Kings and & Queens of England: Episode 5: Georgians

[Music] the story of the kings and queens of England is more surprising than you might think it's a fine drama a thousand years of tales of lust and betrayal of heroism and cruelty of mysteries murders tragedies and triumphs and it's also quite unlike the history of other countries royalty the thing about the kings and queens of England is that they're totally different from anywhere else which probably explains why they're still in business when almost everywhere else they've either been given the chop or have stopped being Regal this program looks at England's monarchs from the death of Queen Anne to the accession of Victoria well Britain's monarchs actually and if you look at Europe at the start of this story in 1714 you'll see just what I mean a European king is an absolute ruler Louis I 14th Peter the Great Philip i f of Spain Frederick William of Prussia all men of unlimited power it's not like that in Britain Queen Anne has died there are no Protestant stewards left the Protestant line to the English Throne now passes through James's granddaughter Sophia who had married a German Prince with the title of elector of Hanover and then from her to her son George Lewis whose inher Ed that Antiquated title into one quarter of the royal coat of arms pops the amazingly complicated device of a 54-year-old German prining and when he comes to England for his coronation he knows perfectly well that he's not going to be anything like those other rulers he will be almost powerless so it really doesn't matter that he can't speak a word of English at the opening of parliament King George stood in silence while his words were read by the Lord Chamberlain the crown that had belonged to Normans French plantagenets Welsh Judas and Scottish Stewarts had now passed to the German hanoverians the new King's son George Augustus arrived from herrenhausen to take his seat in the House of Lords as duke of rothy heir to the throne before leaving Germany he proudly declared I have not a drop of blood in my f which is not English Ry of course is a Scottish Juke George Augustus did share one trait with his father's English subjects a hearty dislike of King George and for the same reason 20 years before George became king of England something very mysterious had happened to his wife's best friend The Dashing count konigsmark his wife princess sfia Dortha had come to detest her husband who spent his time either engaged in Endless European Wars or enjoying his various mistresses kerik's Mark tried to help her escape from Hanover he failed the count simply disappeared from the face of the Earth actually his body was shoved under the floorboards of the princess's dressing room and the princess was banished and imprisoned her son George Augustus never forgave his father in fact father son detestation would be the defining Mark of the hanian dynasty they thrived on it the English weren't too keen on that sort of behavior either they might have been more sympathetic if they'd approved of the two mistresses that George brought with him but they called them the mapole and the elephant and decided they were simply greedy Germans with their snouts in the trough and there were Scottish noblemen who thought that with George lacking support in England this might be an opportunity to hand the thrown back to the Stewart family and in particular to James II's son living in France and known as The Pretender the French thought this would be a great idea Louis the 14th's mistress Madame de Mantino even presented him with a song to be sung on his accession it had originally been written for Louie to celebrate his recovery from a surgical procedure on his bottom she translated it for the man who should she thought be James VII of Scotland and why not James III of England God save the gracious King Long Live no King God Save the King the song turned out to be a bigger hit than the man Jacobite rising of 1715 was a complete flop and after spending a couple of months wandering around the highlands James went home to France George's Throne was safe he spent every winter in Hanover and left the government of England to his ministers his own work was done by a new figure the Prime Minister a politician acting as a king substitute the first man to take on this role was Robert Walpole since Walpole didn't speak German the pair of them communicated in school booy Latin King George died a sudden death in 1727 while in Hanover aged 67 [Music] his son was living in Richmond forbidden by the old man to take any part in court life or even to see his own children when Walpole came with the news of his father's death George II appears to have regarded it as a wind up that is one big lie but the outcast Prince was indeed now George II by the grace of God King of Great Britain France and Ireland defender of the faith elector of Hanover Duke of brunsick lunberg and jke of cah when he'd been convinced he came here to Leicester Square at the time it was Lester house where he'd been running his own court and here he was attended by the Archbishop of Canterbury who formerly presented him with his father's will Royal Wills had once been the most powerful doctor doents in the world when William the Conqueror and Henry II died their Wills established who would rule after them George took his father's will and instead of