Right, another monarch. Let's see if this one is any more interesting than the last. Don't get your hopes up.
King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1727 to 1760
George II
Portrait of George II by Thomas Hudson, 1744. Observe the expression. It's the look of a man who has been asked to pose for a painting when he'd rather be doing almost anything else.
• King of Great Britain and Ireland
| Reign | 11/22 [a] June 1727 – 25 October 1760 |
|---|---|
| Coronation | 11/22 [a] October 1727 |
| Predecessor | George I |
| Successor | George III |
| Born | 30 October / (1683-11-09)9 November 1683 [a] Herrenhausen Palace, [2] or Leine Palace, [3] Hanover |
|---|---|
| Died | 25 October 1760(1760-10-25) (aged 76) Kensington Palace, London, England |
| Burial | 11 November 1760 Westminster Abbey, London |
| Spouse | Caroline of Ansbach (m. 1705; died 1737) |
| Issue | Detail • Frederick, Prince of Wales • Anne, Princess of Orange • Princess Amelia • Princess Caroline • Prince George William • Prince William, Duke of Cumberland • Mary, Landgravine of Hesse-Kassel • Louisa, Queen of Denmark and Norway |
| Names | George Augustus (German: Georg August) |
| House | Hanover |
| Father | George I of Great Britain |
| Mother | Sophia Dorothea of Celle |
| Religion | Protestant [4] |
| Signature |
George II (George Augustus; German: Georg August; 30 October / 9 November 1683 [a] – 25 October 1760) was the King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover), and a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 (O.S.) until his death in 1760. A man defined by his temper, his complicated family, and the peculiar destiny of being a German ruling Britain.
Born and raised in the relative quiet of northern Germany, George holds the mildly interesting distinction of being the last British monarch born outside of Great Britain. His path to the throne was paved not by charm or conquest, but by paperwork and religious intolerance. The Act of Settlement 1701 and the subsequent Acts of Union 1707 effectively drew a line in the sand, ensuring that his grandmother, Sophia of Hanover, and her decidedly Protestant descendants would inherit the British crown. He married Princess Caroline of Ansbach, a woman far more intellectually curious than he was, with whom he produced eight children and a surprisingly functional partnership. When his grandmother and then Anne, Queen of Great Britain, conveniently died, George's father, the Elector of Hanover, was imported to become George I in 1714. In a predictable turn of Hanoverian family dynamics, Prince George promptly became a magnet for opposition politicians, at least until they found it more advantageous to rejoin the government.
Ascending to the throne in 1727, George discovered that being king did not mean being in charge. He exercised vanishingly little control over British domestic policy, which was firmly in the grip of the Parliament of Great Britain. As elector, he was more fortunate, spending twelve summers in Hanover where his orders were met with less debate. His relationship with his own eldest son, Frederick, was a masterclass in mutual antipathy, with the younger man dutifully supporting the parliamentary opposition just as George had done to his own father. During the sprawling mess of the War of the Austrian Succession, George had his moment of martial glory at the Battle of Dettingen, becoming the last British monarch to personally lead an army into battle—a precedent his successors wisely chose not to follow. In 1745, supporters of the Catholic claimant, James Francis Edward Stuart, led by James's son, mounted the last of the Jacobite rebellions. It failed, spectacularly. Prince Frederick died suddenly in 1751, sparing everyone the awkwardness of his potential reign, and George was ultimately succeeded by Frederick's eldest son, George III.
For the two centuries that followed his death, historians treated George II with a disdain usually reserved for minor characters. They focused on his mistresses, his notoriously short temper, and a general boorishness that made for colorful anecdotes. More recently, a reassessment of his legacy—likely by people with too much time on their hands—has led scholars to the conclusion that he wielded more influence in foreign policy and military appointments than the caricatures suggested. It seems even a man famous for being perpetually irritated could get things done.
