0:00:08 > 0:00:12In 2014, it's 300 years since King George I and his family
0:00:12 > 0:00:16arrived in Britain to begin the Georgian era.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19This was the age in which modern Britain,
0:00:19 > 0:00:22as we know it, would be formed.
0:00:22 > 0:00:26Why should we care about these Georgians? They didn't give us
0:00:26 > 0:00:30the industry of the Victorians or the sensational head-chopping
0:00:30 > 0:00:32of Henry VIII.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35But they did champion the idea of liberty and make Britain
0:00:35 > 0:00:37a more open society.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40One in which satire flourished
0:00:40 > 0:00:43and a new form of expression was invented, the novel.
0:00:46 > 0:00:50Bizarrely, this Georgian age, that seems so quintessentially British,
0:00:50 > 0:00:55actually has a story beginning here in Hanover, in Northern Germany.
0:00:58 > 0:01:01As outsiders, the first German Georges
0:01:01 > 0:01:03were able to be modernisers.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07It was on their watch that cabinet government first emerged.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12For this series, I've been given access to the Royal Collection.
0:01:12 > 0:01:16These pieces have been brought together for an exhibition at the
0:01:16 > 0:01:18Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace,
0:01:18 > 0:01:21telling the story of the first Georges
0:01:21 > 0:01:23through art works they commissioned or owned.
0:01:26 > 0:01:28We tend to think of the Georgian era
0:01:28 > 0:01:31in terms of the madness of King George III
0:01:31 > 0:01:36or the heroines of Jane Austen, but I think the key to it all
0:01:36 > 0:01:38lies right at the start in the
0:01:38 > 0:01:41reigns of the first two Georgian Kings.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45Under George I and George II, Britain became the world's
0:01:45 > 0:01:49most liberal and cosmopolitan society.
0:01:49 > 0:01:53We owe so much to these German Kings who made Britain.
0:02:06 > 0:02:11In 1701, Britain faced a big problem.
0:02:11 > 0:02:14The heir to the throne, Princess Anne,
0:02:14 > 0:02:19had failed to provide the royal family's next generation.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22She'd gone through 17 pregnancies
0:02:22 > 0:02:25in a desperate attempt to produce an heir...
0:02:28 > 0:02:31..but her last surviving son had just died.
0:02:34 > 0:02:38Parliament took drastic action.
0:02:38 > 0:02:40They had the idea of importing a
0:02:40 > 0:02:44ready-made royal family from overseas.
0:02:50 > 0:02:54This is one of the most important documents in the whole history
0:02:54 > 0:02:56of the British monarchy.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59This is the piece of parchment that changed history.
0:02:59 > 0:03:04It's the Act of Settlement from 1701, that sets out who can
0:03:04 > 0:03:08and importantly who can't be King or Queen.
0:03:08 > 0:03:11First of all, you've got to have some Stuart blood.
0:03:11 > 0:03:13You've got to be related either to
0:03:13 > 0:03:16the late Queen Mary or to Princess Anne.
0:03:16 > 0:03:20But, trumping that, you've got to be a Protestant.
0:03:20 > 0:03:22As it says here, if you profess the
0:03:22 > 0:03:27popish religion or marry a papist, you shall be excluded.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35This act came into force as a result
0:03:35 > 0:03:39of what Protestants called the Glorious Revolution.
0:03:40 > 0:03:44This was when James II was chucked off the throne for his
0:03:44 > 0:03:49Roman Catholic sympathies and his belief in the divine right of Kings.
0:03:51 > 0:03:55James II was now in exile in France,
0:03:55 > 0:03:58but with the British Protestant royal line dying out,
0:03:58 > 0:04:02Parliament needed to find a new ruler, who wasn't Catholic.
0:04:06 > 0:04:09Who should rule next?
0:04:10 > 0:04:14So now the Protestant aristocracy of England have to look back up
0:04:14 > 0:04:19the Stuart family tree in search of a Protestant heir.
0:04:19 > 0:04:24We go through James II, Charles II, Charles I, we get right back up
0:04:24 > 0:04:28to James I and through his daughter Elizabeth,
0:04:28 > 0:04:30we find here Sophia.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36Electress Sophia of Hanover is pivotal in the history
0:04:36 > 0:04:38of the British monarchy.
0:04:38 > 0:04:42She was the next Protestant in the royal Stuart line.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46That looks quite simple but it wasn't.
0:04:46 > 0:04:51Queen Anne had actually had no less than 50 nearer relatives
0:04:51 > 0:04:55than Sophia who were all passed over on the grounds that regrettably
0:04:55 > 0:04:58but unacceptably they were Catholics.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06Sophia was the matriarch of a princely family
0:05:06 > 0:05:10who ruled the remote German territory of Hanover,
0:05:10 > 0:05:14but now she was first in line to the British throne.
0:05:16 > 0:05:21Sophia forms part of a very German tradition of royal women
0:05:21 > 0:05:24leading the social and the intellectual life of a court.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27Very unlike the British tradition, where we have the
0:05:27 > 0:05:32badly-educated princesses Mary and Anne who were as dull as ditchwater.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35In her statue, Sophia is holding a book by her personal friend,
0:05:35 > 0:05:37the philosopher Leibniz.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41And she and Leibniz exchanged many, many letters discussing questions
0:05:41 > 0:05:43like the nature of the human soul.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46As well as Peter the Great of Russia,
0:05:46 > 0:05:49it was said that Louis XIV himself
0:05:49 > 0:05:51was in love with her brilliance!
0:05:52 > 0:05:55Sophia was thrilled about her new status
0:05:55 > 0:05:57and was desperate to come to London.
0:05:57 > 0:06:02But Queen Anne didn't want a rival queen, particularly one who was a
0:06:02 > 0:06:07whole lot cleverer, showing her up in her own kingdom.
0:06:07 > 0:06:11Sophia just had to sit and wait for Anne to die.
0:06:11 > 0:06:16So, why have you never heard of Queen Sophia I of Great Britain?
0:06:16 > 0:06:19She would have been very good at the job, she was intelligent
0:06:19 > 0:06:22and rational. She was tolerant
0:06:22 > 0:06:25and enlightened but very unluckily
0:06:25 > 0:06:30just two months before Queen Anne died, Sophia was out here in the
0:06:30 > 0:06:34gardens and it was during a thunder storm that she drops down dead.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39It's rather melancholy being here in her boudoir,
0:06:39 > 0:06:44and thinking about Sophia, the greatest Queen we never had.
0:06:47 > 0:06:51Sophia did not die in vain.
0:06:51 > 0:06:54Her descendants would inherit the British crown.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00It was her eldest son, George Ludwig, who was to become
0:07:00 > 0:07:04King George I of Great Britain.
0:07:04 > 0:07:07Unlike his mother, he was uncharismatic,
0:07:07 > 0:07:12not particularly impressive and he already had enemies.
0:07:16 > 0:07:20Without the Act of Settlement, George's distant cousin,
0:07:20 > 0:07:24the Catholic James Stuart, would have become King James III.
0:07:24 > 0:07:26He was in exile in France.
0:07:26 > 0:07:28Although he was only 13 years old,
0:07:28 > 0:07:32he was already plotting how to get his crown back.
0:07:38 > 0:07:42So, when George arrived to start his new life as King of England
0:07:42 > 0:07:47and Scotland, he was getting into a pretty tricky situation.
0:07:47 > 0:07:52He sailed up the River Thames and landed here at Greenwich,
0:07:52 > 0:07:56but he didn't exactly receive a royal welcome. There was a mix up.
0:07:56 > 0:08:02The crowd that had gathered mistook George's son for their new king,
0:08:02 > 0:08:04so when George himself disembarked,
0:08:04 > 0:08:08the spectators had sort of dribbled away.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11George's new kingdom really was new.
0:08:11 > 0:08:14The splicing together of England and Scotland had only
0:08:14 > 0:08:17taken place seven years previously.
0:08:17 > 0:08:19Things were unstable.
0:08:19 > 0:08:23If I was a gambler, I wouldn't have put much money on the survival of
0:08:23 > 0:08:26this Hanoverian dynasty.
0:08:28 > 0:08:35George I was crowned at Westminster Abbey on the 20th of October, 1714.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39All the great and good of Protestant Britain were in attendance.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45This is the actual crown that George wore 300 years ago.
0:08:47 > 0:08:52It doesn't have any real jewels in it because George, being frugal,
0:08:52 > 0:08:53rented them.
0:08:56 > 0:09:00And look at the great, big cross on the top. It was George's Protestant
0:09:00 > 0:09:02religion that had put him on the throne.