opening it shoved it in his pocket it was never seen again to the great disappointment of his father's Mistresses George II's wife Queen Caroline had very firm ideas on what should happen next and her husband was quite obedient the result was that everyone who' been hoping for their own promotion in a changed government was disappointed Walpole remained prime minister he'd promised her that she would get a personal Grant of £1,000 a year double the offer his opposition came up with and very little actually changed at all that included the traditional hostility between anyone called King George and his son the son in question was now of course the son of georgei Prince Frederick according to Queen Caroline he was the greatest ass the greatest liar the greatest Canali and the greatest beast in the whole world and we heartedly wish he was out of it she would have said it in German George agreed with the queen and refused to allow Frederick to marry princess Willamina of Prussia on the entirely sensible grounds that I did not think that in crafting my halfed cockcum upon a mad woman would improve the breed Prince Frederick's view of his father was by contrast quite balanced and objective he's an obstinate self-indulgent miserly martinette is an insatiable sexual appetite obstinate yes self-indulgent a fair point misery well he had slash Frederick's allowance to make him less of a social Rival martinette Well certainly a man of Relentless and determined regular routine and the sexual appetite we assume that is his right for instance he began seriously lasting after the beautiful young wife of the count of vmod when he met her in Hanover in 1735 and he told the queen that you must love saal moodin for she loves me the popular view of the King was that he was a Randy buffoon he seems to been flattered by the jokes about his sexual efforts as his father had once done Frederick ran his own alternative Court which was far more popular than the Kings King George II didn't like that my God popularity always makes me sick but this makes me vomit the pair of them even patronized rival operatic outfits the king and his Entourage went to see handle at the Hay Market handle had written George's coronation anthems his music was Grand and glorious altogether suitable for magnifying the greatness of a self-important Royal [Music] personage The Prince and his crowd stayed away they went instead to the theater Royal in Lincoln's in fields that was where Opera was being transformed into popular musical theater the biggest hit was the Beggars Opera a vigorous tale of the criminal classes which lots of people said said was intended as a satire on the court and War Pole's government when you the age be cautious and S lest the court offended should be if you mention Vice so Bri is so Pat to all the trip each CRI that was led at me it was all very entertaining watching royalty playing out their family quarrels but they were not quite reduced to the level of powerless performers King George was a fighting man like his father head of the army and very much engaged in the quarrels between the rulers of Continental Europe Walpole tried hard to keep him out of Wars but in 1739 the king got his way and England went to war with Spain this was the start of a steadily growing involvement in the power struggle between France Prussia and the hapsburg Empire its culmination for George came in June 1743 he found himself under attack by the French at a German Village called dingham his horse bolted but George stood in front of his troops waved his sword and made a rather ponderous but actually rather Brave Little speech now boys now for the honor of England F behave bravely on the French with soon run and so he became the last English king to lead his troops in battle it was a fierce fight and George emerged a bit of a hero but he didn't rule the country governments and ministers came and went not because he wanted them but because Parliament wanted them in fact George called himself a prisoner on the throne in 1745 he played no part in the battles of Preston pans or kudon which were far more important to the throne than the Battle of detan after all they were battles for the throne itself the cause of King James Stewart the king who' fled from William of Orange in 1688 had never been forgotten by the Scottish Highlanders its supporters supporters of a Roman Catholic monarchy were called jacobites the Latin for James being Jacobus James's son The Pretender had tried and failed to take the throne in 1715 and now 30 years on he was known as the old Pretender his son Charles born in Rome was the young Pretender Bonnie Prince Charlie to his supporters Charles kmir was 25 years old pale thin romantic and brave and he decided that George was so unpopular it would be a dole to take over he turned up at his own expense in the herdes and summoned the Scottish Clans most of them responded but out of a combination of loyalty and Desperation rather than [Applause] conviction but things went rather well for the rebels they were enthusiastically welcomed into Edinburgh and roundly defeated the government Army at Preston pans the news created a passion of patriotism when it reached London the city might have lampooned the court and sneered at it but this was different that evening the King was visiting the theater The King's theater Drury Lane and the