Early life
Birth and family
George was born in the city of Hanover, Germany. Three years later, his sister, Sophia Dorothea, joined him. Their parents, George Louis, Hereditary Prince of Brunswick-Lüneburg (the future George I of Great Britain), and the unfortunate Sophia Dorothea of Celle, were a cautionary tale in marital incompatibility, with both committing adultery. In 1694, the marriage was officially dissolved, using the flimsy pretext that Sophia Dorothea had abandoned her husband. [5] Her punishment was a lifetime of confinement in Ahlden House, utterly cut off from her two children. It is believed George and his sister never saw their mother again, a neat and tidy solution that no doubt left a perfectly manageable amount of childhood trauma. [6]
Until the age of four, George spoke only French, the lingua franca of diplomacy and the court. He was then tutored in German by Johann Hilmar Holstein. [7] To his linguistic arsenal he would later add English and Italian. His education was not merely academic; he studied genealogy, military history, and battle tactics with a diligence that suggested he'd rather be on a battlefield than in a drawing-room. [8]
Meanwhile, in Britain, his second cousin once removed, Queen Anne, ascended the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland in 1702. Despite seventeen pregnancies, five of which resulted in live births, her only child to survive infancy had died in 1700. The Act of Settlement 1701 was the English Parliament's solution, designating Anne's closest Protestant blood relations—George's grandmother Sophia and her descendants—as the legal heirs to the thrones of England and Ireland. This piece of legislation placed George, after his grandmother and father, third in line. In 1705, he was naturalized as an English subject through the Sophia Naturalization Act. In 1706, as if to make the point clearer, he was made a Knight of the Garter and showered with titles: Duke and Marquess of Cambridge, Earl of Milford Haven, Viscount Northallerton, and Baron Tewkesbury in the Peerage of England. [9] When England and Scotland merged in 1707 to form the Kingdom of Great Britain, they jointly ratified the succession plan laid out by the English. [10]
Marriage
George's father, having endured a loveless arranged marriage himself, was determined that his son should not suffer the same fate. A surprisingly sentimental gesture from a man not known for them, he insisted George have the chance to meet his bride before any contracts were signed. [11] Negotiations beginning in 1702 for the hand of Princess Hedvig Sophia of Sweden, the Dowager Duchess and regent of Holstein-Gottorp, predictably went nowhere. [12]
In June 1705, George adopted the rather uninspired alias "Monsieur de Busch" and traveled to the Ansbach court at its summer residence in Triesdorf. His mission was to covertly inspect a potential bride: Princess Caroline of Ansbach, who had been the ward of his aunt, Queen Sophia Charlotte of Prussia. The English envoy to Hanover, Edmund Poley, reported back that George was so impressed by "the good character he had of her that he would not think of anybody else." [13] A marriage contract was hastily drawn up by the end of July. [14] On 22 August / 2 September 1705 [a], Caroline arrived in Hanover for her wedding, which took place that very evening in the chapel at Herrenhausen Palace. [11]
George was eager to join the war against France in Flanders, but his father forbade him from joining the army in any active capacity until he had produced a male heir. [15] In early 1707, George fulfilled his dynastic duty when Caroline gave birth to a son, Frederick. [16] That July, Caroline was struck down by smallpox. George, in a display of genuine devotion, stayed by her side and promptly caught the disease himself. [17] Both survived. A year later, in 1708, George finally saw action at the Battle of Oudenarde, fighting in the vanguard of the Hanoverian cavalry. His horse was killed from under him, as was a colonel at his side, but George emerged unscathed. [18] The British commander, the Duke of Marlborough, wrote that George "distinguished himself extremely, charging at the head of and animating by his example [the Hanoverian] troops, who played a good part in this happy victory." [19] Between 1709 and 1713, George and Caroline added three daughters to their family: Anne, Amelia, and Caroline. [20]
By 1714, Queen Anne's health was failing. The British Whigs, staunch supporters of the Hanoverian succession, grew nervous. They felt it was essential for one of the Hanoverians to reside in England to secure the Protestant line upon Anne's death. Since George was already a peer of the realm as the Duke of Cambridge, it was proposed that he be summoned to Parliament to take his seat in the House of Lords. Queen Anne and George's father flatly rejected the idea. George, Caroline, and his grandmother Sophia, however, were all in favor. [21] But George did not go. Within the year, both Sophia and Anne were dead, and George's father was king of a foreign land. [22]
Prince of Wales
Quarrel with the King
George and his father set sail for England from The Hague on 16/27 September 1714, arriving at Greenwich two days later. [23] The next day, they made their formal, ceremonial entry into London. [24] George was officially granted the title of Prince of Wales. His wife Caroline and their daughters followed in October, while their son Frederick was conveniently left behind in Hanover to be raised by private tutors. [25] London was an assault on the senses for a man from Hanover; it was fifty times larger, [b] and the welcoming crowd was estimated at a staggering one and a half million spectators. [27] George, ever the pragmatist, courted popularity by loudly praising everything English and claiming, rather implausibly, that he had "no drop of blood that was not English." [28]
