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00:00Georgian Britain across the course of little more than a century a nation was
00:09transformed from an inward-looking state that had just emerged from a bitter
00:14civil war to a global superpower but it wasn't English kings who oversaw this
00:23change it was German nobility shipped in from Hanover the Georgian kings were
00:32dysfunctional detested each other and were loved and loathed by the public in
00:37equal measure there are satirical cartoons that depict him as a turnip what
00:43starts off as a private quarrel becomes a public sensation if it looks like your
00:49dad has exiled your mom that probably leads to a certain element of
00:54dysfunction early on in life these are the backstabbings feuds and betrayals
01:00which shaped an entire era of British history Britain is continually at war in
01:07the 18th century the shocking stories of the Georgian Kings his mother called him
01:14the monster he was so besotted it's almost like stalker behavior George goes oh
01:21it's not allowed well that's interesting I'm going to do it anyway
01:261714 a new king with a brand new name George the first is about to take to the throne his
01:49accession will usher in a new era one which will change British and global history forever but born
02:00and brought up in Hanover this is a man who never expected to be king catapulted onto the British
02:09throne by an extraordinary sequence of events which neither he nor his new subjects could have imagined
02:16he doesn't get off to a good start a man whose inscrutable demeanor hides the darkest of secrets
02:27he struggles throughout his reign to win the hearts of his subjects and faces armed rebellion in defense of
02:37the house of Hanover to understand the upheaval his arrival created you have to go back to the beginning
02:46to a time before Georg Ludwig had any clue he would one day rule Britain
02:52the eldest son of Ernst Augustus Duke of Brunswick Lunenburg and his wife Sophia Georg Ludwig is born on the 28th of May 1660 in Hanover
03:12a small yet influential territory in the Holy Roman Empire
03:19so the Holy Roman Empire was very very complicated it was basically a patchwork of different territories
03:27Supreme sovereignty was held by the house of Habsburg as it as emperors within that empire territory equals
03:35wealth and influence and Ernst is determined his son shall marry well to enhance the family's position
03:43the focus very much was on consolidating and improving their own kind of prominence within the Holy Roman Empire
03:52by the time Georg is 20 years old plans are already in place for him to marry his cousin Sophia Dorothea of cell
04:03it's part of the Hanoverian master plan to unite the Hanoverian lands with the lands of cell and they devise
04:12he's doing that by marrying Sophia Dorothea to the future George the first she was seen as the perfect bride for him because she was going to come with a huge dowry
04:22she was going to inherit a lot of her father's lands he was the Duke of Brunswick and so as a result this was a really good political match
04:29really good political match but the decision for georg to marry for land not love will have disastrous consequences that will reverberate down the family line for generations
04:46as first cousins georg and Sophia have known each other for years but have never got on so Sophia is less than enthusiastic about the prospect of a
04:59dynastic marriage to the less than gorgeous georg
05:03I'm not going to marry that repulsive pig snout
05:06I know what type of man he is he is cold stiff and abhor
05:11that brute even fathered a bastard at the age of 16
05:15do they want me to be changed to a man like that forever
05:18well do they?
05:20they will have to drag me to the altar if they think that I'm going to wed such a creature
05:25I'm not going to marry him
05:28but despite her misgivings the marriage goes ahead
05:38initially both sides try to make a go of the arrangement
05:43when they married she was young and I think she came to the Hanoverian court you know willing to be a good wife ready to sort of embrace her role
05:57it's important kind of dynastically for it to work
06:00the Hanoverians are very very aware of the need for their future to be conserved
06:07they've always got one eye on what's going on further down the line
06:10within a year Sophia also fulfills her side of the contract
06:16in November 1683 she gives birth to a son another georg
06:22I think politically they'd done their job they had produced an heir and for Sophia that was her principal role within the marriage
06:31they may have forged the perfect dynastic union and produced an heir but the marriage itself proves to be a disaster
06:41Sophia Dorothea is a very very different person to George the first she loves to party she loves to be seen she loves all of the glamour and glitz of the court
06:53and that is completely different to George the first personality
06:59as his ill-fated marriage falls apart georg's eyes alight on Sophia's maid of honour
07:05melissine von der schulenberg
07:10she may be no great beauty but melissine proves to be the love of georg's life
07:16and a vital support when years later the german aristocrat unexpectedly becomes king of britain
07:25melissine von der schulenberg she is very very different in temperament to Sophia Dorothea
07:31so for George the first she is a breath of fresh air melissine was tall and she was very thin