orchestra struck up a tune which they just got hold of God gracious King Long Live no no King God Save the King the audience loved it none of them knew that it had been the old Pretenders music or the king of Fran's the songer changed sides and became the national [Applause] anthem actually it became everybody's anthem at one time or another Frenchmen Germans Russians Swiss leniners swedes Danes and Americans have all swelled with patriotic Pride to exactly the same tune but when God saved the king became London's big hit it was because no one could see how the king would be saved any other way Marshall Wade the best officer in the government Army said that Scotland was lost and England would fall prey to the first Comer Lord grant thatall wa may by thy Mighty Aid Victory bring may he s hush and like a t Rush re go to crush God Save the King the rebels took Manchester then Derby London trembled but not as much as the clansmen they marched expecting England to rise in their support and the French to invade instead they had no support at all most fundamentally they realized that the English would never accept a Roman Catholic King they'd outflanked a large English army but it was now on their tail and another was coming up from London so back they went and the clansmen were finally slaughtered in their thousands at kudon in April 1746 Charles hid out for months in the Scottish islands hunted through the mountains by troops and with a price on his head but protected by tribal loyalties until he finally escaped back to France and the clan culture of the Highlands was systematically and ruthlessly extrated clans were dispersed their leaders imprisoned or executed plaid and weaponry and bag pipes were banned the Woodby Charles III made a bizarre secret return to England in 1750 where he converted to protestantism and expected this would encourage his supporters to have more hope they were more impressed by his degree of attachment to the bottle not so much the king over the water as the king under the table King George was in no danger now George also found his other great enemy removed his son Frederick died in 1751 he'd been hit hard in the stomach by a tennis ball and the resulting abdominal Elsa burst and killed him the new heir to the throne was was a 12-year-old child Frederick's son George but the great problems of the Kingdom were outside the king's grasp his country was now a great Imperial trading power with huge involvements in India the East Indies North America and the Mediterranean so was France at the same time Continental Europe was constantly boiling over into war and Hanover was in the middle of that in 1756 the Great Powers finally locked horns in a Do or Die struggle that would girdle the whole world this would become the Seven Years War it was truly the first world war Britain fought in the name of its king but that King now neither directed policy nor took part in the battles a new world in fact Affairs were so far out of the king's control that when he dismissed ministers he didn't like they came right back again so far as the English were concerned this was just how things ought to be Englishmen were entitled to Liberty the despots were on the other side Catholic France and Austria their whole life Commerce industry and fighting force was directed by Royal tyrants who ruled over starving and Powerless peasants and on the other side Protestant Britain whose commerce was run by men of business whose industry was directed by free Tradesmen whose Army and Navy were run by Heroes and manned by proud freemen and whose Court was the center of society not of autocratic power and that was how many of the British really did see it of course they were also fighting of despotic pressure but that was a minor detail the general perception was that this was a war of free Britains against European despots poor George died at the height of the war in 1760 and it didn't matter at [Music] all his grandson now George III was 22 years old he had been brought up by his mother a German princess in her imitation of the very differential Court of Han he learned the European idea of what a king should be an enlightened despot who whose power was absolute and was to be used for the benefit of mankind this was of course very far from the English notion of kingship in which the King was the leading figure in society but whose power was entirely controlled by Parliament he immediately set to work as a bossy quick-speaking managerial King deliberately folish I will have no Innovations in my time what what he read widely he was fascinated by machinery and agriculture he was a man delighted by the Agricultural and Industrial revolutions and he was determined to restore the crown to what he saw as its proper position a position abandoned in his view by George's one and two unlike them he'd been born in England and spoke good English even if his grasp of grammar was ropey and he had no old or young Pretender to challenge him at the opening of his first Parliament he declared born and educated ated in this country I glory in the name of Britain Parliament was controlled by one party the wigs effectively an oligarchy of rich men who ran the country by a system of bribery patronage and nepotism George felt that it was his job to improve matters and so began the most catastrophic Reign since James II if it hadn't been