BRITISH MONARCHY AND ITS INFLUENCE UPON GOVERNMENTAL INSTITUTIONS

the courts were forbidden to impose excessive bail or fines, or cruel and

unusual punishments. However, the Sovereign could still summon and dissolve

Parliament, appoint and dismiss Ministers, veto legislation and declare

war.

The so-called 'Glorious Revolution' has been much debated over the degree

to which it was conservative or radical in character. The result was a

permanent shift in power; although the monarchy remained of central

importance, Parliament had become a permanent feature of political life.

The Toleration Act of 1689 gave all non-conformists except Roman

Catholics freedom of worship, thus rewarding Protestant dissenters for

their refusal to side with James II.

After 1688 there was a rapid development of party, as parliamentary

sessions lengthened and the Triennial Act ensured frequent general

elections. Although the Tories had fully supported the Revolution, it was

the Whigs (traditional critics of the monarchy) who supported William and

consolidated their position. Recognising the advisability of selecting a

Ministry from the political party with the majority in the House of

Commons, William appointed a Ministry in 1696 which was drawn from the

Whigs; known as the Junto, it was regarded with suspicion by Members of

Parliament as it met separately, but it may be regarded as the forerunner

of the modern Cabinet of Ministers.

In 1697, Parliament decided to give an annual grant of Ј700,000 to the

King for life, as a contribution to the expenses of civil government, which

included judges' and ambassadors' salaries, as well as the Royal

Household's expenses.

The Bill of Rights had established the succession with the heirs of Mary

II, Anne and William III in that order, but by 1700 Mary had died

childless, Anne's only surviving child (out of 17 children), the Duke of

Gloucester, had died at the age of 11 and William was dying. The succession

had to be decided.

The Act of Settlement of 1701 was designed to secure the Protestant

succession to the throne, and to strengthen the guarantees for ensuring

parliamentary system of government. According to the Act, succession to the

throne went to Princess Sophia, Electress of Hanover and James I's

granddaughter, and her Protestant heirs.

The Act also laid down the conditions under which alone the Crown could

be held. No Roman Catholic, nor anyone married to a Roman Catholic, could

hold the English Crown. The Sovereign now had to swear to maintain the

Church of England (and after 1707, the Church of Scotland). The Act of

Settlement not only addressed the dynastic and religious aspects of

succession, it also further restricted the powers and prerogatives of the

Crown.

Under the Act, parliamentary consent had to be given for the Sovereign to

engage in war or leave the country, and judges were to hold office on good

conduct and not at royal pleasure - thus establishing judicial

independence. The Act of Settlement reinforced the Bill of Rights, in that

it strengthened the principle that government was undertaken by the

Sovereign and his or her constitutional advisers (i.e. his or her

Ministers), not by the Sovereign and any personal advisers whom he or she

happened to choose.

One of William's main reasons for accepting the throne was to reinforce

the struggle against Louis XIV. William's foreign policy was dominated by

the priority to contain French expansionism. England and the Dutch joined

the coalition against France during the Nine Years War. Although Louis was

forced to recognise William as King under the Treaty of Ryswick (1697),

William's policy of intervention in Europe was costly in terms of finance

and his popularity. The Bank of England, established in 1694 to raise money

for the war by borrowing, did not loosen the King's financial reliance on

Parliament as the national debt depended on parliamentary guarantees.

William's Dutch advisers were resented, and in 1699 his Dutch Blue Guards

were forced to leave the country.

Never of robust health, William died as a result of complications from a

fall whilst riding at Hampton Court in 1702.

ANNE (1702-14)

Anne, born in 1665, was the second daughter of James II and Anne Hyde.

She played no part in her father's reign, but sided with her sister and

brother-in-law (Mary II and William III) during the Glorious Revolution.

She married George, Prince of Denmark, but the pair failed to produce a

surviving heir. She died at 49 years of age, after a lifelong battle with

the blood disease porphyria.

