All language subtitles for British Kings. The First Georges. Episode 1- George I. Dr Lucy Worsley. Subtitles- ENGLISH

[Handel Fireworks' Suite]

In 2014, it's 300 years
since George I and his family…

…arrived in Britain
to begin the Georgian Era.

This was the age in which modern Britain,
as we know it, would be formed.

Why should we care
about these Georgians?

They didn't give us
the industry of the Victorians,…

…or the sensational head–chopping
of Henry VIII.

But they DID
champion the idea of Liberty,…

…and made Britain
a more open society.

One in which satire flourished,…

…and a new form of expression
was invented: …

…the novel.

Bizarrely, this Georgian Age,
that seems so quintessentially British,…

…actually has a story beginning here,
in Hanover, in Northern Germany.

As outsiders, the first German Georges
were able to be modernizers.

It was on THEIR watch
that Cabinet government first emerged.

For this series, I've been given access
to the Royal Collection,…

…as pieces are brought together for an exhibition
at the Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace,…

…telling the story
of the first Georges…

…through artworks
they commissioned or owned.

We tend to think of the Georgian Era
in terms of the madness of George III,…

…or the heroines of Jane Austen.

But I think the key to it all
lies right at the start,…

…in the reigns
of the first two Georgian kings.

Under George I and George II,…

…Britain became the world's
most liberal and cosmopolitan society.

We owe so much to these German kings,
who made Britain!

In 1701,
Britain faced a big problem.

The heir to the throne,
Princess Anne,…

…had failed to provide
the royal family's next generation.

She'd gone through 17 pregnancies,…

…in a desperate attempt
to produce an heir.

But her last surviving son
had just died.

Parliament took drastic action.

They had the idea of importing
a "ready–made" royal family from overseas.

THIS is one of the most important documents
in the whole history of the British monarchy.

This is a piece of parchment
that changed history.

It's the Act of Settlement from 1701,…

…that sets out who CAN
– and, importantly, who CAN'T –…

…be king or queen.

First of all, you've got to have
some Stuart blood.

You've got to be related,
either to the late Queen Mary, or to Princess Anne.

But, trumping that,
you've got to be a Protestant.

As it says here:
"If you profess the Popish religion,…"

"…or marry a Papist,
you shall be excluded."

This act came into force
as a result of what Protestants called…

"The Glorious Revolution".

This was when James II was chucked off the throne
for his Roman Catholic sympathies,…

…and his belief
in the divine right of kings

James II was now
in exile, in France,…

…but, with the British Protestant
royal line dying out,…

…Parliament needed to find
a new ruler who wasn't Catholic.

WHO should rule next?

So, now, the Protestant aristocracy of England
have to look back up the Stuart family tree,…

…in search of a Protestant heir.

We go through James II,
Charles II, Charles I,…

…we get right back up
to James I.

And, through his daughter, Elizabeth,
we find here Sophia.

Electress Sophia of Hanover is pivotal
in the history of the British monarchy.

She was the next Protestant
in the Royal Stuart line.

That looks quite simple,
but it wasn't.

Queen Anne had actually had
no less than 50 nearer relatives than Sophia,…

…who were all passed over,…

…on the grounds that, regrettably,
– but unacceptably –, they were Catholics.

Sophia was the matriarch of a princely family
who ruled the remote German territory of Hanover.

But now, SHE was first in line
to the British throne.

Sophia forms part
of a very German tradition of royal women,…

…leading the social
and the intellectual life of a court,…

…very unlike the British tradition,…

…where we have the badly educated princesses
Mary and Anne, who were dull as ditch water.

In her statue, Sophia is holding a book
by her personal friend, the philosopher Leibniz.

And she and Leibniz exchanged many, many letters,
discussing questions like,…

…"The Nature of the Human Soul".

As well as Peter the Great of Russia, it was said
that Louis XIV himself was in love with her brilliance.

Sophia was thrilled about her new status,
and was desperate to come to London,…

…but Queen Anne
didn't want a rival queen.

Particularly one who was a whole lot cleverer,
showing her up in her own kingdom.

Sophia just had to sit
– and wait – for Anne to die.

So, why have you never heard
of Queen Sophia the First of Great Britain?

She would've been very good at the job!
She was intelligent, and rational!

She was tolerant,
and enlightened!

But, very unluckily,
just 2 months before Queen Anne died,…

…Sophia was out here,
in the gardens,…

…and it was during a thunderstorm
that she dropped down dead.

It's rather melancholy,…

…being here in her boudoir,
and thinking about Sophia,…

…the greatest queen
we NEVER had!

Sophia did not die in vain.

Her descendants
would inherit the British crown.

It was her eldest son,
Georg Ludwig,…

…who was to become
King George the First of Great Britain.

Unlike his mother,
he was uncharismatic,…

…not particularly impressive,…

…and he already had enemies.

Without the Act of Settlement,…

…George's distant cousin, the Catholic James Stuart,
would have become King James III.

He was in exile, in France.

Although he was only 13 years old,…
[NOTE: he was 13 in 1701 (Act of Settlement).
In 1714 he was of course 26.]

…he was already plotting
how to get his crown back.

So, when George arrived to start his new life
as King of England and Scotland,…

…he was getting
into a pretty tricky situation.

He sailed up the river Thames,
and landed here at Greenwich.

But he didn't exactly receive
a royal welcome.

There was a mix–up!

The crowd that had gathered
mistook George's son for their new king.

So, when George himself disembarked,…

…the spectators
had sort of dribbled away.

George's new kingdom
really was NEW.

The splicing together of England and Scotland
had only taken place 7 years previously.

Things were unstable.

If I was a gambler,…

…I wouldn't have put much money
on the survival of this Hanoverian dynasty.