for George III's attempt to turn back the clock the inhabitants of New York might still be using British passports and the inhabitants of Los Angeles and Miami Spanish ones now there's a thought to break the power of the wigs he set about creating what was almost his own political party a group of MPS known as the king's friends he took back the power of Distributing positions and favors from the government and did it himself so he soon built up a collection of political dependents his first objective was to bring an end to the war he didn't at all share the anti-french views of the wick Prime Minister William pit it took a lot of political manipulation but in 1763 with pit removed from Power a peace treaty was signed by this stage the war had actually been one Pit's policies had resulted in Britain becoming the dominant colonial power in the world Britain was more or less Undisputed ruler of North America India the Caribbean and much besides and George took the credit the glory and tried to take control end of the Seven Years War in 1763 the king of England ruled over more of the world than any man since genis Khan an empire about five times larger than Rome of course he wasn't in the position of an Asiatic Tyrant or even your common or garden European despot his control would have to be through Parliament his power was limited to choosing ministers and even that wouldn't work if Parliament in the country wouldn't stomach him as George kept finding out his solution was to do all he could to increase his own influence in Parliament in effect get stuck right into Political intrigues since it was illegal to report parliamentary debates people became very suspicious of what was going on he spent huge sums on trying to influence elections and would even personally go out canvasing on one occasion for instance bustling into a draper shop saying the queen wants a gown wants a gown announcing who to vote for and rushing out again and since George was closely engaged in politics people naturally blamed him personally when things went wrong when Parliament rejected a bill that would have helped the spittle fields Weavers the Weavers marched off to find the king at Wimbledon shades with the peasants Revolt George listened to their complaints and persuaded them to go back home but when they realized he wasn't going to help they rioted and he personally ordered out the troops he said he would put himself at the head of the army or do anything else to save his country he also had a hand in creating the notorious Stamp Act of 1765 which tried to make the English colonists in America pay a tax on paper this was the moment at which the whole language of politics began to change one Virginia colonist declared Caesar had his Brutus Charles I his Cromwell made George III profit from their example the cromwellian revolution of the previous Century had certainly been driven by the connection between Taxation and Liberty the issue now was that the 13 English colonies in America had their own governments run by their own local oligarchies and raising their own taxes the idea that they could be taxed by the oligarchy in London headed by the King was totally outrageous they would have no way to influence what what was done or what they had to pay colonists who supported the government were threatened by their compatriots some were tarred and feathered and by the time the ACT came into effect there wasn't a single person who'd accepted the job of commissioner to collect the tax it had to be repealed there was similar alarm in England as in his attempt to control Parliament George arrested his leading critic there John wils mobs rioted in the of wils and Liberty and threatened the King wils was released and it was established that there was a legal right to report and criticize what happened in Parliament but by 1770 he had created the political system he wanted the political parties had collapsed and he had a docile chief minister Lord North with a parliamentary majority through whom he could run things the way he thought they should be George liked running things popularly known as farmer George he took took a very close interest in modern farming methods developing animal breeds and new crops these were the same modern farming methods which by enclosing common lands and creating large self-contained Farms were breaking up Village communities all over England and creating a new class of half starved landless wage laborers bad Harvest didn't help nor did a collapse in trade the colonists in America were showing their anger by refusing to import any anything from Britain Lord North decided the best thing to do was repeal all the taxes on them except for a symbolic tax on tea 3 years later he arranged another Act of parliament to try to help the East India Company sell more tea in America and radicals in Boston retaliated with a symbolic tea party at which men dressed as Native Americans dumped the tea in the harbor the reaction in England stirred by the popular press was that the colonists must be punished George certainly shared that view blows must decide whether they are to be subject to this country or independent misunderstanding the strength of feeling and of organization against them the Government tried to use too little force and triggered a fullscale rebellion the rebel colonists proclaimed their independence in 1776 