George II of Great Britain
George II | |||||
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George III | |||||
Prime Ministers | |||||
Born | 30 October / 9 November 1683O.S./N.S. Herrenhausen Palace,[1] or Leine Palace,[2] Hanover | ||||
Died | 25 October 1760 Kensington Palace, London | (aged 76)||||
Burial | 11 November 1760 Westminster Abbey, London | ||||
Consort | Caroline of Ansbach | ||||
Issue | Frederick, Prince of Wales Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange Princess Amelia Princess Caroline Prince George William Prince William, Duke of Cumberland Princess Mary, Landgravine of Hesse Louisa, Queen of Denmark and Norway | ||||
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House | House of Hanover | ||||
Father | George I of Great Britain | ||||
Mother | Sophia Dorothea of Celle | ||||
Signature |
George II (George Augustus;
from 11 June 1727 (O.S.) until his death.George was the last British monarch born outside Great Britain. He was born and brought up in Northern Germany. In 1701, his grandmother, Sophia of Hanover, became second-in-line to the British throne after about fifty Catholics higher in line were excluded by the Act of Settlement, which restricted the succession to Protestants. After the deaths of Sophia and Anne, Queen of Great Britain, in 1714, his father George I, Elector of Hanover, inherited the British throne. In the first years of his father's reign as king, George was associated with opposition politicians, until they re-joined the governing party in 1720.
As king from 1727, George exercised little control over British domestic policy, which was largely controlled by
For two centuries after his death, history tended to view George II with disdain, concentrating on his mistresses, short-temper, and boorishness. Since then, some scholars have re-assessed his legacy and conclude that he held and exercised influence in foreign policy and military appointments.
Early life
George was born in the city of Hanover in Germany, and was the son of George Louis, Hereditary Prince of Brunswick-Lüneburg (later King George I of Great Britain), and his wife, Sophia Dorothea of Celle. Both of George's parents committed adultery, and in 1694 their marriage was dissolved on the pretext that Sophia had abandoned her husband.[3] She was confined to Ahlden House and denied access to her two children, George and his sister Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, whom she probably never saw again.[4]
Until the age of four, George spoke only French, the language of diplomacy and the court, but he was thereafter taught German by one of his tutors, Johann Hilmar Holstein.[5] He was also schooled in English and Italian, and studied genealogy, military history and battle tactics with particular diligence.[6]
George's second cousin once removed,
Marriage
George's father did not want his son to enter into a loveless arranged marriage as he had, and wanted his son to have the opportunity of meeting his bride before any formal arrangements were made.
George was keen to participate in the war against France in Flanders, but his father refused permission for him to join the army in an active role until he had a son and heir.[13] In early 1707, George's hopes were fulfilled when Caroline gave birth to a son, Frederick.[14] In July, Caroline fell seriously ill with smallpox, and George caught the infection himself after staying by her side devotedly during her illness.[15] They both recovered. In 1708, George participated in the Battle of Oudenarde in the vanguard of the Hanoverian cavalry; his horse and a colonel immediately beside him were killed, but George survived unharmed.[16] The British commander, Marlborough, wrote that George "distinguished himself extremely, charging at the head of and animating by his example [the Hanoverian] troops, who played a good part in this happy victory".[17] Between 1709 and 1713 George and Caroline had three more children, all girls: Anne, Amelia, and Caroline.[18]
By 1714, Queen Anne's health had declined, and
Prince of Wales
Quarrel with the king
George and his father sailed for England from The Hague on 16/27 September and arrived at Greenwich two days later.[21] The following day, they formally entered London in a ceremonial procession.[22] George was given the title of Prince of Wales. Caroline followed her husband to Britain in October with their daughters, while Frederick remained in Hanover to be brought up by private tutors.[23] London was like nothing George had seen before: it was 50 times larger than Hanover,B and the crowd was estimated at up to one and half million spectators.[24] George courted popularity with voluble expressions of praise for the English, and claimed that he had no drop of blood that was not English.[25]
In July 1716, the king returned to Hanover for six months, and George was given limited powers, as "Guardian and Lieutenant of the Realm", to govern in his father's absence.
His father distrusted or was jealous of George's popularity, which contributed to the development of a poor relationship between them.
