William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 –
20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his
death. William, the third son of George III and younger brother and
successor to George IV, was the last king and penultimate monarch of the
House of Hanover.
During his youth, he served in the Royal Navy; he was, both during his reign and
afterwards, nicknamed the Sailor King. His reign was one of several reforms: the poor law
updated, municipal government democratised, child labour restricted and slavery abolished throughout the British Empire. The most important reform legislation of William IV's reign was the Reform Act 1832, which refashioned the British electoral system. William did not engage in politics so
much as his brother or his father, though he did prove to be the most recent monarch to appoint a Prime Minister contrary to the
will of Parliament (in 1834). He gave a liberal constitution to the
Kingdom of Hanover, his other kingdom.
William had two legitimate children who survived long enough to be christened and therefore named: Princess Charlotte and Princess
Elizabeth; both of whom died as infants. He had ten children out of wedlock with Dorothea Jordan, George FitzClarence, 1st Earl of Munster among them. Though nine of his
illegitimate children survived him, neither legitimate daughter did, thus, William was succeeded by his niece, Queen Victoria.
Early life
William was born on 21 August 1765 at Buckingham House, the third child and son of George
III and Queen Charlotte. He had two elder brothers
(Prince George, Prince of Wales and Prince Frederick, Duke of York), and was not expected to inherit the Crown. He
was baptized in the Great Council Chamber of St James's Palace on 18 September 1765 and his godparents were the Duke of Gloucester, Prince Henry and Princess Augusta Charlotte.
At the age of thirteen, he joined the Royal Navy as a midshipman,[1] and was present at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent in 1780. He served in New
York during the American War of Independence, becoming the first
British monarch-to-be to visit the present United States (each of his successors, excepting Victoria, has done so either before
or after accession). While the prince was there, George Washington approved a plot to
kidnap the prince, writing "The spirit of enterprise so conspicuous in your plan for surprising in their quarters and bringing
off the Prince William Henry and Admiral Digby merits applause, and you have my authority to make the attempt in any manner, and
at such a time, as your judgment may direct. I am fully persuaded, that it is unnecessary to caution you against offering insult
or indignity to the person of the Prince...." The plot did not come to fruition; the British heard of it and doubled the prince's
guard.
William became a Lieutenant in 1785 and a Captain the
following year. In 1786, he was stationed in the West Indies under Horatio Nelson,[2] who wrote of William, "In his professional line, he is superior to two-thirds, I am sure, of the
[Naval] list; and in attention to orders, and respect to his superior officer, I hardly know his equal." He was given command of
the frigate HMS Andromeda in 1788, and was promoted to Rear-Admiral in command of
HMS Valiant the following year.[2]
William sought to be made a Duke like his elder brothers, and to receive a similar Parliamentary
grant; but his father was reluctant. To put pressure on him, William threatened to run for the House of Commons for the constituency of Totnes in Devon. Appalled at the prospect of his son
making his case to the voters, George III created him Duke of Clarence and St Andrews
and Earl of Munster on 20 May, 1789,[3] supposedly saying, "I well
know it is one more vote added to the opposition." King George was not far wrong, as the new Duke immediately allied himself
publicly with his elder brothers (who were known for their conflict with their father), the Prince of Wales and the Duke of
York.
Service and politics
The newly created Duke ceased his active service in the Royal Navy in 1790.[1] When the United Kingdom declared war on France in 1793, he was anxious to serve his country, but was not put in command of a ship. Instead, he spent time
in the House of Lords, where he defended the exorbitant spending of his brother, the
Prince of Wales, who had applied to Parliament for a grant for relief of his debts. He also spoke in the abolition of slavery
debates (although slavery was not legal in the United Kingdom, it still existed in the British colonies); he used his experience
in the West Indies to defend his positions.
In 1811, Clarence was appointed Admiral of the Fleet, a strictly
honorary position. Despite repeated petitions, he was not given any command throughout the Napoleonic Wars.
Marriage
After he left the Royal Navy, the Duke of Clarence lived for twenty years with an Irish actress, Dorothea Bland, better known by her stage name, Mrs. Jordan[1] (the title "Mrs" was assumed at the start of her stage career to explain an
inconvenient pregnancy.[4]
William was part of the first generation to grow to maturity under the Royal
Marriages Act 1772, which forbade descendants of George II from marrying unless they obtained the monarch's consent, or,
if over the age of 25, alternatively giving twelve months' notice to the Privy Council.