The untimely death of William III nullified, in effect, the Settlement

Act of 1701: Anne was James' daughter through his Protestant marriage, and

therefore, presented no conflict with the act. Anne refrained from

politically antagonizing Parliament, but was compelled to attend most

Cabinet meetings to keep her half-brother, James the Old Pretender, under

heel. Anne was the last sovereign to veto an act of Parliament, as well as

the final Stuart monarch. The most significant constitutional act in her

reign was the Act of Union in 1707, which created Great Britain by finally

fully uniting England and Scotland (Ireland joined the Union in 1801).

The Stuart trait of relying on favorites was as pronounced in Anne's

reign as it had been in James I's reign. Anne's closest confidant was Sarah

Churchill, who exerted great influence over the king. Sarah's husband was

the Duke of Marlborough, who masterly led the English to several victories

in the War of Spanish Succession. Anne and Sarah were virtually

inseparable: no king's mistress had ever wielded the power granted to the

duchess, but Sarah became too confident in her position. She developed an

overbearing demeanor towards Anne, and berated the Queen in public. In the

meantime, Tory leaders had planted one Abigail Hill in the royal household

to capture Anne's need for sympathy and affection. As Anne increasingly

turned to Abigail, the question of succession rose again, pitting the Queen

and the Marlborough against each other in a heated debate. The relationship

of Anne and the Churchill's fell asunder. Marlborough, despite his war

record, was dismissed from public service and Sarah was shunned in favor of

Abigail.

Many of the internal conflicts in English society were simply the birth

pains of the two-party system of government. The Whig and Tory Parties,

fully enfranchised by the last years of Anne's reign, fought for control of

Parliament and influence over the Queen. Anne was torn personally as well

as politically by the succession question: her Stuart upbringing compelled

her to choose as heir her half-brother, the Old Pretender and favorite of

the Tories, but she had already elected to side with Whigs when supporting

Mary and William over James II. In the end, Anne abided by the Act of

Settlement, and the Whigs paved the way for the succession of their

candidate, George of Hanover.

Anne's reign may be considered successful, but somewhat lackluster in

comparison to the rest of the Stuart line. 1066 and All That, describes her

with its usual tongue-in-cheek manner: "Finally the Orange... was succeeded

by the memorable dead queen, Anne. Queen Anne was considered rather a

remarkable woman and hence was usually referred to as Great Anna, or Annus

Mirabilis. The Queen had many favourites (all women), the most memorable of

whom were Sarah Jenkins and Mrs Smashems, who were the first wig and the

first Tory... the Whigs being the first to realize that the Queen had been

dead all the time chose George I as King."

THE HANOVERIANS

The Hanoverians came to power in difficult circumstances that looked set

to undermine the stability of British society. The first of their Kings,

George I, was only 52nd in line to the throne, but the nearest Protestant

according the Act of Settlement. Two descendants of James II, the deposed

Stuart King, threatened to take the throne and were supported by a number

of 'Jacobites' throughout the realm.

The Hanoverian period for all that, was remarkably stable, not least

because of the longevity of its Kings. From 1714 through to 1837, there

were only five, one of whom, George III, remains the longest reigning King

in British History. The period was also one of political stability, and the

development of constitutional monarchy. For vast tracts of the eighteenth

century politics were dominated by the great Whig families, while the early

nineteenth century saw Tory domination. Britain's first 'Prime' Minister,

Robert Walpole, dates from this period, while income tax was introduced.

Towards the end of the reign, the Great Reform Act was passed, which

amongst other things widened the electorate.

It was in this period that Britain came to acquire much of her overseas

Empire, despite the loss of the American colonies, largely through foreign

conquest in the various wars of the century. At the end of the Hanoverian

period the British empire covered a third of the globe while the theme of

longevity was set to continue, as the longest reigning monarch in British

history, Queen Victoria, prepared to take the throne.

