Back to the Mainly The Georgians calendar
On 25 October 1760, having been on the throne for 33 years, George II died at the age of 77. At this time he was the oldest of any monarch of England. He should have been succeeded by his son, Frederick, Prince of Wales, which would, of course, have brought an early end to the Georgians. However Frederick, who had fallen out with his father, had also carelessly died in 1751, so, luckily for those who like the Georgians, he wasn't available.
When George II had come to England with his father, he had left his son, the now dead Frederick, in Hanover and they did not see each other for 14 years. Fred came to England in 1728 and immediately became a figurehead to opposition to George II. George is said to have spent more of his reign in Hanover than England but instead of putting his son, and heir, in charge of the regency council that would rule in his absence, George appointed his wife
Because of the time George spent in Hanover he was not that popular while Frederick was.
Many years after his death, the following poem was quoted about Fred-:
"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 better for the nation,
But since it is Fred who was alive and is dead,
There is no more to be said!"
Luckily for these pages, George II was succeeded by his grandson, the son of Frederick, who was called George and became George III. He would be around for a very long time and obviously liked dressing up a bit. Nice coat, George.
Forward to 1763AD
