The Four Georges

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The role of monarchy in the development of the distinctive British political nation is a subject that has commanded much interest with reference to the nineteenth century, but recent consideration of the preceding period has not been so widespread. The monarchies of France, Spain, Sweden, Portugal, Poland, the Holy Roman Empire, and the house of Orange all faced serious crises between 1790 and 1810, and not all of them survived. In contrast, the British monarchy confronted a serious and unsuccessful imperial revolution in 1775-83 but avoided an existential challenge at home.

The relationship between this and the role of the monarchy in the British political system requires examination. The bedding down of the Glorious Revolution settlement included the crucial defence against Jacobitism. From then on, a practice of limited government begins to emerge: regular parliaments, frequent elections, and the scrutiny of the press. Adaptations occurred due to the challenges of the American and French revolutions, and the meritocratic ‘monarchies’ of Washington and Napoleon. British monarchy became linked to a more potent imperial nationalism. Wellington, the vanquisher of Napoleon, was never more than a servant of the often-preposterous George IV. How can that be? Crucially, Jeremy Black, with his own inimitable way of extracting the principle from the detail, shows that what materialised was a system that worked.