George I was crowned at Westminster Abbey
on the 20th of October, 1714.

All the great and good
of Protestant Britain are in attendance.

This is the actual crown
that George wore 300 years ago.

It doesn't have
any real jewels in it,…

…because George, being frugal,
RENTED them.

And look at the great big cross on the top.

It was George's Protestant religion
that had put him on the throne.

And in this coronation,
for the first time,…

…a copy of the Bible in English,
a key text of the Protestant reformation,…

…was carried in the procession.

But poor old George's English language skills
weren't his strongest point.

You can't blame him!
It was, after all, his FOURTH language.

Unfortunately, though, it was now
the language of his new subjects,…

…and he couldn't really
speak it very well.

He couldn't understand
what was happening in the ceremony.

But, nevertheless,
the Establishment were delighted!

One spectator said that the sight of the coronation
"brought tears to her eyes".

They felt that everything was safe now:
their liberty,…

…their property,…

…and their religion.

But the coronation
was preaching to the converted.

To many
of his newly Georgian subjects,…

…the idea of being ruled by a German
took some getting used to.

George's coronation at Westminster Abbey
was slightly marred by xenophobia.

Spectators were heard to call out,
"Down with the German!" and "Out with the foreigner!".

If you look at the popular protests
against George at this time,…

…there's quite a funny theme
running throughout them: …

…this idea that Hanover
is a place full of yokels.

In pamphlets, we see pictures of George,
hoeing a row of turnips.

There's a song
calling him "turnip head",…

…and I'm sorry to say that,
on the day of the coronation,…

…one man was pulled out of the crowd
for brandishing one of these.

It's a turnip on a stick.

[SONG] "Of all the roots of Hanover,
the turnip is the best!"

"It is salad when it's raw,
and it's sweetmeat when it's dressed!"

"Then ahoeing
he may go, may go, may go…!"

"…and his turnips
he may hoe!"

The turnip was a foreign vegetable
that suggested George's German roots.

Indeed, singing the "turnip song" became
a popular way to protest against the new king.

The Jacobites, supporters
of the would–be king James III, loved it!

it wasn't the most auspicious of starts!

And the balance of power
between King and Parliament had shifted.

Parliament thought that their new "pet king"
ought to follow THEIR rules, and do what THEY wanted.

The king wasn't even allowed to leave
his new country without Parliament's permission.

George I was a lot less wealthy than some
of his contemporary European counterparts.

He just didn't have the cash
to splash on palaces like Versailles.

Parliament gave him
just £ 700 000 a year,…

…not enough to run
a really big court.

George quickly realized that he needed to work
WITH Parliament, and NOT against them.

Some of his Stuart predecessors
had been constantly head–to–head with Parliament,…

…in some very violent
and destructive confrontations,…

…insisting upon
their "divine right" to rule.

But George
was much more conciliatory.

He HAD to be!

Parliament had given
the throne to George,…

…and perhaps…
they would take it away from him.

He was a monarch,
appointed NOT by God,…

…but by MEN!

Here at the Painted Hall, in Greenwich,
is George's "Mission Statement".

It was his promise, to the British,
to be the king THEY wanted.

Desmond Shaw Taylor
is Surveyor of the Queen's pictures,…

…and an experienced decoder
of Georgian art.

What was the aim
of this big painting at the end?

It is to show the arrival of the Hanoverians
as the fulfillment…

…of the destiny of the "Glorious Revolution".
I think that's the idea.

So we've got
William and Mary up here,…

…and then Queen Anne,…

…and then on the end wall,
on a sort of high altar, as it were,…

…George I and his LARGE family.

They are a race, aren't they?

– There's an awful… a huge number of them!
– And those are…!

There are plenty of them,…
there are of lots of progeny, exactly, here!

And I think that's an important part
of the Hanoverian "offer", as it were.

They taught me who…
who they all are.

It starts with Sophia,…

– …the sort of matriarch of the dynasty,…
– Absolutely, yeah!

There's the Electress,
Sophia of Hanover.

Her son, George I,
sits in the throne,…

…with his elbow
firmly resting on the globe, designs for…

– …expansion…
– Yeah!

…then a big expansion's going on,…

…and then,… his eldest son, uh,…
George II,… stands on his left–hand side…

And is it an accident, that they're…
facing away from each other?

Well,… it's certainly suggestive,…
– if it is an accident – because they… they didn't get on.

By contrast, the poor old Queen Anne, sitting up,
all lonely in solitary splendor in the sky, no children at all.

The artist has absolutely exploited that, to give a sense,
almost a real homely reassurance, to this new dynasty.

Particularly in the way
that the grandchildren are presented,…

…uh,… playing around
on the very steps,…

…as allegories of art and culture,…
Yes…! But also, I think, as…

…the idea that…

…a sort of
uncomplicated domestic life.

This is something
which the new dynasty is bringing.

What are the differences between the Stuarts
and the Hanoverians, in the way they depicted them?

Well, it may be just an accident
of what space was available,…

…but it seems as if the Hanoverians
are bringing us right down to earth.

– With a bump on it!
– With… with a bump!

Here they are!
Face to face! Shake hands!

The illusion, instead of the… the idea that the vault
is open to the sky, and you just sort of look up and wonder.

…the illusion is that there is a…
a… a series of steps leading up from the High Table…

…to the throne upon which George I sits,
so one can just walk up and meet him.

And in fact,
the artist himself,…

…uh,… James Thornhill,…
is showing himself…

…standing on that step,
almost like a footman,…

…pointing to the king, saying, you know,…
What do you know? Go and talk to him,…

– …he's fine!
– Heh, heh, heh, heh!

