Born in 1765, third son of King George III and Queen Charlotte, Prince William, Duke of Clarence, initially had little expectation of succeeding to the British throne. A brief career in the navy, followed by several years of semi-obscurity and a liaison with the actress Dorothea Jordan that gave them a family of ten children, came to an end with the ‘royal race for the crown’, requiring him and several of his other similarly unmarried brothers to find wives and ensure the royal succession after the unexpected death of their only legitimate niece Charlotte, daughter of the Prince Regent. William’s wife, Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, failed to produce any children who survived infancy, but despite their great difference in ages she succeeded in taming his previously uncouth manners. By the time he ascended the throne in 1830, the formerly outspoken prince had proved himself fitted to be a conscientious and astute if occasionally eccentric sovereign who successfully weathered the storms engendered by the passage of the Great Reform Bill. Between them, King William and Queen Adelaide helped to restore the popularity of a somewhat tarnished crown and lay the foundations for a modern monarchy under the auspices of their niece who succeeded them as Queen Victoria. This book portrays the life and character of ‘Good King Billy’, one of Britain’s most endearing sovereigns. An affable character of straightforward honesty and common sense, an occasionally tactless, blundering character with an instinctive dislike of pomp and ceremony but with the common touch, he was arguably the most human, down-to-earth of the Hanoverians. AUTHOR: John Van der Kiste was born in Wendover, Buckinghamshire. A former library assistant, he has published over seventy books, including historical and royal biographies covering the Stuart, Georgian and Victorian eras, and European dynasties, including Queen Victoria’s Children; Kaiser Wilhelm II; Emperor Francis Joseph; Kings of the Hellenes; Crowns in a Changing World; titles on contemporary rock music, including biographies of Jeff Lynne and ELO, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Steve Winwood, Steeleye Span and Lindisfarne; local history, true crime, fiction and plays. He has reviewed books and records for national, local and independent publications, contributed to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and Guinness Rockopaedia, and was co-consultant for the BBC TV documentary The King, the Kaiser and the Tsar. He lives in Devon and his recreations include reading, music and painting.
25 b/w illustrations