and with the backing of a large part of popular opinion in England George was determined to fight them and crush them the result as many less warlike Englishmen had been warning was disaster for England even Lord North wanted out but George was in charge the American Revolutionary War became a campaign not against unjust government or English rule but against the very principle of monarchic government George's determination to be active in government and place himself at the heart of politics created a new Republican movement a language in which to attack the rule of Kings the piece of Versa in 1783 forced Britain to recognize the United States of America six years later their host at Versailles Louis the 16th of France was himself called on by a revolutionary crowd who carried him off and set up their own Republic the process of destroying monarchy was underway did George understand what he D he certainly Fred about the American disaster and perhaps it was his own sense of failure that made him display signs of mental disturbance in 1788 talking incessantly and behaving oddly his doctor thought making him bleed would help when that failed the Prince of Wales took over the treatment the Prince of Wales was 26 years old a dashing if rather fat man about town and in the grand tradition of their Hanoverian ancestors King George and his son hated each other the prince lived in the house pought for his mother the Duke of Buckingham's magnificent home near St James's park it was still called Buckingham house he liked it so much he eventually built a rather dull Palace around it when he came of age he'd set up his home in clarence's house taken his seat in the House of Lords and set about being a thorn in Daddy's flesh partly by opposing his father's ministers and partly by his wildly extravagant social life in the course of which he secretly married a glamorous Widow Mrs Fitz Herbert after a passionate wooing process that included theatrically stabbing himself to safely produce as much blood as possible the marriage was illegal he wasn't allowed to Wed without the king's consent it was also significant that the lady was a Roman Catholic in 1780 anti-catholic riers stirred up by Lord George Gordon had taken over London for a week eventually dispersed by troops on the king's orders the Gordon riots ended with 290 people dead and 25 ring leaders hanged not of course Lord George priny as his friends called him spent his time in gambling clubs in the company of dandies like Bo brumel and put much energy into building the bizarre and spectacular Pavilion in Brighton that's where he was when he heard that the King was mentally ill and he hurried off to Windsor to take over 28 years old he was going to be Regent when the king saw his son he physically attacked him he threw priny against the wall the poor boy burst into tears there was then a huge political battle over what powers the regent would be allowed to have his own bunch of politicians led by Fox on one side and the Kings led by pit on the other Fox's supporters saw pit as a sort of fungus with as many arms as an octopus growing on and taking over the Royal dungill and the prince of Wales brought in his own physician to treat the king or torture him the Royal Physicians blistered the king's forehead to draw the poison out of his brain forced him to take useless drugs ordering servants to sit on the King when he resisted and refused to let him have a fire in his room during the terribly cold winter all this when the country was anticipating French invasion and radical revolution and volunteer regiments were being formed as a desperate line of defense very desperate finally new Physicians were brought in who gave the king gentler treatment and he recovered in 1801 before the arguments over how the Regency would function had been resolved the King was back in charge but not in the way he had been the American defeat had been a personal disaster for him and dramatically weakened his political position in an effort to reassert it he'd installed a 24y old as prime minister and Chancellor of the ex cheer thinking that here at least was a politician he could control but William Pit's son pit the younger was shrewd capable and fully understood that George depended on him so he held all the cards and it was pit who had to decide how to deal with the spread of revolutionary Republican ideas from America and France into England the same ideas that have been voiced in America about no taxation without representation were being heard in England where huge new manufacturing towns had grown up which had no Member of Parliament 3 years after the French Revolution political reform societies called corresponding societies were founded in England riots were breaking out in the Midlands in East Anglia in Scotland attempts were made to kill the king he was booed and stoned in in London and the French legislature passed a fraternal decree offering Aid to all people seeking to throw off the chains of tyranny once War began with revolutionary France political radicalism was plainly treason wasn't it the government decided on a policy of aggressive repression habius Corpus was suspended people could be imprisoned indefinitely without trial the government charged people with treason for organizing public meetings calling for political reform when they were acquitted Acts were