Coin Portrait of the Week #22

[Drusus]

KM 684 Great Britain Silver Maundy 2 Pence Depicting King George IV 1823

 

 

 

King George IV of England: George Augustus Frederick was born at St James's Palace, London on August 12, 1762 the eldest son of 15 children born to King George III and Queen Charlotte of the House of Hanover. In his youth George, the Prince of Wales, is said to have been a bright and a talented student having quickly learned to speak French, German and Italian in addition to his native English. By his teens, George had already begun to exhibit rebellious tendencies.

 

When The Prince of Wales turned 21 in 1783 he obtained a grant of £60,000 from Parliament and an annual income of £50,000 from his father, he established his residence in Carlton House and began in earnest a life of luxury, decadence, and excess. A rift developed between him and his frugal, conservative, Tory father who disapproved of his his extravagant lifestyle, affairs with women, and his radically-inclined Whig politician friends such as Charles Fox and Richard Sheridan.

 

In 1784 he fell in love with, and married, the widow Maria Anne Fitzherbert. The marriage was kept a secret as under the terms of the Royal Marriages Act of 1772, it was illegal for a member of the royal family to marry a Roman Catholic or marry without the kings consent. Such a marriage would make the prince ineligible to succeed his father to the throne.

 

By the 1780s the Prince of Wales had become a gambler, a womanizer, and a heavy drinker. He was deeply in debt and when Parliament agreed to increase his allowance, his father remarked that it was "a shameful squandering of public money to gratify the passions of an ill-advised young man." The Prince continued his exorbitant lifestyle undeterred and by 1795 his debts totaled in excess of £650,000. His father refused to help him so he instead agreed to marry his cousin, Caroline of Brunswick, in exchange for debt relief.

 

The prince and his new bride seemed to have a mutual distaste for each other. The Prince regarded Caroline as unattractive and unhygienic; he also suspected that she was not a virgin when they married. She found him equally unattractive, and the prince's correspondence reveals that the couple only had sexual intercourse three times during their marriage, twice during the first night, and once the second night. After the birth of their only child, Princess Charlotte, in 1796, they choose to live separately. The Prince would continue to be involved with Mrs Fitzherbert among others until his death while Caroline would become involved in various affairs. Both are thought to have had illegitimate children with other lovers.

 

King George III fell ill, possibly suffering from the hereditary disease porphyria, resulting in abdominal pain, vomiting, acute neuropathy, seizures, and mental disturbances, including hallucinations, depression, anxiety, and paranoia. As a result there were long periods of time in which he was unable to exercise his royal duties. After a time it seemed the King had recovered from his prolonged illness and would remain on the throne but after a final bout following the death of his youngest daughter, Princess Amelia, Parliament (after much debate) passed the Regency Act of 1811 and the Prince of Wales was appointed regent on the January 5th of that year. He would serve as regent for the next nine years until his fathers death in 1820.

 

Previously the prince had been a proponent of catholic emancipation, something supported by the Whigs and opposed by the Tories, but once in power George changed his views and became a strong opponent of Catholic Emancipation. He also abandoned his support for those Whigs who were arguing for parliamentary reform. During this time the parliament was split, neither side wishing to cooperate with other while the Prince urged bipartisan cooperation and power sharing leading to a tumultuous highly partisan political rift.

 

One possible reason for his failure to support the Whigs whom he had earlier supported was the fact that the Tories were the driving force pushing to continue and win the war in Europe against the aggressive French Emperor Napoleon I. In 1814 an allied force made up of Russia, Prussia, Austria, the United Kingdom and several smaller countries defeated Napoleon. Napoleon makes his historic return in 1815 only to be defeated in the end at the Battle of Waterloo by Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. Also in this year the British-American War of 1812 concluded without a decisive victory for either side.

 

During this time the prince, along with associates such as the dandy Beau Brummell and the architect John Nash, created the Regency style. The Prince of Wales was greatly interested in matters of style and was impressed by the work of the architect John Nash. He commissioned him to design Regent's Park, arranged for Nash to create Buckingham Palace out of Buckingham House, and the reshaping of the Royal Pavilion at Brighton into a extravagant grande seaside palace in Oriental theme inspired loosely by the Taj Mahal.

 

On the death of his father in 1820 George became king. His estranged wife Caroline had earlier left the United Kingdom for Europe where she is reported to have indulged in all forms of scandalous behavior. Upon hearing for the death of King George III she chose to return to England to claim her rights as Queen. George first sought a divorce but when it was suggested that any divorce proceeding might lead to his own questionable behavior being revealed, he instead persuaded Lord Liverpool and his government to propose an Act of parliament, the Pains and Penalties Bill, to deprive her of the title Queen and to declare the marriage "for ever wholly dissolved, annulled and made void". The Whigs opposed the measure as did he general public who favored Caroline and there were public demonstrations against the new king.

 

On the day of the coronation, Caroline made an attempt to attend but was turned away at the doors of Westminster Abbey on orders of the new king which resulted in further public demonstrations. The situation was resolved soon afterwards when Caroline died suddenly on August 7, 1821. It is reported that during her illness she stated that she thought she had been poisoned.

