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| English (British) Monarchy | |
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| Topic Started: 30 Sep 2007, 06:53 PM (267 Views) | |
| Nadine Brisso | 30 Sep 2007, 06:53 PM Post #1 |
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Herein follows a list of the monarchs that ruled England or Great Britain from the begin to present. West Saxons The following list starts with Alfred, King of Wessex from 871, whose defeat of the Danes in 878 paved the way for the creation of the Kingdom of England. Alfred proclaimed himself King of the English after liberating London from the Danes in 886. Alfred the Great 871–899 Edward the Elder 899–924 Ethelweard (uncrowned) 924[1] Athelstan 924–939 (also styled King of All Britain) Edmund the Magnificent 939–946 (also styled King of Britain) Edred 946–955 (also styled King of Britain) Edwy the Fair 955–959 (also styled Emperor of Britain) Edgar the Peaceable 959–975 (also styled Emperor of All Albion) Edward the Martyr 975–978 Ethelred the Unready 978–1013, 1014–1016 Edmund Ironside 1016 Danes England came under the rule of Danish kings following the disastrous reign of Ethelred the Unready. Some, though not all, of these were also kings of Denmark. Sweyn Forkbeard (uncrowned) 1013–1014 Canute 1016–1035 (also styled King of All Britain) Harthacanute 1035–1037, 1040–1042 Harold Harefoot 1037-1040 West Saxons (restored) Edward the Confessor 1042–1066 Harold Godwinson 1066 Edgar the Atheling (uncrowned) 1066 (abdicated, died c. 1126) Normans It was only after the Norman Conquest of 1066 that kings took regnal numbers in the French fashion, though the earlier custom of distinguishing monarchs by nicknames did not die out immediately. William I, the Conqueror 1066–1087 William II, Rufus 1087–1100 Henry I, Beauclerk 1100–1135 Stephen 1135–1141, 1141–1154 Matilda (uncrowned) 1141 (deposed, died 1167) Plantagenets The early Plantagenets ruled many territories in France, and did not regard England as their primary home until after most of their French possessions were lost by King John. This long-lived dynasty is usually divided into three houses. Angevins Henry II, FitzEmpress 1154–1189 Richard I, the Lionheart 1189–1199 John Lackland 1199–1216 Henry III 1216–1272 Edward I, Longshanks 1272–1307 Edward II 1307–1327 (deposed, murdered 1327) Edward III 1327–1377 Richard II 1377–1399 (deposed, murdered 1400) Lancastrians Henry IV 1399–1413 Henry V 1413–1422 Henry VI 1422–1461, 1470–1471 Yorkists Edward IV 1461–1470, 1471–1483 Edward V (uncrowned) 1483 (deposed, probably murdered 1483) Richard III, Crookback 1483–1485 Tudors The Tudors were of partial Welsh ancestry, and in 1536 Wales was fully incorporated into the English state (having been under English control since 1284). Henry VII 1485–1509 Henry VIII 1509–1547 Edward VI 1547–1553 Jane (uncrowned) 1553 (deposed, executed 1554)[5] Mary I 1553–1558 Elizabeth I 1558–1603 Stuarts Following the death of Elizabeth I in 1603 without issue, the Scottish king, James VI, succeeded to the English throne as James I in what became known as the Union of the Crowns. In 1604 he adopted the title King of Great Britain, although the two kingdoms remained independent. James I 1603–1625 Charles I 1625–1649 Commonwealth There was no reigning monarch between the execution of Charles I in 1649 and the Restoration of Charles II in 1660. Despite this, Oliver Cromwell held monarchical powers 1653–1658 as Lord Protector, succeeded by his son, Richard Cromwell 1658–1659 (resigned, died 1712). Stuarts (restored) Charles II 1660–1685 James II 1685–1688 (deposed, died 1701) William III 1689–1702, jointly with... Mary II 1689–1694, as co-monarch Anne 1702–1714 (last Queen of England and first Queen of Great Britain) Monarchs of Great Britain and the United Kingdom England and Scotland entered into legislative and governmental union under the Acts of Union 1707, though retained separate legal systems and other trappings of statehood. From this time on the titles King of England and Queen of England are technically incorrect (though still in wide usage). Hanoverians George I 1714–1727 George II 1727–1760 George III 1760–1820 (first King of the United Kingdom) George IV 1820–1830 William IV 1830–1837 Victoria 1837–1901 (also Empress of India) Saxe-Coburg-Gotha Edward VII 1901–1910 Windsors The house name Windsor was adopted in 1917, during the First World War. It was changed from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha due to war-time anti-German sentiment. George V 1910–1936 Edward VIII (uncrowned) 1936 (abdicated, died 1972) George VI 1936–1952 Elizabeth II 1952–present The monarchs during the early 1700's were Queen Anne and King George I. Here is some more information on those monarchs. The King and Queen that followed them in reign will be posted shortly. Queen Anne Anne (6 February 1665 – 1 August 1714) became Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702. On 1 May 1707, when England and Scotland combined into a single kingdom, Anne became the first sovereign of the Kingdom of Great Britain. She continued to reign until her death. Anne was the last monarch of the House of Stuart; she was succeeded by a second-cousin, George I, of the House of Hanover. Anne's life was marked by many crises relating to succession to the Crown. Her Roman Catholic father, James VII and II, had been forcibly deposed in 1688; her brother-in-law and her sister then became joint monarchs as William III and Mary II. The failure of both Anne and her sister to produce a child who could survive into adulthood precipitated a succession crisis, for, in the absence of a Protestant heir, the Roman Catholic James Francis Edward Stuart (the "Old Pretender"), son of James II, could attempt to claim the throne. It was for this reason that the Parliament of England passed legislation allowing the Crown to pass to the House of Guelph. When the Parliament of Scotland refused to accept the choice of the English Parliament, various coercive tactics (such as crippling the Scottish economy by restricting trade) were used to ensure that Scotland would co-operate. The Act of Union 1707 (which united England and Scotland into Great Britain) was a product of