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[Music]
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you
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the story of the kings and queens of
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England is more surprising than you
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might think it's a fine drama a thousand
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years of tales of lust and betrayal of
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heroism and cruelty of mysteries murders
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tragedies and triumphs and it's also
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quite unlike the history of other
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countries royalty the thing about the
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kings and queens of England is that
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they're totally different from anywhere
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else which probably explains why they're
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still in business when almost everywhere
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else they've either been given the chalk
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or a stopped being regal this program
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looks at England's molix from the death
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of Queen Anne to the accession of
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Victoria well Britain's monarchs
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actually and if you look at Europe at
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the start of this story in 1714 you'll
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see just what I mean
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a European king is an absolute ruler
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louis xiv peter the great philip v of
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spain Frederick William of Prussia all
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men of unlimited power it's not like
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that in Britain Queen Anne has died
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there are no Protestant Stuart's left
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the Protestant line to the English
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throne now passes through James's
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granddaughter Sofia who had married a
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German prince with the title of elector
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of Hanover and then from her to her son
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George Lewis who's inherited that
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antiquated title into one quarter of the
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Royal coat of arms pops the amazingly
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complicated device of a 54 year old
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German princeling and when he comes to
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England for his coronation he knows
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perfectly well that he's not going to be
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anything like those other rulers he will
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be almost powerless so it really doesn't
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matter that he can't speak a word of
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English
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at the opening of Parliament King George
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stood in silence while his words were
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read by the Lord Chamberlain the crown
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that had belonged to Norman's
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French Plantagenet Welsh Tudors and
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Scottish Stewart's had now passed to the
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German and a virions the new king's son
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George Augustus arrived from
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Herrenhausen to take his seat in the
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House of Lords as Duke of Rothesay heir
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to the throne before leaving Germany he
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proudly declared I had not a drop of
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blood in my veins such is not English
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rotc of course is a Scottish dukedom
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George Augustus did share one trait with
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his father's English subjects a hearty
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dislike of King George and for the same
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reason 20 years before George became
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king of England something very
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mysterious had happened to his wife's
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best friend the dashing count konigsmark
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his wife Princess Sophia Dorothea had
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come to detest her husband who spent his
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time either engaged in endless European
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Wars or enjoying his various mistresses
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kernig schmuck tried to help her escape
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from Hannover he failed the count simply
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disappeared from the face of the earth
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actually his body was shoved under the
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floorboards of the princess's
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dressing-room and the princess was
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banished and imprisoned her son George
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Augustus never forgave his father in
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fact father son detta station would be
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the defining mark of the Hanoverian
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dynasty they thrived on it
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the English weren't too keen on that
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sort of behavior either they might have
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been more sympathetic if they'd approved
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of the two mistresses that George
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brought with him but they called them
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the Maypole and the elephant and decided
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they were simply greedy Germans with
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their snouts in the trough and there
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were Scottish no woman who thought that
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with George lacking support in England
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this might be an opportunity to hand the
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throne back to the Stuart family and in
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particular to James the second son
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living in France and known as the
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Pretender
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the French thought this would be a great
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idea Louie the 14th mistress Madame de
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Maintenon even presented him with a song
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to be sung on his accession it had
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originally been written for Louie to
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celebrate his recovery from a surgical
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procedure on his bottom she translated
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it for the man who should she thought be
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James the eighth of Scotland and why not
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James the third of England
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[Music]
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say
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the song turned out to be a bigger hit
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than the man Jacobite rising of 1715 was
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a complete flop and after spending a
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couple of months wandering around the
