George Hanover IV, King of Britain
George IV was the oldest son of George III, and was nearly the complete opposite of his
father. He ruled in England for several years before he became king, as regent for his mad
father. When his father died, he continued to rule in the same style -- extravagantly and
luxuriously. He especially influenced the fashions and trends of the time, which have come
to be known as the "regency" style.George was conservative politically, but completely amoral in his personal life. He had
numerous mistresses until he was married to Maria Fitzherbert, a Catholic. His father
forbade the marriage, and he turned to the mistresses again. Later he had a marriage with
Caroline of Brunswick arranged for him, but the two detested each other and Caroline
moved to Italy with his only daughter.George was actually quite intelligent, but his personal life aroused numerous scandals
among the British. When he became king, Caroline returned to claim her place as queen,
but George barred her from being coronated. In the end she never managed to claim the
queenship. George died with no sons, leaving the country in the hands of one of his
brothers.
George Hanover II, King of England
George II
George II grew up in his father's courts at Hanover but, unlike his father, adapted himself
much more easily to English society. He had an easy succession, becoming the king of
England and Hanover with his father's death in 1727. He was an only child.George despised his father and was in turn despised by his son, Frederick. His passions
were the military, music, and (strangely for a king) his wife. He was married to Caroline
of Anspach. He had three sons and five daughters, all of them legitimate. His wife was a
great asset to him politically, as she revived the waning English court life, was very
intelligent, and was an avid supporter of Prime Minister Robert Walpole.Walpole strived for years to keep George II from going to war, but eventually George
won out and declared war on the Spanish in 1739. The war eventually became integrated
with the war of Austrian succession and lasted for several years. George also dealt with a
Jacobite uprising during his reign, in which the young pretender (Charles Edward Stuart)
marched with a group of Scottish rebels toward London. The uprising was crushed,
Charles escaped to France, and the Scottish were humiliated and massacred by the fed-up
English.(George II was the last king to personally lead his troops into battle.)
George was prone to temper tantrums and intolerance of those who disagreed with him
but, thanks to the prudence of Robert Walpole, led quite a successful government. With
his death he passed the throne onto his grandson, George III.
George Hanover I, King of England
George I was born and raised in Germany. He was the son of Ernest, the elector of
Hanover (one of the handful of men who had the right to cast a vote for the German
Emperor) and Sophia, the granddaughter of James I. He was raised in the German
Hanoverian court, and married a German wife (Sophia the Princess of Zelle), and
inherited the throne of England through a technicality -- Queen Anne had no children and
no heirs, and the Parliament considered George I a better alternative than James Edward
Stuart, who was next in line. He was thoroughly German and had absolutely no interest in
learning English or about the English culture. In fact, he spent more than half his reign in
his beloved Hanover. This did not bode well for his popularity with the British.George brought a host of German attendants with him to England. The attendants appear
to have had one simple attitude -- get as rich as possible as quickly as possible. George
also had two mistresses come with him: Ehrengard ("the maypole") and Charlotte ("the
elephant"). His wife, ironically, was in prison for adultery, so did not accompany him.(George I's reign created an English government that was able to run independently of the
king. Most notably, the office of prime minister was created during this time.)During his reign, a group of Scots stormed London in support of James Edward Stuart,
"The Old Pretender." However, by the time James arrived, the revolt had already been
crushed, and the French king (who had promised support) did not show up at all.George I was instrumental in negotiating a complex set of alliances throughout Europe,
and he kept England out of war for his entire reign. England would not have another war
until George II declared war on Spain in 1739.George and his son, who would become George II, despised one another. When George
left the country for one of his frequent trips to Hanover, he preferred to leave the
government in the hands of his ministers in preference to his son. George II remained the
heir, however, and took over the government when his father died in 1727.
Charles Stuart I, King of England
Beheaded; the only English King to be publicly executed.
He believed that God had made him a King, so he did not need to consult his subjects.
He managed to rule without a Parliament until 1640, and tried to force his Scottish
subjects to accept English Church services. When this led to a war he could not afford,
he promised to share some of his power with Parliament. People no longer trusted him
and England slid into Civil War.Charles I was born in 1600 to James I and Anne of Denmark. After a few failed marriage
attempts, Charles was married to Henrietta Maria, daughter of Henry IV of France. They
produced four sons and five daughters. In 1625, Charles ascended the throne.Charles faced his father's problems. He was unable to get money from Parliament because
he ignored the problems of the nobility. George Villiers, who continued to be unpopular,
was assassinated in 1628 to the rejoicing of the nobility. After 1629, Charles failed to call
Parliament for eleven years and was forced to raise money by selling monopolies and
collecting ship money.When Charles tried to force a new prayer book on Scotland, the Scots revolted. His army
was unprepared due to lack of funds. He called the Short and Long Parliaments, but still
could not reach an agreement. His wife convinced him to arrest five members of Parliament.
The attempt failed and Charles entered into a civil war.(It took three years before Charles and his wife warmed up to each other. However, after
they did they had a successful marriage which produced nine children.)Supported by the Cavaliers, Charles faced Parliament, the Roundheads, at Nottingham in 1642.
The Roundheads, who had more money and more people were expected to win. At Naseby in
1645, Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army crushed the Cavaliers. Charles surrendered to the
Scottish forces and was turned over to Parliament. In 1649, he was executed.(Charles was found guilty of treason by the tribunal. He was convicted with a vote of sixty-eight
to sixty-seven.)
II, King of England Charles Stuart
Charles was born the second son of Henrietta Marie and Charles I in 1630. In 1649,
Charles fled to France, but he returned to Scotland in 1650 where he was crowned king.
He led ten thousand Scottish soldiers to defeat and fled to France again. He assumed the
throne in 1660. His marriage to Catherine of Braganza produced no legitimate children.In order to retain the throne, Charles was forced to accept the position of a limited
monarch. He was very tolerant of religious affairs and his father's murderers, only nine of
whom were executed. Political parties arose: the Tories, loyal to the king, and the Whigs,
loyal to the Parliament.Charles was defeated by the Dutch. The Great Plague swept through England in 1665 and
the Fire of London burned much of the city in 1667. Charles secured an alliance with
France against the Dutch. The Whigs attempted to use the rising wave of
anti-Catholicism to keep the Catholic James II from ascending the throne. Titus Oates
had ten men falsely accused and executed; Anthony Cooper has been accused of starting
a wave of violence against Catholics. A sickness caused public opinion to halt passage of
the Exclusion Bill which would have prevented all Catholics from holding office.
Charles died in 1685.Charles promised to reinstate Catholicism at an appropriate time in order to achieve his
alliance with France. Charles never reinstated Catholicism, but converted on his
deathbed.