subsequent negotiations. Anne's reign was marked by the development of the two-party system. Anne personally preferred the Tory Party, but endured the Whigs. Her closest friend, and perhaps her most influential advisor, was Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, though there was a falling out later when the Duchess of Marlborough was banned from court during the War of the Spanish Succession. The Duchess of Marlborough's husband was John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, who led the English - and after the Union British - armies in the War of the Spanish Succession. Early life Anne was born in St. James's Palace of London, the second daughter of James, Duke of York, (afterwards James II) and his first wife, the Lady Anne Hyde. Her paternal uncle was King Charles II, and her older sister was the future Mary II. Anne and Mary were the only children of the Duke and Duchess of York to survive into adulthood. Anne suffered as a child from an eye infection; for medical treatment, she was sent to France. She lived with her grandmother, Henrietta Maria of France, and on the latter's death with her aunt, Henrietta Anne, Duchesse d'Orléans. Anne returned from France in 1670. In about 1673, Anne made the acquaintance of Sarah Jennings, who would become her close friend and one of her most influential advisors. Jennings later married John Churchill (the future Duke of Marlborough), who would later become one of Anne's most important generals. In 1673 Anne's father's conversion to Roman Catholicism became public. On the instructions of Charles II, however, Anne and her sister Mary were raised as strict Protestants. In 1678 Anne accompanied Mary of Modena to Holland, and in 1679 joined her parents abroad and afterwards in Scotland. On 28 July 1683, Anne married the Protestant Prince George of Denmark, brother of the Danish King Christian V, an unpopular union but one of great domestic happiness, the prince and princess being comfortable in temper and both preferring retirement and quiet to life in the great world. Sarah Churchill became Anne's Lady of the Bedchamber, and, by the latter's desire to mark their mutual intimacy and affection, all deference due to her rank was abandoned and the two ladies called each other Mrs. Morley and Mrs. Freeman. When Charles II died in 1685 (converting to Roman Catholicism on his deathbed), Anne's father ascended the Throne as James II. But James was not well-received by the English people. Public alarm increased when James's second wife, Mary of Modena, gave birth to a son (James Francis Edward) on 10 June 1688, for a Roman Catholic dynasty became apparent. Anne was not present on the occasion, having gone to Bath, and this gave rise to a belief that the child was spurious; but it is most probable that James's desire to exclude all Protestants from affairs of state was the real cause. "I shall never now be satisfied," Anne wrote to Mary, "whether the child be true or false. It may be it is our brother, but God only knows ... one cannot help having a thousand fears and melancholy thoughts, but whatever changes may happen you shall ever find me firm to my religion and faithfully yours." [Dalrymple's Memoirs, ii. 175.] In later years, however, she had no doubt that the Old Pretender was her brother. Princess Anne's sister and brother-in-law, Mary and William, subsequently invaded England to dethrone the unpopular and despotic James II. James attempted to flee the realm on 11 December 1688, succeeding twelve days later. During the events immediately preceding the Revolution Anne kept in seclusion. Her ultimate conduct was probably influenced by the Churchills; and though forbidden by James to pay Mary a projected visit in the spring of 1688, she corresponded with her, and was no doubt aware of William's plans. Her position was now a very critical and painful one. She refused to show any sympathy with the king after William had landed in November, and wrote, with the advice of the Churchills, to the prince, declaring her approval of his action. Churchill abandoned the king on the 24th, Prince George on the 25th, and when James returned to London on the 26th he found that Anne and her lady-in-waiting had during the previous night followed their husbands' examples. Escaping from Whitehall by a back staircase they put themselves under the care of the bishop of London, spent one night in his house, and subsequently arrived on the 1st of December at Nottingham, where the princess first made herself known and appointed a council. Thence she travelled to Oxford, where she met Prince George, in triumph, escorted by a large company. Like Mary, she was reproached for showing no concern at the news of the king's flight, but her justification was that "she never loved to do anything that looked like an affected constraint." She returned to London on December 19, when she was at once visited by William. In 1689, a Convention Parliament assembled and declared that James had abdicated the realm when he attempted to flee, and that the Throne was therefore vacant. The Crown was offered to, and accepted by, William and Mary, who ruled as joint monarchs. The Bill of Rights 1689 settled succession to the Throne; Princess Anne and her descendants were to be in the line of succession after William and Mary. They were to be followed by any descendants of William by a future marriage. William and Mary Soon after their accession, William and Mary exalted Lord Churchill by granting him the Earldom of Marlborough. The subsequent treatment of the Marlboroughs, however, was not as favourable. In 1692, suspecting that Lord Marlborough was a Jacobite (that is, one who believed that James II was the legitimate monarch), Mary II dismissed him from all his offices. Lady Marlborough was subsequently removed from the Royal Household, leading Princess Anne to angrily leave her royal residence for Syon House, the Duke of Northumberland's home. Princess Anne was then stripped of her guard of honour, and the guards at the royal palaces were forbidden to salute her husband. When Mary II died of smallpox in 1694, William III continued to reign alone. Seeking to improve his own popularity (which had always been much lower than that of