07:36but she was a calm person and that I think appealed to George the first really quite strongly
07:42Sophia Dorothea does not take kindly to her husband's open flaunting of his relationship with melissine
07:50and there are frequent violent fights between husband and wife
07:55the arguments between the two of them are explosive she has a real temper and when he is provoked he does too
08:06it's definitely not a kiss and make-up afterwards
08:12increasingly alienated Sophia also starts looking for love outside of the marriage
08:18she finds it in the arms of a dashing swedish count
08:22philip von konigsmark
08:25it's not like Sophie Dorothea was looking for an affair
08:30but there was this beautiful guy and he promised her to to get her out of that marriage
08:38and unfortunately everyone knew about that affair
08:44matters come to a head when georg discovers his wife is planning to run away with the count
08:52he was outraged which is you know surprising considering he was having open affairs all the time
08:59it changes from an affair that is potentially just personally embarrassing to a state problem
09:06that impinges on the future security of the dynasty and so a decision is made by Ernst August
09:14George I's father that Konigsmark has to go
09:24one night as he's making his way to Sophia's bedchamber
09:28Konigsmark is set upon and strangled
09:32his body is later found in the liner river
09:38many suspect his murder is at georg's bequest
09:43there's some evidence that he probably made this count disappear
09:48that he had him sort of made him swim with the fishes as it were in the liner river
09:53there's a question as to whether whether George I is complicit in this
10:00or whether this is something that is that is sort of done and enables the king some plausible deniability
10:07but georg's vendetta against his wife doesn't stop there
10:14in 1694 he divorces sofia dorothea and then banishes her to the castle of olden
10:22where she remains under effective house arrest until the end of her life
10:28after george found out that his wife cheated on him she even wasn't allowed to see the children anymore
10:35with Sophia out of sight and mind georg can concentrate on his duties
10:42by now his father has been awarded the prestigious title of Prince Elector of Hanover
10:50so the roman empire was ruled by an emperor it's not a king the emperor gets elected and to be Prince Elector you were able to vote who's the next emperor so you're very powerful
11:07when his father dies in 1698 the title of Prince Elector is passed on to georg
11:14a peaceful and secure future stretches ahead of him or so he thinks
11:22by twist of fate georg is about to undergo a very different kind of ennoblement
11:29across the channel in britain the succession has been far less clear-cut
11:42the country is still recovering from a violent civil war between the catholic sympathizing house of stewart and the firmly protestant parliament
11:52in 1688 catholic king james ii is deposed and flees to france
11:59the 1701 act of settlement is passed barring catholics from ever becoming monarch
12:07but in solving one crisis parliament only creates a bigger one
12:13queen anne is the reigning monarch though a stewart she is protestant and parliament is content
12:20but anne has suffered 17 miscarriages and there are growing fears she will not provide a protestant heir before she dies
12:31it's really difficult for her to take because it compounds the fact that as a dynast if you like she's sort of failed
12:42and that's really unfair because it's these are these are factors out of her control
12:47but in terms of securing the line of succession she has been unsuccessful
12:53with anne unlikely to provide an heir the search is on for her nearest protestant relative
13:00but this is easier said than done
13:04all of anne's immediate relatives are catholics so parliament needs to cast the net wider
13:11in an unforeseen turn of events the house of hanover is about to move center stage
13:19anne's closest protestant relative turns out to be living not in britain
13:24but across the english channel in the holy roman empire
13:29it is georg ludwig's mother sophia the electress of hanover
13:34it takes passing over 50 people to find someone who's suitable
13:41and the person who's suitable is sophia the electress of hanover who is a little bit older than anne
13:47she is living in germany she's never been to britain
13:50despite there being many closer blood connections to the throne
13:55an unsuspecting georg leapfrogs over all but his mother to become second in line to the british throne
14:06it's quite extraordinary really to think that you were so far down the line of succession
14:11you probably never even thought about it but for him i think his priority was hanover
14:16and so because this wasn't necessarily something that was set in stone
14:21he wasn't prepared to give it much air time in his own head
14:26but georg's mother never does become queen
14:40your grace yes there's been some news regarding your mother
14:47georg's mother dies making him first in line to be king of britain
14:54with queen anne already sickly it is just eight weeks before he is catapulted onto the throne
15:07a month later georg set sail across the english channel towards an uncertain future
15:16this is a man who barely speaks any english certainly not conversationally
15:21and who has spent very little time traveling outside of hanover let alone to britain itself
