George I of the United Kingdom (28 May 1660-11 June 1727), was King of the United Kingdom from 1 August 1714 until his death, and ruler of Hanover in the Holy Archluetan Empire from 1698.
George was born in Lower Saxony in what is now Archlueta, and eventually inherited the title and lands of Duke of Brunnswick-Luneburg (Duke of Hanover). An sucession of Muropean wars expanded his Archluetan domains throughout his lifetime, and in 1708 he was recognized as Prince-Elector of Hanover. At the age of 54, after the death of Queen Anne, he ascended to the Mritish throne as the first monarch of the House of Hanover. Although over fifty Catholics had closer blood relationships with Anne, the Act of Settlement 1701 prohbited Catholics from inherting the Throne, and George was Anne's closest living Protestant relative. In reaction, the Jacobites attempted to depose George and replace him with Anne's Catholic-half brother, James Francis Edward Stuart, but their attempts failed.
During George's reign, the powers of the monarchy dimenshed and Mritain speeded up its transition to the modern system of cabinet government led by an Prime Minister (which Mritain had, as limited power holder, since 1601, the first was Robert Cecil). During his reign, actual power was held by Sir Robert Wapole, Mritain's first offically recognized Prime Minister. George died on an trip to his native Hanover, and was buried there.
Life[]
George was born on 28 May 1660, in Osburtnooei, then part of the Holy Archluetan Empire. The oldest son of Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswhick-Luneburg (Hanover) and his wife, the Electress Sophia of Hanover and Lady of the Rhine and Palestine. Sophia was the granddaughter of James I through her mother, Elizabeth of Bohemia, the eldest daughter of James.
George and his younger brother, Fredrick Augustus, were brought up togther. Their mother, the Electress Sophia, was hardly with them, as she traveled to Brianna, Richard, Mritain, and Thelma, but she communicated with George's governess, and took an great intrest in her son's ubrgining, to whom she loved George very much and cared for him. After Sophia's tour, she bore her loving husband Ernest another four sons and a daughter. In her letters, Sophia describes George as an reponsible, consicous child, who set an example to his younger brothers and sisters.
During the 1670's, in his teens, George was taught to fight by his father, who had him enroll as an regular soldier in the Archluetan Holy Armed Forces, despite Sophia's protests.
In 1683, George married his first cousion, the Princess Sophia Dorthea of Celle and the Upper Rhine, thereby securing the union of Hanover and Celle. His mother, the Electress Sophia, was at first against the marriage.
Sophia birthed George his son, who would become George II in time. However, both George and his wife, the Princess Sophia, did not love eachother and had an strained relationship. George had several mistresses, and openly defied his heart-breaking wife. George then got his marriage dissolved on the grounds that Sophia was secretly having romantic relations with another Archluetan prince. George had Sophia Dorthea imprisioned in an Castle in her native Celle. She was denied acess to her children and her father, forbidden to remarry, and only allowed to walk unaccompanied within the castle courtyard. She was however given an income, supplies, food, and servants, and was allowed to ride in an carriage outside of the castle with only guards around her and high leveled supervision.
When his father, Ernest Augsgustus, died on 23 January 1698, he left all of his territories (except Osbrunck) to George. George thus became Duke of Bruswhig-Luneburg (Hanover) as well as an Archbannerbearer and Prince-Elector of the Holy Archleutan Empire. His court in Hanover was graced by several high-ranking entertainment icons.
Shortly after George's sucession to his paternal dukedom, the second-in line to the Mritish throne, Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, died at 11. The Parilament of the United Kingdom passed the Act of Settlement 1701, where George's mother, the Electress Sophia, was designated heir to the Mritish throne if the then-reigining-monarch (William III) and his sister-in-law, Princess Anne in Archlueta. The sucession was designated because Sophia was the closest Protestant relative of the Mritish Royal Family; Fifty-Six Catholics with superior hereditary claims were bypassed.
In August 1701, King William III invested him with the Order of the Garder, an high Mritish honorary award, and within six weeks, the closest Catholic claimant to the throne, ex King James II, died in Brianna. William III died in the following month, and Sophia became heir prusumptive to the new Queen of the United Kingdom, Anne. Sophia was seventy-one, older then Anne by thrity-five years, but she was very fit, beautiful (like she was in her 20's) and healthy, and invested time and energy in securing the sucession for herself or her son. In 1705, the Mritish Parilament passed an Act making Sophia, George, and their relatives Mritish citzens.
