12 August: George IV

Born on this date in 1762 was George IV, King of England. Here are 10 things you might not know about him:

1. His full name was George Augustus Francis Hanover and he was the eldest son of George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
2. He is Queen Elizabeth II’s 3rd great-granduncle.
3. He was a clever child who learned several languages, but squandered his talents when he grew up. When, at the age of 18, he was given his own home, he started living a wild and extravagant life of heavy drinking and mistresses. He decorated his home tastefully but by no means cheaply. At 21 he was given a grant of £60,000 (£7,277,000 in today’s money) and an annual income of £50,000 (£6,064,000 in today’s money) but even this wasn’t enough to support his extravagant way of life. His father, George III, favoured a much more frugal and scandal-free lifestyle and so the two did not get on.
4. It was about this time that the young George fell in love with a woman called Maria Fitzherbert. She was six years older than him, had been widowed twice and was a Catholic. At the time, that made her a completely unsuitable match for the heir to the throne. George was supposed to ask his father’s permission to marry her by law, but didn’t (presumably because he knew it wouldn’t be granted) and married Maria in secret. The marriage was in contravention of the Act of Settlement and the Royal Marriage Act.
5. By 1795, George was deeply in debt and forced to appeal to his father for help in paying it all off. George III would only do so if the marriage to Maria was annulled and he married his cousin, Caroline of Brunswick, instead. They disliked each other intensely but nevertheless managed to have one child together, a daughter, Charlotte, who died in childbirth of a stillborn son.
6. Caroline may have disliked George, but being Queen of England appealed to her. Although she had moved to Europe with Charlotte, she returned when George acceded to the throne, in order to claim her rights as Queen. George wasn’t having any of it. He tried, without success, to get the marriage annulled and barred her from his coronation. On the day of the coronation, Caroline became ill and died less than a month later, claiming on her deathbed that she had been poisoned.
7. George IV had been ruling as Regent for several years before becoming king, because his father had become deranged and incapable of ruling. George IV was 57 when he became king.
8. He was the first English king to visit Ireland on a state visit since Richard II and the first to visit Scotland since the mid 17^th century.
9. By the time he became king, George’s dissolute lifestyle was taking its toll. His weight ballooned to 20 stone. He took to wearing darker colours than were fashionable to disguise his size and a high collar to hide his double chin. Like his father, he became mentally unstable. The obese, slightly mad king was a figure of ridicule when he appeared in public and unpopular with his staff. One of his aides wrote in his diary: "A more contemptible, cowardly, selfish, unfeeling dog does not exist... There have been good and wise kings but not many of them... and this I believe to be one of the worst."
10. He died on 26 June 1830 from upper gastrointestinal bleeding resulting from the rupture of a blood vessel in his stomach. Since he had no legitimate surviving descendants, he was succeeded by his brother, William IV.

Killing Me Softly

Sebastian Garrett is an assassin. It wasn’t his first choice of vocation, but nonetheless, he’s good at it, and can be relied upon to get the job done. He’s on top of his game.

Until he is contracted to kill Princess Helena of Galorvia. She is not just any princess. Sebastian doesn’t bargain on his intended victim being a super-heroine who gives as good as she gets. Only his own genetic variant power saves him from becoming the victim, instead of Helena. 

Fate has another surprise in store. Sebastian was not expecting to fall in love with her.

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