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Highlands James went home to France
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Georgia's throne was safe he spent every
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winter in Hannover and left the
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government of England to his ministers
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his own work was done by a new figure
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the Prime Minister a politician acting
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as a king substitute the first man to
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take on this role was Robert Walpole
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since Walpole didn't speak German the
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pair of them communicated in schoolboy
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Latin King George died a sudden death in
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1727 while in Hanover aged 67
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[Music]
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his son was living in Richmond forbidden
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by the old man to take any part in court
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life or even to see his own children
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when Walpole came with the news of his
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father's death george ii appears to have
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regarded it as a wind-up zet is one big
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lie
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but the outcast prince was indeed now
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george ii by the grace of God King of
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Great Britain France and Ireland
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defender of the faith elector of Hanover
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duke of brunswick-lüneburg and duke of
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Celle when he'd been convinced he came
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here to Leicester Square at the time it
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was Leicester house where he'd been
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running his own court and here he was
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attended by the Archbishop of Canterbury
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who formally presented him with his
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father's will royal wills had once been
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the most powerful documents in the world
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when William the Conqueror and henry ii
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died their wills established who would
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rule after them George took his father's
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will and instead of opening it shoved it
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in his pocket it was never seen again
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for the great disappointment of his
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father's mistress's jaws a second's wife
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Queen Caroline had very firm ideas on
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what should happen next and her husband
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was quite obedient the result was that
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everyone who'd been hoping for their own
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promotion in a change government was
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disappointed
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Walpole remained prime minister he'd
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promised her that she would get a
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personal grant of hundred thousand
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pounds a year double the offer his
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opposition came up with and very little
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actually changed at all
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that included the traditional hostility
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between anyone called King George and
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his son the son in question was now of
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course the son of george ii prince
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frederick according to queen caroline
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he was the greatest ass the greatest
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liar the greatest Canali and the
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greatest beast in the whole world
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and we hardly wish he was out of it she
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would have said it in German George
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agreed with the Queen and refused to
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allow Frederick to marry princess with a
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Mina of Prussia on the entirely sensible
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grounds that I did not sing satin
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crafting my half at Cox came upon a mad
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woman with impulse of plead
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Prince Frederick's view of his father
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was by contrast quite balanced and
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objective he is an obstinate
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self-indulgent miserly martinet with an
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insatiable sexual appetite obstinate yes
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self-indulgent a fair point miserly well
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he had slash Frederick's allowance to
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make him less of a social rival martinet
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well certainly a man of relentless and
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determined regular routine and the
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sexual appetite we assumed that it is
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right for instance he began seriously
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lasting after the beautiful young wife
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of the count of all modern when he met
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her in Hannover in 1735 and he told the
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Queen that you mathlab Savannah Morden
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for she loves me
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the popular view of the king was that he
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was a Randy buffoon he seems to been
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flattered by the jokes about his sexual
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efforts as his father had once done
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Frederic ran his own alternative Court
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which was far more popular than the
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king's king george ii didn't like that
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mine got popularity avez makes me sick
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but this makes me vomit the pair of them
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even patronized rival operatic outfits
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the king and his entourage went to see
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Handel at the Haymarket Handel had
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written George's coronation anthems his
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music was grand and glorious altogether
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suitable for magnifying the greatness of
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a self-important royal personage
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[Music]
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the Princeton's crowd stayed away they
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went instead to the Theatre Royal in
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Lincoln's Inn Fields that was where
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opera was being transformed into popular
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musical theater the biggest hit was the
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beggar's opera a vigorous tale of the
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criminal classes which lots of people
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said was intended as a satire on the
