Customer Reviews

King William IV

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4 star:		(1)
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This book was excellent. I have been an amateur student of the Hanover era of the British monarchy and there are many books out there on the Great King George III or the Bad King George IV. There are numerous books on Queen Victoria and the Era she heralded, but there is little on King William IV, son of George III, younger brother and heir of George IV and previous monarch of his niece Queen Victoria. King William saw England through only 7 years but in that seven years he saw a lot of changes in parliament and help begin restoring the faith of the British in their monarchy that was lost during the reign of George IV. Mr. Ziegler does a wonderful job of showing William's private life and the trials he endured from his time in the Navy, to life with Mrs. Jordan and their 10 children, to his finding proper wife and becoming King. A great story of a good man.

This paperback of Ziegler's biography of William Guelf, King William IV, is an earlier paperback issue of Ziegler's original 1971 publication. I purchased it to compare to the hardback of 1973, KING WILLIAM IV: FIRST ENGLISH KING IN AMERICA, because that book (see my review) was expanded by Ziegler to include King William's American Revolutionary years as Midshipman William Guelf, Duke of Clarence.

It's excellent and I cannot recommend it enough, for learning about this king, uncle and predecessor of Queen Victoria. Exciting, but I'd stick with the abovementioned book rather than waste time reading this original edition--one that apparently did not satisfy Ziegler enough. I deduct one star for that scholastic uncertainty.