King George IV

George Augustus Frederick was born at St. James´s Palace on 12 August 1762. He had a very disturbed relationship to the King, his father, like King George II had had to his father. He had been secretely married to a Catholic woman since 1785, but as this was against the law (Royal marriages to Catholics weren´t allowed then), it was annulled and he had to marry a suitable woman in 1795. This (unhappy) marriage to his cousin Caroline produced a daughter the following year, but Princess Charlotte died in 1817, so the succession remained unsecure.When the mental state of King George III got worse, George became "Prince Regent" in 1811, taking over business from his father. In 1820, he became King George IV after his father´s death. He visited Ireland, Hanover and Scotland (in 1822, the first monarch since the Stuarts), built the "Royal Pavilion" in Brighton and founded the "National Gallery" in London. Always blessed with an ample taste for good food and wine, his health got worse during the late 1820´s, and King George IV died on 26 June 1830.

His signature on a document (1824).