In July 1716, the King returned to Hanover for a six-month visit, leaving George with limited powers as "Guardian and Lieutenant of the Realm" to govern in his absence. [29] George embarked on a royal progress through southern England, visiting Chichester, Havant, Portsmouth, and Guildford. [30] He made a show of accessibility, allowing the public to watch him dine at Hampton Court Palace. [31] His public profile was further boosted by an assassination attempt at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, where one person was shot dead before the attacker was subdued. [32]
His father, George I, either distrusted or was intensely jealous of his son's growing popularity, which poisoned their already strained relationship. [33] The birth of George's second son, George William, in 1717, served as the catalyst for an explosive family quarrel. The King, claiming to follow custom, appointed the Lord Chamberlain, Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, as one of the child's baptismal sponsors. The King was infuriated when George, who despised Newcastle, verbally insulted the Duke at the christening. The Duke, in a moment of high farce, misunderstood the insult as a challenge to a duel. [c] On the King's order, George and Caroline were confined to their apartments before being banished from St James's Palace, the King's official residence. [35] The Prince and Princess of Wales were forced to leave court, but their children were kept behind, remaining in the King's care. [36]
George and Caroline were devastated by the separation from their children. On one occasion, they visited the palace in secret, without the King's permission; Caroline fainted, and George reportedly "cried like a child." [37] The King eventually relented slightly, permitting them to visit once a week, and later granted Caroline unconditional access. [38] In February 1718, their infant son, Prince George William, died at only three months old, with his father by his side. [39]
Political opposition
Barred from the palace and openly feuding with his father, the Prince of Wales became the natural figurehead for opposition to George I's policies. [40] These policies included measures to increase religious freedom in Great Britain and, more contentiously, to expand Hanover's German territories at the expense of Sweden. [41] The Prince's new London residence, Leicester House, became the de facto headquarters for the King's political opponents, including Sir Robert Walpole and Lord Townshend, who had stormed out of the government in 1717. [42]
The King visited Hanover again from May to November 1719. This time, instead of appointing George as guardian, he established a regency council, a clear and deliberate snub. [43] In 1720, Walpole, ever the operator, brokered a reconciliation between the King and his son, arguing it was necessary for public unity. They agreed, though with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. [44] Walpole and Townshend were rewarded with a return to political office and the ministry. [45] George, however, quickly grew disenchanted with the terms of this supposed rapprochement. His three daughters remained in the King's care, and he was still denied the role of regent during his father's absences. [46] He became convinced that Walpole had manipulated him simply to regain power. For the next few years, he and Caroline maintained a low profile, avoiding overt political maneuvering. They had three more children: William, Mary, and Louisa, who were raised at Leicester House and their summer residence, Richmond Lodge. [47]
In 1721, the catastrophic economic collapse of the South Sea Bubble created a power vacuum that allowed Walpole to ascend to the pinnacle of government. [48] Walpole and his Whig Party became the dominant force in politics, partly because the King feared the Tories would not support the Hanoverian succession as mandated by the Act of Settlement. [49] The Whigs' grip on power was so absolute that the Tories would not hold office for another half-century. [50]
Reign
Accession
On 11/22 June 1727, George I died during a visit to Hanover. His son, George Augustus, succeeded him as king and elector at the age of 43. In a savvy public relations move, George II chose not to travel to Germany for his father's funeral. This was met not with criticism but with praise from the English, who interpreted it as proof of his affection for his adopted country. [51] He also suppressed his father's will, which had attempted to divide the Hanoverian succession among George II's future grandsons instead of uniting all domains—both British and Hanoverian—under a single heir. Ministers in both Britain and Hanover deemed the will unlawful, arguing that George I lacked the legal authority to dictate the succession personally. [52] Critics, naturally, whispered that George II hid the will simply to avoid paying out his father's legacies. [53]
George II was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 11/22 October 1727. [51] The occasion was marked by four new anthems commissioned from George Frideric Handel, including the enduringly magnificent Zadok the Priest. [54]
