George IV (The English Monarchs Series) [Hardcover]

Dr. E. A. Smith (Author)

Book Description

Series: The English Monarchs Series | Publication Date: June 10, 1999

This engrossing biography of George IV, king of England from 1820 to 1830, reassesses the role of this colorful ruler as constitutional monarch. E. A. Smith provides a full and objective account of the monarch's character, reputation, and achievement, revealing that despite his faults George made important contributions in politics and as a patron of the arts.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

The latest volume in the estimable Yale English Monarchs series covers the life of George IV, king from 1820 to 1830. Son of the long-ruling George III, from whom the American colonies broke away to eventually form a more perfect union, George IV is understood here as having developed weaknesses of character in direct response to his difficult relationship with his father. But Smith asserts that historians have placed too much emphasis on those weaknesses. As a matter of fact, Smith avers, George IV was not a disastrous king by any means, but one whose accomplishments need to be reconsidered, which he proceeds to do in an orderly and supportable fashion. That George IV was a connoisseur of the arts, particularly architecture, has been allowed him by previous biographers, but Smith opens a new window into the king's effect on the nation, finding that his political role had much more significance than has been generally realized. Recommend this biography for its comprehensiveness and professional exactness. Brad Hooper

From Kirkus Reviews

This cautious revisionist history of the youth, regency, and reign of one of the most despised English kings tries to show, in the words of a royal retainer, that George IV's ``abilities were far, very far, above mediocrity.'' The future George IV (17621830) and his siblings were raised in virtual isolation. George, as prince of Wales, angered his father, George III, by falling in with the libertine, high-living, morally dissolute Whigs under Charles James Fox and the duchess of Devonshire. An overdressed, free-spending dandy, the prince cut a swath among fawning actresses and parvenus while running up enormous debts. The prince spent a fortune to transform the run-down Carlton House in London into the gaudiest domicile in the realm. To enjoy his secret marriage to the widowed Mrs. Fitzherbert, a Catholic and commoner, the prince ran up greater debts rebuilding and enlarging the Brighton Pavillion, where he also played soldier with his personal regiment. He agreed to marry Caroline of Brunswicka woman he found so distasteful on their first meeting that he hid his face and demanded a brandyin exchange for his father paying his debts. For the next two decades, from 1811, when the prince assumed control of the throne as regent during his father's final bout of madness, until he died in 1830 after a ten-year reign as George IV, he presided over the most stylish and flamboyant period in British history for the hundred or so aristocrats who could afford it. Smith, the author of four English histories (Wellington and the Arthbutnots, not reviewed, etc.), shows that the king's numerous political enemies used his profligate spending, as well as his cruel treatment of Queen Caroline, to blacken a legacy that also included distinctive buildings and public works, generous sponsorship of the arts and literature, and a taste for lavish display. More a historical summary than a biography, Smith's occasionally tedious if sympathetic account portrays a king's grand indulgences as decorative flourishes of a darker political era. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; 1ST edition (June 10, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300076851
• ISBN-13: 978-0300076851
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,559,887 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

0 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Party King, August 5, 2007

By 

Rebecca A. Crumb "Napoleanic Times Historian" (Buffalo NY USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: George IV (The English Monarchs Series) (Paperback)

This guy was the epitome of decadents. The author described in 3D so it seams the parties,the spending, the frustration, the many mistresses of this unpopular king. No one was sorry when he passed away. That is sad indeed. The author also showed that this king was a great patron of the arts. He built schools. Great book.