George IV of The United Kingdom - Early Life

Early Life

George was born at St James's Palace, London, on 12 August 1762. As the eldest son of a British sovereign, he automatically became Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay at birth; he was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester a few days afterwards. On 18 September of the same year, he was baptised by Thomas Secker, Archbishop of Canterbury. His godparents were the Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (his maternal uncle, for whom the Duke of Devonshire, Lord Chamberlain, stood proxy), the Duke of Cumberland (his twice-paternal great-uncle), and the Dowager Princess of Wales (his paternal grandmother). George was a talented student, quickly learning to speak French, German and Italian in addition to his native English.

At the age of 18 he was given a separate establishment, and in dramatic contrast with his prosaic, scandal-free father threw himself with zest into a life of dissipation and wild extravagance involving heavy drinking and numerous mistresses and escapades. He was a witty conversationalist, drunk or sober, and showed good, but grossly expensive, taste in decorating his palace. This was particularly in poor judgement in light of the extraordinary poverty of many London residents including large numbers of children and adults living on the streets with no hope of shelter, freezing to death in winter or dying of starvation.

The Prince turned 21 in 1783, and obtained a grant of £60,000 (equal to £5,744,000 today) from Parliament and an annual income of £50,000 (equal to £4,786,000 today) from his father. It was far too little for his needs. (The stables alone cost £31,000 a year.) He then established his residence in Carlton House, where he lived a profligate life. Animosity developed between the Prince and his father, who desired more frugal behaviour on the part of the heir-apparent. The King, a political conservative, was also alienated by the Prince's adherence to Charles James Fox and other radically inclined politicians.

Soon after he reached the age of 21, the Prince became infatuated with Maria Fitzherbert. She was a commoner, six years his elder, twice widowed, and a Roman Catholic. Despite her complete unsuitability, the Prince was determined to marry her. This was in spite of the Act of Settlement 1701, which barred the spouse of a Catholic from succeeding to the throne, and the Royal Marriages Act 1772, which prohibited his marriage without the consent of the King, which would never have been granted.

Nevertheless, the couple contracted a marriage on 15 December 1785 at her house in Park Street, Mayfair. Legally the union was void, as the King's consent was not granted (and never even requested). However, Mrs. Fitzherbert believed that she was the Prince's canonical and true wife, holding the law of the Church to be superior to the law of the State. For political reasons, the union remained secret and Mrs. Fitzherbert promised not to reveal it.

The Prince was plunged into debt by his exorbitant lifestyle. His father refused to assist him, forcing him to quit Carlton House and live at Mrs. Fitzherbert's residence. In 1787, the Prince's political allies proposed to relieve his debts with a parliamentary grant. The Prince's relationship with Mrs. Fitzherbert was suspected, and revelation of the illegal marriage would have scandalised the nation and doomed any parliamentary proposal to aid him. Acting on the Prince's authority, the Whig leader Charles James Fox declared that the story was a calumny. Mrs. Fitzherbert was not pleased with the public denial of the marriage in such vehement terms and contemplated severing her ties to the Prince. He appeased her by asking another Whig, Richard Brinsley Sheridan, to restate Fox's forceful declaration in more careful words. Parliament, meanwhile, granted the Prince £161,000 (equal to £16,775,000 today) to pay his debts and £60,000 (equal to £6,252,000 today) for improvements to Carlton House.