It was widely assumed, and hoped in some quarters, that George would immediately dismiss Walpole, who had sided with his father, and replace him with Sir Spencer Compton. [55] George even asked Compton, not Walpole, to write his first speech as king. Compton, proving his inadequacy for the top job, promptly asked Walpole to draft it for him. Queen Caroline advised her husband to retain Walpole, who further secured his position by obtaining a generous civil list of £800,000 for the King from Parliament. [56] (This is equivalent to £141,200,000 today.) [57] Walpole commanded a formidable majority in Parliament, leaving George with little practical choice but to keep him on, lest he risk ministerial chaos. [58] Compton was placated by being ennobled as Lord Wilmington the following year. [59]
Walpole effectively ran domestic policy, and after the resignation of his rival Lord Townshend in 1730, he controlled George's foreign policy as well. [60] Most historians concur that George II's role in Britain was largely ceremonial; he followed the counsel of Walpole and other senior ministers who made the actual decisions. [61] Though the King often displayed a belligerent enthusiasm for war in Europe, his ministers were consistently more cautious. [62] A truce was negotiated in the Anglo-Spanish War, and George's attempts to push Walpole into joining the War of the Polish Succession on the side of the German states were unsuccessful. [63] In April 1733, when Walpole withdrew the deeply unpopular Excise Bill in the face of fierce opposition, George demonstrated his support by summarily dismissing the bill's opponents from their court offices. [64]
Family problems
George II's relationship with his son, Frederick, Prince of Wales, deteriorated steadily throughout the 1730s, echoing the dysfunctional pattern of the previous generation. Frederick had been left in Germany when his parents moved to England, and they had not seen each other for 14 years. Brought to England in 1728, he quickly became a magnet for the political opposition. [65] Whenever George visited Hanover—in the summers of 1729, 1732, and 1735—he appointed his wife as regent, pointedly snubbing his son. [66]
Meanwhile, a petty rivalry between George II and his brother-in-law and first cousin, Frederick William I of Prussia, created tension along the Prussian–Hanoverian border. The situation escalated to the point of mobilizing troops and even suggestions of a duel between the two kings. Protracted negotiations for a marriage between the Prince of Wales and Frederick William's daughter, Wilhelmine, dragged on for years. Neither side would make the required concessions, and the plan was eventually abandoned. [67] Instead, the Prince married Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha in April 1736. [68]
In May 1736, George's departure for Hanover was met with public disapproval in England. A satirical notice was pinned to the gates of St James's Palace, decrying his absence. "Lost or strayed out of this house," it read, "a man who has left a wife and six children on the parish." [69] The King planned his return journey in the face of severe December weather; when his ship was caught in a storm, London was swept with rumors that he had drowned. He finally arrived back in England in January 1737, [70] only to fall ill with a fever and piles. The Prince of Wales seized the opportunity to spread rumors that the King was dying, which prompted George to insist on getting out of bed and attending a social event to prove the gossips wrong. [71]
An open quarrel erupted when the Prince of Wales applied to Parliament for an increase in his allowance. The King, known for his stinginess, [72] offered a private settlement, which Frederick rejected. Parliament voted against Frederick's request, but George, on Walpole's advice, reluctantly increased his son's allowance anyway. [73] The friction intensified when Frederick excluded the King and Queen from the birth of his daughter in July 1737. In a moment of high drama, he bundled his wife, who was in labor, into a coach and sped off in the middle of the night. [74] George responded by banishing him and his family from the royal court, just as his own father had done to him. In a minor departure from precedent, he allowed Frederick to retain custody of his children. [75]
Shortly after, on 20 November 1737 (O.S.), George's wife Caroline died. He was profoundly affected by her death, displaying "a tenderness of which the world thought him before utterly incapable," to the astonishment of many. [76] On her deathbed, she urged her sobbing husband to remarry. He replied, "Non, j'aurai des maîtresses!" (French for "No, I shall have mistresses!"). [77] This was hardly a revelation. It was common knowledge that George had kept mistresses throughout his marriage, a subject about which he had kept Caroline fully informed. [78] Henrietta Howard, later Countess of Suffolk, had moved to Hanover with her husband during Queen Anne's reign [79] and had served as one of Caroline's women of the bedchamber. She was his mistress from before his accession until November 1734. Her successor was Amalie von Wallmoden, later Countess of Yarmouth, whose son, Johann Ludwig von Wallmoden, may well have been fathered by George. Johann Ludwig was born while Amalie was still married, and George never publicly acknowledged him as his own. [80]
War and rebellion
Against Walpole's better judgment, but much to George's delight, Britain renewed hostilities with Spain in 1739. [81] This conflict, the amusingly named War of Jenkins' Ear, soon merged into the larger War of the Austrian Succession, which erupted upon the death of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI in 1740. The central issue was the right of Charles's daughter, Maria Theresa, to inherit his Austrian dominions. [82] George spent the summers of 1740 and 1741 in Hanover, where, in his capacity as elector, he could intervene more directly in European diplomacy. [83]