 

George's coronation was, like his lifestyle, extravagant and expensive costing roughly £243,000 as compared to his fathers coronation which cost a mere £10,000. In 1821 the King became the first monarch to pay a state visit to Ireland since Richard II and he visited Edinburgh the following year. His visit to Scotland was the first by a reigning British monarch since Charles I in 1633.

 

His earlier support for catholic emancipation was a thing of the past. He launched a private anti-Catholic campaigned against the Catholic Relief Bill of 1813 which was ultimately defeated. By 1824 he was denouncing Catholic emancipation in public. He argued that he had sworn to uphold the Protestant faith when he became King and could not support any pro-Catholic measures. The Duke of Wellington, with great difficulty, obtained the King's begrudging consent to the introduction of a Catholic Relief Bill in 1829 but the king later withdrew his consent under pressure from his fanatically anti-Catholic brother, the Duke of Cumberland. In protest the Cabinet resigned and on the following day the King, now under intense political pressure, reluctantly agreed to the Bill.

 

George's indulgent lifestyle seriously damaged his health. By the 1820s he was extremely overweight and was addicted to both alcohol and laudanum. His obesity, gluttony and heavy drinking increasingly made him the target of ridicule on the rare occasions he appeared in public. He suffered from gout, arteriosclerosis, cataracts and possibly suffered from porphyria, the same hereditary illness that plagued his father. He began showing signs of insanity, reportedly telling people that he had been a soldier and had fought at the Battle of Waterloo. In the end the king became more and more a recluse at Windsor Castle spending much of his time in bed.

 

George IV died on June 26, 1830 at Windsor Castle. he is said to have grabbed his page's hand exclaiming "Good God, what is this? my boy, this is death." After his death, one newspaper stated

 

'There never was an individual less regretted by his fellow-creatures than this deceased king. What eye has wept for him? What heart has heaved one throb of unmercenary sorrow? ... If he ever had a friend — a devoted friend in any rank of life — we protest that the name of him or her never reached us'

 

Of King George IV the Duke of Wellington had earlier stated:

 

"(he is) the worst man I ever fell in with my whole life, the most selfish, the most false, the most ill-natured, the most entirely without one redeeming quality"

 

Although in his eulogy of the king he praised his knowledge and talent calling him "the most accomplished man of his age." The truth was probably somehwere in between as in an even later statement he says George was:

 

"a magnificent patron of the arts...the most extraordinary compound of talent, wit, buffoonery, obstinacy, and good feeling — in short a medley of the most opposite qualities, with a great preponderance of good — that I ever saw in any character in my life."

 

King George IV left no heir as his only daughter, Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales, had died in 1817 after giving birth to a still born son. He was succeeded by his brother, Prince William, Duke of Clarence, who reigned as William IV.

 

 

One of many unflattering contemporary cartoons depicting a corpulent George IV

 

Caroline of Brunswick: Consort of King George IV

 

Hugh Laurie plays Prince George in the BBC comedy Black Adder as a clueless spoiled royal twit.

 

 

I have omitted the section explaining maundy coins and maundy thursday, if you would like more info on them go here:

 

http://www.cachecoins.org/georgeiv.htm

[dustin43160]

thanks now ive learned somethng!!!

[echizento]

George almost looks like Nero on this coin. Thanks for another intresting history lesson.

[saankarite]

great article, like always!..

maybe you should change the title, it says "1923" instead of 1823, as shown on the coin!!

[Drusus]

good lord...how the heck did THAT happen!! Thanks for catching it. It got the correct date on my site and I copy the postings right from there!!

 

http://www.cachecoins.org/georgeiv.htm

[Scottishmoney]

George IV was quite incensed at the first coins when they came out, they accurately depicted an obese and decidedly offensive individual. So he had the coinage portrait changed early in the reign, which is why during only a 10 year reign there were two portraits.

[Drusus]

George IV was quite incensed at the first coins when they came out, they accurately depicted an obese and decidedly offensive individual. So he had the coinage portrait changed early in the reign, which is why during only a 10 year reign there were two portraits.

 

Here is one from a coronation medal that wasnt very pleasing as well

 

 

 

I have a feeling these portraits might have been more to his liking:

 

 

[roaddevil]

ahh i know english history by heart can trace the royal family tree back to william the conqueror. George IV was a great patron of arts, he commissioned many paintings an works of architecture. he founded the national gallery in london in 1824 to display a national collection of art for all too see. it is during his rule that the first organised civilian police force was introduced in london (google robert peel for info),he fixed an built roads (the old 1's needed repairs pronto they where in really bad shape) however he paid for it by charging toll on ppl who used the roads an basiclly poor ppl an businesses who used the road hated him more for that, he opened a railway in 1825 which in 1833 became the first public railway(gr8 accomplishment right even though he was a meanie ) an as mentioned he commissioned john nash to redesign his home at Brighton and convert it into a palace and since the prince liked oriental an indian art the palace was madeled after indian style architechture (aka the tajmahal the roof of the castle an white colour is identical!!!) an btw when i was small i saw a movie bout george 3 (this dudes dad xD) which made me like history alot an also shakesphere (although i only read lil ) george 3 was in luv with the story King Lear he always quoted it (don know if real or only in the movie:P) an me 2 king lear is really awesome "daughter:- i luv u as a daughter should no more no less" best line ok a lil diff don remember exact line read it like 6 months ago xD