0:09:02 > 0:09:04And in this coronation, for the first time,
0:09:04 > 0:09:07a copy of the Bible, in English,
0:09:07 > 0:09:09a key text of the Protestant Reformation,
0:09:09 > 0:09:11was carried in the procession.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16But poor, old George's English language skills
0:09:16 > 0:09:17weren't his strongest point.
0:09:17 > 0:09:20You can't blame him. It was, after all, his fourth language.
0:09:20 > 0:09:24Unfortunately, though, it was now the language of his new subjects
0:09:24 > 0:09:27and he couldn't really speak it very well.
0:09:27 > 0:09:30He couldn't understand what was happening in the ceremony.
0:09:30 > 0:09:33But, nevertheless, the establishment were delighted.
0:09:33 > 0:09:36One spectator said that the sight of the coronation
0:09:36 > 0:09:38brought tears to her eyes.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41They felt that everything was safe now. Their liberty,
0:09:41 > 0:09:44their property and their religion.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56But the coronation was preaching to the converted.
0:09:56 > 0:09:59To many of his newly Georgian subjects,
0:09:59 > 0:10:03the idea of being ruled by a German took some getting used too.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08George's coronation at Westminster Abbey
0:10:08 > 0:10:10was slightly marred by xenophobia.
0:10:10 > 0:10:12Spectators were heard to call out,
0:10:12 > 0:10:15"Down with the German!" and "Out with the foreigners!"
0:10:15 > 0:10:18If you look at the popular protests against George at this time,
0:10:18 > 0:10:21there's quite a funny theme running throughout them.
0:10:21 > 0:10:25This idea that that Hanover is a place full of yokels.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29In pamphlets, we see pictures of George hoeing a row of turnips,
0:10:29 > 0:10:31there's a song calling him "Turnip Head".
0:10:31 > 0:10:34And I'm sorry to say that on the day of the coronation,
0:10:34 > 0:10:38one man was pulled out of the crowd for brandishing one of these -
0:10:38 > 0:10:40it's a turnip on a stick.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44# Of all the roots of Hanover, the turnip is the best
0:10:44 > 0:10:46# 'Tis his salad when 'tis raw
0:10:46 > 0:10:48# And his sweetmeat when 'tis dressed
0:10:48 > 0:10:50# Then a hoeing he may go
0:10:50 > 0:10:51# May go, may go
0:10:51 > 0:10:54# And his turnips he may hoe. #
0:10:54 > 0:10:56The turnip was a foreign vegetable
0:10:56 > 0:10:59that suggested George's German roots.
0:10:59 > 0:11:01Indeed singing the "Turnip Song"
0:11:01 > 0:11:04became a popular way to protest against the new King.
0:11:04 > 0:11:10The Jacobites, supporters of the would-be King James III, loved it!
0:11:12 > 0:11:16It wasn't the most auspicious of starts.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20And the balance of power between King and Parliament had shifted.
0:11:20 > 0:11:25Parliament thought that their new pet king ought to follow their rules
0:11:25 > 0:11:27and do what they wanted.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31The King was not even allowed to leave his new country without
0:11:31 > 0:11:34Parliament's permission!
0:11:34 > 0:11:37George I was a lot less wealthy
0:11:37 > 0:11:41than some of his contemporary European counterparts.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45He just didn't have the cash to splash on palaces like Versailles.
0:11:45 > 0:11:50Parliament gave him just £700,000 a year,
0:11:50 > 0:11:53not enough to run a really big court.
0:11:53 > 0:11:57George quickly realised he needed to work with Parliament
0:11:57 > 0:11:58and not against them.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02Some of his Stuart predecessors had been constantly head-to-head
0:12:02 > 0:12:06with Parliament in some very violent and destructive confrontations,
0:12:06 > 0:12:10insisting upon their divine right to rule,
0:12:10 > 0:12:13but George was much more conciliatory.
0:12:18 > 0:12:20He had to be.
0:12:20 > 0:12:22Parliament had given the throne to George
0:12:22 > 0:12:27and perhaps they would take it away from him.
0:12:27 > 0:12:31He was a monarch appointed not by God, but by men.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35Here at the Painted Hall in Greenwich
0:12:35 > 0:12:38is George's mission statement.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43It was his promise to the British to be the King they wanted.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49Desmond Shawe-Taylor is Surveyor of The Queen's Pictures
0:12:49 > 0:12:54and an experienced decoder of Georgian art.
0:12:54 > 0:12:56What was the aim of this big painting at the end?
0:12:56 > 0:13:01It is to show the arrival of the Hanoverians as the fulfilment
0:13:01 > 0:13:05of the destiny of the Glorious Revolution. I think that's the idea.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09So, we've got William and Mary up here and then Queen Anne.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13And then, on the end wall, on the high altar as it were,
0:13:13 > 0:13:15George I and his large family.
0:13:15 > 0:13:17They are a race, aren't they?
0:13:17 > 0:13:18There's a huge number of them.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22There are plenty of them, there are lots of progeny, exactly.
0:13:22 > 0:13:25And I think that's an important part of the Hanoverian offer, as it were.
0:13:25 > 0:13:27So, talk me through who they all are.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30It starts with Sophia, the matriarch of the dynasty.
0:13:30 > 0:13:34Absolutely, there's the Electress Sophia of Hanover.
0:13:34 > 0:13:36Her son, George I, sits on the throne,
0:13:36 > 0:13:40with his elbow firmly resting on the globe, designs for...
0:13:40 > 0:13:42- Expansion!- Yeah, a bit of expansion going on.
0:13:42 > 0:13:47And then his eldest son, George II, stands on his left-hand side.
0:13:47 > 0:13:50And is it an accident that they're facing away from each other?
0:13:50 > 0:13:52Well, it's certainly suggestive if it
0:13:52 > 0:13:55is an accident because they didn't get on.
0:13:55 > 0:13:57By contrast, the poor, old Queen Anne sitting up all lonely,
0:13:57 > 0:14:00in solitary splendour in the sky. No children at all.
0:14:00 > 0:14:05The artist has absolutely exploited that to give a sense of homely
0:14:05 > 0:14:07reassurance to this new dynasty.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10Particularly in the way that the grandchildren are presented,
0:14:10 > 0:14:13playing around on the very steps.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16As allegories of art and culture, yes,
0:14:16 > 0:14:22but also as the idea of a sort of uncomplicated domestic life.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25This is something which the new dynasty is bringing.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28What are the differences between the Stuarts
0:14:28 > 0:14:30and the Hanoverians in the way they're depicted then?
0:14:30 > 0:14:34Well, it may be just an accident of what space was available but
0:14:34 > 0:14:38it seems as if the Hanoverians are bringing us right down to earth.
0:14:38 > 0:14:42- With a bump, almost.- With a bump, exactly.- Here they are,
0:14:42 > 0:14:43face to face, shake hands!
0:14:43 > 0:14:47The illusion, instead of the idea that the vault is open to the sky
0:14:47 > 0:14:51and you just, sort of, look up and wonder. The illusion is that there is
0:14:51 > 0:14:55a series of steps leading up from the high table
0:14:55 > 0:14:58to the throne upon which George I sits.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00So, one can just walk up and meet him.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04And, in fact, the artist himself, James Thornhill, is showing
0:15:04 > 0:15:08himself standing on that step, almost like a footman pointing to the King.
0:15:08 > 0:15:12Saying, "Yes, go and talk to him...he's fine."
0:15:12 > 0:15:16So, it's not really a revolution, this, it's more of an evolution.
0:15:16 > 0:15:18I think that's what they would like us to think.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23This was a Georgian manifesto.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27The King wanted people to know that he was offering a very different
0:15:27 > 0:15:30proposition to those tyrannical,
0:15:30 > 0:15:34absolutist, pig-headed old Stuarts.
0:15:37 > 0:15:41George I set up home at Kensington Palace,
0:15:41 > 0:15:45and here on the stairs are portraits that he had painted
0:15:45 > 0:15:47of members of his household.
0:15:48 > 0:15:53Quite unusually, his lower servants are included.
0:15:53 > 0:15:57They were an international lot and this caused trouble at court.
0:15:59 > 0:16:03The most infamous example relates to the King's supposed
0:16:03 > 0:16:04pair of mistresses.
0:16:04 > 0:16:09The Elephant, the fat one, and the Maypole,
0:16:09 > 0:16:12the ever so slightly thinner one.
0:16:12 > 0:16:16The fat one, the Elephant, was in fact the King's illegitimate
0:16:16 > 0:16:22half-sister, and he just had the one skinny mistress, the Maypole.