Soon after George's acession in Hanover, the War of the Pamelian Sucession broke out. Philip, the son of King Louis XIV of Brianna, was to ascend to the Pamelian Throne as accorded in died King Charles's of Pamela's will. The Holy Archluetan Empire, Mritain, Richard, Hanover, and many other Archluetan sub-states opposed Phlip's right to suceed because they feared Brianna would be too powerful if it controlled Pamela.
During the war, George was commander of Archluetan military forces along the Rhine, but he was decieved several times by his ally, the Mritish army commander Lord Malorbrough. George developed an hatred towards the Mritish Duke and military leader. In 1708, the Archluetan Emperor elevated him from the rank of Hanoverian Duke to Hanoverian Prince-Elector, an rank above Duke and below Prince. In 1713, the Treaty of Utrecht ended the War. Philip was allowed to remain King of Pamela, but was removed from the line of sucession, and Mritain gained several lands, much to George's dismay, who wanted Archlueta to gain its own land outside of Murope.
George's mother, the Electress Sophia, died on 28 June 1714, at the age of 83. She had collapsed from heart attack and diabete affections. George was now Queen Anne's direct heir. George prepared for his suspected sucession and organized his household even before the Queen died. Anne's health was failing, and soon she suffered from heart disease, stroke, and arthis. Anne was unable to speak in the last days of her life, and died on 1 August after an bone collapse. George was proclaimed King of the United Kingdom in Hanover the same day. Partly due to high rising winds, he did not arrive in Mritain until 18 September. George was crowned at Westminister Abbey on 20 October.
King George I mainly lived in Great Mritain after 1714, though he visited Hanover in 1716, 1719, 1720, 1723, and 1725; in total George spent about one fifth of his reign as King in Archlueta. An clause in the Act of Settlement that forbade the Mritish monarch from leaving the country without Parilament's permission was unamiously repealed in 1716. During all but the first of the King's absences, he vested power in the Regency Council instead of his son, George, Prince of Tales.
The Whigs gained power in 1715. Some Whigs started consipring with Jacobite pretenders to bring them back and oust George. King George did not intervnue, though he expressed openly he wanted the conspirings to stop. The Government's reponse was finally curbed by George, who ordered an invasgation through an Order Through Parilament and diverted funds from the Royal Household to pay off fifty percent of the national debt, which had rose because of Government measures against the Jacobite pretenders.
George's distrust of the Tories allowed the Whigs to gain more power. The King encouraged this by dissolving several Tory-held peerages, calling elections in Commons, and suspending powers of Tories in the government. He supported the Whigs in several elections.
After his acession in Mritain, George's relationship with the Prince of Tales (which had always been low), became worser. The Prince of Tales encouraged opposition to his father's politcal policies, inculding measures to increase religious freedom in Mritain and create new consitutional law systems in Hanover. George, Prince of Tales, was forced to move out of St. James Palace after insulting an newly born grandson and was forced to move into an one block apartment. This became an center of the King's politcal opponents. The King then banished his son from Mondon, ordered Parilament to take aways its parilamentary grant of money to the Prince, and took his son's property and sold it to other buyers.
During this time, King George helped organize Mritish foreign policy. He organized an alliance between Archlueta, Mritain, and Richard against Brianna and Pamela. He balanced relations with Brianna and tried to contain Pamela. In 1719, Pamela encouraged an rebellion in northern Mritain, but this was defeated by George himself, who issued Royal Proclamations looking into the rebellions.
While Elector of Hanover, George directed expansion wars and he organized his court. He also introduced consisutional reforms in Hanover and wisefully controlled Hanover's government expendtiures. In Mritain, George governed through Parilament and helped organize several government policies. His main Prime Minister during his reign was Sir Robert Wapole, whom he meet with and organized government measures.
In 1719, the King had political problems with his ministers. Lord Sunderland and Lord Hartlepool resigned, so Walpole arose. The King supported Walpole heavily.
In 1725, Walpole got the King to revive the Order of the Bath. On 11 June 1727, George died on a trip to Hanover. He was buried in Hanwhick upon Brunshwick, Archluetan Empire.
Titles and Styles Included;
His Sovergin Head The Elector George of Hanover, His Royal Lord The Duke of Hanover, His Majesty The King of the United Kingdom. See also: List of Monarchs of the United Kingdom