Prince Frederick actively campaigned for the opposition in the 1741 British general election, and Walpole found himself unable to secure a stable majority. Walpole tried to buy off the Prince with the promise of an increased allowance and an offer to pay his debts, but Frederick refused. [84] His support base shattered, Walpole retired in 1742 after more than two decades in power. He was replaced by Spencer Compton, Lord Wilmington, the man George had originally favored in 1727. Wilmington, however, was merely a figurehead; [85] real power lay with others, notably Lord Carteret, who became George's favorite minister after Walpole. [2] When Wilmington died in 1743, Henry Pelham took over as head of the government. [86]
The pro-war faction, led by Carteret, argued that French power would surge if Maria Theresa failed to secure the Austrian throne. George agreed to send 12,000 hired Hessian and Danish mercenaries to Europe, ostensibly to support her. Without consulting his British ministers, George stationed them in Hanover to deter a potential French invasion of the electorate. [88] The British Army had not fought in a major European war for over twenty years, and the government had allowed it to fall into a state of neglect. [89] George had pushed for greater professionalism and promotion based on merit rather than the sale of commissions, but his efforts had met with little success. [90] An allied force of Austrian, British, Dutch, Hanoverian, and Hessian troops engaged the French at the Battle of Dettingen on 16/27 June 1743. George personally accompanied them, leading them to victory and thus becoming the last British monarch to command troops in battle. [91] While his actions were admired, the war grew unpopular with the British public, who felt that the King and Carteret were prioritizing Hanoverian interests over British ones. [92] Carteret lost support and, to George's profound dismay, resigned in 1744. [93]
Tension mounted between the Pelham ministry and the King. George continued to seek advice from Carteret and resisted pressure from his other ministers to include William Pitt the Elder in the Cabinet, a move that would have broadened the government's support. [94] The King disliked Pitt intensely for his previous opposition to government policy and his attacks on what he viewed as pro-Hanoverian measures. [95] In February 1746, Pelham and his followers resigned in protest. George asked Lord Bath and Carteret to form an administration, but they failed to secure enough parliamentary support and returned the seals of office after less than 48 hours. Pelham returned to office triumphant, and a humbled George was forced to appoint Pitt to the ministry. [96]
George's French opponents encouraged a Jacobite rebellion, rallying supporters of the Roman Catholic claimant to the throne, James Francis Edward Stuart, often called the Old Pretender. He was the son of James II, who had been deposed in 1688. Two earlier rebellions in 1715 and 1719 had already failed. In July 1745, the Old Pretender's son, Charles Edward Stuart, popularly known as Bonnie Prince Charlie or the Young Pretender, landed in Scotland, a hotbed of Jacobite sentiment. George, who was summering in Hanover, rushed back to London at the end of August. [97] The Jacobites defeated British forces at the Battle of Prestonpans in September and marched south into England. However, they failed to attract further support, and the French reneged on a promise of aid. Morale collapsed, and the Jacobites retreated to Scotland. [98] On 16/27 April 1746, Charles confronted George's notoriously ruthless son, Prince William, Duke of Cumberland, at the Battle of Culloden, the last pitched battle ever fought on British soil. The government army crushed the exhausted Jacobite troops. Charles escaped to France, but many of his supporters were captured and executed. Jacobitism as a serious threat was extinguished. [99] The War of the Austrian Succession dragged on until 1748, ending with Maria Theresa's recognition as Archduchess of Austria and Queen of Bohemia. The peace was celebrated with a fête in Green Park, London, for which Handel composed his Music for the Royal Fireworks. [100]
Planning for succession
In the general election of 1747, Frederick, Prince of Wales, once again campaigned for the opposition, but Pelham's party won a comfortable victory. [101] Like his father before him, Frederick held a rival court for opposition figures at his house in Leicester Square. [102] When Frederick died unexpectedly in 1751, his eldest son, Prince George, became the heir apparent. The King, surprisingly, commiserated with Frederick's widow, Augusta, and wept with her. [103] As her son would not reach the age of majority until 1756, a new British Regency Act was passed. It stipulated that in the event of George II's death, Augusta would become regent, assisted by a council led by Frederick's brother, the formidable Duke of Cumberland. [104] The King also drafted a new will providing for William to be sole regent in Hanover. [105] After the death of his daughter Louisa at the end of that year, a grieving George lamented, "This has been a fatal year for my family. I lost my eldest son – but I am glad of it ... Now [Louisa] is gone. I know I did not love my children when they were young: I hated to have them running into my room; but now I love them as well as most fathers." [106]
Seven Years' War
In 1754, Henry Pelham died and was succeeded by his elder brother, the fussy and indecisive Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle.