THE HANOVERIANS

1714 - 1837

GEORGE I =

Sophia Dorothea, dau. of Duke of Brunswick and Celle

(1714–1727)

GEORGE

II = Caroline, dau. of Margrave of

(1727–1760) Brandenburg-Anspach

Augusta of =

Frederick Lewis,

Saxe-Gotha-Altenberg Prince of

Wales

GEORGE III = Sophia Charlotte of

(1760–1820) Mecklenburg-Strelitz

GEORGE IV WILLIAM IV

Edward, = Victoria

(1820–1830) (1830–1837)

Duke of Kent of Saxe-

Coburg

VICTORIA

(1837–1901)

GEORGE I (1714-27)

George I was born March 28, 1660, son of Ernest, Elector of Hanover and

Sophia, granddaughter of James I. He was raised in the royal court of

Hanover, a German province, and married Sophia, Princess of Zelle, in 1682.

The marriage produced one son (the future George II) and one daughter

(Sophia Dorothea, who married her cousin, Frederick William I, King of

Prussia). After ruling England for thirteen years, George I died of a

stroke on a journey to his beloved Hanover on October 11, 1727.

George, Elector of Hanover since 1698, ascended the throne upon the death

of Queen Anne, under the terms of the 1701 Act of Settlement. His mother

had recently died and he meticulously settled his affairs in Hanover before

coming to England. He realized his position and considered the better of

two evils to be the Whigs (the other alternative was the Catholic son of

James II by Mary of Modena, James Edward Stuart, the Old Pretender). George

knew that any decision was bound to offend at least half of the British

population. His character and mannerisms were strictly German; he never

troubled himself to learn the English language, and spent at least half of

his time in Hanover.

The pale little 54 year-old man arrived in Greenwich on September 29,

1714, with a full retinue of German friends, advisors and servants (two of

which, Mohamet and Mustapha, were Negroes captured during a Turkish

campaign). All were determined to profit from the venture, with George

leading the way. He also arrived with two mistresses and no wife - Sophia

had been imprisoned for adultery. The English population was unkind to the

two mistresses, labeling the tall, thin Ehrengard Melusina von Schulenberg

as the "maypole", and the short, fat Charlotte Sophia Kielmansegge as the

"elephant". Thackeray remarked, "Take what you can get was the old

monarch's maxim... The German women plundered, the German secretaries

plundered, the German cooks and attendants plundered, even Mustapha and

Mohamet... had a share in the booty."

The Jacobites, legitimist Tories, attempted to depose George and replace

him with the Old Pretender in 1715. The rebellion was a dismal failure. The

Old Pretender failed to arrive in Britain until it was over and French

backing evaporated with the death of Louis XIV. After the rebellion,

England settled into a much needed time of peace, with internal politics

and foreign affairs coming to the fore.

George's ignorance of the English language and customs actually became

the cornerstone of his style of rule: leave England to it's own devices and

live in Hanover as much as possible. Cabinet positions became of the utmost

importance; the king's ministers represented the executive branch of

government, while Parliament represented the legislative. George's frequent

absences required the creation of the post of Prime Minister, the majority

leader in the House of Commons who acted in the king's stead. The first was

Robert Walpole, whose political mettle was tried in 1720 with the South Sea

Company debacle. The South Sea Company was a highly speculative venture

(one of many that was currently plaguing British economics at that time),

whose investors cajoled government participation. Walpole resisted from the

beginning, and after the venture collapsed and thousands were financially

ruined, he worked feverishly to restore public credit and confidence in

George's government. His success put him in the position of dominating

British politics for the next 20 years, and the reliance on an executive

Cabinet marked an important step in the formation of a modern

constitutional monarchy in England.

George avoided entering European conflicts by establishing a complex web

of continental alliances. He and his Whig ministers were quite skillful;

the realm managed to stay out of war until George II declared war on Spain

in 1739. George I and his son, George II, literally hated each other, a

fact that the Tory party used to gain political strength. George I, on his

many trips to Hanover, never placed the leadership of government in his

son's hands, preferring to rely on his ministers when he was abroad. This

disdain between father and son was a blight which became a tradition in the

House of Hanover.

Thackeray, in The Four Georges, allows both a glimpse of George I's

character, and the circumstances under which he ruled England: "Though a

despot in Hanover, he was a moderate ruler in England. His aim was to leave

it to itself as much as possible, and to live out of it as much as he

could. His heart was in Hanover. He was more than fifty-four years of age

when he came amongst us: we took him because we wanted him, because he

served our turn; we laughed at his uncouth German ways, and sneered at him.