0:16:22 > 0:16:26This reputation that George developed as a sort of deviant
0:16:26 > 0:16:31sexual athlete, in fact, came from the xenophobic British courtiers.
0:16:31 > 0:16:33The naughty Lord Chesterfield, for example,
0:16:33 > 0:16:37put it about that the King rejected no woman
0:16:37 > 0:16:41if she were "Very willing, very fat, and had great breasts!"
0:16:41 > 0:16:46With the consequence that candidates for the position of royal mistress
0:16:46 > 0:16:49strained and swelled to put on weight.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52Some succeeded and others burst!
0:16:53 > 0:16:56All of the foreigners close to the King
0:16:56 > 0:17:00came in for this sort of scurrilous sexual slander.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03Including the King's two Turkish valets, seen here.
0:17:03 > 0:17:07This is Mustafa, with the white beard, and Muhammad,
0:17:07 > 0:17:09in the blue cloak.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12Mustafa was very close to the King, he helped him
0:17:12 > 0:17:17to get dressed in the mornings and even treated his haemorrhoids.
0:17:17 > 0:17:19Of course, gossip grew up about this.
0:17:19 > 0:17:24People said that the King keeps his Turks for abominable uses.
0:17:26 > 0:17:31But these same aristocrats who criticised George behind his back
0:17:31 > 0:17:35were probably as keen as anybody to curry favour with the new regime.
0:17:38 > 0:17:41This even extended to copying George's taste.
0:17:41 > 0:17:46The new dynasty were early adopters of a brand-new architectural style.
0:17:46 > 0:17:50It was the complete opposite to the fancy French showiness
0:17:50 > 0:17:52loved by the Stuarts.
0:17:52 > 0:17:56We can see the prototype round the back of Hampton Court Palace.
0:17:56 > 0:17:58This looks like a little country house
0:17:58 > 0:18:00but it isn't, it's a new kitchen
0:18:00 > 0:18:04added to Hampton Court by George I for his German cooks.
0:18:04 > 0:18:06They made his German sausages in there.
0:18:08 > 0:18:12This is the first building in Britain in the Neo-Palladian style.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16It's very stark and simple and symmetrical,
0:18:16 > 0:18:18not much external decoration.
0:18:18 > 0:18:22And the secret of its success lies in the harmony of the proportions,
0:18:22 > 0:18:27the relationship between the horizontal and the vertical.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31This style would catch on and all over Georgian Britain you'd find
0:18:31 > 0:18:34country houses sprouting up that looked just like this.
0:18:37 > 0:18:41This was a new orderly and rational way of seeing the world.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45And you just need to look at cities like Bath and Edinburgh to see that
0:18:45 > 0:18:47it would catch on.
0:18:51 > 0:18:56The inspiration was the 16th century architect, Andrea Palladio,
0:18:56 > 0:18:59who had recreated the works of the ancient Romans.
0:18:59 > 0:19:03Neo-Palladianism was ancient Rome
0:19:03 > 0:19:07brought back to life with an Anglo-Saxon twist.
0:19:07 > 0:19:12The Georgians were saying, "Britons, we are the heirs to the power of
0:19:12 > 0:19:15"Rome and together we can build a new empire!"
0:19:17 > 0:19:21An important promoter of this new style of Neo-Palladianism was
0:19:21 > 0:19:25Lord Burlington, a member of the King's inner circle.
0:19:26 > 0:19:31Burlington's own house, at Chiswick, is a magnificent example,
0:19:31 > 0:19:34as I'm shown by the architectural historian Carole Fry.
0:19:37 > 0:19:41So, Carole, tell me why this is a Neo-Palladian room that we're in?
0:19:41 > 0:19:44Well, it picks up on Roman antique architecture.
0:19:44 > 0:19:48So, everything about this room is referenced to an antique source.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52Erm, for example, the coffered ceiling is a direct replica
0:19:52 > 0:19:55of the Basilica of Maxentius, in Rome.
0:19:55 > 0:20:00And we've got these very ornate pediments and yet the room remains
0:20:00 > 0:20:04very cold and spartan and very sparse,
0:20:04 > 0:20:08which was a trait of Neo-Palladian architecture.
0:20:08 > 0:20:12Burlington was a taste-maker and a trendsetter.
0:20:12 > 0:20:16Chiswick was a Neo-Palladian masterpiece, but there was something
0:20:16 > 0:20:19else going on under the Georgian veneer.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22There is some very questionable imagery in this building,
0:20:22 > 0:20:25treasonous imagery, which doesn't need to be here.
0:20:25 > 0:20:28Treasonous imagery is hidden within this building, you're saying?
0:20:28 > 0:20:29Yes, not hidden very well.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32It's there to be seen if you have eyes to see it.
0:20:32 > 0:20:35The painting up there of Charles I and his family,
0:20:35 > 0:20:39and he was a very great Stuart King and that's hanging over that
0:20:39 > 0:20:41doorway, directly in front of the door.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44So, as soon as visitors would come in,
0:20:44 > 0:20:46they would see the old Stuart King hanging there.
0:20:46 > 0:20:48Not very Hanoverian.
0:20:48 > 0:20:50They are the guys who were out of power, they'd been exiled.
0:20:50 > 0:20:52Absolutely!
0:20:52 > 0:20:54What's going on with the star that we're standing on?
0:20:54 > 0:20:58That's important because this is the Order of the Garter, which was an
0:20:58 > 0:21:01honour given out by Kings, and
0:21:01 > 0:21:03the fact that this is placed underneath this
0:21:03 > 0:21:05painting of the Stuart King, it is
0:21:05 > 0:21:08possible that Lord Burlington was alluding to the fact that
0:21:08 > 0:21:12actually he had been give the Order of the Garter by the exiled
0:21:12 > 0:21:14King, the would-be James III.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18Lord Burlington, he's right at the heart of the Hanoverian
0:21:18 > 0:21:21establishment, his wife works for Caroline, the princess.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24Isn't this just a mad conspiracy theory?
0:21:24 > 0:21:28It could be indeed but then one has to wonder why he did incorporate
0:21:28 > 0:21:31- these treasonous images into his building.- That's a very good point.
0:21:31 > 0:21:33I can show you some more if we head through into that room.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36Take me to your secret clues!
0:21:36 > 0:21:39As you can see up there, it's the 2nd Earl of Burlington,
0:21:39 > 0:21:41so the Earl's father.
0:21:41 > 0:21:43And he's sitting with two of his close cronies.
0:21:43 > 0:21:46And they're obviously having a toast,
0:21:46 > 0:21:47they've each got a glass of wine.
0:21:47 > 0:21:49The central figure is the Earl
0:21:49 > 0:21:52and he is holding a ring over the contents of his glass,
0:21:52 > 0:21:55which, literally, was a toast across the water.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58So, he was toasting Kings across the water.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01Which was none other than the exiled James III, as he would have been.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05- Who's living in France across the Channel.- Precisely.
0:22:05 > 0:22:07So, that is a piece of Jacobite propaganda,
0:22:07 > 0:22:09there's no doubt about it.
0:22:09 > 0:22:11Now, if what you're saying is right
0:22:11 > 0:22:14and people right at the heart of the Hanoverian establishment,
0:22:14 > 0:22:16living in New Palladian buildings
0:22:16 > 0:22:19could be secretly expressing treason through their architecture,
0:22:19 > 0:22:23what does that say about the stability of the Georgian monarchy?
0:22:23 > 0:22:24Well, it wasn't very stable.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27There was a lot of support for the Jacobites.
0:22:27 > 0:22:29Nobody knew which way it was going to go.
0:22:29 > 0:22:33In living memory, we had kings that had been ousted from the throne
0:22:33 > 0:22:34and new ones brought in.
0:22:34 > 0:22:37And we also had kings that had been returned from exile,
0:22:37 > 0:22:39like Charles II in 1660.
0:22:39 > 0:22:41So, it was an uncertain time.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44There was almost a civil war going on under the surface
0:22:44 > 0:22:45and no-one knew who to support.
0:22:50 > 0:22:551715 brought the first big crisis of George's reign -
0:22:55 > 0:22:57a rebellion by the Jacobites.
0:22:58 > 0:23:04They intended to replace George with his Catholic nemesis James III
0:23:04 > 0:23:08and were joined by some disgruntled Tory members of Parliament.
0:23:10 > 0:23:13One of them shouted out in a debate that George
0:23:13 > 0:23:15"could never love Britain".
0:23:17 > 0:23:21The rebellion was crushed, but it made George paranoid.
0:23:21 > 0:23:25He turfed out all Tories from his inner circle,
0:23:25 > 0:23:29and their rival Whigs were allowed to govern unchallenged.