15:27he has no sense of the country or the subjects that he is going to be governing
15:32and it must have appeared an incredibly daunting time for him
15:36on september the 18th 1714 georg lands at greenwich
15:49curious to see their new german-born king a huge crowd has gathered along the quayside
15:57when george first arrives in britain it's one of those really great times where he allows the pomp and ceremony to play up around him
16:04he's not somebody who's very showy he's not very glamorous but he allows it to unfold around him
16:11but it would have been a magnificent spectacle on from greenwich up the thames
16:16the crowd is particularly intrigued by the striking figures of the king's two female companions
16:23neither of whom appears to be the queen
16:26he does bring with him two women who are very very important to him
16:30one is his mistress melisine von der schulenberg and then the other one is his half-sister
16:35sophia von kill's man's egg and they are instantly sort of the objects of fascination for the british people
16:42because it's immediately assumed that they are both his mistresses
16:45and they formed a very curious kind of coterie around the king that not everyone could understand
16:52georg's unusual companions may set tongues wagging
16:57but the protestant establishment cares little about his amorous arrangements
17:02all that matters to parliament is that the new king already has suitable protestant heirs
17:09lined up to succeed him his son georg and his grandson frederick
17:15he already has a son who is married and who is busy having his own children at this point
17:22they are a ready-made package and as such they are moved together to britain
17:28and installed there as a new and hopeful dynastic line
17:36on october the 20th georg is crowned king at westminster abbey
17:43the abbey is packed with the great and the good
17:47when he is crowned king at the ceremony everyone present is delighted
17:53because to them he represents stability a protestant king who is securing their land
18:00their money their positions and their power
18:03george first is a strategic necessity for britain
18:07the key thing is that he is a protestant and that he has secured the protestant's succession
18:13but out on the streets and across the country it is now a very different story
18:21there's rioting there's shouts of no hanover there's graffiti that says no foreigners
18:31and in one small village the villagers even dress their maple in black as though in mourning
18:36for the old catholic way of doing things and to absolutely not welcome in the new king
18:43he's still very much seen as a foreigner as someone that doesn't necessarily understand english customs
18:55english is not his first language is he going to be here very much does he even like england
19:00so i think a lot of people are sort of disturbed by the sudden change
19:05georg's origins in hanover are the object of much derision
19:15as soon as george arrives he's nicknamed the turnip king people in the street put turnips on sticks
19:22and parade them around and this is absolutely not something affectionate this is
19:27a way of identifying him as coming from a provincial backwater as being no better than a farmer turnips
19:37were not british native vegetables they were from europe and it's a way of kind of identifying him
19:45and mocking him
19:47the rioting continues for several days after the coronation
19:55this isn't an isolated incident and the complaints of a few people this is the
19:59pretty united voice of the nation that the ordinary men and women of britain
20:05do not accept this king as their ruler
20:09it's not the welcome the king has been hoping for
20:13they hate me they all hate me
20:17your grace you're their sovereign they don't hate you they admire you they respect you
20:25they were booing me
20:27your grace you call that respect
20:29you tell me that i misheard them that they were cheering me spare me
20:39georg is acutely aware of the need to shift the popular perception of him as a foreign pretender to the british throne
20:49following the coronation georg ludwig begins to sign his name george rex a more british moniker
20:59but he's going to need far more than a new signature to win over a fractious and divided kingdom
21:05the world
21:07i think any observer would
21:09be delusional
21:11to think that this is the end of
21:13the story that it's going to be easy
21:15it's by no means
21:17certain that he's going to be around
21:19for long
21:21horrified
21:23by the ferocity of the protests
21:25george takes solace in the arms of his mistress melissine
21:29still his closest confidant
21:31but people are poking fun at her too
21:35you
21:37you know what they're calling you
21:39something nice i hope
21:41the maypole
21:45the what
21:47on account of your nubile figure
21:49i don't take it as a compliment
21:53you should
21:55maypoles are tall and slender
21:57steady
21:59oh your charm
22:01leaves much to be desired
22:03good job that i am king then
22:07you are a fool
22:09my love
22:11oh
22:13oh
22:19whilst the public is uncertain about their new king
22:23one group is violently opposed to george's accession
22:27the jacobites
22:29a group of dissenters who oppose the protestant line of succession
22:35they believe james the second should never have been exiled
22:39and that the true heir to the throne
22:41is his catholic son
22:43the self-styled james the third
22:45in britain
22:47there is a significant amount of support
22:51for the jacobite cause