So it's not really a revolution,
this is more of an evolution!

I think that's what they…
they would like us to think!

This was a Georgian Manifesto!

The king wanted people to know
that he was offering a very different proposition…

…to those tyrannical, absolutist,
pig–headed, old Stuarts!

George I set up home
at Kensington Palace,…

…and here on the stairs are portraits, that he had painted,
, of members of his household.

Quite unusually,
his lower servants are included.

They were an international lot,
and this caused trouble at court.

The most infamous example
relates to the king's supposed pair of mistresses: …

…"the Elephant"…

…(the fat one),…

…and "the Maypole",…

…the ever so slightly thinner one.

The fat one, the Elephant,
was in fact the king's illegitimate half–sister,…

…and he just had
the one skinny mistress, the Maypole.

This reputation that George developed,
as a sort of deviant sexual athlete,…

…in fact came
from the xenophobic British courtiers.

The naughty lord Chesterfield,
for example,…

…put it about that the king
"rejected no woman…"

"…if she were very willing,
very fat, and had great breasts",…

…with the consequence the candidates
for the position of royal mistress…

…"strained and swelled,
to put on weight".

Some succeeded,
and others burst!

All of the foreigners close to the king
came in for this sort of scurrilous sexual slander,…

…including the king's
2 Turkish valets, seen here.

This is Mustafa,
with the white beard,…

…and Muhammad,
in the blue cloak.

Muhammad was very close to the king;
he helped him to get dressed in the morning,…

…and he EVEN
treated his hemorrhoids.

And, of course,
gossip grew up about this.

People said that
"the king keeps his Turks for abominable uses".

But these same aristocrats,
who criticized George behind his back,…

…were probably as keen as anybody
to curry favour with the new regime.

This even extended
to copying George's taste.

The new dynasty were early adopters
of a brand new architectural style.

It was the complete opposite
to the fancy French showiness loved by the Stuarts.

We can see the prototype
round the back of Hampton Court Palace

This looks like a little country house,
but it isn't.

It's a new kitchen, added to Hampton Court
by George I, for his German cooks.

They made
his German sausages in there.

This is the first building in Britain
in the Neo–Palladian style.

It's very stark, and simple,
and symmetrical, not much external decoration.

And the secret of its success
lies in the harmony of the proportions,…

…the relationship
between the horizontal and the vertical.

This style would catch on,…

…and all over Georgian Britain you'd find
country houses sprouting up, that look just like this!

This was a new, orderly, and rational way
of seeing the world.

And you just need to look at cities like Bath
and Edinburgh to see that it would catch on.

The inspiration was the 16th century architect
Andrea Palladio,…

…who'd recreated
the works of the ancient Romans.

Neo–Palladianism was ancient Rome,
brought back to life, with an Anglo–Saxon twist.

The Georgians were saying,
"Britons, we are the heirs to the power of Rome!"

"And together,
we can build a new empire!"

An important promoter of this new style
of Neo–Palladianism was Lord Burlington,…

…a member of the king's inner circle.

Burlington's own house at Chiswick
is a magnificent example,…

…as I'm shown
by the architectural historian Carol Frye.

So, Carol, tell me why
this is a Neo–Palladian room, that we're in.

Well, it picks up
on Roman antique architecture,…

…so everything about this room
is referenced to an antique source.

Am,… for example, the coffered ceiling is a…
a direct replica of the basilica of Maxentius in Rome.

And we've got these…

…these very ornate pediments,…

…and yet the room
remains very cold, and…

…and spartan, and very sparse,
which was a… a trait of Neo–Palladian architecture.

Burlington was a taste maker…
and a trendsetter.

Chiswyck was a Neo–Palladian masterpiece,…

…but there was something else going on,
under the Georgian veneer.

There is some very questionable imagery
in this building,…

…treasonous imagery,
which doesn't need to be here!

– Treasonous imagery is hidden
within this building, you say!
– Yes!

Not hidden very well! Is there…
is there to be seen, if you have eyes to see it!

The painting up there,
of Charles I and his family;…

…and he was
a very great Stuart king.

And that's hanging
over that doorway,…

…directly in front of the door,
so as soon as visitors would come in,…

…they would see…
the old Stuart king, hanging there.

Not very Hanoverian!

These are the guys who are out of power.
They've been exiled!

Absolutely!

And what's going on with the star,
that we're standing on?

Well, that's… that's important,
because this is the Order of the Garter,…

…which was, um,… an honour,
given out by kings,…

…and the fact that this is placed
underneath this painting of the Stuart king…

…it is possible that Lord Burlington
was alluding to the fact that, actually,…

…he'd been given the Order of the Garter
by the exiled king, the would–be James III.

Lord Burlington,… he's right at the heart
of the Hanoverian Establishment!

His wife works
for Caroline, the Princess!

Isn't this all
just a mad conspiracy theory?

It could be indeed,…

…but then, one has to wonder why he did incorporate
these treasonous images into his building!

That's a very good point!

I can show you some more,
if we head through into that room.

– Take me to your secret clues!
– Ha, ha!

As you can see, up there, it's the second
Earl of Burlington, so the Earl's father.

And he's sitting
with two of his close cronies,…

…and they're obviously having a toast,
they've each got a glass of wine.

The central figure is… is the Earl,
and he is holding a ring…

…over the contents of…
of his glass,…

…which literally was
"a toast across the water".

So he was toasting kings
across the water,…

…which is none other than the exiled James III,
as he would have been.

– Who's living in France, across the Channel.
– Precisely!

So that is… a piece of Jacobite propaganda!
There's no doubt about it!

