Ebook: George IV
- Tags: Kings and rulers, History, Biographies, Biography, George -- IV -- King of Great Britain -- 1762-1830, Great Britain -- Kings and rulers -- Biography, Great Britain -- History -- George IV 1820-1830, Great Britain
- Series: Yale English monarchs
- Year: 2000
- Publisher: Yale University Press
- City: London;Great Britain;New Haven
- Language: English
- epub
This engrossing biography of George IV, king of England from 1820 to 1830, gives a full and objective reassessment of the monarch's character, reputation, and achievement. Previous writers have tended to accept the unfavorable verdicts of the king's contemporaries that he was a dissolute, pleasure-loving dilettante and a feeble and ineffective ruler who was responsible for the decline of the power and reputation of the monarchy in the early nineteenth century. Now E.A. Smith offers a new view of George IV, one that does not minimize the king's faults but focuses on the positive qualities of his achievement in politics and in the patronage of the arts.
Smith explores the roots of the king's character and personality, stressing the importance of his relationship with his parents and twelve surviving siblings.