George and Caroline missed their children, and were desperate to see them. On one occasion they secretly visited the palace without the approval of the king; Caroline fainted and George "cried like a child".[33] The king partially relented and permitted them to visit once a week, though he later allowed Caroline unconditional access.[34] The following February, George William died, with his father by his side.[35]
Political opposition
Banned from the palace and shunned by his own father, for the next several years the Prince of Wales was identified with opposition to
The king visited Hanover again from May to November 1719. Instead of appointing George to the guardianship, he established a regency council.[39] In 1720, Walpole encouraged the king and his son to reconcile, for the sake of public unity, which they did half-heartedly.[40] Walpole and Townshend returned to political office, and rejoined the ministry.[41] George was soon disillusioned with the terms of the reconciliation; his three daughters who were in the care of the king were not returned and he was still barred from becoming regent during the king's absences.[42] He came to believe that Walpole had tricked him into the rapprochement as part of a scheme to regain power. Over the next few years, he and Caroline lived quietly, avoiding overt political activity. They had three more children: William, Mary and Louisa, who were brought up at Leicester House and Richmond Lodge, George's summer residence.[43]
In 1721, the economic disaster of the
Early reign
George II succeeded as king and elector on his father's death on 11/22 June 1727 during one of George I's visits to Hanover. His father was buried at Hanover, but George II decided not to go to the funeral, which far from bringing criticism led to praise from the English who considered it proof of the new king's fondness for England.[47] He suppressed his father's will because it attempted to split the Hanoverian succession between George II's grandsons rather than vest all the domains (both Britain and Hanover) in a single person. Both British and Hanoverian ministers considered the will unlawful, as George I did not have the legal power to determine the succession personally.[48] Critics supposed that George hid the will to avoid paying out his father's legacies.[49]
George II was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 11/22 October 1727.[47] The composer George Frideric Handel was commissioned to write four new anthems for the coronation, including Zadok the Priest.[50]
It was widely believed that George would dismiss Walpole, who had distressed him by joining his father's government, and replace him with Sir Spencer Compton.[51] George asked Compton, rather than Walpole, to write his first speech for him, but Compton asked Walpole to draft it for him. Caroline advised George to retain Walpole, who continued to gain royal favour by securing a generous civil list (a fixed annual amount set by Parliament for the king's official expenditure) of £800,000.[52] Walpole commanded a substantial majority in Parliament and George had little choice but to retain him or risk ministerial instability.[53] Compton was ennobled as Lord Wilmington the following year.[54]
Walpole directed domestic policy, and after the resignation of his brother-in-law Townshend in 1730 also controlled George's foreign policy.
Family problems
George II's relationship with his son and heir apparent, Frederick, Prince of Wales, worsened during the 1730s. Frederick had been left behind in Germany when his parents came to England, and they had not met for 14 years. In 1728, he was brought to England, and swiftly became a figurehead of the political opposition.[60] When George visited Hanover in the summers of 1729, 1732 and 1735, he left his wife to chair the regency council in Britain rather than his son.[61] Meanwhile, rivalry between George II and his brother-in-law Frederick William I of Prussia led to tension along the Prussian–Hanoverian border, which eventually culminated in the mobilization of troops in the border zone and suggestions of a duel between the two kings. Negotiations for a marriage between the Prince of Wales and Frederick William's daughter Wilhelmine dragged on for years but neither side would make the concessions demanded of the other, and the idea was shelved.[62] Instead, the prince married Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha in April 1736.[63]
In May 1736, George returned to Hanover, which resulted in unpopularity in England; a satirical notice was even pinned to the gates of St James's Palace decrying his absence. "Lost or strayed out of this house", it read, "a man who has left a wife and six children
When the Prince of Wales applied to Parliament for an increase in his allowance, an open quarrel broke out. The king, who had a reputation for meanness,[67] offered a private settlement, which Frederick rejected. Parliament voted against the measure, but George reluctantly increased his son's allowance on the advice of Walpole.[68] Further friction between them followed when Frederick excluded the king and queen from the birth of his daughter in July 1737 by bundling his wife, who was in labour, into a coach and driving off in the middle of the night.[69] George banished him and his family from the royal court, much like the punishment his own father had brought upon him with the exception that he allowed Frederick to retain custody of his children.[70]
Soon after banishing his son, George's wife Caroline died on 20 November 1737 (O.S.). He was deeply affected by her death, and to the surprise of many displayed "a tenderness of which the world thought him before utterly incapable".