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court and war polls government when you
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send surely it be cautious and siege
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lest the Corps watch has happened it
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should be if you mentioned by sublime
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did so pets to all the tribe heat cries
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that was levelled at me it was all very
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entertaining watching royalty playing
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out their family quarrels but they were
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not quite reduced to the level of
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powerless performers King George was a
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fighting man like his father head of the
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army and very much engaged in the
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quarrels between the rulers of
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continental Europe Walpole tried hard to
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keep him out of wars but in 1739 the
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king got his way and England went to war
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with Spain this was the start of a
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steadily growing involvement in the
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power struggle between France Russia and
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the Habsburg Empire its culmination for
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George came in June 17 43 he found
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himself under attack by the French at a
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German village called getting on his
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horse bolted but George stood in front
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of his troops waved his sword and made a
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rather ponderous but actually rather
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brave little speech now boys now for the
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honour of England found behave played
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Leon's a French was soon won and so he
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became the last English King to lead his
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troops in battle it was a fierce fight
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and George emerged a bit of a hero but
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he didn't rule the country governments
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and ministers came and went not because
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he wanted them but because Parliament
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wanted them in fact George called
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himself a prisoner on this Rome in 1745
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he played no part in the battles of
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Preston pans or Culloden which were far
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more important to the throne than the
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Battle of getting him after all they
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were battles for the throne it's
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the cause of King James Stewart the king
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who'd fled from William of Orange in
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1688 had never been forgotten by the
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Scottish Highlanders its supporters
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supporters of a Roman Catholic monarchy
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were called Jacobites the Latin for
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James being jaqobis James's son the
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Pretender had tried and failed to take
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the throne in 1715 and now thirty years
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on he was known as the Old Pretender his
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son Charles born in Rome was the young
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pretender Bonnie Prince Charlie to his
276
00:12:26,770 --> 00:12:29,560
supporters Charles Casimir was 25 years
277
00:12:29,560 --> 00:12:30,130
old
278
00:12:30,130 --> 00:12:33,370
hail thin romantic and brave and he
279
00:12:33,370 --> 00:12:35,650
decided that George was so unpopular it
280
00:12:35,650 --> 00:12:39,910
would be a doddle to take over he turned
281
00:12:39,910 --> 00:12:41,350
up at his own expense in the Hebrides
282
00:12:41,350 --> 00:12:45,190
and some of the Scottish clans most of
283
00:12:45,190 --> 00:12:46,960
them responded but out of a combination
284
00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:49,270
of loyalty and desperation rather than
285
00:12:49,270 --> 00:12:50,160
conviction
286
00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:53,760
[Applause]
287
00:12:54,490 --> 00:12:56,470
the things went rather well for the
288
00:12:56,470 --> 00:12:58,450
rebels they were enthusiastically
289
00:12:58,450 --> 00:13:00,430
welcomed into Edinburgh and roundly
290
00:13:00,430 --> 00:13:02,380
defeated the government army at Preston
291
00:13:02,380 --> 00:13:05,110
pans the news created a passion of
292
00:13:05,110 --> 00:13:07,000
patriotism when it reached London the
293
00:13:07,000 --> 00:13:08,770
city might have lampooned the court and
294
00:13:08,770 --> 00:13:11,460
sneered at it but this was different
295
00:13:11,460 --> 00:13:13,900
that evening the king was visiting the
296
00:13:13,900 --> 00:13:15,700
theatre the King's Theatre Drury Lane
297
00:13:15,700 --> 00:13:18,100
and the orchestra struck up a tune which
298
00:13:18,100 --> 00:13:21,300
they just got hold of
299
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[Music]
300
00:13:27,330 --> 00:13:29,360
Oh
301
00:13:31,580 --> 00:13:34,580
say
302
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[Music]
303
00:13:37,160 --> 00:13:39,300
the audience loved it
304
00:13:39,300 --> 00:13:41,220
none of them knew that it had been the
305
00:13:41,220 --> 00:13:43,470
old pretenders music or the King of
306
00:13:43,470 --> 00:13:46,380
France's the song it changed sides and
307
00:13:46,380 --> 00:13:48,390
became the national anthem
308
00:13:48,390 --> 00:13:50,270
[Applause]
309
00:13:50,270 --> 00:13:52,670
actually became everyone's anthem at one
310
00:13:52,670 --> 00:13:54,680
time or another Frenchman Germans
311
00:13:54,680 --> 00:13:56,930
Russian Swiss liftin Steiners Swedes
312
00:13:56,930 --> 00:13:59,540
Danes and Americans have all swelled
313
00:13:59,540 --> 00:14:02,330
with patriotic pride - exactly the same
314
00:14:02,330 --> 00:14:06,650
tune but when God saved the king became
315
00:14:06,650 --> 00:14:08,840
London's big hit it was because no one
316
00:14:08,840 --> 00:14:10,070
could see how the King would be saved
317
00:14:10,070 --> 00:14:11,380
any other way
318
00:14:11,380 --> 00:14:13,730
Marshall weighed the best officer in the
319
00:14:13,730 --> 00:14:15,920
government army said that Scotland was
320
00:14:15,920 --> 00:14:18,080
lost and England would fall prey to the
321
00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:22,130
first comer Lord grants third morsel
322
00:14:22,130 --> 00:14:30,040
with me boy boy boy ta take 40 breathe
323
00:14:30,040 --> 00:14:36,620
he sedition husk and like a torrent
324
00:14:36,620 --> 00:14:41,240
rust-free burger US courts to flush for
325
00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:43,990
save
326
00:14:45,769 --> 00:14:48,720
the rebels took Manchester then Darby
327
00:14:48,720 --> 00:14:51,120
London trembled but not as much as the
328
00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:53,910
Klansmen they marched expecting England
329
00:14:53,910 --> 00:14:55,769
to rise in their support and the French
330
00:14:55,769 --> 00:14:58,200
to invade instead they had no support at
331
00:14:58,200 --> 00:15:01,589
all most fundamentally they realized
332
00:15:01,589 --> 00:15:03,450
that the English would never accept a
333
00:15:03,450 --> 00:15:09,360
Roman Catholic King they'd outflanked a
334
00:15:09,360 --> 00:15:11,550
large English army but it was now on
335
00:15:11,550 --> 00:15:13,290
their tail and another was coming up
336
00:15:13,290 --> 00:15:16,200
from London so back they went and the
337
00:15:16,200 --> 00:15:18,120
Klansmen were finally slaughtered in
338
00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:20,040
their thousands at Culloden in April
339
00:15:20,040 --> 00:15:21,280
1746
340
00:15:21,280 --> 00:15:24,330
[Music]
341
00:15:24,330 --> 00:15:26,290
Charles hid out for months in the
342
00:15:26,290 --> 00:15:28,000
Scottish islands hunted through the
343
00:15:28,000 --> 00:15:29,770
mountains by troops and with a price on
344
00:15:29,770 --> 00:15:30,160
his head
345
00:15:30,160 --> 00:15:32,920
but protected by tribal loyalties until
346
00:15:32,920 --> 00:15:35,640
he finally escaped back to France and
347
00:15:35,640 --> 00:15:38,050
the clan culture of the highlands was