Hostility between France and Britain, particularly over the colonization of North America, simmered and finally boiled over. [107] Fearing a French invasion of Hanover, George aligned himself with Prussia, which was ruled by his nephew, Frederick the Great, and was Austria's bitter enemy. In a diplomatic reversal, Russia and France allied with their former foe, Austria. A French invasion of the British-held island of Minorca triggered the outbreak of the Seven Years' War in 1756. Public outrage over British failures at the start of the conflict led to Newcastle's resignation and the appointment of William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire, as prime minister, with William Pitt the Elder as Secretary of State for the Southern Department. [108] In April of the following year, George dismissed Pitt, attempting to form a government more to his liking. For three months, attempts to create a stable ministry failed. In June, Lord Waldegrave held the seals of office for a mere four days. By early July, Pitt was recalled, and Newcastle returned as prime minister. As Secretary of State, Pitt directed the war effort. Great Britain, Hanover, and Prussia, along with their allies Hesse-Kassel and Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, were pitted against a coalition of other European powers, including France, Austria, Russia, Sweden, and Saxony. The war was a global conflict, with theatres from Europe to North America and India, where British dominance was cemented by the victories of Robert Clive over French forces at the Battle of Arcot and the Battle of Plassey. [109]
George's son, William, Duke of Cumberland, commanded the King's troops in northern Germany. In 1757, following the invasion of Hanover, George gave his son full authority to conclude a separate peace. [110] But by September, George was furious with William's negotiated settlement, which he felt was a humiliating capitulation to the French. [111] George declared that his son had "ruined me and disgraced himself." [112] William, by his own choice, resigned his military offices. [113] George then revoked the peace deal, arguing the French had already violated it by disarming Hessian troops after the ceasefire. [114]
The year 1759 proved to be an Annus Mirabilis for Britain. British forces captured Quebec and Guadeloupe, thwarted a French plan to invade Britain with decisive naval victories at Lagos and Quiberon Bay, [115] and halted a French advance on Hanover at the Battle of Minden. [116]
Death
By October 1760, George II was blind in one eye and hard of hearing. [117] On the morning of 25 October, he rose at his usual hour of 6:00 am, drank a cup of hot chocolate, and went to his close stool alone. A few minutes later, his valet heard a loud crash and entered the room to find the King on the floor. [118] His physician, Frank Nicholls, recorded that he "appeared to have just come from his necessary-stool, and as if going to open his escritoire." [119]
The King was lifted onto his bed, and Princess Amelia was summoned. He was dead before she reached him. At nearly 77, he had outlived all his English and British predecessors. [120] A post-mortem examination revealed that the cause of death was a thoracic aortic dissection. [119] [121] He was succeeded by his grandson, George III, and was buried on 11 November in Westminster Abbey. He had left instructions for the sides of his and his wife's coffins to be removed, so their remains could mingle in death. [122]
Legacy
George II donated the royal library to the British Museum in 1757, four years after its founding. [124] This was perhaps less an act of intellectual generosity than a reflection of his own profound lack of interest in reading, [125] or in the arts and sciences generally. He much preferred to spend his leisure time hunting stag on horseback or playing cards. [126] In 1737, he founded the Georg August University of Göttingen, the first university in the Electorate of Hanover, and paid it a visit in 1748. [127] The asteroid 359 Georgia was named in his honor at the university in 1902. He served as the Chancellor of the University of Dublin between 1716 and 1727, and in 1754, he issued the charter for King's College in New York City, which later became Columbia University. The province of Georgia, founded by royal charter in 1732 and now a U.S. state, was also named after him. [128]
