Podcast Transcript
In 1811, Great Britain’s aging king could no longer rule, and his extravagant son stepped in as Prince Regent.
The years that followed saw the defeat of Napoleon, rapid industrial growth, political unrest, and a cultural style still associated with elegance and excess.
At the center of it all was the future George IV, a man remembered as much for his buildings, clothes, debts, and scandals as for his reign.
Learn more about the Regency Era and George IV on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.
British and English history, like Taylor Swift, is often divided into eras that are associated with a monarch or a group of monarchs. You are probably familiar with the term “Victorian Era,” which refers to the period associated with the reign of Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1901.
Other English and British “eras” exist, but they are not all used with the same precision. Some are formal historical periods, some are cultural or literary labels, and some are a shorthand for a period of time.
In the episode, I want to focus on the Regency Era, which immediately preceded the Victorian Era, and on the person associated with it, King George IV.
The Regency Era is sometimes considered its own thing and sometimes a subsection of the greater Georgian era. The Georgian era is defined as the reigns of the first four British kings named George of the House of Hanover, who came to power in the aftermath of Queen Anne’s death.
The Georgian era began in 1714 with the accession of George I and ended with the death of George IV in 1830. It sometimes also includes the seven-year reign of William IV, who was squeezed between the Georgian and Victorian eras.
The Regency Era doesn’t have a set starting point. It is sometimes considered to have informally started in 1795, and more formally in 1811. It usually goes through the full reign of George IV, even though he was king, not regent. But regardless of where you put the starting point, it begins during the reign of King George III.
I covered the reign of George III in a previous episode. He was one of the longest-reigning monarchs in British history, having reigned for 59 years.
However, in his later years, he suffered from a severe mental illness. When a monarch is unable to fulfill their duties, a regent is usually appointed to perform them in the monarch’s name. Usually, this is done for children who ascend to the throne, but it can also be done in cases like George III.
The first major regency crisis occurred in 1788. George III became seriously ill, spoke almost continuously, and behaved in ways that alarmed his family and ministers. Parliament began debating whether his eldest son should be appointed regent.
The king recovered before the matter was settled, but the crisis exposed a serious constitutional problem. Britain had no automatic procedure for transferring royal authority when a monarch became incapacitated.
The relationship between George III and his eldest son was already strained. The Prince of Wales was everything his father disliked. The king valued domestic life, restraint, and personal duty.
The prince loved gambling, expensive clothes, elaborate buildings, mistresses, and public entertainment. He accumulated enormous debts and associated with opposition politicians, particularly Charles James Fox and the Whigs.
The prince expected that a regency would allow him to dismiss his father’s ministers and appoint his political friends. Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger wanted to limit the prince’s authority, at least temporarily. That political struggle became unnecessary when George III recovered, but it established the pattern that would reappear two decades later.
Prince George led a scandalous life. He had a relationship with Maria Fitzherbert, a Catholic widow. They went through a marriage ceremony in 1785, but the union was not legally valid under the Royal Marriages Act because George III had not approved it.
It also created political and religious problems because the heir to the throne was prohibited from marrying a Catholic without losing his place in the succession.
In 1795, George legally married his cousin, Caroline of Brunswick. The marriage was arranged partly to persuade Parliament to pay his debts. George and Caroline disliked each other almost immediately. They had one child, Princess Charlotte, born in 1796, and then they separated.
Both lived largely independent lives. George continued to have mistresses, while Caroline traveled abroad and was accused of improper relationships. George’s allies investigated her conduct, but they failed to prove adultery conclusively.
George III’s health deteriorated again in 1810. The death of his youngest and favorite daughter, Princess Amelia, appears to have contributed to the crisis. By the end of the year, the king could no longer carry out his duties.
Parliament passed the Regency Act in 1811. The Act appointed the Prince of Wales as regent in his father’s name. For the first year, his ability to grant peerages, offices, and royal property was restricted. These limits were intended to preserve the possibility that George III might recover and return to power.
However, he never did.
The prince formally assumed his responsibilities on February 5, 1811. He became George, Prince Regent, commonly called “Prinny” by his contemporaries and later historians.
Many Whigs expected the new regent to dismiss the Tory government and bring them into office. The prince had spent much of his adult life presenting himself as a friend of Charles James Fox, the Whigs, and the political opposition. Once in power, however, he retained the existing ministry.
The Regency did not produce the political revolution that many had expected. Instead, it continued the policies of George III’s later years.
A lot happened during this period, socially, culturally, and geopolitically.
The dominant international event of the early Regency was Britain’s struggle against Napoleon Bonaparte. Britain had been at war with France almost nonstop since 1793. By 1811, Napoleon controlled or dominated much of continental Europe.
Britain’s strongest position was at sea. The Royal Navy’s victory at Trafalgar in 1805 had destroyed Napoleon’s ability to invade Britain directly. British naval power enabled the country to protect its trade routes, blockade French ports, seize overseas colonies, and support military operations worldwide.
On land, Britain’s main effort was the Peninsular War in Spain and Portugal. British forces under Arthur Wellesley, later the Duke of Wellington, fought alongside Portuguese and Spanish forces against Napoleon’s armies. The war was difficult and expensive, but Wellington gradually pushed the French out of the Iberian Peninsula.
