British Monarchs: George IV (House of Hanover) 1820-1830

George IV (George Augustus Frederick) (12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was king of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Hanover from 29 January 1820 until his death. He had earlier served as Prince Regent when his father, George III, suffered from a relapse into insanity from suspected porphyria. The Regency, George's nine-year tenure as Prince Regent, which commenced in 1811 and ended with George III's death in 1820, was marked by victory in the Napoleonic Wars in Europe. George

was a stubborn monarch, often interfering in politics, especially in the matter of Catholic Emancipation, though not as much as his father. For most of George's regency and reign, Lord Liverpool controlled the government as Prime Minister.

George is remembered largely for the extravagant lifestyle that he maintained as prince and monarch. It is reported that every time he had intimate relations with a woman he would cut a lock of her hair and place it in an envelope with her name on it. At the time of his death there were allegedly 7,000 such envelopes. He had a poor relationship with both his father and his wife, Caroline of Brunswick, whom he even forbade to attend his coronation. He was a patron of new forms of leisured style and taste; he was responsible for the building of the Royal Pavilion in Brighton and the founding of King's College London.