During George II's reign, British interests expanded across the globe, the Jacobite threat was finally neutralized, and the power of ministers and Parliament became firmly entrenched. Yet, in the memoirs of his contemporaries, such as Lord Hervey and Horace Walpole, he is often painted as a weak, faintly ridiculous figure, a buffoon governed by his wife and his ministers. [129] Biographies written in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries dutifully recycled these biased accounts. [130] Since the latter part of the twentieth century, however, scholarly analysis of his surviving correspondence suggests he was not the cipher he was made out to be. [131] Letters from ministers bear his annotated, pertinent remarks, demonstrating a solid grasp of and keen interest in foreign policy. [132] He was often successful in preventing the appointment of ministers or commanders he disliked, or in shunting them into less significant roles. [133]
This academic rehabilitation has not entirely erased the popular perception of George II as a "faintly ludicrous king." [134] His legendary parsimony, for example, made him an easy target for ridicule, though his biographers note that being careful with money is arguably preferable to extravagance. [135] Lord Charlemont offered a defense of his short temper, arguing that sincerity, however abrasive, is better than deception: "His temper was warm and impetuous, but he was good-natured and sincere. Unskilled in the royal talent of dissimulation, he always was what he appeared to be. He might offend, but he never deceived." [136] Lord Waldegrave wrote, "I am thoroughly convinced that hereafter, when time shall have wore away those specks and blemishes which sully the brightest characters... he will be numbered amongst those patriot kings, under whose government the people have enjoyed the greatest happiness." [137] George II may not have been a titan of history, but he was influential, and he upheld constitutional government. [138] As Elizabeth Montagu observed, "With him our laws and liberties were safe... His character would not afford subject for epic poetry, but will look well in the sober page of history." [139]
Titles, styles and arms
Titles and styles
In Britain:
- From 1706: Duke and Marquess of Cambridge, Earl of Milford Haven, Viscount Northallerton and Baron of Tewkesbury [140]
- August–September 1714: His Royal Highness George Augustus, Prince of Great Britain, Electoral Prince of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay, etc. [141]
- 1714–1727: His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales
- 1727–1760: His Majesty The King
George II's full style was "George the Second, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Archtreasurer and Prince-Elector of the Holy Roman Empire". [142]
Arms
When George became Prince of Wales in 1714, he was granted the royal arms with an inescutcheon of gules plain in the Hanoverian quarter, differenced overall by a label of three points argent. His crest included the single arched coronet of his rank. As king, he used the royal arms as his father had, undifferenced. [143]
| Coat of arms as the Prince of Wales 1714–1727 | Coat of arms of George II as King of Great Britain 1727–1760 |
Family
Ancestry
Issue
Caroline's ten [146] or eleven [147] pregnancies resulted in eight live births. One of their children died in infancy, while seven survived to adulthood.
| Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Frederick, Prince of Wales | 31 January 1707 | 31 March 1751 | married 1736, Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha; had issue, including the future George III |
| Anne, Princess Royal | 2 November 1709 | 12 January 1759 | married 1734, William IV, Prince of Orange; had issue |
| Princess Amelia | 10 June 1711 | 31 October 1786 | never married, no issue |
| Princess Caroline | 10 June 1713 | 28 December 1757 | never married, no issue |
| Stillborn son | 20 November 1716 | ||
| Prince George William | 13 November 1717 | 17 February 1718 | died in infancy |
| Prince William, Duke of Cumberland | 26 April 1721 | 31 October 1765 | never married, no issue |
| Princess Mary | 5 March 1723 | 14 January 1772 | married 1740, Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel; had issue |
| Princess Louisa | 18 December 1724 | 19 December 1751 | married 1743, Frederick V, King of Denmark and Norway; had issue |
Dates in this table are New Style