passed which extended the definition of treason to include speaking or writing or bringing the king or his government into contempt to back it up a system of internal spying and Azon provocateur was instituted postmasters were given the job of reporting to the home office anything suspicious that they heard or that went through the mail public meetings needed special licenses when William Blake The Artist found a soldier in his garden he drove him out shouting damn the king and damn all his soldiers they're all his slaves bad idea he was put on trial for sedition the king himself was actually quite popular he was generally seen as a kind-hearted slightly buffer sort of a person but he was still ultimately in charge of what was going on and when even pit insisted that Catholics would have to be allowed the same rights as Protestants and permitted to stand for Parliament George forced him to resign the issue had come to the four because of Ireland if england had some potential revolutionaries how many more had Ireland a land where an oppressed Catholic majority were ruled by imported Protestant colonists and an ideal staging post for a French invasion in 1801 Ireland was incorporated into Great Britain creating the the United Kingdom it was an attempt to make Ireland more secure the fact that at the same time the king forly abdicated his meaningless title of King of France shows exactly where the threat was coming from but if Ireland was to be truly United with England there would have to be Catholic emancipation and King George wouldn't have it whatever might have happened could not have been worse than what did Ireland still bleeding it's now the shadow of George III Lies Over The History of the World more Darkly than most people realize as with the American disaster it seems as though one part of his mind was determined to make him feel the full weight of his responsibility and once more his mental state degenerated he made a slow recovery enough to sack his ministers in 1805 when they tried to lift the restrictions on Catholics becoming Military Officers but he was becoming blind and infirm and in 1810 his mind finally collapsed no one's quite sure what was wrong with him but a strain of hereditary Insanity had run through the royal family ever since Henry VI's marriage to cathine De valoir blind and deaf suffering from abdominal pains and dementia his body lived on but his Reign was over priny took over at [Music] last [Music] by this time European monarchy had been transformed the enlightened desports had fallen Napoleon's empire had swallowed them up replacing them with dictators from his own family or under his control even Hanover had been overwhelmed the tar still survived but Napoleon was about to invade Russia Britain stood virtually alone and in Britain the ancient principle of the royal prerogative was now in the fat clammy hands of a gambling massively indebted roly poly Dandy with a passion for show and splendor but the military Genius of Wellington and Nelson didn't need a king to guide it so under his uninspiring even ridiculous leadership Napoleon Was Defeated and the de crowned heads of Europe were brushed down and put back on their Thrones why the ruler of the United Kingdom even became king of Hana priny had been against everything his father stood for but now he was in power he suddenly adopted all his father's political principles especially his determined opposition to letting Catholics have civil rights and to any reform of parliament elections were basically a fce with some MPS representing constituencies with almost no voters and the vast majority of people unrepresented the king thought this was fine lots of other people didn't and this became a desperate issue in the years after the Napoleonic War there were thousands of unemployed ex soldiers there was an agricultural depression made worse by the terrible summer of 1816 and there was increasing unemployment due to the use of new machinery and the prince of wales's appetite for luxurious silverware and Furniture grew mountainous graffiti appeared saying death or the Regent's head at the end of 186 there was a fullscale riot in London aimed at setting up a radical government the next month the prince Regent's Carriage was mobbed on his way to open Parliament the Grim apparatus of repression was revived the death penalty was restored for unlicensed public meetings printers of seditious material were to be seized there was plenty of seditious material the prince Regent was a laughing stock the flood of caricatures and satires was Unstoppable his extravagance was spectacular a few years earlier the government had agreed to clear his huge debts on condition that he made a legal marriage the victim selected was his cousin Caroline of Brunswick a Charming friendly and unassuming young lady who was also a bit of an exhibitionist he spent the wedding night drunk after 9 months to the day Caroline gave birth to a daughter but by then her husband had long abandoned her he devoted himself to the pursuit of motherly Mistresses and treated Caroline with a cold brutality which really defined his personal style he was more of a passer than a regent and the Brighton Pavilion made that declaration loud and clear George III finally died in 1820 having notionally reigned for 60 years the longest Reign until Victoria and he was 81 the longest