'We often discover what will do by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.'
Samuel Smiles (1812-1904), author of «Self-Help», summing up a common Victorian attitude
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'We often discover what will do by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.'
Samuel Smiles (1812-1904), author of «Self-Help», summing up a common Victorian attitude
WINDSOR CASTLE REMAINS THE largest castle still used as a residence. Parts date from the early Norman Conquest, when William I put up a wooden castle around 1070. Henry II built the great round tower in 1180, and Edward III made the Chapel of St George the centre of his new Order of the Garter in 1348.
GEORGE IV (1821-30)
BORN IN 1762, GEORGE IV understudied the sovereign's role as Prince Regent during his father's illness. During this time, wayward 'Prinny' did his utmost to destroy the respect painstakingly earned by George III.
WHEN FREDERICK, PRINCE OF WALES died in 1751 his 12-year-old son became the next heir to the throne and was duly crowned George III. Unlike his grandfather, George was thoroughly English, and proud of it. An example of domestic virtue and conscientious to a fault, he 'gloried in the name of Briton'.
“I wash my hands of the fatal consequences which I foresee but cannot help.'
Bonnie Prince Charlie, shortly before the Battle of Culloden
GEORGE I (1714-27)THE 1701 ACT OF SETTLEMENT declared that Queen Anne's heir should be Sophia, Electress of Hanover and granddaughter of James I. When first Sophia, and then Queen Anne, died in 1714, Sophia's son George Lewis (born in 1660) became King of Great Britain. The change of dynasty passed surprisingly peacefully and George arrived in his new kingdom a month later.
THE 18TH CENTURY SAW Britain's first three King Georges: 'German George', 'Soldier George' and 'Farmer George'. Although known as the Age of Reason, this period of history was often both irrational and emotional. The term 'Georgian' - whether applied to architecture, fashion or poetry - might suggest a culture of calm order, but in fact society was a bubbling, unstable mixture stirred by ideas of the day: classical formality, romantic naturalism, rational science and political idealism.
'He spoke little and very slowly... except in a day of battle, for then he was all fire ...he was everywhere and looked to everything.'
Gilbert Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury, on William III
'He is so ugly I am ashamed... but his size and fatness supply what he lacks in beauty!
Queen Henrietta Maria, on her two-year-old son Charles, later Charles II
THE CIVIL WAR that began in England spread to engulf Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Men and women at all levels of society - even within the same family -took different sides on issues of principle. The struggle between king and Parliament was heightened by religious differences between Puritans and Anglicans, and by calls for social equality or 'levelling' from small groups of radicals.