Now, if what you're saying is right,…

…and the people right at the heart
of the Hanoverian Establishment,…

…living in Neo–Palladian buildings, could in fact be
secretly expressing treason through their architecture,…

…what does that say
about the stability of the Georgian monarchy?

Well, it wasn't very stable!

There was a lot of support
for the Jacobites!

Nobody knew
which way it was going to go!

In living memory, we had kings that had been
ousted from the throne, and new ones brought in,…

…and we also had kings that had been
returned from exile, like Charles II in 1660!

So, it was an uncertain time! There was almost
a civil war going on, under the surface,…

…and no one knew
who to support!

1715 brought the first big crisis
of George's reign.

A rebellion by the Jacobites.

They intended to replace George
with his Catholic nemesis, James III,…

…and were joined by some disgruntled
Tory members of Parliament.

One of them shouted out in a debate
that "George could never love Britain!".

The rebellion was crushed,…

…but it made George paranoid!

He turfed out all the Tories
from his inner circle,…

…and their rival Whigs
were allowed to govern unchallenged.

But there was still the problem
of Jacobite propaganda.

"George, the Turnip–Headed Yokel!"

To counter this image
of George the Turnip–Head,…

…his supporters, instead, described him
as "George the Dragon Slayer".

They associated him with the patron saint
of England, the soldier saint,…

…who ever since the Reformation had been shown
slaying the dragon of Popery, or Roman Catholicism.

Associating German George I
with the very English Saint George…

…did a lot
to naturalize his foreignness.

I think that this portrait of George
is the most important of his reign,…

…because this image would pass through the hands
of every single one of his subjects.

It's being worked on here,
at the Royal Collection Trust Conservation Studios.

This portrait of George I
was painted just 7 months into his new reign.

He's projecting
quite a serious and sober image here.

The main colour is gray,…

…there isn't the sort of flamboyance
of his Stuart predecessors.

And the picture is in profile, and that's because
it was used for the image on his coins!

These little mini–portraits of the king…

…were the closest that most of his new subjects
were ever going to get to him.

Another important thing
is that he's dressed in armour.

He's saying,
"I'm not afraid to fight for my rights!".

And he'd spend most of the 1690's fighting for Christianity,
against the Muslim Ottoman Empire!

This is an important part
of his image.

"Onward, Christian Soldiers!"

George had
one more obvious advantage.

He was a man!

Daniel Defoe was one of many writers
who rejoiced that Queen Anne was gone.

"There was no longer
a useless woman on the throne", he wrote,…

…"but a warrior king,
able to wield the sword!"

And George also benefited from the fact
that people didn't know that much about him.

Some people could say
that George was a turnip–head,…

…and others could say
that he was a dragon–slayer,…

…because he seemed to have
a curious absence of personality.

He was quite shy, and retiring.
He was difficult to get to know.

But his sobriety, and his frugality!
– he was very careful with his money! –…

…hada certain appeal, though,
to a nation of shopkeepers.

Britain was fast becoming
the most commercially successful country in Europe.

Daniel Defoe picked up on this
when he wrote his book,…

…"A Tour Through the Whole Island
of Great Britain".

It's a rough guide to Britain,
from Leith to London.

Just one of the many markets Defoe describes
is London's Leadenhall,…

…"which has infinite provisions of all sorts,
be it flesh, fish, or fowl".

Professor John Mullan believes
that Defoe captures the period…

…of the most rapid economic growth
that Britain had ever seen.

What's the point of this survey of the markets,
and the tour around the whole country?

Well, because I think that he's trying to get a picture
of the island and its history,…

…but also of its activity,
of the island NOW!

– And he's interested in Britain as a whole, isn't he?
– Yeah!

– This is important!
– Absolutely! I mean,…

Here, England and Scotland
are unified in 1707,…

…and Defoe is a great fan
of this project,…

…and he thinks that…

…the ability of people in different parts of Britain,
notably Scotland and Wales,…

…to come together, in one sort
of commercially unified whole, is a sign…

…that the British are sort of modern and enlightened,
in a way that those Continentals aren't at all!

And do you think that, um,…
he was a supporter of the people at the top,…?

…the Hanoverian monarchs themselves,
George I, George II?

– What do you think of that?
– I think he thought the Hanoverian mora… monarchs…

– …were absolutely necessary,…
– Yeah…

…because they were there
to stop us having a Catholic king,…

…who would be a tyrant,
and would tell everybody what to do,…

…and would return us to a kind of…
court–centered, and kind of… yes…! tyrannical state!

– Yeah!
– So they're important!

…but to fend things off,
rather than to do things actually.

They were safeguards.

So, in this very bustling,
commercially successful Britain,…

…where's the place for religion?
What does he think about that?

He says, "There is no Protestant
and Catholic in a good bargain!"

In other words, he thinks that,
in a proper commercial nation,…

…religious toleration is much more likely.
People won't worry about their differences,…

…because the things
that bind them together,…

…the… the business of making money,
is much more important!

Those are important words, then!
"There is no…"

– "…Protestant or Catholic in a good bargain!"
– Yes!

When you're… when you're…

– …when you're doing the deal,…
– Yeah…

…you're not worrying about, you know,…
your petty differences!

And I mean,
he does believe…

…that, um,…

…that trade, actually,
unifies a nation!

This was a brave, new,
economic world,…

…where religious bigotry
gave way to profit!

George I was tolerant
in religious matters,…

…and saw economic progress
as a solution to society's divisions.

Britons didn't yet love
their new ruler,…

…but they were pretty pleased
with the stability that he was providing.

He was beginning to win grudging affection
outside the palace gates.

But the greater threat
came from inside,…

…because he was the head of the most dysfunctional
royal family since Henry VIII!

Meet Sophia Dorothea.

This is the ex–wife of George I.