his wife), he restored Princess Anne to her previous honours, allowing her to reside in St. James's Palace. At the same time William kept her in the background and refrained from appointing her regent during his absence. In 1695, William sought to win Princess Anne's favour by restoring Marlborough to all of his offices. In return Anne gave her support to William's government, though about this time, in 1696—according to James, in consequence of the near prospect of the throne—she wrote to her father asking for his leave to wear the crown at William's death, and promising its restoration at a convenient opportunity. [Macpherson i. 257; Clarke's James II., ii. 559. See also Shrewsbury's anonymous correspondent in Hist. MSS. Comm. Ser.; MSS. Duke of Buccleugh at Montagu House, ii. 169.] The unfounded rumour that William contemplated settling the succession after his death on James's son, provided he were educated a Protestant in England, may possibly have alarmed her. [Macaulay iv. 799 note] In the meantime, Prince George and Princess Anne suffered from a series of personal misadventures. By 1700, the future Queen had been pregnant at least eighteen times; thirteen times, she miscarried or gave birth to stillborn children. Of the remaining five children, four died before reaching the age of two years. Her only son to survive infancy, William, Duke of Gloucester, died at the age of eleven on 29 July 1700, precipitating a succession crisis. William and Mary did not have any children; thus, Princess Anne, the heir-apparent to the Throne, was the only individual remaining in the line of succession established by the Bill of Rights. If the line of succession were totally extinguished, then it would have become simple for the deposed King James to reclaim the Throne. To preclude a Roman Catholic from obtaining the Crown, Parliament enacted the Act of Settlement 1701, which provided that, failing the issue of Princess Anne and of William III by any future marriage, the Crown would go to Sophia, Electress of Hanover, and her descendants, who descended from James I of England through Elizabeth of Bohemia. Several genealogically senior claimants were disregarded due to their Catholicism. Henceforth Anne signs herself in her letters to Lady Marlborough as "your poor unfortunate" as well as "faithful Morley." In default of her own issue, Anne's personal choice would probably have inclined at this time to her father or to a member of his family, which was then at St Germain. Nevertheless, noticing the necessity of a Protestant successor, she acquiesced to the Act of Settlement. Still, she wore mourning dress when her father died later in 1701. She did not, however, endear herself to her half-brother, James II's son and putative heir, James Francis Edward Stuart (the "Old Pretender"). Early reign William III died 8 March 1702, leaving the Crown to Anne (23 April). At about the same time, the War of the Spanish Succession began; at controversy was the right of Philip, grandson of the French King Louis XIV, to succeed to the Spanish Throne. Although Philip was named in the will of the previous King of Spain, Charles II, much of Europe opposed him, fearing that the French royal dynasty would become too powerful. The will included a condition that Philip should gave up his right to the throne of France, but Louis XIV had this condition overturned in case many of his heirs died. (This was not an unrealistic worry: most of family was killed by smallpox shortly before his death, leaving his five-year-old great-grandson Louis XV on the throne.) England had also been angered by Louis XIV's proclamation of James Stuart, the Old Pretender, as "James III of England" following the death of James II. Therefore, England supported the rival claims of Archduke Charles, the Austrian cousin of the previous Spanish King. The War of the Spanish Succession (known in North America as Queen Anne's War, the second of the French and Indian Wars) would continue until the last years of Anne's reign, and would dominate both foreign and domestic policy. Soon after her accession, Anne appointed her husband Lord High Admiral, giving him control of the Royal Navy. Anne gave control of the army to Lord Marlborough, whom she appointed Captain-General. Marlborough also received numerous honours from the Queen; he was created a Knight of the Garter and was elevated to the ducal rank. The Duchess of Marlborough was appointed to the post of Mistress of the Robes, the highest office a lady could attain. Anne's first ministry was primarily Tory; at its head was Sidney Godolphin, 1st Baron Godolphin. The Whigs—who were, unlike the Tories, vigorous supporters of the War of the Spanish Succession—became much more influential after the Duke of Marlborough won a great victory at the Battle of Blenheim in 1704. The Whigs quickly rose to power; soon, due to Marlborough's influence, almost all the Tories were removed from the ministry. Lord Godolphin, although a Tory, allied himself with Marlborough to ensure his continuance in office. Although Lord Godolphin was the nominal head of the ministry, actual power was held by the Duke of Marlborough and by the two Secretaries of State (Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland and Robert Harley). One may observe that Lord Godolphin's son married the Duke of Marlborough's daughter, and that Lord Sunderland was the Duke of Marlborough's son-in-law. Several others benefited from Marlborough's nepotism. Reign in Great Britain The next years of Anne's reign were marked by attempts to merge England and Scotland into one realm. When it had passed the Act of Settlement 1701, the English Parliament had neglected to consult with the Parliament of Scotland or Estates of Scotland, who, furthermore, sought to preserve the Stuart dynasty. The Act of Security was passed by Scotland; failing the issue of the Queen, it granted the Estates the power to choose the next Scottish monarch from amongst the Protestant descendants of the royal line of Scotland. The individual chosen by the Estates could not be the same person who came to the English Throne, unless various religious, economic and political conditions were met. Though it was originally not forthcoming, the Royal