348
00:15:38,050 --> 00:15:40,690
systematically and ruthlessly extirpated
349
00:15:40,690 --> 00:15:42,970
clans were dispersed their leaders
350
00:15:42,970 --> 00:15:45,190
imprisoned or executed plaid and
351
00:15:45,190 --> 00:15:49,690
weaponry and bagpipes were banned the
352
00:15:49,690 --> 00:15:51,279
would be Charles the third made a
353
00:15:51,279 --> 00:15:54,460
bizarre secret return to England in 1750
354
00:15:54,460 --> 00:15:56,770
where he converted to Protestantism and
355
00:15:56,770 --> 00:15:58,600
expected this would encourage his
356
00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:02,140
supporters to have more hope they were
357
00:16:02,140 --> 00:16:03,520
more impressed by his degree of
358
00:16:03,520 --> 00:16:06,250
attachment to the bottle not so much the
359
00:16:06,250 --> 00:16:08,500
king over the water as the king under
360
00:16:08,500 --> 00:16:11,110
the table King George was in no danger
361
00:16:11,110 --> 00:16:15,430
now George also found his other great
362
00:16:15,430 --> 00:16:18,520
enemy removed his son Frederick died in
363
00:16:18,520 --> 00:16:21,370
1751 he'd been hit hard in the stomach
364
00:16:21,370 --> 00:16:22,870
by a tennis ball and the resulting
365
00:16:22,870 --> 00:16:26,290
abdominal ulcer burst and killed him
366
00:16:26,290 --> 00:16:28,730
the new heir to the throne was a
367
00:16:28,730 --> 00:16:30,110
twelve-year-old child
368
00:16:30,110 --> 00:16:34,190
Frederick's son George but the great
369
00:16:34,190 --> 00:16:36,230
problems of the kingdom were outside the
370
00:16:36,230 --> 00:16:38,899
Kings grasp his country was now a great
371
00:16:38,899 --> 00:16:41,060
Imperial trading power with huge
372
00:16:41,060 --> 00:16:42,980
involvement in India the East India's
373
00:16:42,980 --> 00:16:45,220
North America and the Mediterranean
374
00:16:45,220 --> 00:16:48,260
so was France
375
00:16:48,260 --> 00:16:50,690
at the same time continental Europe was
376
00:16:50,690 --> 00:16:52,580
constantly boiling over into war and
377
00:16:52,580 --> 00:16:56,980
Hannover was in the middle of that in
378
00:16:56,980 --> 00:16:59,660
1756 the great powers finally locked
379
00:16:59,660 --> 00:17:02,420
horns in a do-or-die struggle that would
380
00:17:02,420 --> 00:17:04,460
girdle the whole world this would become
381
00:17:04,460 --> 00:17:06,950
the Seven Years War it was truly the
382
00:17:06,950 --> 00:17:10,700
first world war Britain fought in the
383
00:17:10,700 --> 00:17:12,980
name of its king but that King now
384
00:17:12,980 --> 00:17:15,770
neither directed policy nor took part in
385
00:17:15,770 --> 00:17:20,630
the battles a new world in fact affairs
386
00:17:20,630 --> 00:17:22,579
were so far out of the Kings control
387
00:17:22,579 --> 00:17:24,800
that when he dismissed ministers he
388
00:17:24,800 --> 00:17:26,829
didn't like they came right back again
389
00:17:26,829 --> 00:17:29,210
so far as the English were concerned
390
00:17:29,210 --> 00:17:31,600
this was just how things ought to be
391
00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:34,970
Englishmen were entitled to Liberty the
392
00:17:34,970 --> 00:17:37,370
despots were on the other side Catholic
393
00:17:37,370 --> 00:17:39,950
France and Austria their whole life
394
00:17:39,950 --> 00:17:43,250
commerce industry and fighting force was
395
00:17:43,250 --> 00:17:46,040
directed by royal tyrants who ruled over
396
00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:49,220
starving and powerless peasants and on
397
00:17:49,220 --> 00:17:50,140
the other side
398
00:17:50,140 --> 00:17:52,880
Protestant Britain whose commerce was
399
00:17:52,880 --> 00:17:55,160
run by men of business whose industry
400
00:17:55,160 --> 00:17:57,350
was directed by free tradesmen whose
401
00:17:57,350 --> 00:17:59,960
army and navy were run by heroes and
402
00:17:59,960 --> 00:18:03,230
manned by proud freemen and whose Court
403
00:18:03,230 --> 00:18:05,510
was the center of society not of
404
00:18:05,510 --> 00:18:08,540
autocratic power and that was how many
405
00:18:08,540 --> 00:18:11,500
of the British really did see it of
406
00:18:11,500 --> 00:18:14,210
course they were also fighting with
407
00:18:14,210 --> 00:18:17,480
despotic Prussia but that was a minor
408
00:18:17,480 --> 00:18:20,900
detail the general perception was that
409
00:18:20,900 --> 00:18:23,480
this was a war of free Britons against
410
00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:26,480
European despots poor George died at the
411
00:18:26,480 --> 00:18:29,300
height of the war in 1760 and it didn't
412
00:18:29,300 --> 00:18:31,230
matter at all
413
00:18:31,230 --> 00:18:37,779
[Music]
414
00:18:41,549 --> 00:18:45,190
his grandson now George the third was 22
415
00:18:45,190 --> 00:18:47,770
years old he had been brought up by his
416
00:18:47,770 --> 00:18:49,710
mother a German princess in her
417
00:18:49,710 --> 00:18:52,210
imitation of the very deferential court
418
00:18:52,210 --> 00:18:55,330
of Hannover he learned the European idea
419
00:18:55,330 --> 00:18:57,429
of what a king should be an enlightened
420
00:18:57,429 --> 00:19:00,190
despot whose power was absolute and was
421
00:19:00,190 --> 00:19:03,690
to be used for the benefit of mankind
422
00:19:06,420 --> 00:19:09,070
this was of course very far from the
423
00:19:09,070 --> 00:19:11,290
English notion of kingship in which the
424
00:19:11,290 --> 00:19:13,240
king was the leading figure in society
425
00:19:13,240 --> 00:19:15,490
but whose power was entirely controlled
426
00:19:15,490 --> 00:19:19,299
by Parliament he immediately set to work
427
00:19:19,299 --> 00:19:21,670
as a bossy quick speaking managerial
428
00:19:21,670 --> 00:19:23,590
King deliberately fogey ish
429
00:19:23,590 --> 00:19:26,140
I have no innovations in my time what
430
00:19:26,140 --> 00:19:30,970
what he read widely he was fascinated by
431
00:19:30,970 --> 00:19:33,400
machinery in agriculture he was a man
432
00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:35,260
delighted by the agricultural and
433
00:19:35,260 --> 00:19:37,780
industrial revolutions and he was
434
00:19:37,780 --> 00:19:39,730
determined to restore the crown to what
435
00:19:39,730 --> 00:19:41,770
he saw as its proper position a position
436
00:19:41,770 --> 00:19:44,500
abandoned in his view by George's one
437
00:19:44,500 --> 00:19:47,530
and two unlike them he'd been born in
438
00:19:47,530 --> 00:19:49,510
England and spoke good English even if
439
00:19:49,510 --> 00:19:51,820
his grasp of grammar was rupee and he
440
00:19:51,820 --> 00:19:53,530
had no old or young pretender to
441
00:19:53,530 --> 00:19:55,900
challenge him at the opening of his
442
00:19:55,900 --> 00:19:58,030
first Parliament he declared born and
443
00:19:58,030 --> 00:20:00,580
educated in this country I glory in the
444
00:20:00,580 --> 00:20:04,150
name of Britain Parliament was
445
00:20:04,150 --> 00:20:06,150
controlled by one party the Whigs
446
00:20:06,150 --> 00:20:08,530
effectively an oligarchy of rich men who
447
00:20:08,530 --> 00:20:10,330
ran the country by a system of bribery
448
00:20:10,330 --> 00:20:13,809
patronage and nepotism George felt that
449
00:20:13,809 --> 00:20:17,160
it was his job to improve matters
450
00:20:17,170 --> 00:20:20,680
and so began the most catastrophic rain
451
00:20:20,680 --> 00:20:22,880
since James the second
452
00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:25,070
if it hadn't been for George the Third's
453
00:20:25,070 --> 00:20:27,680
attempt to turn back the clock the
454
00:20:27,680 --> 00:20:29,750
inhabitants of New York might still be
455
00:20:29,750 --> 00:20:32,420
using British passports and the
456
00:20:32,420 --> 00:20:34,510
inhabitants of Los Angeles and Miami
457
00:20:34,510 --> 00:20:39,650
Spanish ones now there's a thought to
458
00:20:39,650 --> 00:20:41,840
break the power of the wigs he set about
459
00:20:41,840 --> 00:20:43,340
creating what was almost his own
460
00:20:43,340 --> 00:20:46,130
political party a group of MPs known as
461
00:20:46,130 --> 00:20:49,220
the Kings friends he took back the power
462
00:20:49,220 --> 00:20:51,170
of distributing positions and favors
463
00:20:51,170 --> 00:20:53,030
from the government and did it himself
464
00:20:53,030 --> 00:20:55,790
so he soon built up a collection of
465
00:20:55,790 --> 00:20:59,420
political dependents his first objective
466
00:20:59,420 --> 00:21:01,640
was to bring an end to the war he didn't
467
00:21:01,640 --> 00:21:03,590
at all share the anti French views of
468
00:21:03,590 --> 00:21:06,140
the Whig Prime Minister William Pitt it
469
00:21:06,140 --> 00:21:08,240
took a lot of political manipulation but
470
00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:11,270
in 1763 with Pitt removed from power a
471
00:21:11,270 --> 00:21:14,330
peace treaty was signed by this stage
472
00:21:14,330 --> 00:21:16,220
the war had actually been won Pitts
473
00:21:16,220 --> 00:21:17,810
policies had resulted in Britain
474
00:21:17,810 --> 00:21:20,060
becoming the dominant colonial power in
475
00:21:20,060 --> 00:21:20,690
the world
476
00:21:20,690 --> 00:21:23,000
Britain was more or less undisputed
477
00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:25,160
ruler of North America India the
478
00:21:25,160 --> 00:21:28,550
Caribbean and much besides and George
479
00:21:28,550 --> 00:21:31,070
took the credit the glory and tried to
480
00:21:31,070 --> 00:21:33,980
take control end of the Seven Years War
481
00:21:33,980 --> 00:21:35,690
in 1763
482
00:21:35,690 --> 00:21:38,000
the king of england ruled over more of
483
00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:40,310
the world than any man since genghis
484