0:23:29 > 0:23:33But there was still the problem of Jacobite propaganda -
0:23:33 > 0:23:36George the turnip-headed yokel.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41To counter this image of George as a turnip-head,
0:23:41 > 0:23:46his supporters described him as "George the Dragon Slayer".
0:23:46 > 0:23:50They associated him with the patron saint of England,
0:23:50 > 0:23:54the soldier saint, who ever since the Reformation
0:23:54 > 0:24:00had been shown slaying the Dragon of Popery or Roman Catholicism.
0:24:00 > 0:24:04Associating German George I with the very English Saint George
0:24:04 > 0:24:06did a lot to naturalise his foreignness.
0:24:08 > 0:24:13I think that this portrait of George is the most important of his reign.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19Because this image would pass through the hands
0:24:19 > 0:24:21of every single one of his subjects.
0:24:22 > 0:24:24It's being worked on here
0:24:24 > 0:24:28at the Royal Collection Trust's Conservation Studios.
0:24:31 > 0:24:34This portrait of George I was painted
0:24:34 > 0:24:37just seven months into his new reign.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40He's projecting quite a serious and sober image here,
0:24:40 > 0:24:42the main colour is grey,
0:24:42 > 0:24:47there isn't the sort of flamboyance of his Stuart predecessors.
0:24:47 > 0:24:50And the picture is in profile, and that's because it was used
0:24:50 > 0:24:54for the image on his coins - these little mini portraits of the King
0:24:54 > 0:24:57were the closest that most of his new subjects
0:24:57 > 0:24:59were ever going to get to him.
0:24:59 > 0:25:01Another important thing is that he's dressed in armour,
0:25:01 > 0:25:05he's saying, "I'm not afraid to fight for my rights!"
0:25:05 > 0:25:07And he'd spent most of the 1690s
0:25:07 > 0:25:12fighting for Christianity against the Muslim Ottoman Empire.
0:25:12 > 0:25:14This is an important part of his image -
0:25:14 > 0:25:17"Onward Christian Soldiers!"
0:25:18 > 0:25:21George had one more advantage -
0:25:21 > 0:25:23he was a man.
0:25:23 > 0:25:25Daniel Defoe was one of many writers
0:25:25 > 0:25:28who rejoiced that Queen Anne was gone.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31There was no longer a useless "woman on the throne",
0:25:31 > 0:25:35he wrote, "but a warrior king, able to wield the sword".
0:25:35 > 0:25:38And George also benefitted from the fact
0:25:38 > 0:25:42that people didn't know that much about him.
0:25:42 > 0:25:44Some people could say that George was a turnip-head
0:25:44 > 0:25:47and some people could say he was a dragon slayer,
0:25:47 > 0:25:51because he seemed to have a curious absence of personality.
0:25:51 > 0:25:53He was quite shy and retiring,
0:25:53 > 0:25:56he was difficult to get to know.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00But his sobriety and frugality - he was very careful with his money -
0:26:00 > 0:26:04did have a particular appeal, though, to a nation of shopkeepers.
0:26:08 > 0:26:13Britain was fast becoming the most commercially successful country in Europe.
0:26:13 > 0:26:17Daniel Defoe picked up on this when he wrote his book,
0:26:17 > 0:26:21A Tour Through The Whole Island Of Great Britain.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25It's a rough guide to Britain from Leith to London.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28Just one of the many markets Defoe describes
0:26:28 > 0:26:31is London's Leadenhall, which has
0:26:31 > 0:26:36"infinite provisions of all sorts, be it flesh, fish or fowl".
0:26:36 > 0:26:40Professor John Mullan believes that Defoe captures a period
0:26:40 > 0:26:44of the most rapid economic growth that Britain had never seen.
0:26:44 > 0:26:47What's the point of this survey of the markets
0:26:47 > 0:26:49and the tour around the whole country?
0:26:49 > 0:26:52Well, because he's trying to get a picture of the island
0:26:52 > 0:26:56and its history, but also of its activity -
0:26:56 > 0:26:57of the island NOW.
0:26:57 > 0:27:00And he's interested in Britain as a whole, isn't he? This is important.
0:27:00 > 0:27:02Absolutely.
0:27:02 > 0:27:06I mean, England and Scotland are unified in 1707
0:27:06 > 0:27:09and Defoe is a great fan of this project
0:27:09 > 0:27:13and he thinks that ability of people in different parts of Britain -
0:27:13 > 0:27:16notably Scotland and Wales - to come together
0:27:16 > 0:27:18into one commercially unified whole
0:27:18 > 0:27:22is a sign that the British are sort of modern and enlightened
0:27:22 > 0:27:26in a way that those Continentals aren't at all.
0:27:26 > 0:27:29And do you think that he was a supporter of the people at the top,
0:27:29 > 0:27:30the Hanoverian monarchs themselves?
0:27:30 > 0:27:33George I and George II, what did he think of them?
0:27:33 > 0:27:36I think he thought the Hanoverian monarchs were absolutely necessary,
0:27:36 > 0:27:40because they were there to stop us having a Catholic king
0:27:40 > 0:27:44who would be a tyrant and tell everybody what to do
0:27:44 > 0:27:51and would return us to a court-centred tyrannical state.
0:27:51 > 0:27:53So, they were important,
0:27:53 > 0:27:56but to fend things off rather than to DO things, actually.
0:27:56 > 0:27:58They were a safe-guard.
0:27:58 > 0:28:01So, in this very bustling, commercially successful Britain,
0:28:01 > 0:28:04where's the place for religion? What does he think about that?
0:28:04 > 0:28:09He says, "There is no Protestant and Catholic in a good bargain."
0:28:09 > 0:28:13In other words, he thinks that, in a proper commercial nation,
0:28:13 > 0:28:16religious toleration is much more likely.
0:28:16 > 0:28:19People won't worry about their differences,
0:28:19 > 0:28:21because the things that bind them together -
0:28:21 > 0:28:24the business of making money - is much more important.
0:28:24 > 0:28:26Those are important words, then.
0:28:26 > 0:28:29"There is no Protestant or Catholic in a good bargain."
0:28:29 > 0:28:33Yes, when you're doing the deal,
0:28:33 > 0:28:37you're not worrying about your petty differences.
0:28:37 > 0:28:43And he does believe that trade actually unifies a nation.
0:28:46 > 0:28:49This was a brave, new economic world
0:28:49 > 0:28:53where religious bigotry gave way to profit.
0:28:53 > 0:28:56George I was tolerant in religious matters,
0:28:56 > 0:29:00and saw economic progress as a solution to society's divisions.
0:29:01 > 0:29:04Britons didn't yet love their new ruler,
0:29:04 > 0:29:07but they were pretty pleased with the stability that he was providing.
0:29:07 > 0:29:12He was beginning to win grudging affection outside the palace gates.
0:29:12 > 0:29:16But the greater threat came from inside.
0:29:16 > 0:29:20He was the head of the most dysfunctional royal family since Henry VIII.
0:29:22 > 0:29:26Meet Sophia Dorothea. This is the ex-wife of George I,
0:29:26 > 0:29:29she's a very significant person in the royal family.
0:29:29 > 0:29:33She is, after all, the mother of the future king, George II,
0:29:33 > 0:29:37and yet this is the only contemporary portrait of her
0:29:37 > 0:29:39in the whole of the Royal Collection.
0:29:39 > 0:29:41There's a reason for that -
0:29:41 > 0:29:45she was talked about in whispers at the court of George I
0:29:45 > 0:29:47because of what she'd done.
0:29:50 > 0:29:53Back in Germany, before coming over to Britain,
0:29:53 > 0:29:59George had married his first cousin, Sophia Dorothea of Celle.
0:29:59 > 0:30:03But it wasn't a love match, it was a marriage of state,
0:30:03 > 0:30:05a strategic move by the House of Hanover
0:30:05 > 0:30:08to increase its territory.
0:30:09 > 0:30:14Sophia and George cared little for one another,
0:30:14 > 0:30:19but George DID care about his dignity and his reputation.
0:30:20 > 0:30:24Sophia started an adulterous relationship with a Swede,
0:30:24 > 0:30:28Count Konigsmark, who was serving in the Hanoverian Army.
0:30:28 > 0:30:32Unfortunately, they weren't discreet - their letters got out.
0:30:32 > 0:30:34Here's a sample from him to her.
0:30:34 > 0:30:39"What joy! What rapture have I tasted in your arms!
0:30:39 > 0:30:42"Ye Gods! What a night I spent!"
0:30:42 > 0:30:46With this sort of thing circulating through the drawing rooms of Europe,
0:30:46 > 0:30:48George was humiliated.