22:53for putting the stewarts back on the throne
22:55this support comes from
22:57a large catholic community
22:59because of course james the second himself was a catholic
23:03and we see that a lot particularly in scotland
23:05in the highlands of scotland
23:07by october 1715
23:09a twenty thousand strong army
23:11led by the earl of mar
23:13has taken control
23:15of most of highland scotland
23:17and is advancing south across the border
23:21just one year after george's coronation
23:25the fledgling house of hanover
23:27is looking precarious
23:29in late december
23:35james set sail from france
23:37and lands in scotland
23:39to stake his claim as the rightful ruler of britain
23:43but the jacobite advance stalls
23:47they had been hoping
23:49they had been hoping that james would bring
23:51further military support with him
23:53from france
23:55but the would-be king arrives alone
23:57morale quickly evaporates
24:01i'm not sure mar was the best military commander
24:05twice he retreated at the wrong moment
24:07thinking he had won the battle
24:09and that's how the governmental uh
24:11forces managed to push them back up
24:13um in scotland toward perth
24:17by late january
24:19the rising collapses
24:21and james beats a hasty retreat
24:23back to france
24:25the jacobite threat has been extinguished
24:29but it remains a ticking time bomb
24:35it was still a shockwave for the hanoverians
24:37and it reminded them
24:39which i think was probably what the jacobites wanted
24:41it reminded them that they were vulnerable
24:43and actually this was a throne that was contentious
24:45and something that they hadn't consolidated
24:47and they didn't have a really firm hold on
24:49and so i think that had a real impact on what they did next
24:53in their attempts to sort of make themselves more secure on the throne
25:01acutely aware that his reign may end as quickly as it began
25:05george embarks on a much-needed pr campaign
25:13and nothing quite says like me
25:15more than throwing a massive party
25:17in july 1717
25:23george hosts a lavish spectacle
25:25on the river thames
25:27surrounded by a flotilla of boats
25:29and watched by thousands of onlookers
25:31he sets off upriver
25:33on the royal barge
25:35he understands that
25:37this is not just necessarily a jolly on the water
25:39but something that's really really important
25:41in terms of him presenting himself as a monarch
25:43and presenting himself as a convincing monarch
25:45with all of the kind of trappings of royalty
25:49on one of the barges
25:59an orchestra plays the specially commissioned water music
26:03conducted by the composer himself
26:05naturally a german george friedrich handle
26:09the atmosphere for this amazing concert was electric
26:17essentially everybody in london
26:19he pulled out onto the streets
26:21they were all lining along the banks
26:23and just watching this amazing concert going on
26:25before their eyes
26:27it was free for them of course
26:29and this really did an amazing job
26:31at trying to make the king more relatable
26:33he seemed like if you like music
26:35everybody likes music
26:36and here he was
26:37putting on this amazing performance
26:39for everyone
26:43for most people in that audience
26:45this is an incredible moment
26:47it's a building of atmosphere and spectacle
26:50the like of which has not been seen in london
26:53and it's really a flagship moment for george
26:58it offers a sense of hope and possibility
27:02and optimism for what britain is going to become
27:08George also knows that it's his protestant faith
27:12and string of heirs in waiting
27:14that are the strongest cards in his hand
27:18where he actively makes attempts to create an image for himself
27:23it is as this kind of protestant warrior king
27:26the sort of the the military defender of the faith
27:29i think that's really that's really really significant
27:33to promote that image
27:35george commissions a huge mural of the royal family
27:38to adorn the new painted hall
27:40at the royal hospital for seamen in greenwich
27:44by now george's son
27:46the future george the second
27:48has been joined in england
27:50by his wife caroline
27:51and their four young children
27:54you have this wonderful image of the hanoverian succession
27:58on the far wall
27:59and they are presenting themselves as a continuation of
28:03the monarchy of the british line of succession
28:06and it's sort of writ large all of their ambition
28:09the pomp and the paintings have been successful moves in george's campaign for rehabilitation
28:20but then the king's hands-on attempt to shore up the british economy
28:25by involving himself in a new business venture proves to be a total disaster
28:31the idea is that britain can start to concentrate on more significant things such as reviving its economy
28:38such as thinking about the ways in which it can bolster and encourage commercial trade
28:44the way in which london starts to develop as a cultural and commercial hub
28:50in 1720 the heavily indebted british government broke as a deal with a newly created financial enterprise called the south sea company
29:03in return for having the monopoly over the trading of slaves and luxury goods to the americas
29:10the company agrees to pay off those debts
29:15south sea company having the monopoly on trade
29:19it means then that they are able to dominate these expanding markets of brazil in particular
29:26but also along the south american coastline