Assent was granted when the Scottish Parliament threatened to withdraw Scottish troops from the Duke of Marlborough's army in Europe and refused to impose taxes. The English Parliament—fearing that an independent Scotland would restore the Auld Alliance (with France)—responded with the Alien Act 1705, which provided that economic sanctions would be imposed and Scottish subjects would be declared aliens (putting their right to own property in England into jeopardy), unless Scotland either repealed the Act of Security or moved to unite with England. The Estates chose the latter option, and Commissioners were appointed to negotiate the terms of a union. Articles of Union were approved by the Commissioners on 22 July 1706, and were agreed to by the Scottish Parliament (though opposed by an overwhelming majority of the Scottish People) on 16 January 1707. Under the Act, England and Scotland became one realm called Great Britain on 1 May 1707. The Duchess of Marlborough's relationship with Anne deteriorated during 1707. The Duchess had proved a termagant, and had been undermined by another of the Queen's friends Abigail Masham. Mrs Masham, a cousin of the Duchess of Marlborough, was also related to one of Anne's Whig ministers, Robert Harley. Through Masham, Harley exerted influence over the Queen. Learning of Harley's new-found power, Lord Godolphin and the Duke of Marlborough grew jealous, seeking his dismissal. Anne was compelled to accept Harley's resignation in 1708. A group of five Whigs—Lord Sunderland, Thomas Wharton, 1st Earl of Wharton, John Somers, 1st Baron Somers, Charles Montagu, 1st Baron Halifax and Robert Walpole—dominated politics, becoming known as the "Junta." Also, Harley continued to retain influence with the Queen as a private advisor. Anne's husband, Prince George of Denmark, died in October 1708. His leadership of the Admiralty was unpopular amongst the Whig leaders; as he lay on his deathbed, some Whigs were preparing to make a motion requesting his removal from the office of Lord High Admiral. Anne was forced to appeal to the Duke of Marlborough to ensure that the motion was not made. After her husband's death, however, Anne grew more distant from the overbearing Duchess of Marlborough, preferring the companionship of the much more respectful Abigail Masham. The Queen terminated their friendship in 1709. Later years The fall of the Whigs came about quickly as the expensive War of the Spanish Succession grew unpopular in England; Robert Harley was particularly skilful in using the issue to motivate the electorate. A public furor was aroused after Dr Henry Sacheverell, a Tory clergyman who attacked the Whig government for offering toleration to religious dissenters, was prosecuted for seditious libel. Even more humiliating was the failure of the Whigs to obtain the desired sentence; Dr Sacheverell was merely suspended from preaching for three years, and did not face imprisonment, as some Whigs had hoped. In the general election of 1710, a discontented populace returned a large Tory majority. Marlborough was still too influential to be removed, but his relatives soon began to lose their offices. Lord Godolphin was removed on 7 August 1710; the new ministry was headed by Robert Harley and included Henry St John. The new Tory government began to seek peace in the War of the Spanish Succession, for (as later events proved) an unmitigated victory for Austria (Great Britain's primary ally) would be just as damaging to British interests as a loss to France. The Tories were ready to compromise by giving Spain to the grandson of the French King, but the Whigs could not bear to see a Bourbon on the Spanish Throne. The dispute was resolved by outside events: the elder brother of Archduke Charles (whom the Whigs supported) conveniently died in 1711 and Archduke Charles then inherited Austria, Hungary and the throne of the Holy Roman Empire. To also give him the Spanish throne to which he had aspired was no longer in Great Britain's interests, as he would become too powerful. But the proposed Treaty of Utrecht submitted to Parliament for ratification did not go as far as the Whigs wanted to curb Bourbon ambitions. In the House of Commons, the Tory majority was unassailable, but the same was not true in the House of Lords. To block the peace plan, the Whigs made an alliance with Daniel Finch, 2nd Earl of Nottingham and his Tory associates in the Lords. Seeing a need for decisive action, the Queen and her ministry dismissed the Duke of Marlborough, granting the command of British troops to James Butler, 2nd Duke of Ormonde. To erase the Whig majority in the House of Lords, Anne created twelve new peers (one of whom was Abigail Masham's husband) on a single day. Such a mass creation of peers was unprecedented; indeed, Elizabeth I had granted fewer peerage dignities in almost fifty years than did Anne in a single day. Under the terms of the ratified treaty, Philip, grandson of the French King Louis XIV, was allowed to remain on the Throne of Spain, and was permitted to retain Spain's New World colonies. The rest of the Spanish inheritance, however, was divided amongst various European princes; Great Britain obtained the Spanish territories of Gibraltar and Minorca. Various French colonies in North America were also ceded to Great Britain. Thus ended Great Britain's involvement in the War of the Spanish Succession (as well as Queen Anne's War). Death Anne died of suppressed gout, ending in erysipelas, which then produced an abscess and fever, at approximately 7 o'clock on 1 August 1714. Her body was so swollen that it had to be buried in Westminster Abbey in a vast almost-square coffin. She died shortly after the Electress Sophia (8 June of the same year); the Electress's son, George I, Elector of Hanover, inherited the British Crown. Pursuant to the Act of Settlement 1701, it is alleged, but never proven that about fifty Roman Catholics with genealogically senior claims were disregarded. Amongst those who were omitted were Anne's half-brother James Francis Edward Stuart. However, the Elector of Hanover's accession was relatively stable. Jacobite Risings in 1715 and 1719 both failed. Legacy The reign of Anne was marked by an increase in the