In 1812, Napoleon invaded Russia. The campaign ended in disaster, weakening the French Empire. Britain, Russia, Prussia, Austria, and other European powers formed a coalition that drove Napoleon back toward France. Allied armies entered Paris in 1814, and Napoleon abdicated.
The Prince Regent became the ceremonial center of the celebrations that followed. European monarchs, generals, and diplomats visited London. The prince hosted receptions and banquets, presenting himself as one of the architects of victory. His personal contribution to military strategy was minimal, but he understood the political value of a good show.
Napoleon returned from exile in 1815, beginning the period known as the Hundred Days. The Duke of Wellington commanded the Allied army that defeated him at the Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815. The battle ended Napoleon’s rule and confirmed Britain’s position as one of the leading powers in Europe.
The defeat of Napoleon marked the beginning of a long period in which Britain faced no comparable European rival at sea. It helped create the conditions for the expansion of the British Empire during the nineteenth century.
France wasn’t Britain’s only enemy during the Regency.
The War of 1812 against the United States resulted from several disputes, including British restrictions on American trade, the impressment of sailors, and British relations with Native American nations resisting American expansion. I covered the War of 1812 in a previous episode.
Victory over Napoleon did not bring immediate prosperity. The end of the war created serious economic disruption.
During the war, the government had spent heavily on soldiers, sailors, weapons, ships, and supplies. When the war ended, military spending fell. Hundreds of thousands of servicemen returned home and entered the labor market. Industries that had depended on wartime contracts lost business.
Agricultural prices also declined as European trade reopened. Landowners feared that cheap imported grain would reduce their income. Parliament responded with the Corn Law of 1815, which restricted grain imports until domestic prices reached a high level.
The Corn Laws protected landowners and farmers, but they raised the price of food for urban workers. Bread was a major part of the working-class diet, so grain prices had an immediate effect on living standards. The laws became a symbol of a political system that appeared to serve wealthy landowners at the expense of the general population.
Britain’s political system changed little during the wars, even though its society was changing rapidly. Representation in Parliament was based on old borough boundaries. Some small settlements with few voters elected members of Parliament, while large industrial cities such as Manchester had no direct representation.
These tiny constituencies became known as rotten boroughs. Seats could often be controlled by a landowner or purchased through patronage. Voting rights varied from place to place and were generally restricted to men with property. Most working-class and many middle-class men could not vote. Women had no formal political rights.
After 1815, demands for parliamentary reform grew. Reformers wanted wider voting rights, more equal constituencies, lower taxes, cheaper food, and greater freedom of the press. Some sought moderate changes. Others demanded universal male suffrage and annual parliaments.
Tensions reached a peak at St. Peter’s Field in Manchester on August 16, 1819. A large, peaceful crowd gathered to hear the reformer Henry Hunt speak. Local authorities ordered the arrest of Hunt and the dispersal of the meeting. The mounted force charged into the crowd with sabers. At least a dozen people were killed, and hundreds were injured.
The event became known as the Peterloo Massacre, a bitter reference to the victory at Waterloo. Peterloo damaged the government’s reputation and became a powerful symbol of political repression.
The Regency occurred during a major stage of the Industrial Revolution. Britain had already begun industrializing in the eighteenth century, but the pace of change increased during the early nineteenth century.
Textile manufacturing expanded through the use of spinning machines, power looms, and steam engines. Production moved from homes and small workshops into factories.
Coal production increased because coal powered steam engines, heated homes, and supported iron manufacturing. Improvements in iron production made it possible to build larger machines, stronger bridges, and more efficient industrial equipment.
James Watt’s improvements to the steam engine had been developed before the Regency, but steam power spread more widely during the period.
George III died on January 29, 1820. The Prince Regent became King George IV at the age of fifty-seven. His accession did not create a sharp break because he had already exercised royal authority for nine years. His coronation in 1821 was one of the most elaborate and expensive in British history.
When George became king, Caroline returned to Britain and demanded recognition as queen. George tried to divorce her through a parliamentary measure known as the Pains and Penalties Bill, and the proceedings became a national scandal.
The bill passed the House of Lords by a narrow margin, but the government withdrew it because it was unlikely to pass the House of Commons. George barred Caroline from his coronation in 1821. She died just a few weeks later.
George IV died in 1830, just as demands for parliamentary reform were reaching a new level. His brother William IV became king. Two years later, Parliament passed the Great Reform Act of 1832.
George IV was not a strong political ruler. He was inconsistent, self-indulgent, and often more interested in appearances than administration. He disappointed the Whigs, who had once considered him an ally, opposed reforms he had little ability to stop, and damaged the monarchy through his treatment of his wife.
His lifestyle made him deeply unpopular. Many contemporaries saw him as a symbol of aristocratic waste at a time when workers faced hunger and unemployment. Wellington, who knew him well, reportedly regarded him as one of the worst men he had ever known.
George IV isn’t the most well-known British monarch. He is overshadowed by his father, who came before him, and Queen Victoria, who came after him.
Yet, the Regency era is one of the most consequential in British history. Napoleon was defeated, Britain began the process of political reform, and the Industrial Revolution gained momentum. All under a ruler that no one particularly liked.