29:30with new markets opening up as gold for example then sugar is being discovered
29:35but also the supply of slaves expanding and proliferating across west africa
29:40so being able to dominate that market means multiple profits at both ends
29:45so sure is the south sea company of its own success it guarantees those who buy shares a six percent return
29:57the public clamors to take part in this government backed get rich quick scheme
30:04the market goes wild everybody wants some shares in this company it's going to be like winning the lottery
30:11you've got to get these shares
30:14thinking it will improve his image george is readily persuaded to become governor of the company
30:20the royal endorsement sends the price of shares through the roof
30:25many people would be surprised today to think that kings would be so directly involved in mercantile industry
30:32but they are from the time of elizabeth the first investors in these expansionist enterprises
30:38between march and august 1720 the price of south sea stock rises tenfold to an eye-watering
30:48one thousand and fifty pounds a share around sixty thousand pounds in today's money
30:55but this is an enterprise built on sand the south sea bubble is about to burst as spectacularly as it has risen
31:05the south sea company doesn't actually really make that much money which creates the problem
31:10so they're buying up all of this debt and turning it into stock that is creating this bubble
31:16but the pop happens because there's no substance to this bubble at all
31:21and the minute that it becomes apparent that this isn't going to be long-lasting as they thought it was going to be
31:27people begin to sell up and then the price drops dramatically
31:33the value of stocks collapses by 80 percent plunging the country into a catastrophic financial crisis
31:42thousands are bankrupted and there is widespread anger across the country
31:49it was such a big deal that even in pubs they would have playing cards representing the south sea bubble crisis
31:56and there were games invented like i'll give you two of my playing cards for one of yours that were sort of south sea bubble crisis themed
32:05you know even people who couldn't read and they were just in a tavern would be aware of what was happening
32:11in the aftermath of the crash it becomes apparent that vast bribes have been paid to keep the share price artificially inflated
32:23George and his mistress melissine are heavily implicated
32:28chief among the people that are given stock is melissine von der schulenberg
32:34and she obviously as george's mistress puts him in a very difficult position
32:38he has stock she does when the bubble bursts
32:42it puts the king and the monarchy in a really really difficult position and it's embarrassing for the crown
32:49as fortunes are lost george's reputation falls to an all-time low
32:57if you take the kind of all the good pr stuff that george the first does the south sea bubble which is largely
33:03very much out of his control has a huge negative impact on the way the monarchy is seen and this sense
33:10that it's a corrupt institution has the potential to really destabilize the hanoverians
33:16but dislike for george isn't limited to his subjects
33:22the king's personal life is equally full of turmoil
33:27a legacy from the events that took place in hanover long before george had even set foot on british soil
33:40george's brutal treatment of his exiled wife sophia is traumatizing for their young son george
33:47later to be george the second
33:52young george was the apple of his mother's eye and he adored her in return
33:57which is why their enforced separation creates an intense dislike of his father
34:04it looks like your dad has exiled your mum and probably had your mum's lover murdered
34:11that probably leads to a certain element of dysfunction early on in life
34:15see that's the sort of starting point for george the second's upbringing
34:21the loathing between the two georges intensifies when george the first becomes king
34:34the resentment that george the first has towards his son comes out of the fact that in britain
34:41after the succession george the second as prince of wales is much more popular than george the first
34:46there is very much temperamental difference george the second being really showy and really gregarious and outgoing
34:53and george the first being a little bit sort of more retiring
34:57the fraught relationship comes to a head when the king starts interfering in his son the prince of wales's affairs
35:05the first real break and visible break between the future george the second and his father george the first happens at the the christening of george prince of wales's youngest son
35:18george the first is very anxious that one of the godparents should be the duke of newcastle
35:25the duke of newcastle is the kind of grand old man of british politics a figure who has been around the block a fair few times
35:31but what he offers for george the first is that level of sort of stability
35:35it's a targeted political decision designed to signal certain messages
35:42but the prince is furious at his father's meddling
35:46how dare you pick him to be my child's godfather
35:50he is a good choice
35:53you've done this to spite me haven't you
35:56you know i can't stand that man
35:58i have done this for the country
36:01for our legacy
36:04if we are to protect the line of succession we must assimilate
36:08pull yourself together