Several of George III's sons, including William, chose to live in unwedded bliss with the women they loved, rather than seeking
to wed. After all, the younger sons, including William, were not expected to figure in the succession, which was considered
secure once the Prince of Wales wed and had a daughter.
From 1791, the couple had ten illegitimate children, five sons and five daughters, who were given the surname "FitzClarence."
The affair would last for twenty years before ending in 1811. Mrs. Jordan was given a financial settlement (the generosity of
which has been debated) and custody of the daughters, on condition she did not resume the stage. When she did take up her acting
career again, the Duke took custody of the daughters. Mrs. Jordan died, impoverished, near Paris in 1816.
When Princess Charlotte, Clarence's niece by the Prince Regent
(and second in line to the throne after her father) died in childbirth in 1817, the King was left with twelve children, and no
legitimate grandchildren. The race was on among the Royal Dukes to marry and produce an heir.[5]
William had a great advantage in this race—with his two older brothers both childless and estranged from their wives (in any
case both women were probably beyond childbearing), he would almost certainly become King, if he lived long enough—which was
likely, as the former sailor took more care with his health than either older brother. However, William's first choices to wed
either met with the disapproval of the Prince Regent or turned him down. Princess Anne of Denmark, appalled at William's long
liaison with Mrs. Jordan, refused to consider the match. His younger brother, the Duke of Cambridge, was sent to Germany to scout
out the available Protestant princesses, and, after coming up with one whom William laughingly turned down when it became clear
that the Duke of Cambridge was in love with her himself (and shortly thereafter, married her), came up with one who was amicable,
home-loving, and loved children (important, with William's ten children, several of whom had not yet reached adulthood). At
Kew on 11 July 1818,[6] Clarence married Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, daughter of the Duke of
Saxe-Meiningen, a woman half his age.
The marriage, which lasted almost twenty years until William's death, was by all accounts happy. The new Duchess took both
William and his finances in hand. For their first year of marriage, the couple lived in economical fashion in Germany, William's
debts were soon on the way to being paid (especially once he accepted the lower-than-requested allowance increase Parliament had
passed for him and his wife), and William is not known to have had mistresses.[5][2] The major sorrow of
the marriage is that they did not have healthy children which would have secured the succession. The couple could only produce
two short-lived daughters, and Adelaide had three miscarriages or stillbirths as well. Despite this, rumors that Adelaide was
pregnant persisted into William's reign, when they would be dismissed by the King as "damned stuff."
Lord High Admiral
Clarence's elder brother, the Prince of Wales, had been Prince Regent since 1811
because of the mental illness of their father, George III. In 1820, the king died, leaving the Crown to the Prince Regent, who
became George IV. The Duke of Clarence was now second in the line of
succession to the Throne, preceded only by his brother, Frederick, Duke of York. When the Duke of York died in 1827, Clarence,
then more than sixty years old, became heir presumptive. Later that year, the incoming Prime Minister, George Canning, appointed Clarence to the office of Lord High
Admiral, which had been in commission (that is, exercised by a board rather than by a single individual) since
1709. While in office, Clarence attempted to take independent control of naval affairs, although
the law required him to act, under most circumstances, on the advice of at least two members of his Council. The King, through
the Prime Minister, by now Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of
Wellington, requested his resignation in 1828; the Duke of Clarence complied.[5]
Despite the difficulties which the Duke experienced, he did considerable good as Lord High Admiral, abolishing the
cat o' nine tails for most offences other than mutiny
and requiring regular reports of the condition and preparedness of each ship. He commissioned the first steam warship and
advocated for more. William's biographer, Philip Ziegler, points out that holding the
office permitted William to make mistakes and learn from them - a process that might have been far more costly had he done so as
King.[7]
As king, he would maintain his interest in the Royal Navy, in matters great and small. As a former sailor, well aware of the
limited headroom on the vessels of the day, William gave the Royal Navy the privilege of drinking the sovereign's health sitting
down while aboard ship.[citation needed]
William spent the remaining time during his brother's reign in the House of Lords. He supported the Catholic Emancipation Bill
against the opposition of his brother (and eventual Hanoverian heir), Ernest, Duke
of Cumberland,[5] describing the latter's
position on the Bill as "infamous", to the younger Duke's outrage.