She's a very significant person
in the royal family.

She is, after all,
the mother of the future king George II.

And yet, THIS is the only contemporary portrait of her
in the whole of the royal collection.

There's a reason for that.

She was talked about in whispers
at the court of George I,…

…because of what she'd done!

Back in Germany,
before coming over to Britain,…

…George had married his first cousin,
Sophia Dorothea of Celle.

But it wasn't a love match.

It was a marriage of state, a strategic move
by the House of Hanover, to increase its territory.

Sophia and George
cared little for one another.

But George did care
about his dignity and his reputation.

Sophia started an adulterous relationship
with a Swede,…

…count Königsmark,
who was serving in the Hanoverian army.

Unfortunately, they weren't discreet:
their letters got out!

Here's a sample,
from him to her: …

"What joy, what rapture,
have I tasted in your arms!"

"Ye gods,
what a night I spent!"

With this sort of thing circulating
through the drawing rooms of Europe, though,…

…George was humiliated.

A scandal
was about to unfold,…

…that would inflame court gossip,…

…and spawn conspiracy theories
for years to come.

It all came to a head
here at the family's palace, on the river Leine.

One night,
here at the Leine Palace,…

…we hear that count Königsmark
was creeping along the corridors to Sophia's room,…

…when he was set upon
by an assassin,…

…and this is the spot in the river where the Swede's
dead body is said to have been thrown.

The culprits
were never apprehended.

The whole affair
was hushed up,…

…and George never spoke about his estranged wife,
her lover, or the murder, ever again.

Count Königsmark's disappearance
was wrapped up in mystery,…

…but we do know
exactly what happened next to Sophia.

She was put on trial for the crime of adultery;
she was divorced by her husband.

And his punishment was to lock her up,
in a remote German castle, for the rest of her life.

That sounds pretty bad,
but there was worse!

The couple had a son, another George,
the future George II of Great Britain.

He was only 11.

Sophia was now parted from her son,
and he would never see his mother again.

This left a massive gap
in the young Prince George's life,…

…for which he naturally
blamed his father.

It was this traumatic event that triggered
what you might call an Œdipal conflict…

…between George I
and his son Prince George.

This feud would have a cataclysmic effect
on the royal family, for decades to come.

Not even Prince George's marriage,
and the birth of his own children, could heal the rift.

The tension escalated here,
at St James's Palace,…

…over the birth of the Prince's second son,
yet another George.

An embarrassing kerfuffle
broke out at this baby's christening.

The occasion was "gate crashed"
by a favoured courtier of the King.

The Prince was pretty annoyed about this,
and he said: "You are a rascal! I will find you!"

The implication was,
"I'll find you later, to give you a piece of my mind!"

But, unfortunately,
because of the Prince's thick German accent,…

…what the guy heard was:
"You are a rascal! I will fight you!"

He took it as an invitation to a duel,
a dreadful breach of court etiquette!

The King got to hear about all of this,
and he was furious.

He decided to banish
his son and his daughter–in–law,…

…the Prince and the Princess of Wales,
right out of St James's Palace!

All this was embarrassing
for the Prince and Princess.

But worse was to come!

The King decided to keep behind
their children – his grandchildren! –…

…as hostages,
to ensure future good behaviour.

The Princess of Wales was in tears,
as she said goodbye to her three little girls…

…and to her newborn baby boy.

This little boy soon fell sick,…

…and the Princess of Wales believed that the King
gave him the wrong medical treatment.

Shortly afterwards, he died.

And in the National Archives there's an account,
of money paid for a pitiful little square of black velvet,…

…just big enough to cover
the coffin of a baby.

Now, between father and son,
there was all–out war!

The courts of Europe could talk about
nothing else but the British royal scandal.

In London,
the nobility began to take sides.

Once the court had split into two factions,
each developed its own separate social life.

At the King's court, people tended
to be older, and more respectable.

At the Prince of Wales's court,
the courtiers were younger, and more dynamic.

And, at this court,
they had the better parties.

At these parties, people had "so much fun",
that some "virgins" conceived!

Now, you might think
that this was very dangerous, and destabilizing.

But there is an argument that this was
a healthy development, in a parliamentary democracy,…

…because, if you wanted to criticize the King,
you didn't have to take up arms, or commit treason!

You could just go
to a different type of social event!

The concept of "His Majesty's Loyal Opposition"
had been born!

The Prince of Wales's new court
effectively became a home for rebels!

After the Whigs won a landslide victory
in the elections of 1722,…

…many of the defeated Tories
went round the corner from the royal palace,…

…to Prince George's house
in Leicester Square instead.

It was a way of showing
dissatisfaction with the King,…

…that wasn't quite as drastic
as joining James III and the Jacobites.

Quarrels like this, between royal fathers and sons,
exacerbated by the politicians,…

…would happen
throughout the 18th century.

This new vision of Britain,
with its opposition and disputes,…

…its freedom of speech,
if you like,…

…appealed to one
of the greatest thinkers in Europe.

He went by the pen name of Voltaire,…

…and his fiery political views…

…had already seen him persecuted
by the French government.

"How I love English boldness!",
said Voltaire.

"How I love those
who say what they think!"

"Those who only half think
are only half alive!"

Voltaire knew
what he was talking about,…

…because saying what he thought
had got him into terrible trouble in France,…

…so much so, that he'd been put in prison,
in the Bastille, twice!

So, in 1726,
to seek asylum from all of this,…

…he'd come over to England.

What Voltaire found
was a culture of tolerance.

Indeed, in comparison to France,
he labeled Britain as "a Land of Liberty".

Professor Nicholas Cronk believes
that George I's rather liberal view of kingship…

…allowed writers like Voltaire to thrive.