36:11as sovereign the king's wishes inevitably trump those of his son
36:19and during the christening service
36:22a fierce quarrel breaks out between the prince of wales
36:26and his child's new godfather the duke
36:29after a heated argument the duke alleges that prince george has challenged him to a duel
36:37a terrible affront
36:39when king george hears the rumor he is furious with his son
36:44the prince of wales claims the duke misheard an entirely innocent remark
36:49but the king is having none of it
36:52he said if you're not going to apologize to my friend i am banishing you from the palace from court
36:59which was a huge deal
37:01george the first i think thinks if he gets rid of the prince of wales
37:04then the prince of wales will become sort of contrite and ask for his forgiveness
37:09and it will bring him back to heal
37:14when the prince refuses to apologize the king takes drastic action
37:20banishing his son and daughter-in-law from the court
37:23while insisting their three young children stay behind in saint james's palace
37:29tensions between father and son escalate to stratospheric level
37:35with his family and his country turned against him
37:39george begins to spend more and more time in the other place he not only rules
37:44that considers his true home hanover and the palace of herrenhausen
37:51we say he moved to england but his heart belonged to hanover
37:56that's the reason why he always came back to hanover
37:59hanover was an escape for him
38:03but also just an opportunity for him to recharge his batteries
38:06which i think is really important because ruling britain in the 18th century is not easy either
38:16being in hanover also enables him to keep an eye on political affairs playing out in the electorate
38:23but splitting his time between hanover and britain
38:27does nothing to improve george's relationship with either his british or german subjects
38:35he still saw himself very much as a german prince
38:38from his perspective the scent of power lay it was in the holy woman empire
38:43and so i think he had to keep an eye on this you know to see how things were going
38:47so he was between a rock and a hard place where he has to try and appease
38:51two different groups of subjects who have competing kind of draws on his time
38:57george the first didn't find that balancing act very natural
39:03as george struggles to balance his roles as both king of britain and elector of hanover
39:09a bizarre twist of fate presents him with the opportunity to enhance his battered reputation
39:16in 1726 a feral young boy is discovered in a forest just a few miles from the palace
39:24he was no older than 10 11 12 that kind of age and he was unable to speak he was completely wild and apparently orphaned
39:37on hearing of the discovery george orders the foundling to be brought before him
39:42is this him
39:44what's your name boy
39:49i asked you a question and tell me your name
39:55captivated by his strange behaviour george makes him a member of the royal court
40:06and brings him back to london where he becomes known as peter the wild
40:15Peter's arrival at the palace causes a sensation
40:19he was considered an oddity but also like this almost like a circus sort of performer because
40:31he didn't understand etiquette of course he was unable to relate to people in any shape or fashion
40:39on the one hand he belongs to an older tradition in europe of jesters figures of entertainment
40:49on the other hand he is absolutely central to these enlightenment questions that are beginning
40:56to emerge in this period about civilization about human nature what it means to be human
41:01whilst peter the wild initially increases george i's popularity soon everyone tires of the novelty
41:12of his exotic human pet peter is eventually dismissed and sent to live on a farm whilst george
41:20is back to square one again the heavy burden of ruling two different states and constantly having
41:28to fight for the public's affections are taking their toll on the king
41:32in 1727 while traveling back once more to his beloved hanover king george i suffers a massive stroke
41:43his ever loyal mistress melissine who has been traveling separately rushes to be by his side
41:55my darling i'm here i'm here i'm here i'm afraid he's gone
42:00leave us
42:12at the time of his death george has been 13 years on the british throne
42:32against all odds he's managed to hold onto the crown and pass it to his heir
42:39even if only to the son he loathes so much
42:43his reign was not considered that successful so when he actually did die i think people were
42:52not necessarily relieved but they didn't mourn him too too long you could almost view george i's reign
42:58as sort of a transition period between a really difficult period of british history
43:04and a really kind of shaky start to a new dynasty the legacy that george leaves behind is one of
43:14stability he himself isn't a particularly popular monarch he's certainly not a charismatic one
43:20but he instills in britain not only a sense of optimism and the future that's to come but he
43:28actually leaves the nation a functioning if slightly dysfunctional royal family he came
43:36at a period of chaos and by the time of his death um things had calmed down considerably
43:46the succession shows actually just how successful george the first had been in those 13 years of his reign
43:54his reign that there is a by european standards incredibly smooth transition to the reign of his son