0:30:49 > 0:30:54A scandal was about to unfold which would inflame court gossip
0:30:54 > 0:30:57and spawn conspiracy theories for years to come.
0:30:59 > 0:31:01It all came to a head here at the family's palace
0:31:01 > 0:31:03on the River Leine.
0:31:03 > 0:31:06One night, here at the Leine Palace,
0:31:06 > 0:31:08we hear that Count Konigsmark
0:31:08 > 0:31:11was creeping through the corridors to Sophia's room
0:31:11 > 0:31:14when he was set upon by an assassin.
0:31:14 > 0:31:16And this is the spot in the river
0:31:16 > 0:31:19where the Swede's dead body is said to have been thrown.
0:31:23 > 0:31:26The culprits were never apprehended.
0:31:26 > 0:31:28The whole affair was hushed up
0:31:28 > 0:31:32and George never spoke about his estranged wife,
0:31:32 > 0:31:35her lover or the murder ever again.
0:31:36 > 0:31:40Count Kongismark's disappearance was wrapped up in mystery,
0:31:40 > 0:31:43but we do know exactly what happened next to Sophia -
0:31:43 > 0:31:47she was put on trial for the crime of adultery,
0:31:47 > 0:31:50she was divorced by her husband and his punishment
0:31:50 > 0:31:53was to lock her up in a remote German castle
0:31:53 > 0:31:54for the rest of her life.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57That sounds pretty bad, but there was worse.
0:31:57 > 0:32:00The couple had a son, another George,
0:32:00 > 0:32:04the future George II of Great Britain. He was only 11,
0:32:04 > 0:32:06Sophia was now parted from her son
0:32:06 > 0:32:09and he would never see his mother again.
0:32:11 > 0:32:15This left a massive gap in the young Prince George's life,
0:32:15 > 0:32:18for which he naturally blamed his father.
0:32:20 > 0:32:22It was this traumatic event that triggered
0:32:22 > 0:32:25what you might call an Oedipal conflict
0:32:25 > 0:32:28between George I and his son, Prince George.
0:32:30 > 0:32:34This feud would have a cataclysmic effect on the royal family
0:32:34 > 0:32:36for decades to come.
0:32:39 > 0:32:41Not even Prince George's marriage
0:32:41 > 0:32:44and the birth of his own children could heal the rift.
0:32:48 > 0:32:51The tension escalated here at St James's Palace over
0:32:51 > 0:32:54the birth of the prince's second son - yet another George.
0:32:58 > 0:33:02An embarrassing kerfuffle broke out at this baby's christening.
0:33:02 > 0:33:06The occasion was gate-crashed by a favoured courtier of the King.
0:33:06 > 0:33:09The prince was pretty annoyed at this and he said,
0:33:09 > 0:33:11"You are a rascal, I will find you!"
0:33:11 > 0:33:12The implication was,
0:33:12 > 0:33:15"I'll find you later to give you a piece of my mind."
0:33:15 > 0:33:19But, unfortunately, because of the prince's thick German accent,
0:33:19 > 0:33:24what the guy heard was, "You are a rascal, I will fight you!"
0:33:24 > 0:33:26He took it as an invitation to a duel,
0:33:26 > 0:33:29a dreadful breach of court etiquette.
0:33:29 > 0:33:33The King got to hear of this and he was furious.
0:33:33 > 0:33:36He decided to banish his son and his daughter-in-law,
0:33:36 > 0:33:41the Prince and Princess of Wales, right out of St James's Palace.
0:33:42 > 0:33:46All this was embarrassing for the prince and princess,
0:33:46 > 0:33:48but worse was to come.
0:33:48 > 0:33:52The King decided to keep behind their children,
0:33:52 > 0:33:57his grandchildren, as hostages to ensure future good behaviour.
0:33:57 > 0:33:59The Princess of Wales was in tears,
0:33:59 > 0:34:02as she said goodbye to her three little girls
0:34:02 > 0:34:04and to her newborn baby boy.
0:34:04 > 0:34:09This little boy soon fell sick and the Princess of Wales believed
0:34:09 > 0:34:12that the King gave him the wrong medical treatment.
0:34:12 > 0:34:14Shortly afterwards, he died.
0:34:14 > 0:34:17In the National Archives, there's an account of money paid
0:34:17 > 0:34:20for a pitiful little square of black velvet,
0:34:20 > 0:34:23just big enough to cover the coffin of a baby.
0:34:26 > 0:34:30Now, between father and son, there was all-out war.
0:34:33 > 0:34:35The courts of Europe could talk about nothing else
0:34:35 > 0:34:37but the British royal scandal.
0:34:40 > 0:34:45In London, the nobility began to take sides.
0:34:45 > 0:34:48Once the court had split into two factions,
0:34:48 > 0:34:51each developed its own separate social life.
0:34:51 > 0:34:55At the King's court, people tended to be older and more respectable,
0:34:55 > 0:34:57at the Prince of Wales's court,
0:34:57 > 0:35:00the courtiers were younger and more dynamic,
0:35:00 > 0:35:03and at this court, they had the better parties.
0:35:03 > 0:35:09At these parties, people had so much fun that some virgins conceived.
0:35:09 > 0:35:13Now, you might think that this was dangerous and destabilising,
0:35:13 > 0:35:17but there is an argument that this was a healthy development
0:35:17 > 0:35:19in a parliamentary democracy.
0:35:19 > 0:35:22Because if you wanted to criticise the King,
0:35:22 > 0:35:25you didn't have to take up arms or commit treason,
0:35:25 > 0:35:28you could just go to a different type of social event.
0:35:28 > 0:35:33The concept of His Majesty's Loyal Opposition had been born.
0:35:35 > 0:35:37The Prince of Wales's new court
0:35:37 > 0:35:40effectively became a home for rebels.
0:35:40 > 0:35:43After the Whigs won a great landslide victory
0:35:43 > 0:35:46in the elections of 1722, many of the defeated Tories
0:35:46 > 0:35:49went round the corner from the royal palace
0:35:49 > 0:35:53to Prince George's house in Leicester Square instead.
0:35:53 > 0:35:56It was a way of showing dissatisfaction with the King
0:35:56 > 0:35:59that wasn't quite as drastic
0:35:59 > 0:36:02as joining James III and the Jacobites.
0:36:02 > 0:36:05Quarrels like this, between loyal fathers and sons
0:36:05 > 0:36:07exacerbated by the politicians,
0:36:07 > 0:36:10would happen throughout the 18th century.
0:36:14 > 0:36:18This new vision of Britain, with its opposition and disputes -
0:36:18 > 0:36:20its "freedom of speech", if you like -
0:36:20 > 0:36:23appealed to one of the greatest thinkers in Europe.
0:36:25 > 0:36:28He went by the pen name of Voltaire
0:36:28 > 0:36:30and his fiery political views
0:36:30 > 0:36:34had already seen him persecuted by the French government.
0:36:36 > 0:36:39"How I love English boldness!"
0:36:39 > 0:36:43said Voltaire. "How I love those who say what they think!
0:36:43 > 0:36:47"Those who only half think are only half alive."
0:36:47 > 0:36:49Voltaire knew what he was talking about,
0:36:49 > 0:36:51because saying what he thought
0:36:51 > 0:36:53had got him into terrible trouble in France.
0:36:53 > 0:36:56So much so that he had been put in prison in the Bastille twice.
0:36:56 > 0:37:01So, in 1726, to seek asylum from all of this,
0:37:01 > 0:37:03he'd come over to England.
0:37:04 > 0:37:08What Voltaire found was a culture of tolerance.
0:37:08 > 0:37:10Indeed, in comparison to France,
0:37:10 > 0:37:13he labelled Britain as a "land of liberty".
0:37:15 > 0:37:17Professor Nicholas Cronk believes
0:37:17 > 0:37:20that George I's rather liberal view of kingship
0:37:20 > 0:37:24allowed writers like Voltaire to thrive.
0:37:25 > 0:37:28When Voltaire came to England, then, things were very different.
0:37:28 > 0:37:32- What differences did you notice? - In France, under the Ancien Regime,
0:37:32 > 0:37:34for the most part, writers lived through patronage.
0:37:34 > 0:37:37So, you find an aristocrat, maybe the king,
0:37:37 > 0:37:40who gives you a pension and you dedicate your works...
0:37:40 > 0:37:43- You suck up, basically. - You suck up, basically!
0:37:43 > 0:37:47When Voltaire comes to England, what he finds is a society
0:37:47 > 0:37:51where the court is much less all-powerful than it is in France.
0:37:51 > 0:37:55It doesn't have the same glitz or prestige, but at the same time,
0:37:55 > 0:37:58there are more centres of power outside the court.