Accession and the Reform Crisis
William IV
When George IV died in 1830 without surviving legitimate issue, the Duke of Clarence ascended the Throne, aged 64, as William
IV - the oldest person ever to assume the throne.[8] One
legend has it that when informed, in the early morning, of his brother's passing, he stated his intent to return to bed, as he
had long wished to sleep with a Queen. Unlike his extravagant brother, William was unassuming, discouraging pomp and ceremony. In
contrast to George IV, who tended to spend most of his time in Windsor Castle, William
was known, especially early in his reign, to walk, unaccompanied, through London or Brighton. Until the Reform Crisis eroded his
standing, he was very popular among the people, who saw him as more approachable and down-to-earth than his brother.
Upon taking the throne, William did not forget his nine surviving illegitimate children, creating his eldest son Earl of
Munster and granting the other children the precedence of a younger son (or daughter) of a marquess, except where a daughter had
attained a higher precedence through marriage (as one daughter had by marrying an earl).
At the time, the death of the monarch required fresh elections and, in the general election of 1830, Wellington's
Tories lost to the Whig Party under Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey. When he became Prime Minister, Lord Grey immediately announced
that he would attempt to reform an electoral system that had seen few changes since the fifteenth century. The inequities in the
system were great; for example, large towns such as Manchester and Birmingham elected no members (though they were part of county constituencies),
whilst minuscule boroughs such as Old Sarum (with seven voters)
elected two members of Parliament each. Often, the small boroughs—also known as rotten
boroughs and pocket boroughs—were "owned" by great aristocrats, whose "nominees"
would invariably be elected by the constituents—who were, most often, their tenants—especially since the secret ballot was not
yet used in Parliamentary elections.
As monarch, William IV played an important role in the Reform Crisis. When the House of Commons defeated the First Reform Bill
in 1831, Lord Grey's ministry urged an immediate dissolution of Parliament and a new general election. At first, William
hesitated to exercise the power to dissolve Parliament, elections having just been held the year before. He was, however,
irritated by the conduct of the Opposition, which formally requested the passage of an Address, or resolution, in the House of
Lords, against dissolution. Regarding the Opposition's motion as an attack on his power, William IV went in person to the House
of Lords, where debate on the Address was raging, and prorogued Parliament. Had he
sent commissioners on his behalf, as was (and still is) normally done, they would
have had to await the end of the debate, whereas the arrival of the monarch ended all debate. This forced new elections for the
House of Commons, which yielded a great victory for the reformers. But although the House of Commons was clearly in favour of
parliamentary reform, the House of Lords remained implacably opposed to it.
The crisis saw a brief interlude for the celebration of the King's Coronation on 8
September 1831. At first, the King wished to dispense with the coronation entirely, feeling
that his wearing the crown while proroguing Parliament answered any need. He was persuaded otherwise by traditionalists. He
refused, however, to celebrate the coronation in the expensive way his brother had,[2] dispensing with the banquet, and budgeting less than a tenth of what had been
expended ten years previously—and the event was brought in well under budget. When traditionalist Tories threatened to boycott
what they called the "Half Crown-nation", the King retorted that they should go
ahead, and that he anticipated greater convenience of room and less heat. They did not do so.
After the rejection of the Second Reform Bill (1831) by the Upper House, people across the country began to agitate for
reform; some grew violent, participating in several "Reform Riots". The nation saw a political crisis greater than any since the
Glorious Revolution in 1688.
In the face of popular excitement, the Grey ministry refused to accept defeat in the House of Lords, and re-introduced the
Bill. It passed easily in the House of Commons, but was once again faced with difficulties in the House of Lords. Bowing to
popular pressure, the Lords did not reject the bill outright, but were prepared to change its basic character through amendments.