influence of ministers and a decrease in the influence of the Crown. In 1708, Anne became the last British Sovereign to withhold the Royal Assent from a bill (in this case, a Scots militia bill). Preoccupied with her health (she suffered from porphyria), Anne allowed her ministers—most notably Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer—as well as her favourite companions— Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough and Abigail Masham—to dominate politics. (The close relationship between Queen Anne and the Duchess of Marlborough, along with accounts[citation needed] that the Queen was a lesbian, has led many people to believe that their relationship was sexual in nature, but no conclusive proof has been forthcoming.) The shift of power from the Crown to the ministry became even more apparent during the reign of George I, whose chief adviser, Sir Robert Walpole, is often described as the "first Prime Minister." In 1709 Anne issued a proclamation to the people of the German Palatinate of the Rhine known as the Golden Book. In it she urged the population to make their way down the Rhine river to Rotterdam where they would embark on Royal Navy ships and be taken to British colonies of the Americas. However, the Palatinate had been so devastated by the War of the Spanish Succession that thousands made their way to the Dutch Republic. As a result, the British government was forced to settle over 3000 Germans (800 families in total) in Ireland, mainly in County Limerick and County Wexford, their cause being publicised by the writer Daniel Defoe. As all of these people were protestant, they were each given a standard British Army musket affectionately labelled a "Queen Anne Musket" by the Germans. Their descendants live there to this day though their numbers are greatly diminishing with the unique dialect of German virtually extinct. The age of Anne was also one of artistic, literary and scientific advancement. In architecture, Sir John Vanbrugh constructed elegant edifices such as Blenheim Palace (the home of the Marlboroughs) and Castle Howard. Writers such as Daniel Defoe, Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift flourished during Anne's reign. Sir Isaac Newton lived during Anne's reign, although he had reached his most important discoveries under William and Mary. Her name remains associated with the world's first substantial copyright law, known as the Statute of Anne (1709), which granted exclusive rights to authors rather than printers. Anne had a fondness for brandy, which sometimes led to her being known as "Brandy Nan." Style and arms The official style of Anne before 1707 was "Anne, by the Grace of God, Queen of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc." (The claim to France was only nominal, and had been asserted by every English King since Edward III, regardless of the amount of French territory actually controlled.) After the Union, her style was "Anne, by the Grace of God, Queen of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc." Anne's arms before the Union were: Quarterly, I and IV Grandquarterly, Azure three fleurs-de-lis Or (for France) and Gules three lions passant guardant in pale Or (for England); II Or a lion rampant within a tressure flory-counter-flory Gules (for Scotland); III Azure a harp Or stringed Argent (for Ireland). After the Union, the arms of England and Scotland, which had previously been in different quarters, were "impaled," or placed side-by-side, in the same quarter to emphasise that the two countries had become one Kingdom. The new arms were: Quarterly, I and IV Gules three lions passant guardant in pale Or (for England) impaling Or a lion rampant within a tressure flory-counter-flory Gules (for Scotland); II Azure three fleurs-de-lys Or (for France); III Azure a harp Or stringed Argent (for Ireland). Titles The Lady Anne Stuart Princess Anne of Denmark Her Majesty, Queen Anne of Great Britain Children Name Birth Death Stillborn Daughter 12 May 1684 12 May 1684 Mary 2 June 1685 8 February 1687 Anne Sophia 12 May 1686 2 February 1687 Stillborn Child January 1687 January 1687 Stillborn Son 22 October 1687 22 October 1687 Stillborn Child 16 April 1688 16 April 1688 William, Duke of Gloucester 24 July 1689 29 July 1700 Mary 14 October 1690 14 October 1690 George 17 April 1692 17 April 1692 Stillborn Daughter 23 April 1693 23 April 1693 Stillborn Child 21 January 1694 21 January 1694 Stillborn Daughter 18 February 1696 18 February 1696 Stillborn Child 20 September 1696 20 September 1696 Stillborn Child 21 September 1696 21 September 1696 Stillborn Daughter 25 March 1697 25 March 1697 Stillborn Child December 1697 December 1697 Charles 15 September 1698 15 September 1698 Stillborn Daughter 25 January 1700 25 January 1700 King George I George I (Georg Ludwig) (28 May 1660 – 11 June 1727) was Elector of Hanover from 23 January 1698, and King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 1 August 1714, until his death. He was also the Archbannerbearer (afterwards Archtreasurer) and a Prince Elector of the Holy Roman Empire.George I, the first Hanoverian monarch of Great Britain and Ireland, was not a fluent speaker of the English language; instead, he spoke his native German, and was for this ridiculed by his British subjects. During his reign, the powers of the monarchy found themselves diminished; the modern system of government by a Cabinet underwent development. During the later years of his reign, actual power was held by a de facto Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole. Early years George was born on 28 May 1660 in Hanover, Germany. He was the eldest son of Ernst August, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, a German prince, and of his wife, Sophia. Duke George of Brunswick-Lüneburg, as he was then known, was the heir-apparent to his father's German territory. In 1682, George married his first cousin, the Princess Sophia of Celle, who was the only child of his father's elder brother. They had two children, George (b. 1683) and Sophia Dorothea (b. 1687). The couple were however soon estranged; George preferred the society of his mistress, Ehrengard Melusine von der Schulenburg, whom he later created Duchess of Munster and