War and rebellion
Against Walpole's wishes, but to George's delight, Britain once again entered into war, the
Prince Frederick campaigned actively for the opposition in the
The pro-war faction was led by Carteret, who claimed that French power would increase if Maria Theresa failed to succeed to the Austrian throne. George agreed to send 12,000 hired Hessian and Danish mercenaries to Europe, ostensibly to support Maria Theresa. Without conferring with his British ministers, George stationed them in Hanover to prevent enemy French troops from marching into the electorate.
Tension grew between the Pelham ministry and George, as George continued to take advice from Carteret and rejected pressure to include William Pitt the Elder, who would have broadened the government's support base, in the Cabinet.[89] The king disliked Pitt because he had previously opposed government policy and attacked measures seen as pro-Hanoverian.[90] In February 1746, Pelham and his followers resigned. George asked Lord Bath and Carteret to form an administration, but after less than 48 hours they returned the seals of office, unable to secure sufficient parliamentary support. Pelham returned to office triumphant, and George was forced to appoint Pitt to the ministry.[91]
George's French opponents encouraged
Later life
In the
Seven Years' War
In 1754, Pelham died, to be succeeded by his elder brother, the
George's son the Duke of Cumberland commanded the king's troops in Northern Germany. In 1757, Hanover was invaded, and George gave Cumberland full powers to conclude a separate peace.[105] By September, however, he was furious at Cumberland's negotiated settlement, which he felt greatly favoured the French.[106] George said his son had "ruined me and disgraced himself".[107] Cumberland, by his own choice, resigned his military offices,[108] and George revoked the peace deal on the grounds that the French had infringed it by disarming Hessian troops after the ceasefire.[109]
In the
Death
By October 1760, the king was blind in one eye, and hard of hearing.[112] On the morning of 25 October, he rose as usual at 6 a.m., drank a cup of hot chocolate, and went to his close stool, alone. After a few minutes, his valet heard a loud crash. He entered the room to find the king on the floor.[113] The king was lifted into his bed, and Princess Amelia was sent for, but before she reached him, he was dead. At the age of nearly 77, he had lived longer than any of his English predecessors.[114] The right ventricle of the king's heart had ruptured as the result of an incipient aortic aneurysm.[115] The commonest cause of such aneurysms is syphilitic infection.[116]
George II was succeeded by his grandson
Legacy
George donated the royal library to the
During George II's reign British interests expanded throughout the world, the Jacobite challenge to the Hanoverian dynasty was extinguished, and the power of ministers and Parliament in Britain became well-established. Nevertheless, in the memoirs of contemporaries such as Lord Hervey and Horace Walpole, George is depicted as a weak buffoon, governed by his wife and ministers.[124] Biographies of George written during the nineteenth and first part of the twentieth century relied on these biased accounts.[125] Since the last quarter of the twentieth century, scholarly analysis of surviving correspondence has indicated that George was not as ineffective as previously thought.[126] Letters from ministers are annotated by George with pertinent remarks and demonstrate that he had a grasp of and interest in foreign policy in particular.[127] He was often able to prevent the appointment of ministers or commanders he disliked, or sideline them into lesser offices.[128] This academic re-assessment of George II, however, has not totally eliminated the popular perception of him as a "faintly ludicrous king".[129] His parsimony, for example, may have opened him to ridicule, but his biographers observe that parsimony is preferable to extravagance.[130] Lord Charlemont excused George's short-temper by explaining that sincerity of feeling is better than deception, "His temper was warm and impetuous, but he was good-natured and sincere. Unskilled in the royal talent of dissimulation, he always was what he appeared to be. He might offend, but he never deceived."[131] Lord Waldegrave wrote, "I am thoroughly convinced that hereafter, when time shall have wore away those specks and blemishes which sully the brightest characters, and from which no man is totally exempt, he will be numbered amongst those patriot kings, under whose government the people have enjoyed the greatest happiness".[132] George may not have played a strong role in history, but he was influential at times and he upheld constitutional government.[133] Elizabeth Montagu said of him, "With him our laws and liberties were safe, he possessed in a great degree the confidence of his people and the respect of foreign governments; and a certain steadiness of character made him of great consequence in these unsettled times … His character would not afford subject for epic poetry, but will look well in the sober page of history."[134]
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Royal styles of George II of Great Britain | ||
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Reference style His Majesty | | |
Spoken style | Your Majesty | |
Alternative style | Sir[135] |
Titles and styles
In Britain:
- From 9 November 1706 (O.S.): Duke and Marquess of Cambridge, Earl of Milford Haven, Viscount Northallerton, and Baron of Tewkesbury[136]
- 1 August 1714 (O.S.) – 27 September 1714 (O.S.): His Royal Highness George Augustus, Prince of Great Britain, Electoral Prince of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay, etc.[137]
- 27 September 1714 (O.S.) – 11/22 June 1727: His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales, etc.
