Georgian Monarchy
Politics and Culture, 1714–1760

This book, first published in 2006, is a revisionist account of the British monarchy during the reigns of the first two Hanoverian kings.

Hannah Smith (Author)

9780521828765, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 8 June 2006

316 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.59 kg

Review of the hardback: ' … its general thrust carries conviction and has broader implications for historians of eighteenth-century Britain.' History

This book, first published in 2006, is a revisionist account of the monarchy during the reigns of the first two Hanoverian kings of Britain, George I and George II. This detailed study of early Georgian kingship and queenship examines the rhetorical and iconographical fashioning of the dynasty, evaluates the political and social function of the early Georgian court, and provides an extensive analysis of provincial cultures of monarchism. Wide-ranging in the scope of its enquiry and interdisciplinary source material, it rejects the contention that the Georgian kings were tolerated solely on the grounds of political expediency. Instead, Hannah Smith argues that they enjoyed a rich popularity that grew out of a flourishing culture of loyalism. In doing so, she engages with key debates over the nature of early eighteenth-century British society, highlights the European context to British political thinking, and, more broadly, illuminates the functioning of cultures of power in this period.

Introduction: or 'When George in pudding time came o'er'
Part I. Kingship and Queenship: 1. Images of the early Georgian monarchy
2. The fashioning of early Georgian kingship and queenship
Part II. The Creation of a Culture: 3. Loyalist culture in the localities
4. The regime, the state, and the enforcement of loyalist culture
Part III. The Court: 5. The early Georgian court
Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], British & Irish history [HBJD1]