Down Memory Lane -- The Royal Page
An adaptation Kings & Queens of England

George II - He ascended the throne in 1727 and reigned 33 years. For the first 15 he was fortunate to have Sir Robert Walpole to lean on because he helped bring a period of peace to England and established  the system of government through a Cabinet responsible to a Parliament, which in turn was responsible to the electorate.  His reign was beset by the struggle to restore the Stuarts to the throne and that revolt was finally terminated when the pretender to the throne, Bonnie Prince Charlie, was forced to leave the country. But against Walpole’s advice, war with Spain was initiated in 1739. About the only distinguished aspect of George’s reign was that he was the last monarch to actually lead his troops into battle. He was a devoted family man but had great conflict with his son, the Prince of Wales. That conflict ended in 1751 with the son’s death and a contemporary wrote this epitaph:

“Here lies poor Fred who was alive and is dead, Had it been his father I had much rather, Had it been his sister nobody would have missed her, Had it been his brother, still better than another, Had it been the whole generation, so much the better for the nation,

But since it is Fred who was alive and is dead, There is no more to be said.”

Actually, the four King Georges from the Hanover line were all unpopular, as the following poem written by Walter Savage Landor, 1775-1864 suggests.

I sing the Georges four,
For Providence could stand no more.
Some say that far the worst
Of all was George the First.
But yet by some 'tis reckoned
That worse still was George the Second.
And what mortal ever heard,
Any good of George the Third?
When George the Fourth from earth descended,
Thank God the line of Georges ended.

Thanks to Eric R. Delderfield