When Voltaire came to England, then,
things were very different!

What differences did he notice?

Well, in France, under the Ancien Régime,
for the most part writers lived through patronage.

So, you'd find an aristocrat,
or maybe the King,…

…who gives you a pension;
you… you dedicate your works to…

– You suck up! Basically…
– You suck up, basically!

When Voltaire comes to England,
what he finds is…

…a society
where the court is much less… aahh,…

…all–powerful than it is in France.
It is a…

…it doesn't quite have the same glitz,
or the same prestige, but at the same time,…

…there are more centres of power
outside the court.

There is a political debate
between the two Houses of Parliament and the King,…

…so that's not
like the French system.

Voltaire later writes that
"I think and I write like an Englishman!"

This was clearly
an important time for him!

Voltaire comes to London, and finds that there are
Catholics, and Jews, and… as well as Anglicans.

So, there is of course
greater tolerance than there is in France.

The idea that the English were free
was something that they were very pleased about.

So, to some extent, Voltaire has picked this up
from the contemporary English press.

You know, you find it in "The Spectator",
or "The Craftsman", or whatever.

We'd like to think he's… he's very grand
about the big noble ideals of… of freedom of mankind.

I think it's for him…
it's also about freedom of the writer!

I think he just sees
that there is a literary space, in England,…

…partly because of these…
diff… different forms of publication,…

…where he thinks a writer
can express himself differently…

…from a writer in France, who is
much more tied into how things are at court.

What's the best–known work that Voltaire produced
during this time in England?

Well, the work that he's most famous for now
is the book…

…that in French is called
the "Lettres philosophiques",…

…"Philosophical Letters", but in England was published as
the "Letters Concerning the English Nation".

This is a book
where he talks about English liberty,…

…he talks about English religion, he talks about
the English toleration of different religions,…

…in a way which actually
is quite flattering to the English,…

…and of course the English liked it,
because they liked being praised by a foreigner.

So, it has a rather extraordinary
parallel career;…

…so, the "Lettres philosophiques" was condemned
and burnt in the… in the… Paris law courts.

Voltaire was forbidden
from ever using the title again, in any publication.

Whereas, in England, the "Letters on the English Nation"
is republished in Edinburgh, and Dublin, and Glasgow.

It's a… it's an…
18th century British bestseller!

Voltaire wrote that the English
were the only people on Earth…

…who'd been able
to limit the power of kings…

…by establishing wise government.

This meant that, all over Europe,
George I got a reputation…

…as a protector
of progressive views.

But in Britain, his reputation had taken a knock,
after the christening quarrel.

The King's supporters were defecting
to the Prince of Wales's court!

And he had to try
to win them back!

He embarked on a plan
to redecorate Kensington Palace.

He hoped there to host parties
that would be the most spectacular in London.

Now, this room is pretty sensational!
Take a look at that ceiling!

This is the "Cupola" room.

The commission was fought over
between designers of the old guard,…

…still working
in the 17th century style,…

…and adopters of the new "Georgian" look,
that would define the future.

Everybody expected
that this plum royal commission…

…would go
to Sir James Thornhill,…

…who'd been mopping up
all the work at this time.

But Thornhill
had got a bit complacent,…

…and the King liked a bargain.

Thornhill's estimate was 800 pounds.
An awful lot of money!

So the King was persuaded
to look at a young new painter instead,…

…William Kent,
fresh back from Rome.

He wanted the job.

His estimate
was half of Thornhill's.

William Kent got the commission,
and this is what he produced.

Kent is playing with perspective,…

…turning this room
into a space seemingly twice as tall.

He uses paint
to emulate architecture.

But his more traditional colleagues
found it garish and tasteless.

It is not surprising that there was a bit of carping
and naysaying when this room was first completed.

Because the British
just weren't used to this sort of thing!

It's like a completely fake Roman palace interior,
made out of wood, and paint.

And William Kent was doing
something entirely new here.

Kensington Palace
would be Kent's breakthrough in Britain.

Rufus Bird is Deputy Surveyor
of the Queen's Works of Art,…

…and believes that Kent
was the first interior designer.

He wanted to get involved
in every single aspect.

Uh,… he was a complete sort of…
attention to detail in every corner.

So, ah,… if furniture was going to go into interiors
that he designed, he wanted to make sure that…

…it harmonized perfectly.

A bit of a control freak…

A little bit, perhaps, yeah!

And just looking at it, what are the visual clues
that this is a Kent design?

Well, firstly, you have
this very obvious Roman symbolism.

The… particular elements are the… the fish scales,
which you see on the panels of the legs,…

…and the fish scales are associated
with dolphins, in the 18th century,…

…and dolphins drew the shell chariot of Venus,
and of course there is…

…this large shell in the center here, and then
there's another shell at the top of the back there.

Why is William Kent making
all of these classical references?

Well, in the early 18th century,
Kent had been to Italy,…

…and came back
filled with the desire to bring Italy, and…

…Rome,…

…and…

…the… the patterns,
associated with ancient Rome,…

…into Britain.

And… and so, this is
a major change that we see.

So, France, in the 17th century,
had been this dominant artistic… leader, if you like,…

…and then, in the 18th century, it's Kent, and his supporters,
who really want to bring Italy into England.

Would you describe it
as almost like a piece of stage scenery,…?

…not intended for use,
but to look good?

Exactly! That's right, yeah! And so… so often,
court functions, particularly at this date,…

…yeah, are… they are great theatrical events,
and… the spectacle was all!

And the furnishing of the rooms
was just as important as what people wore, and…

…how they populated the spaces.

It was Kent who heralded in
an entirely new kind of Georgian interior,…

…and helped make George I's parties
a glamorous success.

