George I (Penguin Monarchs): The Lucky King

by Timothy C.W. Blanning

George I was not the most charismatic of the Hanoverian monarchs to have reigned in England but he was probably the most important. He was certainly the luckiest.

Born the youngest son of a landless German duke, he was taken by repeated strokes of good fortune to become, first the ruler of a major state in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation and then the sovereign of three kingdoms (England, Ireland and Scotland).

Tim Blanning's incisive short biography examines George's life and career as a German prince, and as King. Fifty-four years old when he arrived in London in 1714, he was a battle-hardened veteran, who put his long experience and deep knowledge of international affairs to good use in promoting the interests of both Hanover and Great Britain. When he died, his legacy was order and prosperity at home and power and prestige abroad. Disagreeable he may have been to many, but he was also tough, determined and effective, at a time when other European thrones had started to crumble.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, European History, Royalty

ebook

Published December 7, 2017

About the author

Timothy Charles William Blanning, FBA is Emeritus Professor of Modern European History at the University of Cambridge, where he taught from 1992 until 2009. His work focuses on the history of Europe from the 17th century to the beginning of the First World War.

Reviews

[W.D. Clarke · Rating 3 out of 5]

What George I's mother said to her daughter about marriage problems actually applies—put positively, but in reverse—to the political career of her son: ‘don’t make a thunderclap out of a fart’, because fourth-son George Ludwig was never in line to become Elector of Hanover, let alone King of England. Fortuna, however, had other plans for him, and, in sagely following her lead, helped turn England into the thunderclap heard round the world.

We learn a fair bit in this brief volume about the warring and politicking that got him and his country to, by the end of his reign in 1727, be Leader of the Pack—outflanking the, under Louis XIV, seemingly un-outflankable French, but that long-reigning king died in 1715, one year after Georgie came to the throne—luck be a lady, tonight...again! With France internally divided (Louis XV was but a lad, and the Duke of Orleans, who had plans of his own for the throne, engaged him to a Spanish toddler [the "Infanta"] so that he might not procreate....), George and England could set about creating and exploiting that then-neologism, the "Balance of Power", involving a dizzying number of treaties and expeditions that I've forgotten already, and so shall spare you here.

What we don't get in this book is a clear picture of England under George—social history this ain't. But we do get a pretty good view of the Man himself, who was a well-respected administrator, but other than for music, reputedly not a patron of the arts. While his open-minded mother was a good friend of Leibniz, he was all about military campaigns, which he adored so much he saw little of his young family while still based in Hanover. He was bonkers about opera, though, as one little nugget about him attests:

The fact that during the first four months of 1727 he saw Handel’s Admeto nineteen times allowed Donald Burrows to conclude that he ‘was either a genuine lover of opera or a masochist’.

Perhaps he was hiding in the opera house from his personal life, which was replete with rancour and loathing for his first-born son ("At least George did not follow the example of Peter the Great of Russia, who had the Tsarevich Alexei tortured to death, or the rather less extreme example of Frederick William I of Prussia, who systematically abused"), and which, too was always coloured by concerns for his legacy:

Awareness that the duchy of Celle was larger and more populous than Hanover helped Georg Ludwig to overcome the ‘repugnance’ he felt at marrying dynasty so far down the social scale. As his mother explained: ‘he would marry a cripple if he thought it was to his advantage, because his conduct will always be governed by the interest of his dynasty’

We also learn a bit about the rancour between the Whigs (finance, petit bourgeoisie, dissenters) and Tories (landed gentry, C-of-E divines, Jacobites) herein. I know, I know, a plague on both your houses, one of the 99.99% might say, but the 99.99% are not the subject of this book! So when Queen Anne (Olivia Coleman) dies in 1714, there are rumblings about bringing over James II's
Stuart son ("The Pretender") from the continent, and the very hint of this is enough to grease our lucky George's way up the corporate ladder, since "‘a majority of Tories were Jacobite by conviction but Hanoverian by caution’ (‘Hanoverian when sober, Jacobite when drunk’ was Edward Gregg’s alternative version)".

The real key to George's ongoing good fortunes, though, was the fortune England made through trade—trade of all kinds:

Between 1700 and 1731 exports went up by 17 per cent and imports by 27 per cent. An involuntary contribution to this growing prosperity was made by the very large numbers of 1720s alone 211,000 were delivered, to which terrible total another 32,000 who died en route must be added. During the first quarter of the eighteenth century, the industrial economy expanded by 15 per cent, agriculture by about the same amount, overseas trade by 30 per cent, but population by only 9 per cent. A visible increase in prosperity was the result, expressed in many complacent observations. Even before the War of the Spanish Succession had set the seal on British expansion, [Daniel] Defoe had hailed England as the most ‘Diligent Nation in the World.'"

Thereafter the book goes into great, dizzying detail about the War of the Spanish Succession, and minutiae about the Hapsburgs &etc, but please know this: such unprecedented industrial-scale killing was only made possible by twin inventions: the Bank of England (1694), and the National Debt ("The national debt stood at zero in 1688; ten years of war ran it up to £17,300,000; and by 1714 it had reached £36,200,000. To manage borrowing on this unprecedented scale, the Bank of England was established in 1694, modelled on the Bank of Amsterdam", an idea which came to England with William of Orange in 1688), which together formed a military-financial complex that (along with said slave trade) kept the Whigs and Hanoverians in lock-goose-step through much of the century, as England came to dominate global trade and power. That's as much as the 99.99% really need to know the "Peace" of Westphalia/Utrecht/ or the Alliance of Quadruple Whatevers.