0:37:58 > 0:38:02There is a political debate between the two Houses of Parliament
0:38:02 > 0:38:05and the King, so that's not like the French system.
0:38:05 > 0:38:08Voltaire later writes that, "I think and I write like an Englishman."
0:38:08 > 0:38:11This was clearly an important time for him.
0:38:11 > 0:38:13Voltaire comes to London and finds that there are Catholics
0:38:13 > 0:38:15and Jews, as well as Anglicans,
0:38:15 > 0:38:18so there is, of course, greater tolerance than there is in France.
0:38:18 > 0:38:19The idea that the English were free
0:38:19 > 0:38:21was something that they were very pleased about,
0:38:21 > 0:38:23so to some extent, Voltaire's picked this up
0:38:23 > 0:38:25from the contemporary English press.
0:38:25 > 0:38:29You find it in The Spectator or The Craftsman or whatever.
0:38:29 > 0:38:30We'd like to think he's very grand
0:38:30 > 0:38:33about the big, noble ideals of the freedom of mankind.
0:38:33 > 0:38:36I think, for him, it's also about freedom of the writer.
0:38:36 > 0:38:39He just sees that there is a literary space in England,
0:38:39 > 0:38:43partly because of these different forms of publication
0:38:43 > 0:38:46where he thinks a writer can express himself differently
0:38:46 > 0:38:48from a writer in France who is much more
0:38:48 > 0:38:50tied into how things are at court.
0:38:50 > 0:38:54What's the best-known work that Voltaire produced during this time in England?
0:38:54 > 0:38:56He's most famous for the book that, in French,
0:38:56 > 0:38:59is called The Lettres Philosophique - "The Philosophical Letters".
0:38:59 > 0:39:03In England, it was published as The Letters Concerning The English Nation.
0:39:03 > 0:39:07This is a book where he talks about English liberty, he talks about English religions,
0:39:07 > 0:39:09he talks about English toleration of different religions
0:39:09 > 0:39:12in a way that is quite flattering to the English,
0:39:12 > 0:39:17and the English liked it cos they liked being praised by a foreigner.
0:39:17 > 0:39:20So, it has a rather extraordinary parallel career.
0:39:20 > 0:39:22The Lettres Philosophique was condemned and burnt
0:39:22 > 0:39:25in the Paris law courts and Voltaire was forbidden
0:39:25 > 0:39:28from ever using the title again in any publication.
0:39:28 > 0:39:29Whereas, in England,
0:39:29 > 0:39:32the Letters On The English Nation is republished in Edinburgh
0:39:32 > 0:39:36and Dublin and Glasgow and it's an 18th-century British best-seller.
0:39:37 > 0:39:41Voltaire wrote that the English were the only people on Earth
0:39:41 > 0:39:44who'd been able to limit the power of kings
0:39:44 > 0:39:47by establishing wise government.
0:39:47 > 0:39:49This meant that all over Europe,
0:39:49 > 0:39:54George I got a reputation as a protector of progressive views.
0:39:55 > 0:39:58But, in Britain, his reputation had taken a knock
0:39:58 > 0:40:00after the christening quarrel.
0:40:01 > 0:40:05The King's supporters were defecting to the Prince of Wales's court,
0:40:05 > 0:40:08and he had to try to win them back.
0:40:08 > 0:40:13He embarked on a plan to redecorate Kensington Palace.
0:40:13 > 0:40:15He hoped there to host parties
0:40:15 > 0:40:19that would be THE most spectacular in London.
0:40:22 > 0:40:24Now, this room is pretty sensational,
0:40:24 > 0:40:26take a look at that ceiling!
0:40:39 > 0:40:43This is the Cupola Room. The commission for it was fought over
0:40:43 > 0:40:46between designers of the old guard,
0:40:46 > 0:40:48still working in the 17th-century style,
0:40:48 > 0:40:53and adopters of the new Georgian look that would define the future.
0:40:53 > 0:40:57Everybody expected that this plum royal commission
0:40:57 > 0:41:00would go to Sir James Thornhill,
0:41:00 > 0:41:03who'd been mopping up all the work of this type -
0:41:03 > 0:41:06but Thornhill had got a bit complacent
0:41:06 > 0:41:08and the King liked a bargain.
0:41:08 > 0:41:12Thornhill's estimate was £800 - an awful lot of money.
0:41:12 > 0:41:16So, the King was persuaded to look at a young, new painter instead -
0:41:16 > 0:41:19William Kent, fresh back from Rome.
0:41:19 > 0:41:22He wanted the job, his estimate was half of Thornhill's.
0:41:24 > 0:41:26William Kent got the commission
0:41:26 > 0:41:28and this was what he produced.
0:41:28 > 0:41:31Kent is playing with perspective,
0:41:31 > 0:41:36turning this room into a space seemingly twice as tall.
0:41:36 > 0:41:39He uses paint to emulate architecture.
0:41:40 > 0:41:44But his more traditional colleagues found it garish and tasteless.
0:41:46 > 0:41:49It's not surprising that there was a bit of carping and nay-saying
0:41:49 > 0:41:51when this room was first completed
0:41:51 > 0:41:54because the British just weren't used to this sort of thing.
0:41:54 > 0:41:58It's like a completely fake Roman palace interior
0:41:58 > 0:42:00made out of wood and paint
0:42:00 > 0:42:04and William Kent was doing something entirely new here.
0:42:07 > 0:42:11Kensington Palace would be Kent's breakthrough in Britain.
0:42:11 > 0:42:16Rufus Bird is Deputy Surveyor of The Queen's Works of Art
0:42:16 > 0:42:20and believes that Kent was the first interior designer.
0:42:20 > 0:42:24He wanted to get involved in every single aspect.
0:42:24 > 0:42:27He was a complete... Sort of attention to detail in every corner,
0:42:27 > 0:42:31so, if furniture was going to go into interiors that he designed,
0:42:31 > 0:42:34he wanted to make sure that it harmonised perfectly.
0:42:34 > 0:42:37- A bit of a control freak? - A little bit, perhaps, yeah.
0:42:37 > 0:42:38And, just looking at it,
0:42:38 > 0:42:41what are the visual clues that this is a Kent design?
0:42:41 > 0:42:45Firstly, you have this very obvious Roman symbolism.
0:42:45 > 0:42:48The particular elements are the fish scales
0:42:48 > 0:42:50which you see on the panels of the legs
0:42:50 > 0:42:53and the fish scales are associated with dolphins in the 18th century,
0:42:53 > 0:42:57and dolphins drew the shell chariot of Venus
0:42:57 > 0:42:59and there is this large shell in the centre here
0:42:59 > 0:43:02and there is another shell at the top of the back there.
0:43:02 > 0:43:06Why is William Kent making all of these classical references?
0:43:06 > 0:43:09In the early 18th century, Kent had been to Italy,
0:43:09 > 0:43:13and came back filled with the desire
0:43:13 > 0:43:15to bring Italy and Rome
0:43:15 > 0:43:19and the patterns associated with Ancient Rome into Britain,
0:43:19 > 0:43:22and so, this is a major change that we see.
0:43:22 > 0:43:26So, France in the 17th century had been this dominant artistic leader
0:43:26 > 0:43:29if you like, and then, in the 18th century,
0:43:29 > 0:43:31it's Kent and his supporters
0:43:31 > 0:43:33who really want to bring Italy into England.
0:43:33 > 0:43:36Would you describe it as almost like a bit of stage scenery?
0:43:36 > 0:43:40- Not intended for use, but to look good.- Exactly. That's right, yeah.
0:43:40 > 0:43:43And so often, court functions, particularly at this date,
0:43:43 > 0:43:46are great theatrical events
0:43:46 > 0:43:48and the spectacle was all.
0:43:48 > 0:43:52The furnishing of the rooms was just as important as what people wore
0:43:52 > 0:43:54and how they populated those spaces.
0:43:56 > 0:44:02It was Kent who heralded in an entirely new kind of Georgian interior
0:44:02 > 0:44:07and helped make George I's parties a glamorous success.
0:44:07 > 0:44:10Kent's triumphant progress up the social ladder
0:44:10 > 0:44:14from humble sign-painter to royal decorator
0:44:14 > 0:44:18reveals what was now possible in terms of social mobility in Britain.
0:44:23 > 0:44:27And around this time, George I decided to celebrate
0:44:27 > 0:44:32his own meteoric rise by constructing a scientific marvel!
0:44:36 > 0:44:39It was back in Hanover that George I spent a huge amount of money
0:44:39 > 0:44:44on the most technologically ambitious project of his reign.