Kendal in Great Britain, and by whom he had at least three illegitimate children. Sophia, meanwhile, had her own romantic connection with the Swedish Count Philip Christoph von Königsmarck. Threatened with the scandal of an elopement, the Hanoverian court ordered the lovers to desist, and George appears to have countenanced a plan to murder Königsmarck. The count was killed in July 1694, and his body was then thrown into a river. The murder appears to have been committed by four of George's courtiers, one of whom is said to have been paid the enormous sum of 150,000 talers, which in that day was about one hundred times the annual salary of the highest-paid minister. George's marriage to Sophia was dissolved, not on the grounds that either of them committed adultery, but on the grounds that Sophia had "abandoned" her husband. With the concurrence of her father, George had Sophia imprisoned in the Castle of Ahlden in her native Celle. She was denied access to her children and her father, and forbidden to remarry. She was however endowed with an income, establishment and servants, and was allowed to ride in a carriage outside her castle, albeit under supervision. Early reign In 1698, Ernst August died, leaving all of his territories to George, with the exception of the Prince-Bishopric of Osnabrück. (The Prince-Bishopric was not an hereditary title; instead, it alternated between Protestant and Roman Catholic incumbents.) George thus became Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (also known as Hannover, after its capital), and thereby the Archbannerbearer (a prestigious sinecure) and, importantly, a Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire. His court in Hanover was graced by many cultural icons, such as the mathematician Gottfried Leibniz and the composer Händel. Shortly after George's accession to his paternal dukedom, the Parliament of England passed the Act of Settlement 1701, whereunder George's mother, the Electress Sophia, was designated heir to the British Throne if the then-reigning monarch (William III) and his sister-in-law Princess Anne of Denmark (the later Queen Anne)) both died without issue. The succession was so designed because Sophia was the closest Protestant relative of the British Royal Family; numerous Catholics with superior hereditary claims were bypassed. In England, the Tories generally opposed allowing a foreigner to succeed to the Throne, whilst the Whigs favoured a Protestant successor regardless of nationality. George is said to have been reluctant to accept the English plan, but his Hanoverian advisors suggested that he should acquiesce so that his German possessions would become more secure. Shortly after George's accession in Hanover, the War of the Spanish Succession broke out. At issue was the right of Philip, the grandson of the French King Louis XIV, to succeed to the Spanish Throne under the terms of the will of the Spanish King Charles II. The Holy Roman Empire, the United Provinces, England, Hanover and many other German states opposed Philip's right to succeed because they feared that France would become too powerful if it also could control Spain. George's support for England may have conciliated many Englishmen, but it did not impress the people of Scotland. The English Parliament had settled on Sophia, Electress of Hanover, without consulting the Estates of Scotland (the Scottish Parliament). In 1703, the Estates passed a bill that declared that they would elect Queen Anne's successor from amongst the Protestant descendants of past Scottish monarchs. This successor would not be the same individual as the successor to the English Throne, unless numerous political and economic concessions were made by England. The Royal Assent was originally withheld, which caused the Scottish Estates to refuse to raise taxes and threaten to withdraw troops from the army fighting in the War of the Spanish Succession. In 1704, Anne capitulated, and her Assent was granted to the bill, which became the Act of Security. Angered, the English Parliament passed several measures which restricted Anglo-Scottish trade and crippled the Scottish economy. In 1707, the Act of Union was passed; it united England and Scotland into a single political entity, the Kingdom of Great Britain. The rules of succession established by the Act of Settlement were retained. The House of Hanover was not entirely acceptable to many Scotsmen, as would be later reflected by rebellions during George I's reign. In 1706, the Duke of Bavaria was degraded for defecting from the Imperial side to the French side; his dignity of Archtreasurer of the Empire was granted to George. In 1710, the Reichstag, or Imperial Assembly, formally confirmed George's position as a Prince-Elector. The War of the Spanish Succession would continue until 1713, when it ended indecisively with the ratification of the Treaty of Utrecht. Philip was allowed to succeed to the Spanish Throne, but he was removed from the line of succession to the French Throne. Accession in Great Britain George's mother, the Electress Sophia, died only a few weeks before Anne, Queen of Great Britain. Although, there were fifty-two possible heirs to the throne of Great Britain at the time and the fact that direct lines were considered to be direct through males and not women, pursuant to the Act of Union 1707, George became King of Great Britain, when Anne died on 1 August 1714. George strongly agreed with the ideas of the Whigs at the time. He did not arrive in Great Britain until 18 September; during his absence, the Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench acted as a regent. George was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 20 October. Upon his accession the practice relating to the dignity of princes was changed. Before the Hanoverians, the only princely dignities were those of Prince of Wales (customarily granted to the heir-apparent) and Princess Royal (customarily granted to the Sovereign's eldest daughter). The other members of the Royal Family were only entitled to the styles "Lord" and "Lady." George I, however, was accustomed to the German practice, whereunder the princely dignity was more common. Consequently, the Sovereign's children and