00:21:40,310 --> 00:21:43,460
khan an empire about five times larger
485
00:21:43,460 --> 00:21:46,190
than Rome of course he wasn't in the
486
00:21:46,190 --> 00:21:48,770
position of an Asiatic tyrant or even
487
00:21:48,770 --> 00:21:50,630
your common or garden European despot
488
00:21:50,630 --> 00:21:52,460
his control would have to be through
489
00:21:52,460 --> 00:21:54,770
Parliament his power was limited to
490
00:21:54,770 --> 00:21:56,960
choosing ministers and even that
491
00:21:56,960 --> 00:21:58,340
wouldn't work if Parliament in the
492
00:21:58,340 --> 00:22:00,530
country wouldn't stomach him as George
493
00:22:00,530 --> 00:22:03,980
kept finding out his solution was to do
494
00:22:03,980 --> 00:22:05,690
all he could to increase his own
495
00:22:05,690 --> 00:22:08,000
influence in Parliament in effect gets
496
00:22:08,000 --> 00:22:10,510
stuck right into political intrigues
497
00:22:10,510 --> 00:22:12,890
since it was illegal to report
498
00:22:12,890 --> 00:22:15,560
parliamentary debates people became very
499
00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:18,800
suspicious of what was going on he spent
500
00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:21,110
huge sums on trying to influence
501
00:22:21,110 --> 00:22:23,540
elections and would even personally go
502
00:22:23,540 --> 00:22:25,640
out canvassing on one occasion for
503
00:22:25,640 --> 00:22:27,890
instance bustling into a Draper's shop
504
00:22:27,890 --> 00:22:30,500
saying the Queen wants a gun wants a
505
00:22:30,500 --> 00:22:32,780
gown announcing who to vote for and
506
00:22:32,780 --> 00:22:34,880
rushing out again
507
00:22:34,880 --> 00:22:38,330
and since George was closely engaged in
508
00:22:38,330 --> 00:22:40,520
politics people naturally blamed him
509
00:22:40,520 --> 00:22:44,090
personally when things went wrong when
510
00:22:44,090 --> 00:22:45,650
Parliament rejected a bill that would
511
00:22:45,650 --> 00:22:47,600
have helped the Spitalfields weavers the
512
00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:49,580
weavers marched off to find the king at
513
00:22:49,580 --> 00:22:52,310
Wimbledon shades of the peasants revolt
514
00:22:52,310 --> 00:22:54,650
George listened to their complaints and
515
00:22:54,650 --> 00:22:56,270
persuaded them to go back home
516
00:22:56,270 --> 00:22:58,880
but when they realized he wasn't going
517
00:22:58,880 --> 00:23:00,800
to help they rioted and he personally
518
00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:02,510
ordered out the troops he said he would
519
00:23:02,510 --> 00:23:04,220
put himself at the head of the army or
520
00:23:04,220 --> 00:23:08,150
do anything else to save his country he
521
00:23:08,150 --> 00:23:09,620
also had a hand in creating the
522
00:23:09,620 --> 00:23:12,770
notorious Stamp Act of 1765 which tried
523
00:23:12,770 --> 00:23:14,810
to make the English colonists in America
524
00:23:14,810 --> 00:23:18,320
pay a tax on paper this was the moment
525
00:23:18,320 --> 00:23:20,210
of which the whole language of politics
526
00:23:20,210 --> 00:23:23,150
began to change one Virginia colonist
527
00:23:23,150 --> 00:23:26,330
declared Caesar had his Brutus Charles
528
00:23:26,330 --> 00:23:28,850
the first his Cromwell may George the
529
00:23:28,850 --> 00:23:34,010
third profit from their example the
530
00:23:34,010 --> 00:23:35,750
Cromwellian revolution of the previous
531
00:23:35,750 --> 00:23:37,610
century had certainly been driven by the
532
00:23:37,610 --> 00:23:39,830
connection between taxation and liberty
533
00:23:39,830 --> 00:23:42,500
the issue now was that the thirteen
534
00:23:42,500 --> 00:23:44,420
English colonies in America had their
535
00:23:44,420 --> 00:23:46,490
own governments run by their own local
536
00:23:46,490 --> 00:23:49,060
oligarchies and raising their own taxes
537
00:23:49,060 --> 00:23:51,530
the idea that they could be taxed by the
538
00:23:51,530 --> 00:23:53,690
oligarchy in London headed by the King
539
00:23:53,690 --> 00:23:56,690
was totally outrageous they would have
540
00:23:56,690 --> 00:23:58,850
no way to influence what was done or
541
00:23:58,850 --> 00:24:03,620
what they had to pay colonists who
542
00:24:03,620 --> 00:24:05,150
supported the government were threatened
543
00:24:05,150 --> 00:24:07,160
by their compatriots some were tarred
544
00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:09,200
and feathered and by the time the Act
545
00:24:09,200 --> 00:24:11,270
came into effect there wasn't a single
546
00:24:11,270 --> 00:24:13,040
person who'd accepted the job of
547
00:24:13,040 --> 00:24:14,540
Commissioner to collect the tax
548
00:24:14,540 --> 00:24:17,920
it had to be repealed
549
00:24:17,990 --> 00:24:20,490
there were similar alarm in England as
550
00:24:20,490 --> 00:24:22,740
in his attempt to control Parliament
551
00:24:22,740 --> 00:24:24,990
George arrested his leading critic there
552
00:24:24,990 --> 00:24:27,990
John Wilkes mobs rioted in the name of
553
00:24:27,990 --> 00:24:29,790
Wilkes and Liberty and threatened the
554
00:24:29,790 --> 00:24:31,740
king Wilkes was released and it was
555
00:24:31,740 --> 00:24:33,750
established that there was a legal right
556
00:24:33,750 --> 00:24:36,060
to report and criticize what happened in
557
00:24:36,060 --> 00:24:41,100
Parliament but by 1770 he had created
558
00:24:41,100 --> 00:24:43,110
the political system he wanted the
559
00:24:43,110 --> 00:24:45,300
political parties had collapsed and he
560
00:24:45,300 --> 00:24:47,460
had a docile Chief Minister Lord North
561
00:24:47,460 --> 00:24:49,800
with a parliamentary majority through
562
00:24:49,800 --> 00:24:51,300
whom he could run things the way he
563
00:24:51,300 --> 00:24:54,090
thought they should be George liked
564
00:24:54,090 --> 00:24:56,850
running things popularly known as farmer
565
00:24:56,850 --> 00:24:59,220
George he took a very close interest in
566
00:24:59,220 --> 00:25:01,530
modern farming methods developing animal
567
00:25:01,530 --> 00:25:04,530
breeds and new crops these were the same
568
00:25:04,530 --> 00:25:07,080
modern farming methods which by
569
00:25:07,080 --> 00:25:09,030
enclosing common lands and creating
570
00:25:09,030 --> 00:25:12,090
large self-contained farms were breaking
571
00:25:12,090 --> 00:25:14,160
up village communities all over England
572
00:25:14,160 --> 00:25:16,830
and creating a new class of half-starved
573
00:25:16,830 --> 00:25:21,390
landless wage labourers bad harvests
574
00:25:21,390 --> 00:25:23,400
didn't help nor did a collapse in trade
575
00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:25,710
the colonists in America were showing
576
00:25:25,710 --> 00:25:27,510
their anger by refusing to import
577
00:25:27,510 --> 00:25:30,710
anything from Britain
578
00:25:31,110 --> 00:25:33,670
Lord North decided the best thing to do
579
00:25:33,670 --> 00:25:35,950
was repeal all the taxes on them except
580
00:25:35,950 --> 00:25:38,440
for a symbolic tax on tea three years
581
00:25:38,440 --> 00:25:40,090
later he arranged another act of
582
00:25:40,090 --> 00:25:41,980
parliament to try to help the East India
583
00:25:41,980 --> 00:25:43,840
Company sell more tea in America and
584
00:25:43,840 --> 00:25:46,420
radicals in Boston retaliated with a
585
00:25:46,420 --> 00:25:48,940
symbolic tea party at which men dressed
586
00:25:48,940 --> 00:25:51,250
as Native Americans dumped the tea in
587
00:25:51,250 --> 00:25:53,820
the harbor
588
00:25:55,900 --> 00:25:57,170
[Applause]
589
00:25:57,170 --> 00:25:59,810
the reaction in England stirred by the
590
00:25:59,810 --> 00:26:01,790
popular press was that the colonists
591
00:26:01,790 --> 00:26:03,020
must be punished
592
00:26:03,020 --> 00:26:05,720
George certainly shared that view blows
593
00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:07,310
must decide whether they are to be
594
00:26:07,310 --> 00:26:11,530
subject to this country or independent
595
00:26:11,680 --> 00:26:13,670
misunderstanding the strength of feeling
596
00:26:13,670 --> 00:26:15,950
and of organisation against them the
597
00:26:15,950 --> 00:26:17,750
government tried to use too little force
598
00:26:17,750 --> 00:26:21,470
and triggered a full-scale rebellion the
599
00:26:21,470 --> 00:26:22,910
rebel colonists proclaimed their
600
00:26:22,910 --> 00:26:25,460
independence in 1776 and with the
601
00:26:25,460 --> 00:26:27,110
backing of a large part of popular
602
00:26:27,110 --> 00:26:29,420
opinion in England George was determined
603
00:26:29,420 --> 00:26:32,480
to fight them and crush them the result
604
00:26:32,480 --> 00:26:34,700
as many less warlike Englishmen had been
605
00:26:34,700 --> 00:26:37,550
warning was disaster for England even
606
00:26:37,550 --> 00:26:40,370
Lord North wanted out but George was in
607
00:26:40,370 --> 00:26:42,740
charge the American Revolutionary War
608
00:26:42,740 --> 00:26:45,410
became a campaign not against unjust
609
00:26:45,410 --> 00:26:48,500
government or English rule but against
610
00:26:48,500 --> 00:26:50,660
the very principle of monarchic
611
00:26:50,660 --> 00:26:53,900
government George's determination to be
612
00:26:53,900 --> 00:26:55,490
active in government and place himself
613
00:26:55,490 --> 00:26:58,340
at the heart of politics created a new
614
00:26:58,340 --> 00:27:00,740
Republican movement a language in which
615
00:27:00,740 --> 00:27:04,010
to attack the rule of Kings the Peace of
616
00:27:04,010 --> 00:27:07,070
Versailles in 1783 forced Britain to
617
00:27:07,070 --> 00:27:09,020
recognize the United States of America
618
00:27:09,020 --> 00:27:12,050
six years later their host at Versailles
619
00:27:12,050 --> 00:27:14,420
Louis the sixteenth of France was