He took our loyalty for what it was worth; laid hands on what money he

could; kept us assuredly from Popery and wooden shoes. I, for one, would

have been on his side in those days. Cynical, and selfish, as he was, he

was better than a king out of St. Germains [the Old Pretender] with a

French King's orders in his pocket, and a swarm of Jesuits in his train."

GEORGE II (1727-60)

George II was born November 10, 1683, the only son of George I and

Sophia. His youth was spent in the Hanoverian court in Germany, and he

married Caroline of Anspach in 1705. He was truly devoted to Caroline; she

bore him three sons and five daughters, and actively participated in

government affairs, before she died in 1737. Like his father, George was

very much a German prince, but at the age of 30 when George I ascended the

throne, he was young enough to absorb the English culture that escaped his

father. George II died of a stroke on October 25, 1760.

George possessed three passions: the army, music and his wife. He was

exceptionally brave and has the distinction of being the last British

sovereign to command troops in the field (at Dettingen against the French

in 1743). He inherited his father's love of opera, particularly the work of

George Frederick Handel, who had been George I's court musician in Hanover.

Caroline proved to be his greatest asset. She revived traditional court

life (which had all but vanished under George I, was fiercely intelligent

and an ardent supporter of Robert Walpole. Walpole continued in the role of

Prime Minister at Caroline's behest, as George was loathe keeping his

father's head Cabinet member. The hatred George felt towards his father was

reciprocated by his son, Frederick, Prince of Wales, who died in 1751.

Walpole retired in 1742, after establishing the foundation of the modern

constitutional monarchy: a Cabinet responsible to a Parliament, which was,

in turn, responsible to an electorate. At that time, the system was far

from truly democratic; the electorate was essentially the voice of wealthy

landowners and mercantilists. The Whig party was firmly in control,

although legitimist Tories attempted one last Jacobite rebellion in 1745,

by again trying to restore a Stuart to the throne. Prince Charles Edward

Stuart, known as the Young Pretender or Bonnie Prince Charlie, landed in

Scotland and marched as far south as Derby, causing yet another wave of

Anti-Catholicism to wash over England. The Scots retreated, and in 1746,

were butchered by the Royal Army at Culloden Moor. Bonnie Prince Charlie

escaped to France and died in Rome. The Tories became suspect due to their

associations with Jacobitism, ensuring oligarchic Whig rule for the

following fifty years.

Walpole managed to keep George out of continental conflicts for the first

twelve years of the reign, but George declared war on Spain in 1739,

against Walpole's wishes. The Spanish war extended into the 1740's as a

component of the War of Austrian Succession, in which England fought

against French dominance in Europe. George shrank away from the situation

quickly: he negotiated a hasty peace with France, to protect Hanover. The

1750's found England again at war with France, this time over imperial

claims. Fighting was intense in Europe, but North America and India were

also theatres of the war. Government faltering in response to the French

crisis brought William Pitt the Elder, later Earl of Chatham, to the

forefront of British politics.

Thackeray describes George II and Walpole as such, in The Four Georges

"... how he was a choleric little sovereign; how he shook his fist in the

face of his father's courtiers; how he kicked his coat and wig about in his

rages; and called everybody thief, liar, rascal with whom he differed: you

will read in all the history books; and how he speedily and shrewdly

reconciled himself with the bold minister, whom he had hated during his

father's life, and by whom he was served during fifteen years of his own

with admirable prudence, fidelity, and success. But for Robert Walpole, we

should have had the Pretender back again."

GEORGE III (r. 1760-1820)

George III was born on 4 June 1738 in London, the eldest son of

Frederick, Prince of Wales, and Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. He became

heir to the throne on the death of his father in 1751, succeeding his

grandfather, George II, in 1760. He was the third Hanoverian monarch and

the first one to be born in England and to use English as his first

language.

George III is widely remembered for two things: losing the American

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