- 11/22 June 1727 – 25 October 1760: His Majesty The King
George II's full style was "George the Second, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland,
Arms
When George became Prince of Wales in 1714, he was granted the
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Coat of Arms of the Hanoverian Princes of Wales (1714-1760).svg
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Coat of Arms as the Prince of Wales 1714–1727
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See adjacent text
Ancestors
Family of George II of Great Britain | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Issue
Caroline's ten pregnancies resulted in eight live births. One of her children died in infancy, and seven lived to adulthood.[143]
Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
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Frederick, Prince of Wales | 1 February 1707 | 31 March 1751 | married 1736, George III
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Anne, Princess Royal | 2 November 1709 | 12 January 1759 | married 1734, William IV, Prince of Orange; had issue |
Princess Amelia | 10 June 1711 | 31 October 1786 | |
Princess Caroline | 10 June 1713 | 28 December 1757 | |
Stillborn son | 20 November 1716 | 20 November 1716 | |
Prince George William | 13 November 1717 | 17 February 1718 | died in infancy |
Prince William, Duke of Cumberland | 26 April 1721 | 31 October 1765 | |
Princess Mary | 5 March 1723 | 14 January 1772 | married 1740, Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel; had issue |
Princess Louisa | 18 December 1724 | 19 December 1751 | married 1743, Frederick V, King of Denmark and Norway; had issue |
Notes
- ^O.S./N.S. Over the course of George's life, two calendars were used: the Old Style Julian calendar and the New Style Gregorian calendar. Hanover switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar on 19 February (O.S.) / 1 March (N.S.) 1700. Great Britain switched on 3/14 September 1752. In this article, individual dates before September 1752 are indicated as either O.S. or N.S. or both. All dates after September 1752 are N.S. only. All years are assumed to start from 1 January and not 25 March, which was the English New Year.
- ^B Hanover had about 1,800 houses, whereas London had 100,000.[144]
- ^C George shook his fist at Newcastle and said "You are a rascal; I shall find you out!", which the duke apparently misheard as "You are a rascal; I shall fight you!"[145]
Sources
- ^ a b Cannon
- ^ Thompson, p. 10
- ^ Van der Kiste, p. 6
- ^ Black, George II, pp. 35–36; Thompson, p. 19; Van der Kiste, p. 7
- ^ Thompson, p. 16
- ^ Trench, p. 7; Van der Kiste, p. 9
- ^ Thompson, pp. 35–36
- ^ Union with Scotland Act 1706 and Union with England Act 1707, The National Archives, retrieved 20 September 2011
- ^ a b Van der Kiste, p. 17
- ^ Thompson, p. 28
- ^ Van der Kiste, p. 15
- ^ Thompson, p. 30; Van der Kiste, p. 16
- ^ Thompson, p. 31; Van der Kiste, p. 18
- ^ Van der Kiste, p. 19
- ^ Van der Kiste, p. 21
- ^ Thompson, p. 32; Trench, p. 18; Van der Kiste, p. 22
- ^ Van der Kiste, p. 23
- ^ Thompson, p. 37
- ^ Van der Kiste, p. 30
- ^ Thompson, p. 38
- ^ Van der Kiste, p. 36
- ^ Trench, p. 38; Van der Kiste, p. 37
- ^ Thompson, pp. 39–40; Trench, p. 39
- ^ Van der Kiste, p. 37
- ^ Trench, p. 55; Van der Kiste, p. 44
- ^ Trench, pp. 63–65; Van der Kiste, p. 55