620
00:27:14,420 --> 00:27:17,150
himself called on by revolutionary crowd
621
00:27:17,150 --> 00:27:19,970
who carried him off and set up their own
622
00:27:19,970 --> 00:27:22,640
republic the process of destroying
623
00:27:22,640 --> 00:27:25,840
monarchy was underway did George
624
00:27:25,840 --> 00:27:29,890
understand what he'd done
625
00:27:29,890 --> 00:27:32,870
he certainly fretted about the American
626
00:27:32,870 --> 00:27:34,610
disaster and perhaps it was his own
627
00:27:34,610 --> 00:27:36,830
sense of failure that made him display
628
00:27:36,830 --> 00:27:39,440
signs of mental disturbance in 1788
629
00:27:39,440 --> 00:27:42,440
talking incessantly and behaving oddly
630
00:27:42,440 --> 00:27:44,540
his doctor thought making him bleed
631
00:27:44,540 --> 00:27:47,480
would help when that failed the Prince
632
00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:52,190
of Wales took over the treatment the
633
00:27:52,190 --> 00:27:54,410
Prince of Wales was 26 years old a
634
00:27:54,410 --> 00:27:57,110
dashing if rather fat man about town and
635
00:27:57,110 --> 00:27:58,820
in the grand tradition of their
636
00:27:58,820 --> 00:28:01,130
Hanoverian ancestors King George and his
637
00:28:01,130 --> 00:28:05,090
son hated each other the prince lived in
638
00:28:05,090 --> 00:28:06,980
the house bought for his mother the Duke
639
00:28:06,980 --> 00:28:08,750
of Buckingham magnificent home near San
640
00:28:08,750 --> 00:28:11,270
changes Park it was still called
641
00:28:11,270 --> 00:28:13,730
Buckingham house he liked it so much he
642
00:28:13,730 --> 00:28:15,500
eventually built a rather dull Palace
643
00:28:15,500 --> 00:28:20,060
surrounded when he came of age he'd set
644
00:28:20,060 --> 00:28:22,220
up his home in Clarence house taken his
645
00:28:22,220 --> 00:28:24,890
seat in the House of Lords and set about
646
00:28:24,890 --> 00:28:28,160
being a thorn in daddy's flesh partly by
647
00:28:28,160 --> 00:28:29,900
opposing his father's ministers and
648
00:28:29,900 --> 00:28:32,420
partly by his wildly extravagant social
649
00:28:32,420 --> 00:28:34,250
life in the course of which he secretly
650
00:28:34,250 --> 00:28:36,410
married a glamorous widowed mrs.
651
00:28:36,410 --> 00:28:39,020
Fitzherbert after a passionate wooing
652
00:28:39,020 --> 00:28:40,940
process that included theatrically
653
00:28:40,940 --> 00:28:43,160
stabbing himself to safely produce as
654
00:28:43,160 --> 00:28:46,400
much blood as possible the marriage was
655
00:28:46,400 --> 00:28:48,650
illegal he wasn't allowed to Wed without
656
00:28:48,650 --> 00:28:51,740
the Kings consent it was also
657
00:28:51,740 --> 00:28:53,660
significant that the lady was a Roman
658
00:28:53,660 --> 00:28:57,290
Catholic in 1780 anti-catholic rioters
659
00:28:57,290 --> 00:28:59,330
stirred up by Lord George Gordon had
660
00:28:59,330 --> 00:29:01,370
taken over London for a week eventually
661
00:29:01,370 --> 00:29:03,440
dispersed by troops on the King's orders
662
00:29:03,440 --> 00:29:06,410
the Gordon riots ended with 290 people
663
00:29:06,410 --> 00:29:09,320
dead and 25 ringleaders hanged not of
664
00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:11,230
course Lord George
665
00:29:11,230 --> 00:29:14,000
Prinny as his friends called him spent
666
00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:15,980
his time in gambling clubs in the
667
00:29:15,980 --> 00:29:17,900
company of dandies like Beau Brummell
668
00:29:17,900 --> 00:29:20,540
and put much energy into building the
669
00:29:20,540 --> 00:29:23,000
bizarre and spectacular Pavilion in
670
00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:25,340
Brighton that's where he was when he
671
00:29:25,340 --> 00:29:27,080
heard that the King was mentally ill and
672
00:29:27,080 --> 00:29:29,110
he hurried off to Windsor to take over
673
00:29:29,110 --> 00:29:32,980
28 years old he was going to be Regent
674
00:29:32,980 --> 00:29:36,200
when the King saw his son he physically
675
00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:38,690
attacked him he threw Prinny against a
676
00:29:38,690 --> 00:29:42,350
wall the poor boy burst into tears
677
00:29:42,350 --> 00:29:45,020
there was then a huge political battle
678
00:29:45,020 --> 00:29:46,669
over what powers the region would be
679
00:29:46,669 --> 00:29:48,559
allowed to have his own bunch of
680
00:29:48,559 --> 00:29:50,750
politicians led by Fox on one side and
681
00:29:50,750 --> 00:29:54,830
the Kings led by Pitt on the other Fox's
682
00:29:54,830 --> 00:29:57,440
supporters saw Pitt as a sort of fungus
683
00:29:57,440 --> 00:29:59,809
with as many arms as an octopus growing
684
00:29:59,809 --> 00:30:02,630
on and taking over the royal dunghill
685
00:30:02,630 --> 00:30:05,299
and the Prince of Wales brought in his
686
00:30:05,299 --> 00:30:07,299
own physician to treat the king or
687
00:30:07,299 --> 00:30:11,929
torture him the Royal physicians
688
00:30:11,929 --> 00:30:13,910
blistered the Kings forehead to draw the
689
00:30:13,910 --> 00:30:16,909
poison out of his brain forced him to
690
00:30:16,909 --> 00:30:19,190
take useless drugs ordering servants to
691
00:30:19,190 --> 00:30:20,770
sit on the king when he resisted and
692
00:30:20,770 --> 00:30:23,210
refused to let him have a fire in his
693
00:30:23,210 --> 00:30:26,360
room during the terribly cold winter all
694
00:30:26,360 --> 00:30:28,760
this when the country was anticipating
695
00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:31,340
French invasion and radical revolution
696
00:30:31,340 --> 00:30:33,020
and volunteer regiments were being
697
00:30:33,020 --> 00:30:35,000
formed as a desperate line of defense
698
00:30:35,000 --> 00:30:38,409
very desperate
699
00:30:38,409 --> 00:30:40,640
finally new physicians were brought in
700
00:30:40,640 --> 00:30:42,440
who gave the king gentler treatment and
701
00:30:42,440 --> 00:30:45,559
he recovered in 1801 before the
702
00:30:45,559 --> 00:30:47,210
arguments over how the Regency would
703
00:30:47,210 --> 00:30:49,490
function had been resolved the king was
704
00:30:49,490 --> 00:30:52,429
back in charge but not in the way he had
705
00:30:52,429 --> 00:30:54,950
been the American defeat had been a
706
00:30:54,950 --> 00:30:56,870
personal disaster for him and
707
00:30:56,870 --> 00:30:58,610
dramatically weakened his political
708
00:30:58,610 --> 00:31:01,549
position in an effort to reassert it
709
00:31:01,549 --> 00:31:03,950
he'd installed a 24 year old as Prime
710
00:31:03,950 --> 00:31:05,380
Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer
711
00:31:05,380 --> 00:31:07,580
thinking that here at least was a
712
00:31:07,580 --> 00:31:10,429
politician he could control that will
713
00:31:10,429 --> 00:31:13,010
impede son Pitt the Younger was shrewd
714
00:31:13,010 --> 00:31:15,049
capable and fully understood the gorge
715
00:31:15,049 --> 00:31:17,480
depended on him so he held all cards and
716
00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:20,120
it was Pitt who had to decide how to
717
00:31:20,120 --> 00:31:22,250
deal with the spread of revolutionary
718
00:31:22,250 --> 00:31:24,860
Republican ideas from America and France
719
00:31:24,860 --> 00:31:28,340
into England the same ideas that had
720
00:31:28,340 --> 00:31:30,770
been voiced in America about no taxation
721
00:31:30,770 --> 00:31:33,500
without representation were being heard
722
00:31:33,500 --> 00:31:36,530
in England where huge new manufacturing
723
00:31:36,530 --> 00:31:39,320
towns had grown up which had no member
724
00:31:39,320 --> 00:31:42,380
of parliament three years after the
725
00:31:42,380 --> 00:31:44,539
French Revolution political reform
726
00:31:44,539 --> 00:31:46,820
societies called corresponding societies
727
00:31:46,820 --> 00:31:49,280
were founded in England riots were
728
00:31:49,280 --> 00:31:50,929
breaking out in the Midlands in East
729
00:31:50,929 --> 00:31:53,750
Anglia in Scotland attempts were made to
730
00:31:53,750 --> 00:31:55,280
kill the king
731
00:31:55,280 --> 00:31:57,830
he was booed and stoned in London and
732
00:31:57,830 --> 00:32:00,950
the French Legislature passed a
733
00:32:00,950 --> 00:32:04,520
Fraternal decree offering aid to all
734
00:32:04,520 --> 00:32:07,070
people seeking to throw off the chains
735
00:32:07,070 --> 00:32:10,520
of tyranny its war began with
736
00:32:10,520 --> 00:32:13,040
revolutionary France political
737
00:32:13,040 --> 00:32:16,030
radicalism was plainly treason wasn't it
738
00:32:16,030 --> 00:32:18,650
the government decided on a policy of
739
00:32:18,650 --> 00:32:21,320
aggressive repression habeas corpus were
740
00:32:21,320 --> 00:32:23,600
suspended people could be imprisoned
741
00:32:23,600 --> 00:32:26,840
indefinitely without trial the
742
00:32:26,840 --> 00:32:28,430
government charged people with treason
743
00:32:28,430 --> 00:32:30,800
for organising public meetings calling
744
00:32:30,800 --> 00:32:33,410
for political reform when they were
745
00:32:33,410 --> 00:32:35,420
acquitted acts were passed which
746
00:32:35,420 --> 00:32:38,000
extended the definition of treason to
747
00:32:38,000 --> 00:32:41,180
include speaking or writing or bringing
748
00:32:41,180 --> 00:32:43,720
the king or his government into contempt
749
00:32:43,720 --> 00:32:46,310
to back it up a system of internal
750
00:32:46,310 --> 00:32:48,380
spying and as jean provocateur was
751
00:32:48,380 --> 00:32:50,780
instituted post masters were given the
752
00:32:50,780 --> 00:32:52,090
job of reporting to the Home Office
753
00:32:52,090 --> 00:32:54,500
anything suspicious that they heard or
754
00:32:54,500 --> 00:32:57,110
that went through the mail public
755
00:32:57,110 --> 00:33:00,290
