Department of English, Uttara University

1. Topic: The Romantic Period
(1798-1832)
Welcome
to this Class in the
Department of English
Uttara University

2. Political History of England
 Europe has got so many Kings and queens to lead their
nation. They came to the throne one after another and has
brought a changes in the society. Some of them are very
famous for their outstanding achievements during the late
18th century and 19th century. Such as George III
, George IV , William IV, and the virgin Queen Victoria.
They have greatly contributed a lot to the political
history of Europe.

3. 1760-1820 George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 1738 –
29 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King
of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of
the two countries on 1 January 1801, after which
he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland until his death. He was concurrently
Duke and prince-elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg
("Hanover") in the Holy Roman Empire before
becoming King of Hanover on 12 October 1814. He
was the third British monarch of the House of
Hanover, but unlike his two predecessors, he was
born in England, spoke English as his first language,
and never visited Hanover.

4. Continued
 His life and with it his reign, which were longer than those of any
of his predecessors, were marked by a series of military conflicts
involving his kingdoms, much of the rest of Europe, and places
farther afield in Africa, the Americas and Asia. Early in his reign,
Great Britain defeated France in the Seven Years' War, becoming
the dominant European power in North America and India. However,
many of Britain's American colonies were soon lost in the American
War of Independence. Further wars against revolutionary and
Napoleonic France from 1793 concluded in the defeat of Napoleon
at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

5. Continued
 In the later part of his life, George III had recurrent, and
eventually permanent, mental illness. Although it has
since been suggested that he had the blood disease
porphyria, the cause of his illness remains unknown. After
a final relapse in 1810, a regency was established, and
George III's eldest son, George, Prince of Wales, ruled as
Prince Regent. On George III's death, the Prince Regent
succeeded his father as George IV.

6. 1820-1830 George IV (son of George III)
George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12
August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
and of Hanover following the death of his
father, King George III, on 29 January 1820,
until his own death ten years later. From
1811 until his accession, he served as Prince
Regent during his father's final mental illness.

7. Continued
 George IV led an extravagant lifestyle that contributed to the
fashions of the Regency era. He was a patron of new forms of leisure,
style and taste. He commissioned John Nash to build the Royal
Pavilion in Brighton and remodel Buckingham Palace, and Sir Jeffry
Wyattville to rebuild Windsor Castle.
 His charm and culture earned him the title "the first gentleman of
England", but his poor relationship with both his father and his wife,
Caroline of Brunswick, and his dissolute way of life, earned him the
contempt of the people and dimmed the prestige of the monarchy.
He forbade Caroline to attend his coronation and asked the
government to introduce the unpopular Pains and Penalties Bill in a
desperate, unsuccessful attempt to divorce her.

8. Continued
 For most of George's regency and reign, Lord Liverpool controlled the
government as Prime Minister, with little help from George. His ministers
found his behaviour selfish, unreliable and irresponsible. At all times he was
much under the influence of favourites.[1] Taxpayers were angry at his
wasteful spending during the Napoleonic Wars. He did not provide national
leadership in time of crisis, nor act as a role model for his people. Liverpool's
government presided over Britain's ultimate victory, negotiated the peace
settlement, and attempted to deal with the social and economic malaise that
followed. After Liverpool's retirement, George was forced to accept Catholic
emancipation despite opposing it. His only legitimate child, Princess
Charlotte, died before him in 1817 and so he was succeeded by his younger
brother, William.

9. 1830-1837 William IV (brother of George IV)
William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20
June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom and
King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his
death. The third son of George III, William
succeeded his elder brother George IV, as the last
king and penultimate monarch of Britain's House
of Hanover.

10. Continued
 William served in the Royal Navy in his youth and was, both during his reign and
afterwards, nicknamed the "Sailor King".[1][2] He served in North America and the
Caribbean. In 1789, he was created Duke of Clarence and St Andrews. Since his
two older brothers died without leaving legitimate issue, he inherited the throne
when he was 64 years old. His reign saw several reforms: the poor law was
updated, child labour restricted, slavery abolished in nearly all of the British
Empire, and the British electoral system refashioned by the Reform Act 1832.
Although William did not engage in politics as much as his brother or his father, he
was the last monarch to appoint a prime minister contrary to the will of
Parliament. Through his brother Adolphus, the Viceroy of Hanover, he granted his
German kingdom a short-lived liberal constitution.
 At the time of his death William had no surviving legitimate children, but he was
survived by eight of the ten illegitimate children he had by the actress Dorothea
Jordan, with whom he cohabited for twenty years. William was succeeded in the
United Kingdom by his niece Victoria and in Hanover by his brother Ernest
Augustus.

11. 1837-1901 Victoria (niece of William IV)
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May
1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death.
On 1 May 1876, she adopted the additional
title of Empress of India.

12. Continued
 Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, the
fourth son of King George III. Both the Duke of Kent and King George III died in
1820, and Victoria was raised under close supervision by her German-born
mother, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. She inherited the throne at
the age of 18, after her father's three elder brothers had all died, leaving no
surviving legitimate children. The United Kingdom was already an established
constitutional monarchy, in which the sovereign held relatively little direct
political power. Privately, Victoria attempted to influence government policy
and ministerial appointments; publicly, she became a national icon who was
identified with strict standards of personal morality.

13. Continued
 Victoria married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg
and Gotha, in 1840. Their nine children married into royal and
noble families across the continent, tying them together and
earning her the sobriquet "the grandmother of Europe". After
Albert's death in 1861, Victoria plunged into deep mourning and
avoided public appearances. As a result of her seclusion,
republicanism temporarily gained strength, but in the latter half of
her reign her popularity recovered. Her Golden and Diamond
Jubilees were times of public celebration.

14. Continued
 Her reign of 63 years and seven months was longer than
that of any of her predecessors, and is known as the
Victorian era. It was a period of industrial, cultural,
political, scientific, and military change within the United
Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the
British Empire. She was the last British monarch of the
House of Hanover. Her son and successor, Edward VII,
initiated the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the line of
his father.

15. Thank you