- ^ Van der Kiste, p. 59
- ^ Black, George II, p. 45; Thompson, p. 47
- ^ Van der Kiste, p. 61
- ^ Trench, p. 75; Van der Kiste, p. 61
- ^ Trench, p. 77
- ^ Black, George II, p. 46; Thompson, p. 53; Trench, p. 78
- ^ Van der Kiste, p. 66
- ^ Van der Kiste, pp. 66–67
- ^ Trench, p. 80
- ^ Trench, pp. 67, 87
- ^ Thompson, pp. 48–50, 55
- ^ Trench, pp. 79, 82
- ^ Van der Kiste, p. 71
- ^ Thompson, p. 57; Trench, pp. 88–90; Van der Kiste, pp. 72–74
- ^ Black, George II, p. 52; Thompson, p. 58; Trench, p. 89
- ^ Trench, pp. 88–89
- ^ Black, George II, p. 54; Thompson, pp. 58–59
- ^ Trench, pp. 104–105
- ^ Trench, pp. 106–107
- ^ Thompson, p. 45; Trench, p. 107
- ^ a b Van der Kiste, p. 97
- ^ Trench, pp. 130–131
- ^ Black, George II, p. 88; Cannon; Trench, pp. 130–131
- ^ Black, George II, p. 77
- ^ Black, George II, p. 80; Trench, p. 132
- ^ Trench, pp. 132–133
- ^ Black, George II, pp. 81–84; Black, Walpole in Power, pp. 29–31, 53, 61
- ^ Van der Kiste, p. 95
- ^ Trench, p. 149
- ^ Thompson, p. 92
- ^ Black, George II, p. 95
- ^ Trench, pp. 173–174; Van der Kiste, p. 138
- ^ Black, George II, pp. 141–143; Thompson, pp. 102–103; Trench, pp. 166–167
- ^ Trench, pp. 141–142; Van der Kiste, pp.115–116
- ^ Thompson, pp. 85–86; Van der Kiste, pp. 118, 126, 139
- ^ Van der Kiste, p. 118
- ^ Trench, p. 179
- ^ Trench, pp. 182–184; Van der Kiste, pp. 149–150
- ^ Trench, p. 185–187; Van der Kiste, p. 152
- ^ Van der Kiste, p. 153
- ^ Black, George II, p. 136; Thompson, pp. 7, 64; Trench, p. 150
- ^ Trench, pp. 189–190; Van der Kiste, pp. 153–154
- ^ Thompson, p. 120; Trench, p. 192; Van der Kiste, pp. 155–157
- ^ Trench, p. 196; Van der Kiste, p. 158
- ^ Hervey's Memoirs, vol. III, p. 916 quoted in Thompson, p. 124 and Van der Kiste, p. 165
- ^ Thompson, p. 124; Trench, p. 199
- ^ Thompson, p. 92; Trench, pp. 175, 181
- ^ Van der Kiste, pp. 25, 137
- ^ Black, George II, p. 157
- ^ Trench, pp. 205–206
- ^ Trench, p. 210
- ^ Thompson, pp. 133, 139
- ^ Black, George II, p. 174; Trench, p. 212
- ^ Black, George II, p. 86
- ^ Thompson, p. 150
- ^ "Silver 'Lima' crown (5 shillings) of George II", British Museum, retrieved 26 August 2011
- ^ Trench, pp. 211–212
- ^ Trench, pp. 206–209
- ^ Black, George II, p. 111; Trench, pp. 136, 208; Van der Kiste, p. 173
- ^ Thompson, p. 148; Trench, pp. 217–223
- ^ Black, George II, pp. 181–184; Van der Kiste, pp. 179–180
- ^ Black, George II, pp. 185–186; Thompson, p. 160; Van der Kiste, p. 181
- ^ Black, George II, pp. 190–193; Thompson, pp. 162, 169; Trench, pp. 234–235
- ^ Black, George II, pp. 164, 184, 195
- ^ Black, George II, pp. 190–193; Cannon; Trench, pp. 234–235
- ^ Van der Kiste, p. 184
- ^ Black, George II, pp. 190–191
- ^ Van der Kiste, pp. 186–187
- ^ Thompson, pp. 187–189
- ^ Black, George II, p. 199; Trench, p. 243; Van der Kiste, p. 188
- ^ Van der Kiste, p. 189
- ^ Thompson, p. 208; Trench, p. 247
- ^ Black, George II, pp. 207–211; Thompson, p. 209; Trench, p. 249; Van der Kiste, p. 195
- ^ Thompson, p. 211
- ^ Horace Walpole's memoirs, vol. I, p. 152, quoted in Thompson, p. 213 and Trench, p. 250
- ^ Thompson, pp. 233–238
- ^ Black, George II, pp. 231–232; Thompson, p. 252; Trench, pp. 271–274
- ^ Ashley, p. 677
- ^ Thompson, pp. 265–266; Trench, p. 283
- ^ Thompson, p. 268; Trench, p. 284
- ^ Horace Walpole's memoirs, vol. III, p. 61, quoted in Trench, p. 286
- ^ Thompson, p. 276; Trench, p. 286
