Count of Holland (from 1337) and Count of Hainault (as William II), the son of William III. He married Joanna, the daughter of John III of Brabant. He could not prevent the French invading Hainault, so ended the English alliance and sided with France. He went to Jerusalem and crusaded against the Moors and Easterners. His candidate, Jan van Arkel, was installed as Bishop of Utrecht, but Jan later turned against him, causing a war between Holland and Utrecht. He was killed campaigning against the Frisians when his army was defeated at Stavoren.
| King William IV | ||
|---|---|---|
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King of the United Kingdom King of Hanover |
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| Reign | 26 June 1830-20 June 1837 | |
| Born | 21 August 1765 | |
| Buckingham House, London | ||
| Died | 20 June 1837 | |
| Windsor Castle, Berkshire | ||
| Predecessor | George IV | |
| Successor | Victoria | |
| Consort | Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen | |
| Issue |
Princess Charlotte of Clarence Princess Elizabeth of Clarence |
|
| Royal House | Hanover | |
| Father | George III | |
| Mother | Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz | |
William IV (William Henry) (21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom and of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death. William, the third son of King George III and younger brother and successor of King George IV, was the penultimate monarch of the House of Hanover. The most important reform legislation of William IV's reign was the Reform Act 1832, which refashioned the British electoral system. William did not meddle in politics as much as either his brother or his father, though he did prove to be the last monarch to appoint a Prime Minister contrary to the will of Parliament (in 1834).
Early life
William was born on 21 August 1765 at Buckingham House, the son of King George III and Queen Charlotte. While the prince was there, George Washington approved a plot to kidnap the prince, writing "The spirit of enterprise so conspicuous in your plan for surprising in their quarters and bringing off the Prince William Henry and Admiral Digby merits applause, and you have my authority to make the attempt in any manner, and at such a time, as your judgment may direct.
William became a Lieutenant in 1785 and a Captain the following year. Horatio Nelson wrote of William, "In his professional line, he is superior to two-thirds, I am sure, of the [Naval] list;
William sought to be made a Duke like his elder brothers, and to receive a similar Parliamentary grant; To put pressure on him, William threatened to run for the House of Commons for the constituency of Totnes in Devon.
Duke of Clarence
The newly created Duke ceased his active service in the Royal Navy in 1790.
Clarence's elder brother, the Prince of Wales, had been Prince Regent since 1811 because of the mental illness of their father, King George III. In 1820, the king died, leaving the Crown to the Prince Regent, who became King George IV. As the new King was estranged from his wife and had no surviving legitimate children, the Duke of Clarence was second in the line of succession to the Throne, preceded by his brother, Frederick, Duke of York. William's biographer, Phillip Ziegler, points out that holding the office permitted William to make mistakes and learn from them--a process that might have been far more costly had he done so as King. width: 240px;" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0">
| British Royalty |
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| House of Hanover |
| William IV |
| Princess Charlotte of Clarence |
| Princess Elizabeth of Clarence |
When George IV died in 1830 without surviving legitimate issue, the Duke of Clarence ascended the Throne, aged 64, as William IV - the oldest man ever to assume the throne. Unlike his extravagant brother, William was unassuming, discouraging pomp and ceremony. In contrast to George IV, who tended to spend most of his time in Windsor Castle, William was known, especially early in his reign, to walk, unaccompanied, through London or Brighton.
At the beginning of William IV's reign, Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington was Prime Minister.
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As monarch, William IV played an important role in the Reform Crisis. When the House of Commons defeated the First Reform Bill in 1831, Lord Grey's ministry urged an immediate dissolution of Parliament and a new general election. At first, William hesitated to exercise the power to dissolve Parliament, elections having just been held the year before. Regarding the Opposition's motion as an attack on his power, William IV went in person to the House of Lords, where debate on the Address was raging, and prorogued Parliament. Frustrated by the Lords' recalcitrance, Grey suggested that the King "swamp" the House of Lords by creating a sufficient number of new peers to ensure the passage of the Reform Bill.
When William IV refused, citing the difficulties with a permanent expansion of the Peerage, Grey and his fellow ministers resigned. Parliament proceeded to other reforms, including the abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire and the restriction of child labour, but William IV had little to do with their passage.
Later life
For the remainder of his reign, William interfered actively in politics only once, in 1834; one of the Whigs in his cabinet, William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, replaced him.
In October 1834, the Leader of the House of Commons and Chancellor of the Exchequer, John Charles Spencer, Viscount Althorp, inherited a peerage, thus removing him from the House of Commons to the Lords. All agreed that this required a partial reconstruction of the Cabinet, but William IV claimed that the ministry had been weakened beyond repair.
With Lord Melbourne gone, William IV chose to entrust power to a Tory, Sir Robert Peel. Lord Melbourne was restored to the Prime Minister's office, remaining there for the rest of William's reign.
While William was King of Hanover as well as the United Kingdom, he never visited Hanover as King. The constitution was revoked after William's death by the new king, William's brother, HRH Prince Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland on the grounds that his consent, as heir presumptive to the Hanoverian throne, had not been asked.
William IV died from heart failure in 1837 in Windsor Castle, where he was buried. thus, the Hanoverian Crown went to William IV's brother, HRH Prince Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland. William's death thus ended the personal union of Britain and Hanover, which had persisted since 1714. Although William IV had no legitimate children, and is, therefore, not the direct ancestor of the later monarchs of the United Kingdom, he has many descendants through his illegitimate family with Mrs Jordan, including the man elected as leader of the Conservative Party in 2005, David Cameron, Adam Hart-Davis and Oliver Reed.
Titles, styles, honours and arms
Titles
1765-1770: His Royal Highness The Prince William 1770-1782: His Royal Highness The Prince William, KT 1782-1789: His Royal Highness The Prince William, KG, KT 1789-1830: His Royal Highness The Duke of Clarence and St Andrews, KG, KT 1830-1837: His Majesty The KingStyles
William's official style while King was, "William the Fourth, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith".
Issue
The legitimate issue of William IV were born, and died, before his accession to the throne.
| Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Princess Charlotte of Clarence | 21 March 1819 | 21 March 1819 | |
| Princess Elizabeth of Clarence | 10 December 1820 | 4 March 1821 | |
| Twin boys | 23 April 1822 | 23 April 1822 |
Legacy
William's reign was short, but eventful. The ascendancy of the House of Commons and the corresponding decline of the House of Lords was marked by the Reform Crisis, during which the threat of flooding the Upper House with peers was used effectively for the first time by a ministry.
The reduction in the influence of the Crown was clearly indicated by the events of William's reign, especially the dismissal of the Melbourne ministry. such was the result of a dissolution in 1807, after the dismissal of William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville. But when William IV dismissed the Melbourne ministry, the Tories under Sir Robert Peel were not able to win the ensuing elections. None of William's successors has attempted to remove a ministry and appoint another against the wishes of Parliament.
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