George IV: A Sketch
Kenneth Baker looks at the foibles and achievements of one of Britain’s most controversial monarchs through the eyes of his caricaturists.
On the sunny day in 1830 when George IV (who had been king since 1820) died, Tom Moore, the poet, wrote:
Never saw London so excited or lively ... crowds everywhere, particularly in St James’s Street ... the whole thing reminded me of a passage in an old comedy: ‘What makes him so merry?’ ‘Don’t you see he’s in mourning?’
There was little mourning for George and within three weeks of his death The Times thundered out its verdict:
There never was an individual less regretted by his fellow creatures than the deceased King ... an inveterate voluptuary ... of all known beings the most selfish.
This echoed the comment of Charles Greville, the Clerk to the Privy Council, who confided to his diary:
A more contemptible, cowardly, selfish, unfeeling dog does not exist ... There have been good and wise kings but not many of them ... and this I believe to be one of the worst.
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