0:44:44 > 0:44:46When this fountain was first switched on,
0:44:46 > 0:44:49it was the tallest fountain in Europe.
0:44:49 > 0:44:51It was based on ideas of Liebnitz
0:44:51 > 0:44:55and it spurts up 35 metres into the air.
0:44:55 > 0:44:57It isn't just a toy,
0:44:57 > 0:44:59the fountain is actually an analogy
0:44:59 > 0:45:02for the rise of the House of Hanover.
0:45:02 > 0:45:04They, too, spurted up, defying gravity.
0:45:04 > 0:45:08They went from being a second-rate princely house
0:45:08 > 0:45:11to being one of the most important dynasties in Europe.
0:45:14 > 0:45:17George fancied himself as an enlightened monarch
0:45:17 > 0:45:19interested in learning and science.
0:45:20 > 0:45:24And he now turned his attention to the British economy.
0:45:25 > 0:45:28He needed to deal with the problem of the national debt
0:45:28 > 0:45:31and his administration took a gamble
0:45:31 > 0:45:35on a new emerging phenomenon - the stock market.
0:45:35 > 0:45:37They sold the nation's debt
0:45:37 > 0:45:41to a private business, the South Sea Company,
0:45:41 > 0:45:43in exchange for a monopoly
0:45:43 > 0:45:47in the fledgling British slave trade.
0:45:47 > 0:45:49If that wasn't dodgy enough,
0:45:49 > 0:45:51the company then issued shares
0:45:51 > 0:45:53and the British were such big fans of gambling
0:45:53 > 0:45:57that they bought in their thousands.
0:45:57 > 0:46:01By 1720, this financial revolution was well under way,
0:46:01 > 0:46:06and I think of this activity of share trading as very characteristic
0:46:06 > 0:46:09of this early Georgian period.
0:46:09 > 0:46:11People now realised that you could make money
0:46:11 > 0:46:14out of servicing the debts of other people.
0:46:14 > 0:46:16Doesn't that sound familiar?
0:46:18 > 0:46:22George was about to plunge Britain into financial chaos.
0:46:22 > 0:46:25The whole affair became known as the South Sea Bubble.
0:46:28 > 0:46:31Shares prices rose so quickly that the company
0:46:31 > 0:46:35was worth £2.5 trillion in today's money.
0:46:35 > 0:46:38There were even playing cards produced
0:46:38 > 0:46:42that charted this frenzy of speculation.
0:46:42 > 0:46:45Dr Helen Paul is an economic historian
0:46:45 > 0:46:50who has investigated the boom and bust of the South Sea Company.
0:46:50 > 0:46:55What was the atmosphere like in 1720 as the prices began to rise?
0:46:55 > 0:46:57The prices went up far too high to be sustainable
0:46:57 > 0:47:00and once you realise that you've got naive investors coming in,
0:47:00 > 0:47:04other people try to buy the same shares to sell out to them,
0:47:04 > 0:47:06but you've also got a lot of money coming in from Paris
0:47:06 > 0:47:09where the stock market recently crashed,
0:47:09 > 0:47:12trying to find a safe haven. That pushes up prices.
0:47:12 > 0:47:14Eventually, the bubble has to burst
0:47:14 > 0:47:18and when the smart money leaves, everyone else panics.
0:47:18 > 0:47:21So, this man has lost money in the company,
0:47:21 > 0:47:24he's actually thrown himself from the window here.
0:47:24 > 0:47:27"A ruined South Sea Jobber of renown
0:47:27 > 0:47:30"who leaps from a lofty window, headlong down."
0:47:30 > 0:47:32Oh, dear, and it's saying,
0:47:32 > 0:47:35"South Sea stock! Oh, those villains!"
0:47:35 > 0:47:38There was a huge amount of outcry.
0:47:38 > 0:47:41People were called the "South Sea sufferers".
0:47:41 > 0:47:44There was a lot of debate about whether people who gained money
0:47:44 > 0:47:47should be forced to hand it back.
0:47:47 > 0:47:50But, people who gained money didn't say very much about it.
0:47:50 > 0:47:52Is it the beginning of a sort of fear,
0:47:52 > 0:47:55a tarnishing of the image of stock market?
0:47:55 > 0:47:58There'd always been the sense that finance was somehow dirty.
0:47:58 > 0:48:00Land was so important,
0:48:00 > 0:48:03these people were not necessarily the landed class,
0:48:03 > 0:48:07so there'd always been this sense of grubbiness about it.
0:48:07 > 0:48:11And there was a lot of criticism of financiers per se,
0:48:11 > 0:48:13many of whom were assumed to be foreigners and Jews,
0:48:13 > 0:48:17Catholics and other alleged undesirables.
0:48:17 > 0:48:21So, this card here shows a Jewish broker
0:48:21 > 0:48:25being forcibly baptised in a horse pond.
0:48:25 > 0:48:27"Drown the Jewish dog!"
0:48:27 > 0:48:30- There he goes, into the pond. - This is just one card.
0:48:30 > 0:48:32There are several that are anti-Semetic.
0:48:32 > 0:48:35And it says here, "All the Jews deserve as much."
0:48:35 > 0:48:37So, blame the Jews for this particular bubble?
0:48:37 > 0:48:41That's right, but Jewish people have been associated
0:48:41 > 0:48:44with usury or finance for many centuries.
0:48:47 > 0:48:50This really unpleasant anti-Semitism
0:48:50 > 0:48:54exposed the holes in Georgian Britain's facade
0:48:54 > 0:48:57as a land of liberty and tolerance.
0:48:57 > 0:49:01To make things worse, the corruption of the South Sea scandal
0:49:01 > 0:49:05went right to the heart of Government.
0:49:05 > 0:49:08Backhanders were paid to politicians
0:49:08 > 0:49:10and insider trading was rife.
0:49:15 > 0:49:20When the bubble burst, George had to call in a fixer.
0:49:20 > 0:49:24He chose his closest political ally, Robert Walpole.
0:49:28 > 0:49:33Having sold his shares at the top of the market, though, people thought
0:49:33 > 0:49:37that Walpole, too, had his snout in the South Sea trough.
0:49:38 > 0:49:40This is Change Alley in the city
0:49:40 > 0:49:42and it was in the coffee houses along here
0:49:42 > 0:49:47that the wheeling and the dealing of the South Sea Bubble took place.
0:49:47 > 0:49:50When it burst, they were full of panic and fear,
0:49:50 > 0:49:54and now, up pops Robert Walpole to limit the damage.
0:49:54 > 0:49:58He was put in charge of an investigation into the crisis
0:49:58 > 0:50:00but it didn't really go anywhere.
0:50:00 > 0:50:03It was thought that he protected prominent people
0:50:03 > 0:50:06from charges of bribery and corruption
0:50:06 > 0:50:10and because he'd shielded them from the consequences of their actions,
0:50:10 > 0:50:13people called him the "Screen Master General".
0:50:17 > 0:50:21There was a growing feeling that, once again, the elite had won,
0:50:21 > 0:50:25but Walpole didn't get off entirely scot-free.
0:50:25 > 0:50:29There was a new force at work in Georgian society - satire.
0:50:32 > 0:50:36One of the Georgian age's most notorious images
0:50:36 > 0:50:38is Walpole's huge naked bottom
0:50:38 > 0:50:41blocking the way into the Treasury.
0:50:41 > 0:50:44To get on in 18th-century government,
0:50:44 > 0:50:46this is what you had to kiss.
0:50:48 > 0:50:51These satirists used lewd images and language
0:50:51 > 0:50:53to skewer hypocrisy,
0:50:53 > 0:50:58from a diving competition into the sewers of Fleet Street
0:50:58 > 0:51:02to a giant weeing on the royal palace.
0:51:02 > 0:51:05They were reaping the benefits of a very strange thing
0:51:05 > 0:51:09that had happened at the end of the previous century.
0:51:09 > 0:51:12According to contemporary satirist Martin Rowson,
0:51:12 > 0:51:16parliament had inadvertently made this satire boom possible.
0:51:17 > 0:51:20Could you print anything you wanted?
0:51:20 > 0:51:22It's, I think, one of the most beautiful moments
0:51:22 > 0:51:25certainly in British and probably in world history,
0:51:25 > 0:51:27because it was an accident.
0:51:27 > 0:51:30If they were meant to be renewing the Licensing Act
0:51:30 > 0:51:34which was essentially press censorship, the Royal Licence.
0:51:34 > 0:51:37And somebody forgot to put it in the parliamentary timetable.
0:51:37 > 0:51:39Suddenly, Pandora's Box was opened.
0:51:39 > 0:51:43- You could print anything you wanted? - You could print anything you wanted.
