George 1, the Elector of Hanover, has been mentioned. I rather like the sound of him, actually. He was a hard working man, in contrast to the serial wasters of the Stuart family, a dynasty who came up with one half-decent king in nearly 100 years. George was not very entertaining but showed a real sense of public duty and I was mildly amused by the story of how put out his female English court felt when he declined to take an English mistress, but imported his German mistress whom he had kept for decades and who was almost as old as him. George wouldn't have wasted Lady Diana's time; he would have openly carried on with Camilla right from the off and if anyone said anything would have floated the question: " I give a rat's arse what you think because...?"
He locked his wife up; she probably deserved it though, and he might have had her quietly murdered, as he did her lover when the couple tried to elope. Their merely carrying on was fine; it was the threat of a public desertion which crossed the line. There was no Marriage Guidance Counsel back in those days.
George 1st was a progressive ruler in his day, for example he gave sanctuary to Voltaire when Voltaire had to run away from French king Louis XV. This made a nice change from his predecessors. In spite of Jacobite insurrections, he brought greater stability to Britain and presided calmly over the development of Britain's strange unwritten constitutional settlement, unfazed by that migration of executive powers towards Parliament and away from the Crown which the Stuarts had been fatally unable to accept. That was the whole point of his reign as he himself knew very well. It is true that he spoke little English when he was first crowned, but the archives show that in his later years he wrote in English (and French, and Latin) fluently.
There is a rather intriguing local story in Rye, East Sussex, of how on his return from his final visit to Hanover in 1726, George 1st was driven in a blizzard and a Channel storm to seek harbour in Rye and stayed there for several days. He put up at Lamb House (later the home of Henry James); the Mayor lived there. The Mayor's wife was having her first child but insisted on changing bedrooms so King George could have the best room; the king was upset and apologetic when he found this out. Although the weather eased, he stayed there until the baby was christened and stood Godfather to the newborn, partly to show his gratitude for the hopsitality of the Mayor, his wife and the whole town, and partly I suspect because he hadn't had four consecutive days off since he was crowned. He was a rather quiet, unassuming and unshowy man, who avoided the Royal box when he went to the opera, and enjoyed playing cards with a few friends (mostly commoners), slipping round incognito so as to not inconvenience them.
On the whole, I find him quite easy to like.
Probably our worst king in constitutional, post middle ages times was Charles 1st, who steered us as a nation onto the rocks of a full blown civil war. The English (also Scottish) Civil War was a horrific event, full of fraticide, sectarian religious violence and great disorder even away from the main battles and armies. It was common for neighbouring villages to fight each other. The churches were sacked by Puritan soldiers of the Parliament. They call it the English Civil War but the casualties were higher in Scotland in the Bishops Wars and the Covenanter uprising; Ireland suffered far worse than either England or Scotland, and the Protestant community in Ireland was culled as well as the Catholic community. This all happened ultimately because Charles refused to work with his Parliament and Queen Elizabeth 1st and King James 1st had agreed to do; he was the absolute monarch, answerable only to God. At his trial, the exact charge was that Charles governed without Parliament:
Quote:
|
...out of a wicked design to erect and uphold in himself an unlimited and tyrannical power to rule according to his will, and to overthrow the rights and liberties of the people of England.
|
Charles refused to acknowledge the court; he was answerable only to God.
Quote:
|
Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
|
~ Matthew Chapter 10 Verse 29.
Oliver Cromwell chopped Charles 1st's head off (a worthwhile job done well
). The execution was held in public in the City of London, on 30th January 1649.
Good riddance.