 1820
- 1830
George Augustus Frederick, born 12 August 1762, was
created Prince of Wales in 1762. In 1785 he married Maria Anne Fitzherbert,
a Roman Catholic. The marriage was illegal, however; and in 1795, to secure
parliamentary settlement of his enormous debts, he made a political marriage
with Caroline of Brunswick. He married Princess Caroline of Brunswick
(1768-1821) in 1795. He ascended to the thrones of Great Britain and
Hanover, as King George IV, on 29 January, 1820, and was crowned on 19 July
1821. He died 26 June 1830.
The couple had one child: Charlotte, born 7 January, 1796.
Princess Charlotte married Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg on 2 May, 1816. She
died in childbirth of a stillborn son on 6 November 1817.
 In
constant and open opposition to his father, George associated closely with
the Whigs. As a result, when George III had his first serious fit of
insanity in 1788–89, the Tory William Pitt proposed that the regency vested
in the prince be closely restricted (to prevent George bringing his Whig
friends to power), while Fox, usually the opponent of royal prerogative,
wanted the prince to have unlimited powers as regent.
In 1811, after the king had become permanently
incapacitated, George became regent on terms very similar to those proposed
by Pitt in 1788. However, when the limitations on his power to make
appointments and spend crown revenues were removed in 1812, the prince
regent retained most of his father's ministers, breaking his connection with
the Whigs.
The Tories, under the leadership of the 2nd Earl of
Liverpool for most of the period, remained entrenched in power throughout
the regency and George's subsequent reign. As regent and as king, George was
hated for his extravagance and dissolute habits, and he aroused particular
hostility by an unsuccessful attempt, immediately after his accession (1820)
to the throne, to divorce his long-estranged wife, Caroline.
During his reign the monarchy lost a significant amount of
power. George was succeeded by his brother William
IV. |