0:51:43 > 0:51:49There was a sudden eruption of freedom of speech and of satire.
0:51:49 > 0:51:53And whereas people had previously been writing satires on behalf of rich and powerful men
0:51:53 > 0:51:56to attack other rich and powerful men - which meant that they had a protector -
0:51:56 > 0:52:00now, they could write whatever they wanted.
0:52:00 > 0:52:03So, you could now print all kinds of naughty stuff with impunity?
0:52:03 > 0:52:08It meant suddenly the people were liberated to satirise everything.
0:52:08 > 0:52:11And after Leveson last year when people were saying,
0:52:11 > 0:52:14"We fought! We fought for centuries for this freedom of the press!"
0:52:14 > 0:52:16No, we didn't! It just happened by mistake
0:52:16 > 0:52:19because somebody forgot to put it in the parliamentary timetables.
0:52:19 > 0:52:24And it's what led to our understanding in the 18th century.
0:52:24 > 0:52:30It's not necessarily been the age of George I, George II, George III,
0:52:30 > 0:52:34but the age of Swift and Pope and Hogarth,
0:52:34 > 0:52:36and later, Gillray and Sterne.
0:52:36 > 0:52:40There is this open sewer of satire running through the Enlightenment.
0:52:40 > 0:52:43How popular was this? Who did it appeal to?
0:52:43 > 0:52:45It's a weird relationship,
0:52:45 > 0:52:49because, on the one hand, this is scurrilous, filthy stuff,
0:52:49 > 0:52:52but on the other hand, the people who bought Gillray's stuff
0:52:52 > 0:52:55and who bought Hogarth's stuff were the people who were being satirised.
0:52:55 > 0:52:57They understood it was part of the joke.
0:52:59 > 0:53:04Satire allowed people to criticise the highest echelons of society
0:53:04 > 0:53:07without getting thrown into the Tower Of London.
0:53:07 > 0:53:10But the satirists upped the ante again -
0:53:10 > 0:53:13when writers such as Jonathan Swift were bold enough
0:53:13 > 0:53:17to have a go at the monarchy itself.
0:53:17 > 0:53:19In Gulliver's Travels,
0:53:19 > 0:53:23Swift has his main character, Lemuel Gulliver,
0:53:23 > 0:53:25wash up on the island of Lilliput.
0:53:25 > 0:53:28Here, he found a tiny royal court
0:53:28 > 0:53:32where everyone is obsessed with climbing the greasy pole.
0:53:34 > 0:53:37How did Swift satirise the monarchy?
0:53:37 > 0:53:39Gulliver's Travels is a prolonged satire
0:53:39 > 0:53:41on the whole notion of courts.
0:53:41 > 0:53:43So, there's all this stuff about
0:53:43 > 0:53:46people having to jump over higher sticks to get preferment,
0:53:46 > 0:53:50courtiers having to do this rope dance on a tightrope.
0:53:52 > 0:53:55The levels of corruption, the levels of venality...
0:53:57 > 0:54:01It's not that difficult a satire to say these people who thought
0:54:01 > 0:54:04they were such great men are really little tiny things.
0:54:04 > 0:54:06And, of course, all the people in George I's court
0:54:06 > 0:54:08recognised what it was all about.
0:54:08 > 0:54:11Did these people not mind Jonathan Swift laughing at them?
0:54:11 > 0:54:12It is part of the game.
0:54:12 > 0:54:16If you're in a position of power over your fellow citizens
0:54:16 > 0:54:18and you can't take a joke about yourself,
0:54:18 > 0:54:22then, really, you're not quite the thing, you're not quite right,
0:54:22 > 0:54:23because you should recognise
0:54:23 > 0:54:27that your position is inherently ludicrous.
0:54:30 > 0:54:34All this satire was so popular that the King and the politicians
0:54:34 > 0:54:36had to take it took it on the chin.
0:54:36 > 0:54:40Better to laugh along, pretending you were in on the joke.
0:54:41 > 0:54:44But it was Robert Walpole, not the King,
0:54:44 > 0:54:47who was the greatest target of fun.
0:54:47 > 0:54:52George I often just wasn't there. He'd gone back to Germany.
0:54:55 > 0:54:59Here's George I on a happy hunting holiday back in Hanover.
0:54:59 > 0:55:01These are his ancestral forests.
0:55:01 > 0:55:04You get the sense that this is where he thinks he really belongs
0:55:04 > 0:55:07and he's brought an awful lot of people with him.
0:55:07 > 0:55:10You can see here the whole of his German household,
0:55:10 > 0:55:13there are Mustafa and Muhammad, his valets,
0:55:13 > 0:55:18but he's also brought with him some prominent British politicians.
0:55:18 > 0:55:21Milord Townsend, as it says here, he was a top Whig,
0:55:21 > 0:55:25and here we have Milady Townsend - he's brought his wife with him.
0:55:25 > 0:55:29And this is a real problem - when the King comes over to Germany
0:55:29 > 0:55:30and he brings all these people,
0:55:30 > 0:55:33it's like he sucks all the life out of the British politics.
0:55:33 > 0:55:36Nothing can happen in London without him
0:55:36 > 0:55:39and something of a power vacuum opens up.
0:55:45 > 0:55:49And when the King's away, Walpole will play.
0:55:49 > 0:55:52Many of George's ministers were strongly opposed
0:55:52 > 0:55:55to his frequent visits to Hanover
0:55:55 > 0:55:58but Walpole saw them as an opportunity.
0:55:58 > 0:56:02This was the origin of modern government.
0:56:02 > 0:56:06When the King was away in Germany, his ministers got into the habit
0:56:06 > 0:56:11of meeting by themselves without him, making autonomous decisions.
0:56:11 > 0:56:14These meetings of the government ministers were chaired by -
0:56:14 > 0:56:17who else? - Sir Robert Walpole.
0:56:17 > 0:56:19He was first amongst the equals
0:56:19 > 0:56:23and he came up with the concept of cabinet solidarity.
0:56:23 > 0:56:25Once they'd all agreed on a policy,
0:56:25 > 0:56:29they had to defend it in public or else resign.
0:56:29 > 0:56:32This is the essence of the system of cabinet government
0:56:32 > 0:56:33that we still have today.
0:56:37 > 0:56:41George had always kept his Hanover base.
0:56:41 > 0:56:45I wonder if, deep down, he was worried that Parliament
0:56:45 > 0:56:48would change their mind and take away his throne.
0:56:49 > 0:56:51He needn't have worried.
0:56:51 > 0:56:55For the century before his reign, Britain had been eating itself,
0:56:55 > 0:56:57there had been civil wars
0:56:57 > 0:57:00and revolutions and disputes about inheritance.
0:57:01 > 0:57:04With George I, though, came stability,
0:57:04 > 0:57:08freedom of speech and modern government.
0:57:08 > 0:57:12George may not have been the sharpest or brightest
0:57:12 > 0:57:14or most vigorous king,
0:57:14 > 0:57:16but thanks to his benign rule,
0:57:16 > 0:57:19Britain was on the way to becoming truly great.
0:57:22 > 0:57:27For himself, though, George still called Hanover home.
0:57:28 > 0:57:32Indeed, he was travelling back here at the very moment of his death.
0:57:33 > 0:57:36George's body ended up in this mausoleum,
0:57:36 > 0:57:39overlooking his beloved Palace of Herrenhausen,
0:57:39 > 0:57:43the place he never really wanted to leave.
0:57:43 > 0:57:46Some of George's British subjects called him "Lucky George",
0:57:46 > 0:57:50this man who had so unexpectedly inherited their throne.
0:57:50 > 0:57:52But I think of him as "Unlucky George".
0:57:52 > 0:57:55He never really wanted to leave Hanover,
0:57:55 > 0:57:57he was deeply unlucky in his personal life
0:57:57 > 0:58:01with his divorce and his terrible relationship with his son.
0:58:01 > 0:58:03The history books have overlooked him
0:58:03 > 0:58:05because he wasn't showy, he had no charisma,
0:58:05 > 0:58:10but sometimes it's the quiet ones that you've got to watch.
0:58:10 > 0:58:15I think I'd say not so much "Lucky George", but "Lucky Britain".
0:58:17 > 0:58:21Next time, as their personal divisions deepen,
0:58:21 > 0:58:24the royal family have to deal with a new force
0:58:24 > 0:58:28that's reshaping Britain - the power of the public.
0:58:28 > 0:58:33This is a very dangerous moment for the Hanoverian royal family.
0:58:33 > 0:58:36If any one of them were to make a mistake,
0:58:36 > 0:58:39it could break the monarchy.