grandchildren in the male line became Princes and Princesses styled "Royal Highness," and great-grandchildren in the male line became Princes and Princesses styled "Highness". George I primarily resided in Great Britain, though he often visited his home in Hanover. During the King's absences, power was vested either in his son, George, Prince of Wales, or in a committee of "Guardians and Justices of the Kingdom". Even whilst he was in Great Britain, the King occupied himself with Hanoverian concerns. He spoke poor English, and many of his contemporaries thought him unintelligent. Power consequently passed from the Crown to its ministers. In 1715, when not even a year had passed after George's accession, he was faced with a Jacobite Rebellion, which became known as "The Fifteen". The Jacobites sought to put Anne's Catholic half-brother, James Francis Edward Stuart (whom they called "James III", and who was known to his opponents as the "Pretender") on the Throne. The Pretender instigated rebellion in Scotland, where support for Jacobitism was stronger than in England. John Erskine, 6th Earl of Mar, an embittered Scottish nobleman who had previously supported the Glorious Revolution, led the rebels. The Fifteen, however, was a dismal failure; Lord Mar's battle plans were poor, and the Pretender had not arrived in Scotland in time. By the end of the year 1715, the rebellion had all but collapsed. Faced with impending defeat, Lord Mar and the Pretender fled to France in the next February. After the rebellion was defeated, although there were some executions and forfietures, the government's response was generally mild. Several members of the Tory Party sympathised with the Jacobites. George I began to distrust the Tories, and power thus passed to the Whigs. Whig dominance would be so great under George I that the Tories would not return to power for another half-century. As soon as the Whigs came to power, Parliament passed the Septennial Act, which extended the maximum duration of Parliament to seven years (although it could be dissolved earlier by the Sovereign). Thus, Whigs already in power could remain in such a position for a greater period of time. War and rebellion After his accession in Great Britain, George's relationship with his son (which had always been poor) worsened. George, Prince of Wales constantly encouraged opposition to his father's policies. His home, Leicester House, became a meeting place for the King's political opponents. In 1717, the birth of a grandson led George I to quarrel with the Prince of Wales. The Prince and Princess of Wales, as well as their children, were all thrown out of the royal residence. George I and his son would later be reconciled, but would never again be on cordial terms. Such father-son hatred and poor non-father son relationships appears to have recurred among the Hanoverian monarchs; George II, for example, almost exiled his son, the Prince Frederick, Prince of Wales, to the British colonies; George III was loathed by his son George IV, George IV also despised his wife Caroline of Brunswick. Another of George III's sons William IV loathed his sister-in-law Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, the Duchess of Kent; the Duchess of Kent's daughter Queen Victoria and her son Edward VII were distant toward one another; George V had a poor relationship with his son Edward VIII; the Duchess of Windsor was not accepted by the House of Windsor for many years. Even Elizabeth II would have distant relations with her eldest son, Charles, Prince of Wales. George I was active in directing British foreign policy during his early years. In 1717, he contributed to the creation of the Triple Alliance, an anti-Spanish league composed of Great Britain, France and the United Provinces. In 1718, the Holy Roman Empire was added to the body, which became known as the Quadruple Alliance. The subsequent War of the Quadruple Alliance involved the same issue as the War of the Spanish Succession. The Treaty of Utrecht had allowed the grandson of Louis XIV, Philip, to succeed to the Spanish Throne, on the condition that he gave up his rights to succeed to the French Throne. Upon the death of Louis XIV, however, Philip attempted to violate the treaty and take the Crown of France. But with even the French fighting against him in the War, Philip's armies fared poorly. As a result, the Spanish and French Thrones remained separate. George I was faced with a second rebellion in 1719. The Jacobites managed to secure the support of Spain, but stormy seas allowed only about three hundred Spanish troops to arrive in Scotland. A base was established at Eilean Donan Castle on the west Scottish coast, only for it to be destroyed by British ships a month later. Attempts to recruit Scottish soldiers yielded a fighting force of only about a thousand men. The Jacobites were poorly equipped, and were easily defeated by British artillery. The Scotsmen dispersed into the Highlands, and the Spaniards surrendered. The invasion of 1719 never posed any serious threat to the Government, and further Jacobite plots were even more farcical. Ministries In 1717, when the Whigs came to power, George's chief ministers included Sir Robert Walpole, Charles Townshend, 2nd Viscount Townshend, James Stanhope, 1st Viscount Stanhope (afterwards 1st Earl Stanhope) and Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland. In the same year, Lord Townshend and Walpole were removed from the Cabinet by their counterparts; Lord Stanhope became supreme in foreign affairs, and Lord Sunderland the same in domestic matters. Lord Sunderland's power began to wane in 1719. He introduced a Peerage Bill, which attempted to limit the size of the House of Lords (mostly composed of Tory aristocrats), but was defeated. An even greater problem was the South Sea Bubble. In 1719, the South Sea Company proposed to convert £30,981,712 of the British national debt. At the time, government bonds were extremely difficult to trade due to unrealistic restrictions; for example, it was not permitted to redeem certain bonds unless the original debtor was still alive. Each bond represented a very large sum, and could not be divided and sold. Thus, the South Sea Company sought to convert