We are back in the Regency, but not quite done with royalty. Today we’re going to discuss George Augustus Frederick, oldest son of King George III and his wife Charlotte, and the man who gave the Regency its name. He was born on 12 August 1762 and died on 26 June 1830. Upon his birth he was given the titles Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay. These titles should be familiar to you as the current holder is Prince Charles. A few days later George was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester. On 5 February 1811, after his father was declared mad, he became the Prince Regent.
Prinny, as he was known to his detractors, lived a life of extreme excess in everything from food to women to gambling. When he was eighteen, he was given his own household and began his descent into profligacy. Even before he became prince regent Parliament was required to settle his debts. At one and twenty he entered into an illegal marriage to a Catholic commoner, Maria Fitzherbert, violating both the Act of Settlement 1701, that prohibited the spouse of a Catholic from succeeding to the throne, and the Royal Marriages Act 1772, that required he have the king’s consent to the marriage. Maria in her late twenties and had been widowed twice. She considered the marriage legal but agreed to keep it a secret. The marriage did nothing to curtail George’s extravagant spending and his father refused to cover his debts. For a time he quite Carlton House and moved in with Maria. The short version of what happened next is, like things to, the secret marriage was getting out and Charles Fox, leader of the Whigs was concerned about the scandal the marriage might cause. Parliament was convinced to pay the prince’s debts.
Although, the prince had many mistresses, he always went back to Maria and was said to have had at least one child with her.
In 1794, the king, once again, became involved and refused to support his son unless George married. On 8 April 1795, he married Caroline of Brunswick (a cousin). It was apparently dislike at first sight. I recently read a report that Prinny had his mistress at the time Francis, Countess of Jersey (I use her first name only to distinguish her from Sally who was Francis’s daughter-in-law.) meet Caroline when she arrived in England instead of going himself. It is also said that all the jewels George gave Caroline on the event of their marriage he took back and gave to Francis who was one of Caroline’s ladies in waiting, and that she wore the jewels in Caroline’s presence. He attempted several times, unsuccessfully, to divorce her. In 1814, Caroline had apparently had enough and moved to Italy. Suffice it to say that the war between them had started and didn’t end until her death in 1821. He didn’t even write her about her daughter’s death in 1816.
George became George IV on 29 January 1820, and was even more determined to divorce Caroline. But she returned to England that year and sympathy for her caused her to be extremely popular, as opposed to George who was almost universally detested for his excesses.
On During his early years, the prince was considered by many to be an extremely handsome man. However, hard drinking and over eating eventually took its toll on his health.
He was succeeded by his brother William.
This is a very short account. If you’re interested in learning more about Prinny, Amazon has several listed. https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=King+George+IV
Ella Quinn ~ Author 
Very interesting Ella, thank you.
You’re welcome, Patti!