Kent's triumphant progress up the social ladder,
from humble sign painter to royal decorator,…

…reveals what was now possible
in terms of social mobility in Britain.

And around this time, George I
decided to celebrate his own meteoric rise…

…by constructing
a scientific marvel.

It was back in Hanover
that George I spent a huge amount of money…

…on the most technologically ambitious project
of his reign.

When this fountain was first switched on,
it was the tallest fountain in Europe.

It was based on the ideas of Leibniz,
and it spurts up 35 metres into the air!

It wasn't just a toy!

The fountain is actually an analogy
for the rise of the House of Hanover.

They, too, spurted up,
defying gravity!

They went from being
a second–rate princely house…

…to being one of the most important
dynasties in Europe!

George fancied himself as an enlightened monarch,
interested in learning and science.

And he now turned his attention
to the British economy.

He needed to deal with the problem
of the National Debt.

And his Administration took a gamble
on a newly emerging phenomenon: the Stock Market.

They sold the nation's debt to a private business,
the" South Sea Company",…

…in exchange for a monopoly
in the fledgling British slave trade.

If that wasn't dodgy enough,
the company then issued shares,…

…and the British were such big fans of gambling,
that they bought in their thousands.

By 1720, this financial revolution
was well underway.

And I think of this activity of share trading
as being very characteristic of this early Georgian period.

People now realised that you could make money
out of servicing the debts of other people.

Doesn't that sound familiar?

George was about to plunge Britain
into financial chaos.

The whole affair became known
as the "South Sea Bubble".

Share prices rose so quickly that the company
was worth 2.5 trillion pounds in today's money

There were even playing cards produced,
that charted this frenzy of speculation.

Dr. Helen Paul is an economic historian who's investigated
the boom and the bust of the South Sea Company.

What was the atmosphere like in 1720 then,
as the prices began to rise?

The prices went up far too high to be sustainable,
and once you realise you've got naive investors coming in,…

…other people try to buy the same shares,
to sell out TO THEM.

But you also got a lot of money coming in from Paris,
where the Stock Market had recently crashed,…

…trying to find a safe haven.
That pushes up prices.

Eventually, they've got…
the bubble has to burst!

And,… when the smart money leaves,
everyone else panics!

So, see, this man has lost money in the company.
He's actually thrown himself from the window, here.

"A ruined South Sea jobber of renown,
who leaps from a lofty window headlong down!"

Oh, dear! And it's saying:
"South Sea Stock! Oh, those villains!"

There was a huge amount of outcry.
People were called the "South Sea sufferers".

There was a lot of debate about whether people
who'd gained money should be forced to turn it back.

But…

…people who'd gained money
didn't say very much about it!

Is it the beginning of a sort of fear, a tarnishing,
of the image of the Stock… Stock Market?

There… there'd always been…
the sense that finance was somehow dirty.

Land was so important!
These people weren't necessarily the landed class.

– Hmm!
– So,…

…so there'd always been
this sense of "grubbiness" about it.

And there was a lot of criticism
of financiers per se,…

…many of whom were assumed
to be foreigners and Jews,…

…Catholics, and other alleged undesirables.

So, this card here shows…

…a Jewish broker
being forcibly baptised in a horse pond.

"Drown the Jewish dog!"

There he goes, into the pond!

And this is just one card.
There are several that are antisemitic.

And it says here,
"All the Jews deserve as much".

So, blame the Jews
for this particular bubble.

That's right. But, of course, Jewish people
have been associated with usury, or finance,…

…for… for many centuries.

This really unpleasant antisemitism…

…exposed the holes
in Georgian Britain's facade…

…as a land of liberty and tolerance.

To make things worse,
the corruption of the South Sea scandal…

…went right to the heart
of the Government.

Backhanders were paid to politicians,
and insider trading was rife.

When the bubble burst,
George had to call in a "fixer".

He chose
his closest political ally: …

…Robert Walpole.

Having sold his shares
at the top of the market, though,…

…people thought that Walpole, too,
had his snout in the South Sea trough.

This is Change Alley, in the City,
and it was in the coffee houses along here…

…that all the wheeling and the dealing
of the South Sea bubble took place.

When it burst,
they were full of panic, and fear.

And now, up pops Robert Walpole,
to limit the damage.

He was put in charge
of an investigation into the crisis,…

…but it didn't really
go anywhere.

It was thought that he protected prominent people
from charges of bribery and corruption.

And because he'd shielded them
from the consequences of their actions,…

…people called him
the "Screenmaster–General".

There was a growing feeling
that, once again, the elite had won.

But Walpole didn't get off
entirely scot–free.

There was a new force at work
in Georgian society: …

…Satire.

One of the Georgian Age's most notorious images
is Walpole's huge naked bottom,…

…blocking the way
into the Treasury.

To get on, in 18th century Government,
this is what you had to kiss!

These satirists
used lewd images and language…

…to skewer hypocrisy.

From a diving competition
into the sewers of Fleet Street,…

…to a giant,
weeing on the Royal Palace,…

…the satirists were reaping the benefit
of a strange thing…

…that had happened
at the end of the previous century.

According to the modern satirist,
Martin Rowson,…

…Parliament had inadvertently
made this satire boom possible.

Could you print
anything you wanted?

Well, it's, I think, one of the most beautiful moments,
certainly in British, and probably in World history,…

…because it was an accident…!

…as they were…

…meant to be renewing the Licensing Act.
Which was, essentially, press censorship,…

…uh, the Royal License.

And somebody forgot to put it in the press…
in the parliamentary timetable.

Suddenly,…

…Pandora's box was open!

– You could print anything you wanted?
– You could print anything you wanted!

There was a sudden eruption…!

