George III (1738-1820) and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1744-1818)


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Today is the 200th anniversary [1820] of the death of the much loved King George lll ['Farmer George'] whose reign is most notably associated with the loss of one particularly pesky North American colony.- but which was really largely the fault of his inept PM [Lord North].

In reality his long reign saw the a massive increase in the prosperity of Britain - astounding industrial & agricultural Revolutions, a vast expansion of a prosperous Middle Class. the beginnings of the anti-slavery movement [1783], and wholly victorious wars against the primary {French} Enemy -1792-1815, giving Great Britain absolute dominance of the World for almost exactly a Century.

Aside from this he was a thoroughly decent Man, a good Father and Husband, wholly unpretentious, and as unlike both his predecessor and successor as he could possibly be..
 
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wyevale said:
Today is the 200th anniversary [1820] of the death of the much loved King George lll ['Farmer George'] whose reign is most notably associated with the loss of one particularly pesky North American colony.- but which was really largely the fault of his inept PM [Lord North].

In reality his long reign saw the a massive increase in the prosperity of Britain - astounding industrial & agricultural Revolutions, a vast expansion of a prosperous Middle Class. the beginnings of the anti-slavery movement [1783], and wholly victorious wars against the primary {French} Enemy -1792-1815, giving Great Britain absolute dominance of the World for almost exactly a Century.

Aside from this he was a thoroughly decent Man, a good Father and Husband, wholly unpretentious, and as unlike both his predecessor and successor as he could possibly be..
Click to expand...

I wonder what did become of those unfortunate Americans, such a shame for them.......:lol:

More seriously I find George an interesting character. I think his is a possible model for a 21st century monarchy. Personal, unfussy & modest.
 
An Ard Ri said:
THE Death announcement for H.M.King George III in the GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE, London, dated February, 1820!!!

Death of King George III with coffin print... - RareNewspapers.com
Click to expand...

Very interesting, thank you.

It's certainly a lot more respectful than the comment in The Times printed after the death of his son George iv:

"there never was an individual less regretted by his fellow creatures than this deceased king"

Certainly puts modern day criticism of royalty into some sort of historical context.
 
Durham said:
Very interesting, thank you.

It's certainly a lot more respectful than the comment in The Times printed after the death of his son George iv:

"there never was an individual less regretted by his fellow creatures than this deceased king"

Certainly puts modern day criticism of royalty into some sort of historical context.
Click to expand...
They really could say these things right after the King´s death without ending up in the Tower...;)?! On the other hand they had these unflattering satiric sketches during the reigns of Georges III and IV all the time!
I guess these things would have been quite unheard of in later reigns and things one could say about Royalty and what you could say not, until the late 1960s, became much more strict!
 
wartenberg7 said:
They really could say these things right after the King´s death without ending up in the Tower...;)?! On the other hand they had these unflattering satiric sketches during the reigns of Georges III and IV all the time!
I guess these things would have been quite unheard of in later reigns and things one could say about Royalty and what you could say not, until the late 1960s, became much more strict!
Click to expand...

Yes indeed the James Gillray pictures. Wonderful satire!

There has long been a tradition of lese majeste in English/British tradition. Quite healthily so in my opinion.

The near veneration of the aged Victoria & the continuing deep deference well into the twentieth century towards British monarchs is unusual in a historical context. The first cracks began to appear in the fifties with Lord Altricham's waspish criticisms of the young queen.
 
I came across this interesting account of the visit of George & Charlotte to Lulworth castle in 1789. They went inside the newly built Roman Catholic chapel (2.23 in). An interesting historical incident in post Reformation England. This was only nine years after the infamous Gordon riots.

George is said to have been one of those against Roman Catholic emancipation at the 1800 union with Ireland. I wonder if he was privately tolerant but felt he had to be ultra protestant in public.

 
Durham said:
Very interesting, thank you.

It's certainly a lot more respectful than the comment in The Times printed after the death of his son George iv:

"there never was an individual less regretted by his fellow creatures than this deceased king"

Certainly puts modern day criticism of royalty into some sort of historical context.
Click to expand...



Wow. He was really unpopular.
 
Gawin said:
We are ruled by a mad tyrant..so we have come full circle...and are indeed unfortunate....
Click to expand...
Gawin I blame you for the coffee I just spewed on my laptop ?
 
wyevale said:
Today is the 200th anniversary [1820] of the death of the much loved King George lll ['Farmer George'] whose reign is most notably associated with the loss of one particularly pesky North American colony.- but which was really largely the fault of his inept PM [Lord North].

In reality his long reign saw the a massive increase in the prosperity of Britain - astounding industrial & agricultural Revolutions, a vast expansion of a prosperous Middle Class. the beginnings of the anti-slavery movement [1783], and wholly victorious wars against the primary {French} Enemy -1792-1815, giving Great Britain absolute dominance of the World for almost exactly a Century.

Aside from this he was a thoroughly decent Man, a good Father and Husband, wholly unpretentious, and as unlike both his predecessor and successor as he could possibly be..
Click to expand...
He is one of my favorites as well. Of course, he had to become crazy. :sad:
 
Durham said:
I came across this interesting account of the visit of George & Charlotte to Lulworth castle in 1789. They went inside the newly built Roman Catholic chapel (2.23 in). An interesting historical incident in post Reformation England. This was only nine years after the infamous Gordon riots.

George is said to have been one of those against Roman Catholic emancipation at the 1800 union with Ireland. I wonder if he was privately tolerant but felt he had to be ultra protestant in public.
Click to expand...