high-interest, untradeable bonds to low-interest, easily-tradeable ones. The Company bribed Lord Stanhope to support their plan; they were also supported by Lord Sunderland. Company prices rose rapidly; the shares had cost £128 in January 1720, but were valued at £550 when Parliament accepted the scheme in May. The price reached £1000 by August. Uncontrolled selling, however, caused the stock to plummet to £150 by the end of September. Many individuals—including aristocrats—were completely ruined. The economic crisis, known as the South Sea Bubble, made George I and his ministers extremely unpopular. Lord Stanhope died and Lord Sunderland resigned in 1721, allowing the rise of Sir Robert Walpole. (Lord Sunderland retained a degree of personal influence with George I until he died in 1722.) Walpole became George's primary minister, although the title "Prime Minister" was not formally applied to him; officially, he was only the First Lord of the Treasury. His management of the South Sea crisis helped avoid a dispute between the King and the House of Commons over responsibility for the affair. Walpole strengthened his influence in the House of Commons through bribery. The Septennial Act, by lengthening the terms of members of the House from three to seven years, greatly aided Walpole's corrupt efforts. As requested by Walpole, George I created a new order of chivalry, The Most Honourable Order of the Bath. Walpole rewarded political supporters and bribed others by offering them membership of the prestigious organisation. Walpole thus became extremely powerful; he, not the King, truly controlled the government. Walpole was allowed to choose and remove all ministers; George I merely rubber-stamped his decisions. George I did not even attend meetings of the Cabinet; all his communications were in private. George I only exercised substantial influence with respect to British foreign policy. He, with the aid of Lord Townshend, arranged for the ratification of the Treaty of Hanover, which was designed to protect British trade, by Great Britain, France and Prussia. Some of George I's successors—most notably his great-grandson, George III—attempted to reverse the shift in power, but proved unsuccessful. Later years George, although increasingly reliant on Sir Robert Walpole, could still have removed his ministers at will. Walpole was actually afraid of being removed towards the end of George I's reign, but such fears were put to an end when George I died in Osnabrück from a stroke on 11 June 1727. George was on his sixth trip to his native Hanover, where he was buried, in Chapel Schloss Herrenhausen. George I's son succeeded him, becoming George II. George II, like his father, faced a Jacobite Rebellion. The Rebellion of 1745 ("the Forty-Five"), however, was better led than the Fifteen and Nineteen. The Jacobites were nonetheless defeated at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, effectively ending their resistance. George II seriously contemplated removing Sir Robert Walpole from office, but was prevented from doing so by his wife. During George II's reign, the power of the Sovereign further deteriorated, and the power of the Prime Minister increased. George II's grandson and successor, George III, was often engaged in constitutional struggles with his ministers. By the reign of George III, however, the Prime Minister's power had grown so much that the King was often forced to appoint junior ministers against his will. After George III's reign, Sovereigns almost never exercised influence over the composition of the Cabinet. The decline of the power of the Sovereign, which had begun during George I's reign, was almost complete during the reign of the last Hanoverian monarch, Victoria. Legacy George I was extremely unpopular in Great Britain, especially due to his supposed inability to speak English; recent research, however, reveals that such an inability may not have existed later in his reign. His treatment of his wife, Sophia, was not well-received. The British perceived him as too German, and despised his succession of German mistresses. He earned the appellations "Geordie Whelps" and "German George". Although unpopular, the Protestant George I was seen by most as a better alternative to the Roman Catholic Old Pretender. William Makepeace Thackeray indicates such ambivalent feelings when he writes, "His heart was in Hanover. He was more than fifty-four years of age when he came amongst us: we took him because we wanted him, because he served our turn; we laughed at his uncouth German ways, and sneered at him… I, for one, would have been on his side in those days. Cynical, and selfish, as he was, he was better than a King out of St Germains, The Old Pretender with a French King's orders in his pocket, and a swarm of Jesuits in his train." Titles In Great Britain, George I used the official style "George, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc." In some cases (especially in treaties), the formula "Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Archtreasurer and Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire" was added before the phrase "etc." Arms George I's arms were: Quarterly, I Gules three lions passant guardant in pale Or (for England) impaling Or a lion rampant within a tressure flory-counter-flory Gules (for Scotland); II Azure three fleurs-de-lys Or (for France); III Azure a harp Or stringed Argent (for Ireland); IV tierced per pale and per chevron (for Hanover), I Gules two lions passant guardant Or (for Brunswick), II Or a semy of hearts Gules a lion rampant Azure (for Lüneburg), III Gules a horse courant Argent (for Westfalen), overall an escutcheon Gules charged with the crown of Charlemagne Or (for the dignity of Archtreasurer of the Holy Roman Empire). Children Name Birth Death Notes HM King George II 10 November 1683 25 October 1760 Married August 22, 1705, the Princess Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach. HSH Princess Sophia Dorothea of Hanover 26 March 1687 28 June 1757 Married November 28, 1706, Frederick William, Margrave of Brandenburg, later Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia. |
 
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8:32 PM Mar 12