- ^ Thompson, p. 270; Trench, p. 287
- ^ Trench, pp. 293–296
- ^ Thompson, pp. 282–283
- ^ Thompson, p. 275; Trench, p. 292; Van der Kiste, p. 212
- ^ Thompson, pp. 289–290; Van der Kiste, p. 213
- ^ Van der Kiste, p. 213
- ^ Nicholls, Frank (1761) "Observations concerning the body of His Late Majesty", Philos Trans Lond 52: 265–274
- ^ Brewer, p. 219
- ^ Black, George II, p. 253; Thompson, p. 290
- ^ Van der Kiste, between pp. 150 and 151
- ^ Black, George II, pp. 68, 127
- ^ Black, George II, p. 127; Thompson, pp. 97–98; Trench, p. 153
- ^ Black, George II, p. 128; Trench, pp. 140, 152
- ^ Black, George II, p. 128
- ^ Thompson, p. 96
- ^ Black, George II, pp. 255–257
- ^ Black, George II, pp. 257–258
- ^ Black, George II, pp. 258–259
- ^ Black, George II, pp. 144–146; Cannon; Trench, pp. 135–136
- ^ Black, George II, p. 195
- ^ Best, p. 71
- ^ Black, George II, p. 82; Trench, p. 300; Lord Waldegrave's Memoirs quoted in Trench, p. 270
- ^ Charlemont quoted in Cannon and Trench, p. 299
- ^ Quoted in Trench, p. 270
- ^ Black, George II, p. 138; Cannon; Trench, p. 300
- ^ Quoted in Black, George II, p. 254
- ^ e.g. Duke of Newcastle quoted in Van der Kiste, p. 203
- ^ Weir, p. 277
- ^ e.g. "No. 5264". The London Gazette. 28 September 1714.
- ^ e.g. A Lima half-crown (MEC1598), National Maritime Museum, retrieved 7 September 2011
- ^ Weir, p. 286
- ^ Pinches, p. 206
- ^ a b c d e f Weir, pp. 272–275
- ^ a b Haag et al., pp. 347–349
- ^ Weir, pp. 277–285
- ^ Van der Kiste, p. 39
- ^ Van der Kiste, p. 63
Bibliography
- Ashley, Mike (1998) The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens. London: Robinson. ISBN 1-84119-096-9
- Best, Nicholas (1995) The Kings and Queens of England. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-297-83487-8
- Black, Jeremy (2001) Walpole in Power. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0-7509-2523-X
- Black, Jeremy (2007) George II: Puppet of the Politicians? Exeter: University of Exeter Press. ISBN 0-85989-807-2
- Brewer, Clifford (2000) The Death of Kings. London: Abson. ISBN 978-0-902920-99-6
- Cannon, John (2004) "George II (1683–1760)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, retrieved 16 August 2011 doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/10539 (Subscription required for online access)
- Haag, Eugène; Haag, Émile; Bordier, Henri Léonard (1877) La France Protestante. Paris: Sandoz et Fischbacher Template:Fr icon online edition
- Pinches, John Harvey; Pinches, Rosemary (1974) The Royal Heraldry of England. Slough, Buckinghamshire: Hollen Street Press. ISBN 0-900455-25-X
- Thompson, Andrew C. (2011) George II: King and Elector. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-11892-6
- Trench, Charles Chevenix (1975) George II. London: Allen Lane. ISBN 0-7139-0481-X
- Van der Kiste, John (1997) George II and Queen Caroline. Stroud, Gloucestershire: Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0-7509-1321-5
- Weir, Alison (1996) Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy. London: Random House. ISBN 0-7126-7448-9
Further reading
- Dickinson, Harry T.; introduced by A. L. Rowse (1973) Walpole and the Whig Supremacy. London: The English Universities Press. ISBN 0-340-11515-7
- Williams, Basil; revised by C. H. Stuart (1962) The Whig Supremacy 1714–1760. Second edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press