Frustrated by the Lords' recalcitrance, Grey suggested that the King create a sufficient number of new peers to ensure the
passage of the Reform Bill. The King objected—he had already created 15 new peers for Grey in his coronation honours—but
reluctantly agreed to the creation of the number of peers sufficient "to secure the success of the bill".[5] However, the King, citing the difficulties with a permanent expansion of
the Peerage, told Grey that the creations must be restricted to the eldest sons and collateral heirs of existing peers, so that
the created peerages would eventually be absorbed as subsidiary titles. Grey and his fellow ministers decided to resign if the
King did not agree to an immediate and large creation. In point of fact, Grey had found few peers willing to bear the expense of
having their heirs elevated to the peerage during their lifetimes. In any event, the King refused, and accepted their
resignations. The King attempted to restore the Duke of Wellington to office, but first heard of an official resolution of the
House of Commons requesting Grey's return. On the Duke of Wellington's advice, and after public mass meetings demanding reform,
the King agreed to reappoint Grey's ministry, and to create new peers if the House of Lords continued to pose difficulties.
Concerned by the threat of the creations, most of the bill's opponents abstained. Consequently, Parliament passed the bill, which
became the Reform Act 1832. Parliament proceeded to other reforms, including the abolition of slavery throughout the British
Empire and the restriction of child labour, but William IV had little to do with their passage.
Later life
Half-Crown of William IV, 1836. The inscription reads GULIELMUS IIII D(ei) G(ratia) BRITANNIAR REX
F(idei) D(efensor) (William IV by the Grace of God King of the Britons, Defender of the Faith)
For the remainder of his reign, William interfered actively in politics only once, in 1834; when he became the last Sovereign
to choose a Prime Minister contrary to the will of Parliament. Two years after the passage of the Reform Act of 1832, the
ministry had become unpopular and also lost the King's support due to its support for the reform of the Church of Ireland. In 1834, Lord Grey resigned; one of the Whigs in his cabinet, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, replaced him. The Melbourne administration,
for the most part, included the same members as the Grey administration; though disliked by many in the country, it retained an
overwhelming majority in the House of Commons. Some members of the Government, however, were obnoxious to the King.
In October 1834, the Leader of the House of Commons and
Chancellor of the Exchequer, John Charles Spencer, Viscount Althorp, inherited a peerage, thus removing him from the
House of Commons to the Lords. Because of this, he was forced to relinquish his posts—a member of the House of Lords could, of
course, not hold a position in the House of Commons, and traditionally, a member of the Commons was Chancellor of the Exchequer.
All agreed that this required a partial reconstruction of the Cabinet, but William IV claimed that the ministry had been weakened
beyond repair. He used the removal of Lord Althorp—not from the Government, but from one House to the other—as the pretext for
the dismissal of the entire ministry.
With Lord Melbourne gone, William IV chose to entrust power to a Tory, Sir
Robert Peel. Since Peel was then in Italy, the Duke of Wellington was provisionally appointed Prime Minister. When Peel
returned and assumed leadership of the ministry for himself, he saw the impossibility of governing because of the Whig majority
in the House of Commons. Consequently, the King dissolved Parliament and forced fresh elections. Although the Tories won more
seats than the previous election, they were still in the minority. Peel remained in office for a few months, but resigned after a
series of parliamentary defeats. Lord Melbourne was restored to the Prime Minister's office, remaining there for the rest of
William's reign.
While William was King of Hanover as well as the United Kingdom, he never visited Hanover as King. His brother, the Duke of
Cambridge, acted as regent throughout his reign. In 1833 Hanover was given a constitution which gave political power to the
middle class, and some limited power to the lower classes. The Constitution also expanded the power of the parliament of Hanover.
The constitution was revoked after William's death by the new king, William's brother, HRH Prince Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland on the grounds that his consent, as
heir presumptive to the Hanoverian throne, had not been asked.
Both the King and Queen were fond of their niece, HRH Princess Victoria of Kent. Their attempts to forge a close
relationship with the girl were frustrated by the conflict between the King and the Duchess of Kent, the young princess's mother. The King, angered at what he
took to be disrespect from the Duchess to his wife, publicly expressed his hope that he would survive until Princess Victoria was
18—the age at which she would no longer need a regency. He would survive, though mortally ill, to that point, and surpass it by
one month.[5]
William IV died from heart failure in 1837 in Windsor
Castle, where he was buried. As he had no living legitimate issue, the Crown of the United Kingdom passed to Princess
Victoria. Under the Salic Law, a woman could not rule Hanover; thus, the Hanoverian Crown went
to William IV's brother, HRH Prince Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland.
