George IV of Great Britain
George IV served as Prince Regent from 1811, when his father George III's mental incapacity made direct rule impossible, before acceding to the throne on his father's death in 1820. As Prince Regent he presided over the final phase of the Napoleonic Wars and hosted the Congress of Vienna diplomats in London, but his primary concerns were aesthetic rather than political — he was the greatest royal patron of the arts since Charles II, commissioning John Nash to redesign Buckingham Palace, create Regent Street, and build the Brighton Pavilion in its extravagant Indo-Saracenic style. His secret and illegal marriage to the Catholic widow Mrs Fitzherbert (1785) and his disastrous official marriage to Caroline of Brunswick — whom he attempted to bar from his coronation in 1821 in a scandalous public trial — made him a figure of mockery rather than respect. Increasingly obese and reclusive in his final years, he was succeeded by his brother William IV.
- Lived: 1762 CE – 1830 CE
- Nationality: british
- Roles: king, prince_regent