I wonder how the king King felt about the influx of French Roman Catholics fleeing the French Revolution and religious persecution during the terror.I think surviving members of the Bourbon family stayed at Lulworth castle for a time.
 
wyevale said:
Aside from this he was a thoroughly decent Man, a good Father and Husband, wholly unpretentious, and as unlike both his predecessor and successor as he could possibly be..
Click to expand...


He was a good brother, too, to his sisters after his own father, Frederick Prince of Wales died. Yes, he looked for "good" marriages for the sake of th Uk but when he was in doubt of the character of the future husband, he secured his sister's dowry for her, so she could use it as she wanted. When his youngest sister Caroline Matilde was imprisonned in Danmark and her husband declared mad after their marriage a trois with their prime minister Count Struensee (both men had fathered a child with Caroline Matilde) had been broken up by a revolution at court led by the king's stepnother Dowager queen Juliane, he managed to get his sister free and her dowry back, so she could live in his Hannoveran lands in peace and richness. The Count alas was executed, the king was treated for his mental health and as soon as Caroline Matilde's eldest, the son by the king,

was at 16 considered old enough to become prince regent, all was settled again. Only Caroline Matilde could not come back to Copenhagen, as she had died before. But her daughter with Count Struensee had been legitimized by her husbund, so could marry as a Roiyal Princess of Denmark. All without doubt because George III. never ceased to care for his sister and her family and pushed the Danish government, even threatening with war till they declared his nephew an adult at 16 and handed over the power.
 
An Ard Ri said:
I wonder how the king King felt about the influx of French Roman Catholics fleeing the French Revolution and religious persecution during the terror.I think surviving members of the Bourbon family stayed at Lulworth castle for a time.
Click to expand...

After various adventures Louis XVIII arrived in England in 1808. He lived at Hartwell House in Buckinghamshire, paid for by the king.

I would imagine George found the chaos & irreligion troubling. Catholic Bourbon France was a known entity even if it was the traditional foe. The new revolutionary France proved to be far more dangerous & unpredictable & indeed plunged Europe into over two decades of war & upheaval.
 
Do you think that King George III wondered if any of his older children might become interested in the Roman Catholic religion?
 
Durham said:
After various adventures Louis XVIII arrived in England in 1808. He lived at Hartwell House in Buckinghamshire, paid for by the king.

I would imagine George found the chaos & irreligion troubling. Catholic Bourbon France was a known entity even if it was the traditional foe. The new revolutionary France proved to be far more dangerous & unpredictable & indeed plunged Europe into over two decades of war & upheaval.
Click to expand...

Prior to that the last influx of French were the persecuted Huguenots who fled the ultra Catholic Bourbons!
 
An Ard Ri said:
Prior to that the last influx of French were the persecuted Huguenots who fled the ultra Catholic Bourbons!
Click to expand...

Yes indeed & a very successful group they became in both Britain & Ireland. The Huguenots I think were a socially diverse lot. I would imagine most of the French refugees of the late C18th were aristocrats although I don't have a lot of knowledge about them. Apart from reading the Scarlet Pimpernel!
 
I have Huguenot ancestry they settled in Isle of Wight .

I can imagine the fear at the court of George III that the ideals of the French Revolution would make their way across the English Channel.
 
An Ard Ri said:
I have Huguenot ancestry they settled in Isle of Wight .

I can imagine the fear at the court of George III that the ideals of the French Revolution would make their way across the English Channel.
Click to expand...

They were certainly fearful. Radicals like Thomas Paine were threatened with arrest. The Peterloo Massacre, albeit much later, is another example of paranoid government action over political radicalism.

The Americans of course were an example of (North American) Britons who had been inspired by enlightenment ideals.
 
During the years during 1791-1794 there was a large scale exodus of clergy,religious and nobility from France escaping the massacres and Terror.

In September 1792 for instance it was reported that 4,000 French émigré landed in the UK.
 
An Ard Ri said:
During the years during 1791-1794 there was a large scale exodus of clergy,religious and nobility from France escaping the massacres and Terror.

In September 1792 for instance it was reported that 4,000 French émigré landed in the UK.
Click to expand...

The exodus of the clergy was spurred by the Civil Constitution of the clergy. It had been created in 1790 but the king forestalled it by refusing to sign. Those priests who did not agree to swear the oath were to be imprisoned. About half the clergy took the oath. Non-jurists as they were called found themselves in chains in prison ships where they ended up dying from conditions. Many of the clergy fled to the UK and other countries to escape prison or having to take it.

In 1792 the September Massacres saw the murder of 1100-1600 prisoners in Paris in a period of 4 days. It was this event that led to the famous murder of Marat in his bath tub (his murdered Charlotte Corday held him to blame for the massacres). 191 of them were Roman catholic clergy who were prisoners at Carmes Prison. 3 bishops, 127 priests, 56 monks and nuns and 5 lay people were killed. October 1926 Pope Pius beatified the group as the Holy September Martyrs.
 
King George III entrusted his tutor, John Stuart, Earl of Bute with the task of finding him a wife among the German Protestant princesses. Bute came up with Sophia Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
 
Many paintings of Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
 
I want to read a biography of King George III. Could I get opinions on the best one? I have been looking at these two:

1. George III: A Personal History by Christopher Hibbert
2. A Royal Experiment: The Private Life of King George III by Stella Tilllyard

However, I don't know how much of a biography #2 would be since it is seems to be focused on private life instead of public. Can anyone comment on these books or recommend another one? Thank you.
 
Charlotte of Mecklenberg-Strelitz
Would the Queen's marriage have been considered a marriage of madness?
 
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