William's death thus ended the personal union of Britain and Hanover, which had persisted since 1714. The main beneficiaries of
his will were his eight surviving children by Mrs. Jordan.[5] Although William IV had no legitimate children, and is, therefore, not the direct ancestor of the
later monarchs of the United Kingdom, he has many descendants through his illegitimate family with Mrs Jordan, including Conservative leader David Cameron, the TV
presenter Adam Hart-Davis, and author and statesman Duff
Cooper.
Legacy
William's reign was short, but eventful. The ascendancy of the House of Commons and the corresponding decline of the House of
Lords was marked by the Reform Crisis, during which the threat of flooding the Upper House with peers was used effectively for
the first time by a ministry. The weakening of the House of Lords continued during the nineteenth century, and culminated during
the twentieth century with the passage of the Parliament Act 1911. The same threat which
had been used during the Reform Crisis—the threat to flood the House of Lords by creating several new peers—was used to procure
the passage of the Parliament Act.
The reduction in the influence of the Crown was clearly indicated by the events of William's reign, especially the dismissal
of the Melbourne ministry. The crisis relating to Melbourne's dismissal also indicated the reduction in the King's influence with
the people. During the reign of George III, the King could have dismissed one ministry, appointed another, dissolved Parliament,
and expected the people to vote in favour of the new administration. Such was the result of a dissolution in 1784, after the
dismissal of the Coalition Ministry; such was the result of a dissolution in 1807,
after the dismissal of William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron
Grenville. But when William IV dismissed the Melbourne ministry, the Tories under Sir Robert Peel were not able to win the
ensuing elections. Thus, the King's ability to influence the opinion of the people, and therefore generally dictate national
policy, had been reduced. None of William's successors has attempted to remove a ministry and appoint another against the wishes
of Parliament. William understood that the extension of the franchise by the Reform Act had altered the political complexion of
the country for ever, and as a constitutional monarch he was powerless to act against the opinion of Parliament. He said, "I have
my view of things, and I tell them to my ministers. If they do not adopt them, I cannot help it. I have done my duty."[1]
During his reign great reforms were enacted by Parliament including the Factory Act, preventing child labour, the Abolition
Act, emancipating slaves in the colonies, and the Poor Law, standardising provision for the destitute.[2] He attracted criticism from reformers, who felt that reform did not go far
enough, and from reactionaries, who felt that reform went too far. One modern interpretation is that he failed to satisfy either
political extreme by trying to find compromise between two bitterly opposed factions, but in the process proved himself more
capable as a constitutional monarch than many had supposed.[9]
In popular culture
"Silly Billy" — so recalled by Mrs Goodbody in Agatha Christie's novel,
Hallowe'en Party, 1969 (Chapter 16). In a television movie about Queen Victoria, William IV was portrayed by Peter Ustinov.
In Patrick O'Brian's final novel of the Aubrey/Maturin series, Capt. Jack Aubrey is obliged to accept as midshipman, a bastard
son of the Duke of Clarence, as a 'first voyager.' The novel paints a colorful picture of the Duke and acknowledges his
reputation as competent seaman and commander.
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Monarchical Styles of
King William IV of the United Kingdom |
 |
| Reference style |
His Majesty |
| Spoken style |
Your Majesty |
| Alternative style |
Sir |
|
Titles
- 1765–1789: His Royal Highness The Prince William
- 1789–1830: His Royal Highness The Duke of Clarence and St Andrews
- 1830–1837: His Majesty The King
Styles
William's official style as King was, "William the Fourth, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith".
Honours
British Honours
Arms
His arms were:- Quarterly, I and IV Gules three lions passant guardant in pale Or (for
England); II Or a lion rampant within a tressure flory-counter-flory Gules (for Scotland); III Azure a harp Or stringed Argent
(for Ireland); overall an escutcheon tierced per pale and per chevron (for Hanover), I Gules two lions passant guardant Or (for
Brunswick), II Or a semy of hearts Gules a lion rampant Azure (for Lüneburg), III Gules a horse courant Argent (for Westfalen),
the whole inescutcheon surmounted by a crown.
Ancestors