meetings needed special licenses when
756
00:33:00,290 --> 00:33:02,480
William Blake the artist found a soldier
757
00:33:02,480 --> 00:33:04,460
in his garden he drove him out shouting
758
00:33:04,460 --> 00:33:07,100
damn the king and damn all his soldiers
759
00:33:07,100 --> 00:33:10,390
they're all his slaves bad idea
760
00:33:10,390 --> 00:33:15,470
he was put on trial for sedition the
761
00:33:15,470 --> 00:33:17,390
king himself was actually quite popular
762
00:33:17,390 --> 00:33:19,550
he was generally seen as a kind-hearted
763
00:33:19,550 --> 00:33:21,890
slightly buffer his sort of a person but
764
00:33:21,890 --> 00:33:23,360
he was still ultimately in charge of
765
00:33:23,360 --> 00:33:25,790
what was going on and when even Pitt
766
00:33:25,790 --> 00:33:27,500
insisted that Catholics would have to be
767
00:33:27,500 --> 00:33:29,150
allowed the same rights as Protestants
768
00:33:29,150 --> 00:33:30,730
and permitted to stand for Parliament
769
00:33:30,730 --> 00:33:34,660
Georg forced him to resign
770
00:33:35,390 --> 00:33:37,530
the issue had come to the fore because
771
00:33:37,530 --> 00:33:40,290
of Ireland if England had some potential
772
00:33:40,290 --> 00:33:42,420
revolutionaries how many more had
773
00:33:42,420 --> 00:33:44,400
Ireland a land where an oppressed
774
00:33:44,400 --> 00:33:47,070
Catholic majority were ruled by imported
775
00:33:47,070 --> 00:33:49,320
Protestant colonists and an ideal
776
00:33:49,320 --> 00:33:53,100
staging post for a French invasion in
777
00:33:53,100 --> 00:33:55,860
1801 Ireland was incorporated into Great
778
00:33:55,860 --> 00:33:58,980
Britain creating the United Kingdom it
779
00:33:58,980 --> 00:34:00,570
was an attempt to make Ireland more
780
00:34:00,570 --> 00:34:03,030
secure the fact that at the same time
781
00:34:03,030 --> 00:34:04,560
the King formally abdicated his
782
00:34:04,560 --> 00:34:06,060
meaningless title of King of France
783
00:34:06,060 --> 00:34:07,950
shows exactly where the threat was
784
00:34:07,950 --> 00:34:11,310
coming from but if Ireland was to be
785
00:34:11,310 --> 00:34:13,020
truly United with England there would
786
00:34:13,020 --> 00:34:15,560
have to be Catholic emancipation and
787
00:34:15,560 --> 00:34:21,389
King George wouldn't have it whatever
788
00:34:21,389 --> 00:34:23,760
might have happened could not have been
789
00:34:23,760 --> 00:34:26,969
worse than what did Island still bleeds
790
00:34:26,969 --> 00:34:31,260
now the shadow of George the third lies
791
00:34:31,260 --> 00:34:32,550
over the history of the world more
792
00:34:32,550 --> 00:34:34,110
darkly than most people realize
793
00:34:34,110 --> 00:34:37,739
as with the American disaster it seems
794
00:34:37,739 --> 00:34:39,570
as though one part of his mind was
795
00:34:39,570 --> 00:34:41,639
determined to make him feel the full
796
00:34:41,639 --> 00:34:43,590
weight of his responsibility and once
797
00:34:43,590 --> 00:34:47,850
more his mental state degenerated he
798
00:34:47,850 --> 00:34:50,489
made a slow recovery enough to sack his
799
00:34:50,489 --> 00:34:52,380
ministers in 1805 when they tried to
800
00:34:52,380 --> 00:34:54,150
lift the restrictions on Catholics
801
00:34:54,150 --> 00:34:56,610
becoming military officers but he was
802
00:34:56,610 --> 00:34:59,670
becoming blind and infirm and in 1810
803
00:34:59,670 --> 00:35:03,170
his mind finally collapsed
804
00:35:03,240 --> 00:35:05,430
no one's quite sure what was wrong with
805
00:35:05,430 --> 00:35:07,560
him but a strain of hereditary insanity
806
00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:09,420
had run through the royal family ever
807
00:35:09,420 --> 00:35:10,860
since Henry the fifth marriage to
808
00:35:10,860 --> 00:35:13,830
Catherine de valois blind and deaf
809
00:35:13,830 --> 00:35:16,200
suffering from abdominal pains and
810
00:35:16,200 --> 00:35:19,380
dementia his body lived on but his reign
811
00:35:19,380 --> 00:35:37,710
was over Prinny took over at last by
812
00:35:37,710 --> 00:35:39,780
this time European monarchy had been
813
00:35:39,780 --> 00:35:43,320
transformed the enlightened despots had
814
00:35:43,320 --> 00:35:45,810
fallen Napoleon's Empire had swallowed
815
00:35:45,810 --> 00:35:48,360
them up replacing them with dictators
816
00:35:48,360 --> 00:35:52,220
from his own family or under his control
817
00:35:52,220 --> 00:35:55,619
even hannover had been overwhelmed that
818
00:35:55,619 --> 00:35:57,990
Tsar still survived but Napoleon was
819
00:35:57,990 --> 00:36:00,390
about to invade Russia Britain stood
820
00:36:00,390 --> 00:36:02,599
virtually alone
821
00:36:02,599 --> 00:36:05,180
and in Britain the ancient principle of
822
00:36:05,180 --> 00:36:07,519
the Royal Prerogative was now in the fat
823
00:36:07,519 --> 00:36:10,309
clammy hands of a gambling massively
824
00:36:10,309 --> 00:36:12,859
indebted Rollie pollie dandy with a
825
00:36:12,859 --> 00:36:19,549
passion for show and splendour but the
826
00:36:19,549 --> 00:36:21,819
military genius of Wellington and Nelson
827
00:36:21,819 --> 00:36:25,309
didn't need a king to guide it so under
828
00:36:25,309 --> 00:36:27,499
his uninspiring even ridiculous
829
00:36:27,499 --> 00:36:30,200
leadership Napoleon was defeated and the
830
00:36:30,200 --> 00:36:32,180
D crowned heads of Europe were brushed
831
00:36:32,180 --> 00:36:34,849
down and put back on their Thrones why
832
00:36:34,849 --> 00:36:36,529
the ruler of the United Kingdom even
833
00:36:36,529 --> 00:36:40,369
became king of Hannover Prinny had been
834
00:36:40,369 --> 00:36:42,049
against everything his father stood for
835
00:36:42,049 --> 00:36:44,509
but now he was in power he suddenly
836
00:36:44,509 --> 00:36:46,099
adopted all his father's political
837
00:36:46,099 --> 00:36:48,680
principles especially his determined
838
00:36:48,680 --> 00:36:50,359
opposition to letting Catholics have
839
00:36:50,359 --> 00:36:52,970
civil rights and to any reform of
840
00:36:52,970 --> 00:36:55,999
Parliament elections were basically a
841
00:36:55,999 --> 00:36:58,069
farce with some MPs representing
842
00:36:58,069 --> 00:37:00,619
constituencies with almost no voters and
843
00:37:00,619 --> 00:37:02,559
the vast majority of people
844
00:37:02,559 --> 00:37:05,390
unrepresented the King thought this was
845
00:37:05,390 --> 00:37:08,239
fine lots of other people didn't and
846
00:37:08,239 --> 00:37:10,700
this became a desperate issue in the
847
00:37:10,700 --> 00:37:12,859
years after Napoleonic war there were
848
00:37:12,859 --> 00:37:15,229
thousands of unemployed X soldiers there
849
00:37:15,229 --> 00:37:17,269
was an agricultural depression made
850
00:37:17,269 --> 00:37:19,880
worse by the terrible summer of 1816 and
851
00:37:19,880 --> 00:37:22,700
there was increasing unemployment due to
852
00:37:22,700 --> 00:37:25,849
the use of new machinery and the Prince
853
00:37:25,849 --> 00:37:28,329
of Wales's appetite for luxurious
854
00:37:28,329 --> 00:37:31,839
silverware and furniture grew
855
00:37:31,839 --> 00:37:36,140
mountainous graffiti appeared saying
856
00:37:36,140 --> 00:37:42,349
death or the Regents head at the end of
857
00:37:42,349 --> 00:37:45,019
1816 there was a full-scale riot in
858
00:37:45,019 --> 00:37:47,569
London aimed at setting up a radical
859
00:37:47,569 --> 00:37:49,999
government the next month the Prince
860
00:37:49,999 --> 00:37:51,920
Regent's carriage was mobbed on his way
861
00:37:51,920 --> 00:37:55,279
to open Parliament the grim apparatus of
862
00:37:55,279 --> 00:37:58,009
repression was revived the death penalty
863
00:37:58,009 --> 00:38:00,170
was restored for unlicensed public
864
00:38:00,170 --> 00:38:02,839
meetings printers of seditious material
865
00:38:02,839 --> 00:38:05,479
were to be seized there was plenty of
866
00:38:05,479 --> 00:38:08,660
seditious material the Prince Regent was
867
00:38:08,660 --> 00:38:11,210
a laughingstock the flood of caricatures
868
00:38:11,210 --> 00:38:14,109
and satire was unstoppable
869
00:38:14,109 --> 00:38:17,410
his extravagance was spectacular a few
870
00:38:17,410 --> 00:38:18,849
years earlier the government had agreed
871
00:38:18,849 --> 00:38:21,549
to clear his huge debts on condition
872
00:38:21,549 --> 00:38:23,920
that he made a legal marriage the victim
873
00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:26,109
selected was his cousin Caroline of
874
00:38:26,109 --> 00:38:28,119
Brunswick a charming friendly and
875
00:38:28,119 --> 00:38:30,130
unassuming young lady was also a bit of
876
00:38:30,130 --> 00:38:31,470
an exhibitionist
877
00:38:31,470 --> 00:38:35,380
he spent the wedding night drunk after
878
00:38:35,380 --> 00:38:37,269
nine months to the day Caroline gave
879
00:38:37,269 --> 00:38:39,190
birth to a daughter but by then her
880
00:38:39,190 --> 00:38:42,880
husband had long abandoned her he
881
00:38:42,880 --> 00:38:44,589
devoted himself to the pursuit of
882
00:38:44,589 --> 00:38:47,049
motherly mistresses and treated Caroline
883
00:38:47,049 --> 00:38:48,999
with a cold brutality which really
884
00:38:48,999 --> 00:38:51,489
defined his personal style he was more
885
00:38:51,489 --> 00:38:53,769
of a passion a regent and the brighton
886
00:38:53,769 --> 00:38:56,200
pavillion made that declaration loud and
887
00:38:56,200 --> 00:38:56,940
clear
888
00:38:56,940 --> 00:38:59,920
George the third finally died in 1820
889
00:38:59,920 --> 00:39:01,720
having notionally reigned for 60 years
890
00:39:01,720 --> 00:39:04,599
the longest reign until Victoria and he
891
00:39:04,599 --> 00:39:07,059
was 81 the longest life of any British
892
00:39:07,059 --> 00:39:22,420
ruler so far Prinny was now king his
893
00:39:22,420 --> 00:39:24,880
wife Caroline now decided to come to