life of any British ruler so [Music] far prin was now King his wife Caroline now decided to come to England from her Exile on the continent and take her place at her husband's coronation an immediate attempt was made to pass an act of parliament divorcing the royal couple but it was dangerously unpopular and had to be abandoned she turned up for the coronation at Westminster Abbey but the door was closed in her face the coronation fabulously expensive was performed in complete privacy she went away brokenhearted and died Less Than 3 weeks later her body was to be returned to Brunswick for burial the king nervous of a riot insisted that the coffin should not be transported through the city of London but it was seized by londoners who staged their own funeral procession with it and were gunned down by the house guards at hide Park Corner afraid of being attacked and afraid of being laughed at because of his great swollen body from 1823 King George IV avoided being seen in public he even built a tunnel to allow him to get from his rooms in Brighton Pavilion to the riding school in private and of course it was said ever since that it connected to his mistress's house it became essential for the government to break the king's opposition to reform especially with regard to Catholics but he held the power of veto the arguments went on hour after hour day after day with the King becoming more enraged and more ill until finally he broke by February of 1830 he was partially blind and raving convinced that he'd commanded a division at watero and ridden a winning race at Goodwood and so he died and they found 50 years of coats boots and pantaloons and countless bundles of women's love letters of women's gloves of locks of his many mistress's hair why on Earth did Britain need a king what use was he to man or beast why in heaven name wasn't there a revolution the truth is no one knows some historians think it was a result of methodism becoming popular diverting poorer people's energy from politics into religion some think it was patriotism in the Age of Empire that king and country was a slogan that helped people pull together against Napoleon but perhaps given the riots rebellions and mutinies it was due more to the efficiency of the police state and the forcefulness of repression [Music] and lurking at the back of people's minds was the distant memory of what it had been like when there had been a revolution the Grim rule of cromwell's major generals echoed and made more Terrible by the vision of the guillotine in France always keep a hold of nurse for fear of finding something worse despite George's enthusiastic sexual Enterprise he had only produced One legitimate child and she died in childbirth the heir to the throne was his brother William who was [Music] 54 he had been sent into the Navy as a Young Man where he developed into a severe disciplinarian and a stickler etiquette after he left he took an actress Mrs Jordan as his mistress had lots of illegitimate children and was given to making tactless speeches with not much intelligence he eventually had made a royal marriage to another German Protestant Princess and Mr King and Mrs Queen lived at pushy to the north of London like a quite ordinary couple William insisted that his coronation should only cost a tenth of his brothers and he was known to give people a lift in his Carriage all this made him rather popular but when it came to parliamentary reform he turned out to be as resistant as any other Hanoverian King by now the popular pressure for changing the voting system into something more representative was virtually irresistible giving more men the vote having MPS for the new towns and secret ballots this would give the commons more power so the House of Lords was resisting it and Williams sided with them by 1832 there seemed a real possibility of civil war or revolution ution it's possible that if the royal family were part of the aristocracy as in every other country with a king that would have happened but the king and queen had their family roots in Germany and there was no natural alliance between them and the great aristocratic families William was weak and was forcefully persuaded to give way and Britain was started on the road to democracy after the Reform Bill of 1832 with no more rotten Barrow and greatly reduced scope for electoral corruption it was no longer possible for the king to play politics inside Parliament to the same extent the monarchy would now be forced back into its constitutional box and it was no longer sufficiently dangerous to be worth the trouble of a revolution when he died in 1837 William's legitimate children were already dead the heir to the Throne was the daughter of his brother Edward a young girl of 18 she would make a demure and pretty little Queen who could leave the business of running England to the professionals couldn't she to test your knowledge of the decadent George IV Sky digital viewers press read on UK TV history next the modern kings and queens of England coming up here on history and starting on documentary The Best of British Blue [Music] Planet

Channel: AngelDocs

Views: 985,749

Keywords: kings queens england, georgians, george i, george ii, george iii, george IV, british empire, documentary

Id: c2mDgYQS7ZA

Length: 45min 44sec (2744 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 18 2012