A seaside pleasure house rebuilt with onion domes and minarets outside and a Chinese interior within (1823)
The Royal Pavilion at Brighton, remodelled by John Nash
Monarchs · Hanoverian
George IV
1762–1830
House of Hanover — the Regency
In office: 1820–1830 (Prince Regent 1811–1820)
Prince Regent for nine years before he was king for ten, George IV gave his name to an age of dandies, stucco terraces and architectural extravagance. He was a discriminating patron of Nash, Wyatville and Lawrence, and a spendthrift whose attempt to divorce his wife by Act of Parliament made him the most unpopular monarch in living memory. His only legitimate child died before him, opening the way for his niece Victoria.
How to spot them
- ▸The Prince Regent; Prinny; the first gentleman of Europe
- ▸Brighton Pavilion, Regent Street, Regent's Park and the remodelling of Buckingham House into a palace
- ▸Caroline of Brunswick, locked out of her own coronation in 1821
- ▸A secret and invalid marriage to the Catholic widow Maria Fitzherbert in 1785
In the reign
Cavalry charge a reform meeting in a Manchester field and kill eighteen people (1819)
Peterloo, during the Regency; the name mocks Waterloo
A bill to strip a queen of her title and dissolve her marriage is abandoned in the face of public fury (1820)
The Pains and Penalties Bill against Caroline of Brunswick
The first visit by a reigning sovereign to Scotland since 1650, stage-managed in tartan by the author of Waverley (1822)
Sir Walter Scott choreographed the visit; the king wore a kilt with pink tights
A ministry led by the victor of Waterloo forces through the removal of Catholic disabilities (1829)
The Roman Catholic Relief Act, pushed by Wellington and Peel against the king's wishes
John Nash turns a queen's old townhouse into the sovereign's London palace (1825)
The remodelling of Buckingham House; Nash was dismissed over the cost after the king's death
A king gives his father's library of 65,000 volumes to the nation (1823)
The King's Library, now housed in the British Library tower at St Pancras
A rival to Oxford, Cambridge and the godless college in Gower Street receives its royal charter (1829)
King's College London
Quick-fire facts
- •Eldest son of George III; Prince Regent from February 1811 because of his father's illness
- •He married Maria Fitzherbert, a Roman Catholic widow, in 1785 — void under the Royal Marriages Act 1772
- •He married his cousin Caroline of Brunswick in 1795 to have his debts paid; they separated within a year
- •Their only child, Princess Charlotte, died in childbirth in 1817, causing the succession scramble that produced Victoria
- •Caroline was refused entry to Westminster Abbey at his coronation in July 1821 and died three weeks later
- •He was a friend and then enemy of Beau Brummell, who is said to have asked of him, 'Who's your fat friend?'
- •He employed Jeffry Wyatville to gothicise Windsor Castle and Thomas Lawrence to paint the Waterloo Chamber portraits
- •He died at Windsor on 26 June 1830; The Times wrote that no individual had been less regretted by his fellow creatures
- •He was succeeded by his brother William, Duke of Clarence
Drill it — 8 cards
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Sources
- The Royal Household — George IV (r. 1820-1830)
- Christopher Hibbert — George IV: Regent and King, 1811-1830