he never
regained much popularity, and he spent his final years in seclusion at
Windsor, dying at the age of 67.
WILLIAM IV (1830-37)
At the age of 13, William became a midshipman and began a career in the
Royal Navy. In 1789, he was made duke of Clarence. He retired from the Navy
in 1790. Between 1791 and 1811 he lived with his mistress, the actress Mrs
Jordan, and the growing family of their children known as the
Fitzclarences. William married Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen in 1818,
but their children died in infancy. The third son of George III, William
became heir apparent at the age of 62 when his older brother died.
William's reign (reigned 1830-37) was dominated by the Reform crisis,
beginning almost immediately when Wellington's Tory government (which
William supported) lost the general election in August 1830. Pledged to
parliamentary reform, Grey's Whig government won a further election which
William had to call in 1831 and then pushed through a reform bill against
the opposition of the Tories and the House of Lords, using the threat of
the creation of 50 or more peers to do so. The failure of the Tories to
form an alternative government in 1832 meant that William had to sign the
Great Reform Bill. Control of peerages had been used as a party weapon, and
the royal prerogative had been damaged.
The Reform Bill abolished some of the worst abuses of the electoral
system (for example, representation for so called 'rotten boroughs', which
had long ceased to be of any importance, was stopped, and new industrial
towns obtained representation). The Reform Act also introduced standardised
rules for the franchise (different boroughs had previously had varying
franchise rules) and, by extending the franchise to the middle classes,
greatly increased the role of public opinion in the political process.
William understood the theory of the more limited monarchy, once saying
'I have my view of things, and I tell them to my ministers. If they do not
adopt them, I cannot help it. I have done my duty.' William died a month
after Victoria had come of age, thus avoiding another regency.
VICTORIA (1837-1901)
Victoria was born at Kensington Palace, London, on 24 May 1819. She was
the only daughter of Edward, Duke of Kent, fourth son of George III. Her
father died shortly after her birth and she became heir to the throne
because the three uncles who were ahead of her in succession - George IV,
Frederick Duke of York, and William IV - had no legitimate children who
survived. Warmhearted and lively, Victoria had a gift for drawing and
painting; educated by a governess at home, she was a natural diarist and
kept a regular journal throughout her life. On William IV's death in 1837,
she became Queen at the age of 18.
Queen Victoria is associated with Britain's great age of industrial
expansion, economic progress and - especially - empire. At her death, it
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