…of freedom of speech…!

…umm,… and of satire!

And whereas people
had previously been writing satires…

…on behalf of rich men, to…
and powerful men,…

…to attack other rich and powerful men,
because it meant they had a protector,…

…NOW,…!

…they could…
publish whatever they wanted!

So you could now print
all kinds of naughty stuff, with impunity!

It meant,
suddenly the people were liberated…

…to…

…satirise everything!

And,…

…after Leveson ,
last year, when…

…people were saying: "We fought, we fought
for centuries, for this freedom of the press!"

No, we didn't,
it just happened by mistake,…!

…because somebody forgot
to put it in the Parliamentary timetables!

And,…

…it's what led…

…to our understanding
of the 18th century, is not…

…necessarily being the…
uh,… the…

…Age of,… uh,… George I,…

…George I, George II, George III,…

…but the Age of Swift,
and Pope, and Hogarth,…

…and, later, Gillray, and Stern,
and the rest of them!

There is this "open sewer" of satire,
running through the Enlightenment!

How popular was this?

How,…
who did it appeal to?

It's a weird relationship,
because on the one hand…

…this is scurrilous, filthy stuff!
On the other hand,…

…uh,… the people who bought Gillray's stuff,
and who bought Hogarth's stuff,…

…were the people
who were being satirized!

Because they…
they understood it was part of the joke!

Satire allowed people to criticise
the highest echelons of society,…

…without getting thrown
into the Tower of London.

But the satirists
"upped the ante" once again,…

…when writers like Jonathan Swift were bold enough
to have a go at the monarchy itself!

In "Gulliver's Travels",
Swift has his main character, Lemuel Gulliver,…

…wash up on the island of Lilliput.

Here he found
a tiny royal court ,…

…where everyone was obsessed
with climbing the greasy pole.

How did Swift
satirise the monarchy?

"Gulliver's Travels" is a prolonged satire
on the whole notion of courts.

So, there's…

…all the stuff about people
having to jump over higher sticks to get pref,…

…uh,… to get preferment.

Um,… courtiers having
to do this rope dance on a tight rope.

Um,… the…

…levels of corruption,
the levels of venality.

It's not that…

…difficult to satirise, to say,…

…"These people, who thought they were
sort of such great men, are really little tiny things".

And, of course, all the people in George I's court
recognised what it was all about!

Did these people not mind
Jonathan Swift laughing at them?

It is part of the game!

If you're in a position of power
over your… fellow citizens,…

…and you can't
take a joke about yourself,…

…then, really, you're not quite the thing!
You're not quite right!

Because…

…you should recognise that it's…
your position is… is inherently ludicrous!

All this satire
was so popular…

…that the King and the politicians
had to just take it on the chin!

Better to laugh along,
pretending that you were in on the joke!

But it was Robert Walpole, not the King,
who was the greatest target of fun.

George I, often,
just wasn't there!

He'd gone back to Germany.

Here's George I on a happy hunting holiday,
back in Hanover.

These are his ancestral forests.

You get the sense that THIS
is where he thinks he really belongs.

He's brought
an awful lot of people with him.

We can see here
the whole of his German household.

There are Mustapha
and Mohammed, his valets,…

…but he's also brought with him
some very prominent British politicians!

"Mijlord" Townsend, as it says here.
He was a top Whig.

And here we have "Mijlady" Townsend!
He's brought his wife with him!

And this is a real problem!

When the King
comes over to Germany,…

…and he brings all these people,
it's like he sucks the life out of British politics.

Nothing can happen in London
without him!

And something of a power vacuum
opens up!

And when the King's away,
Walpole will play!

Many of George's ministers were strongly opposed
to his frequent visits to Hanover.

But Walpole…
saw them as an opportunity!

This was the origin
of modern Government.

When the King
was away in Germany,…

…his ministers got into the habit
of meeting by themselves, without him…!

…making autonomous decisions!

These meetings of the Government ministers
were chaired by…

Who else?
Sir Robert Walpole!

He was "First amongst Equals",…

…and he came up with the concept
of "Cabinet solidarity".

Once they'd all agreed
on a policy,…

…they had to defend it in public,
or else resign.

This is the essence of the system
of Cabinet Government, that we still have today.

George had always kept
his Hanover base.

I wonder if, deep down, he was worried
that Parliament would change their mind,…

…and take away his throne.

He needn't have worried.

For the century before his reign,
Britain had been eating itself!

There had been civil wars, and revolutions,
and disputes about inheritance.

With George I, though,
came stability,…

…freedom of speech,…

…and modern government.

George may not have been the sharpest,
or the brightest, or the most vigorous King,…

…but, thanks to his benign rule,…

…Britain was on the way
to becoming truly great.

For himself, though,
George still called Hanover "home".

Indeed, he was traveling back here
at the very moment of his death.

George's body ended up in this mausoleum,
overlooking his beloved palace of Herrenhausen,…

…the place that he never really
wanted to leave.

Some of George's British subjects
called him "Lucky George",…

…this man who'd so unexpectedly
inherited their throne.

But I think of him
as "Unlucky George".

He never really wanted
to leave Hanover,…

…he was deeply unlucky in his personal life,
with his divorce,…

…and his terrible relationship
with his son.

The history books have overlooked him,
because he wasn't showy, he had no charisma.

But sometimes it's the quiet ones
that you've got to watch.

I think I'd say, not so much "Lucky George",…
but "Lucky Britain"!

Next time,
as their personal divisions deepen,…

…the Royal family have to deal
with a new force that's reshaping Britain: …

…the power of the public!

This was a very dangerous moment
for the Hanoverian Royal family.

If any one of them were to make a mistake,
it could break the monarchy.