894
00:39:24,880 --> 00:39:26,859
England from her exile on the continent
895
00:39:26,859 --> 00:39:28,569
and take her place at her husband's
896
00:39:28,569 --> 00:39:30,999
coronation an immediate attempt was made
897
00:39:30,999 --> 00:39:32,859
to pass an act of parliament divorcing
898
00:39:32,859 --> 00:39:34,960
the royal couple but it was dangerously
899
00:39:34,960 --> 00:39:37,839
unpopular and had to be abandoned she
900
00:39:37,839 --> 00:39:39,279
turned up for the coronation at
901
00:39:39,279 --> 00:39:41,079
Westminster Abbey but the door was
902
00:39:41,079 --> 00:39:43,829
closed in her face the coronation
903
00:39:43,829 --> 00:39:46,569
fabulously expensive was performed in
904
00:39:46,569 --> 00:39:49,150
complete privacy she went away
905
00:39:49,150 --> 00:39:51,640
brokenhearted and died less than three
906
00:39:51,640 --> 00:39:53,739
weeks later her body was to be returned
907
00:39:53,739 --> 00:39:57,670
to Brunswick for burial the king nervous
908
00:39:57,670 --> 00:39:59,799
of a riot insisted that the coffin
909
00:39:59,799 --> 00:40:01,299
should not be transported through the
910
00:40:01,299 --> 00:40:03,609
City of London but it was seized by
911
00:40:03,609 --> 00:40:06,099
Londoners who staged their own funeral
912
00:40:06,099 --> 00:40:08,049
procession with it and were gunned down
913
00:40:08,049 --> 00:40:11,180
by the House guards at Hyde Park Corner
914
00:40:11,180 --> 00:40:12,650
[Music]
915
00:40:12,650 --> 00:40:15,180
afraid of being attacked and afraid of
916
00:40:15,180 --> 00:40:16,770
being laughed at because of his great
917
00:40:16,770 --> 00:40:19,740
swollen body from 1823 King George the
918
00:40:19,740 --> 00:40:23,130
fourth avoided being seen in public he
919
00:40:23,130 --> 00:40:24,960
even built a tunnel to allow him to get
920
00:40:24,960 --> 00:40:26,640
from his rooms in brighton pavillion to
921
00:40:26,640 --> 00:40:29,070
the riding school in private and of
922
00:40:29,070 --> 00:40:30,870
course it was said ever since that it
923
00:40:30,870 --> 00:40:37,020
connected to his mistress's house it
924
00:40:37,020 --> 00:40:38,850
became essential for the government to
925
00:40:38,850 --> 00:40:40,890
break the king's opposition to reform
926
00:40:40,890 --> 00:40:43,290
especially with regard to catholics but
927
00:40:43,290 --> 00:40:45,570
he held the power of veto the arguments
928
00:40:45,570 --> 00:40:47,970
went on hour after hour day after day
929
00:40:47,970 --> 00:40:50,760
with the king becoming more enraged and
930
00:40:50,760 --> 00:40:55,920
more ill until finally he broke by
931
00:40:55,920 --> 00:40:58,620
february of 1830 he was partially blind
932
00:40:58,620 --> 00:41:01,320
and raving convinced that he'd commanded
933
00:41:01,320 --> 00:41:03,570
a division at Waterloo and ridden a
934
00:41:03,570 --> 00:41:08,010
winning race at Goodwood and so he died
935
00:41:08,010 --> 00:41:11,460
and they found 50 years of coats boots
936
00:41:11,460 --> 00:41:14,490
and pantaloons and countless bundles of
937
00:41:14,490 --> 00:41:16,650
women's love letters of women's gloves
938
00:41:16,650 --> 00:41:20,670
of locks of his many mistresses hair why
939
00:41:20,670 --> 00:41:23,460
on earth did Britain need a king what
940
00:41:23,460 --> 00:41:26,070
use was it a man or beast why in
941
00:41:26,070 --> 00:41:27,710
heaven's name wasn't there a revolution
942
00:41:27,710 --> 00:41:31,050
the truth is no one knows some
943
00:41:31,050 --> 00:41:32,760
historians think it was a result of
944
00:41:32,760 --> 00:41:35,190
Methodism becoming popular diverting
945
00:41:35,190 --> 00:41:37,080
poorer people's energy from politics
946
00:41:37,080 --> 00:41:39,990
into religion some think it was
947
00:41:39,990 --> 00:41:41,940
patriotism in the age of empire that
948
00:41:41,940 --> 00:41:43,860
king and country was a slogan that
949
00:41:43,860 --> 00:41:45,690
helped people pull together against
950
00:41:45,690 --> 00:41:49,170
Napoleon but perhaps given the riots
951
00:41:49,170 --> 00:41:51,720
rebellions and mutinies it was due more
952
00:41:51,720 --> 00:41:53,550
to the efficiency of the police state
953
00:41:53,550 --> 00:41:57,650
and the forcefulness of repression and
954
00:41:57,650 --> 00:42:00,360
lurking at the back of people's minds
955
00:42:00,360 --> 00:42:02,520
was the distant memory of what it had
956
00:42:02,520 --> 00:42:03,750
been like when there had been a
957
00:42:03,750 --> 00:42:06,390
revolution the grim rule of Cromwell's
958
00:42:06,390 --> 00:42:08,940
major generals echoed and made more
959
00:42:08,940 --> 00:42:11,220
terrible by the vision of the guillotine
960
00:42:11,220 --> 00:42:13,760
in France
961
00:42:13,869 --> 00:42:17,510
always keep ahold of nurse for fear of
962
00:42:17,510 --> 00:42:24,220
finding something worse despite George's
963
00:42:24,220 --> 00:42:26,539
enthusiastic sexual enterprise
964
00:42:26,539 --> 00:42:28,640
he had only produced one legitimate
965
00:42:28,640 --> 00:42:31,160
child and she'd died in childbirth
966
00:42:31,160 --> 00:42:33,559
the heir to the throne was his brother
967
00:42:33,559 --> 00:42:48,589
William who was 54 he had been sent into
968
00:42:48,589 --> 00:42:50,180
the Navy as a young man where he
969
00:42:50,180 --> 00:42:52,369
developed into a severe disciplinarian
970
00:42:52,369 --> 00:42:55,220
and a stickler etiquette after he left
971
00:42:55,220 --> 00:42:57,380
he took an actress mrs. Jordan as his
972
00:42:57,380 --> 00:42:59,150
mistress had lots of illegitimate
973
00:42:59,150 --> 00:43:01,130
children and was given to making
974
00:43:01,130 --> 00:43:02,720
tactless speeches with not much
975
00:43:02,720 --> 00:43:06,170
intelligence he eventually had made a
976
00:43:06,170 --> 00:43:08,119
royal marriage to another German
977
00:43:08,119 --> 00:43:10,789
Protestant princess and mr. King and
978
00:43:10,789 --> 00:43:13,160
mrs. Queen lifted bushi to the north of
979
00:43:13,160 --> 00:43:16,450
London like a quite ordinary couple
980
00:43:16,450 --> 00:43:18,829
William insisted that his coronation
981
00:43:18,829 --> 00:43:20,930
should only cost a tenth of his brothers
982
00:43:20,930 --> 00:43:23,029
and he was known to give people a lift
983
00:43:23,029 --> 00:43:25,549
in his carriage all this made him rather
984
00:43:25,549 --> 00:43:27,559
popular but when it came to
985
00:43:27,559 --> 00:43:29,720
parliamentary reform he turned out to be
986
00:43:29,720 --> 00:43:32,210
as resistant as any other Hanoverian
987
00:43:32,210 --> 00:43:35,059
King by now the popular pressure for
988
00:43:35,059 --> 00:43:36,619
changing the voting system into
989
00:43:36,619 --> 00:43:38,359
something more representative was
990
00:43:38,359 --> 00:43:40,789
virtually irresistible giving more men
991
00:43:40,789 --> 00:43:41,270
the vote
992
00:43:41,270 --> 00:43:43,520
having MPs for the new towns and secret
993
00:43:43,520 --> 00:43:46,069
ballots this would give the Commons more
994
00:43:46,069 --> 00:43:48,380
power so the House of Lords was
995
00:43:48,380 --> 00:43:50,539
resisting it and Williams sided with
996
00:43:50,539 --> 00:43:53,839
them by 1832 there seemed a real
997
00:43:53,839 --> 00:43:56,980
possibility of civil war or revolution
998
00:43:56,980 --> 00:43:59,630
it's possible that if the royal family
999
00:43:59,630 --> 00:44:02,119
were part of the aristocracy as in every
1000
00:44:02,119 --> 00:44:04,369
other country with a king that would
1001
00:44:04,369 --> 00:44:06,860
have happened
1002
00:44:06,860 --> 00:44:08,930
but the king and queen had their family
1003
00:44:08,930 --> 00:44:10,940
roots in germany and there was no
1004
00:44:10,940 --> 00:44:13,130
natural alliance between them and the
1005
00:44:13,130 --> 00:44:18,140
great aristocratic families William was
1006
00:44:18,140 --> 00:44:20,270
weak and was forcefully persuaded to
1007
00:44:20,270 --> 00:44:22,760
give way and Britain was started on the
1008
00:44:22,760 --> 00:44:25,790
road to democracy after the Reform Bill
1009
00:44:25,790 --> 00:44:28,730
of 1832 with no more rotten boroughs and
1010
00:44:28,730 --> 00:44:30,710
greatly reduced scope for electoral
1011
00:44:30,710 --> 00:44:33,350
corruption it was no longer possible for
1012
00:44:33,350 --> 00:44:35,270
the king to play politics inside
1013
00:44:35,270 --> 00:44:37,820
Parliament to the same extent the
1014
00:44:37,820 --> 00:44:39,800
monarchy would now be forced back into
1015
00:44:39,800 --> 00:44:43,070
its constitutional box and it was no
1016
00:44:43,070 --> 00:44:45,260
longer sufficiently dangerous to be
1017
00:44:45,260 --> 00:44:49,760
worth the trouble of a revolution when
1018
00:44:49,760 --> 00:44:52,910
he died in 1837 William's legitimate
1019
00:44:52,910 --> 00:44:55,700
children were already dead the heir to
1020
00:44:55,700 --> 00:44:57,260
the throne was the daughter of his
1021
00:44:57,260 --> 00:45:00,550
brother Edward a young girl of eighteen
1022
00:45:00,550 --> 00:45:03,260
she would make a demure and pretty
1023
00:45:03,260 --> 00:45:05,120
little queen who could leave the
1024
00:45:05,120 --> 00:45:06,920
business of running England to the
1025
00:45:06,920 --> 00:45:19,460
professionals couldn't she to test your
1026
00:45:19,460 --> 00:45:21,170
knowledge of the decadent George the
1027
00:45:21,170 --> 00:45:23,770
fourth sky digital viewers Press read on
1028
00:45:23,770 --> 00:45:27,080
UK TV history next the modern kings and
1029
00:45:27,080 --> 00:45:28,640
queens of England coming up here on
1030
00:45:28,640 --> 00:45:31,490
history and starting on documentary the
1031
00:45:31,490 --> 00:45:34,880
best of British blue planet
1032
00:45:34,880 --> 00:00:00,000
[Music]
113036
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