Soon enough, the sugar cane cash would be making it rain in a civilised way from Bath to Leamington Spas and beyond, and Jane Austen would be watching Bridgerton and taking notes.

[Kedavra Mandylion · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this is supposed to be dry. I guess I am a nerd for liking this ruthless info dump so much. It's quite a compact pack of information but I got so much inspiration from it, so many interesting things to research further: Elisabetta Farnese, Sophia of Hanover, the Great Northern War and the South Sea Bubble. Good stuff.

[JR Roach · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a splendid little book that accomplishes so much in just one hundred pages. Excellently situates George I in the contexts of European monarchy, British politics, and the baroque culture that defined the age, while serving as a perfect introduction to the wide literature on all of these topics.

[Nick Artrip · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Born to the youngest of four sons of a minor duke, one stroke of good fortune after another had taken [George] to be, first, one of the most prestigious princes in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, and then the sovereign of three kingdoms and thus ruler of what was rapidly becoming the most prosperous and powerful empire in the world."

For my next nonfiction read I selected George I: The Lucky King by Tim Blanning from the Penguin Monarchs series. So, what do I know what George I? First of the Hanoverian kings, came to the throne after the end of the Stuarts. Locked his wife away. Complicated relationship with his son. I read George I: Elector and King by Ragnhild Hatton a few years ago, but most of the finer details have been buried beneath a sea of Plantagenets, Tudors, and Stuarts I'm afraid.

The text is made up of six, concise chapters. The first builds the young George Ludwig’s resumé, detailing his military career and prowess as a leader (important to Hanoverian propaganda against the backdrop of Jacobite rebellion) and briefly describes the turbulence of his marriage to his cousin, Sophia Dorothea of Celle. The second chapter focuses on the Hanoverian succession and highlights how George I benefited from anti-Catholic and French sentiments as a ruler. The third explores two of his primary passions (Handel and hunting), his court, and the rupture between father and son (George II’s rival court and popularity; it seems Anne was right to keep him away.) The fourth chapter deals with George I’s various Whig and Tory ministers and the South Sea Bubble. The fifth looks at Britian’s role in international politics and the sixth provides a quick summation.

The subtitle of this text is The Lucky King, an idea that Blanning returns to throughout the book. George I was indeed lucky. Lucky that he’d been able to become an elector and even luckier that his relatives all disqualified themselves from the line of succession. He was lucky that Jacobite support was thwarted by anti-papist and a hatred of the French. Old George also seemed to luck out with Walpole who was able to navigate the South Sea Bubble crisis. He was not, perhaps, the most remarkable or interesting king, but he was sufficient and had his own merits (a greater understanding of foreign policy, his military career.) Blanning’s book is a great refresher (or introduction!) on George I, although I can’t help but wish there were a longer text available on his reign (I’ll have to revisit Hatton on my next go around!)

[Carolyn Harris · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent contribution to the Penguin monarchs series. Blanning provides a detailed analysis of the succession of the Hanover dynasty to the English throne, challenging the perception that George I was distant relation of Queen Anne as his mother Sophia of Hanover was a granddaughter of James I, niece of Charles I and cousin of Charles II and James II. The politics (domestic and foreign policy), economics, culture and society of George I's reign are all discussed in this short biography. While some of the other titles in the Penguin monarchs series focus on a monarch's political activity at the expense of his/her personal life, Blanning also discusses George I's "seedy private life," which was satirized by his subjects and dysfunctional family, including his famously acrimonious relationship with his son, the future King George II. Blanning's only defense of George I's relationship with his son is "At least George did not follow the example of Peter the Great..."A comprehensive further reading list organized by theme is included at the end of the book.

[Arran Douglas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good introduction to a king, and an era, I know only a little about. The things I know about George I are the outdated traditional history that he was unpopular and did not understand Britain and didn't speak English but, as Blanning shows, this is not the full picture. He fully became the king of England during his 13 year reign and moved his role as elector of hanover to a secondary position, he learned to play the political game by British standards and he had the first Prime Minister in Robert Walpole. His life was shaped by good fortune but that does not detract from the fact that it was incredibly interesting.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

RitToC 33 -

An interesting (if incredibly brief - minus index and bibliography it’s only 90 pages) look at the first Hanoverian monarch.

I only remembered George I as being a bad dad, kind of an idiot, and someone who raided the treasury to fund wars to help out Hanover over the interests of his new kingdom. This book is more of a balanced look at an incredibly lucky life. I learned lots of stuff I want to look up more in depth later - the South Seas Bubble, Robert Walpole becoming the first real prime minister, the formation of the UK. Interesting book, must check out more of the Penguin Monarchs series.

[Mr John W Palmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

George the Lucky

In the right place at the right time should be his epitaph. Well written , including social and economic factors .

[Tony Bertram · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short biography...gives a more positive spin on George. A bit complicated dealing with European wars.