British Monarchs Who Ended Badly, Part 13: Parliamentary Monarchy

The long reign of George III (1760-1820) witnessed the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution in Britain. It also solidified the evolution of the country into a constitutional monarchy dominated by Parliament. The monarch remained titular sovereign but effective sovereignty now resided in Parliament. 

Monarchs had lost most control over the public finances and taxation by the end of the 17th century. They retained their right to veto parliamentary acts, and still do, but the last monarch to use it was Queen Anne (1702-1714). Future monarchs no longer contested the will of Parliament, though they sometimes tried to influence it. 

Queen Anne also was the last monarch to use the royal touch to cure disease. A lot of ordinary people might continue to believe in royal magic, but Britain's elites were embracing the Enlightenment and all that.

During the reigns of the first two Georges (1714-1760), the everyday running of government became the job of prime ministers and their cabinets, who had to have the confidence of a majority in the House of Commons to stay in power. 

Monarchs could help build and maintain a favorable majority for ministers they liked, at least until the early 19th century. But a monarch could no longer keep ministers in power if they lost their majority. They were no longer solely the monarch's ministers. They were Parliament's as well. 

Various reform acts during the 19th century further eroded the monarchy's ability to influence elections. The monarchs also lost much of their ability to reward (bribe) MPs to to support governing ministries. 

The gradual broadening of the suffrage created a more democratic electorate, capped by votes for women [horrors!] in 1918. To win elections it became more important to appeal to the voters than the monarch. 

The role of monarchs became increasingly ceremonial and advisory. They kept their palaces and servants and remained the head of state, but only as a symbolic head, a figurehead. 

Monarchs could no longer interfere in day to day politics or criticize those who governed in their name. His or Her Majesty's Government had morphed into the Prime Minister's Government.* The French Revolution and the fate of Charles I taught them to be content with this situation. 

The sixty year reign of George III was followed by two brief reigns: those of his elderly sons George IV (1820-1830) and William IV (1830-1837). 

George IV had been Prince Regent for ten years prior to becoming king. He was a cultured but extravagant wastrel whose greatest battles were fought with his parents, his wife Caroline, and his waistline. He did leave us the marvelous, exotic Brighton Pavilion. 

George IV was also the first British monarch to visit Scotland since Queen Anne, and he even wore a kilt for the occasion. For good or ill, he made kilts popular again. 

[Images: George IV decked out in Highland garb, by David Wilkie, 1822, and a satirical view by James Gillray, 1792, when George was merely the Prince of "Whales"]

By the late 1820s, due to overeating and drinking, George had become seriously obese. He weighed in at 245 pounds and had a waistline of 50 inches. His health declined rapidly in the late 1820s. He was losing his eyesight, was in constant pain from gout and dropsy, and spent days in a fog from taking laudanum. 

The prestige of the monarchy sank to a new low during his years as regent and king. The great achievement of his reign was Catholic Emancipation, which he opposed. Parliament repealed all the penal laws against Catholics in the United Kingdom, and allowed them to vote and hold public office.  

George IV's ministers and advisors disliked him. They found him lazy, narcissistic and irresponsible. One of his close aides wrote: "A more contemptible, cowardly, selfish, unfeeling dog does not exist ... There have been good and wise kings but not many of them ... and this I believe to be one of the worst." On his death, The Times claimed that no one in the country shed a tear for him.  

George's only child, Princess Charlotte, died in 1817. He had no heir, and his younger brother succeeded him. William IV was a less scandalous figure, although he did live with a mistress, Mrs. Jordan, for many years. 

William IV was the last monarch to choose a prime minister against the will of Parliament: Sir Robert Peel, who had established the first professional police force in 1829. William failed to keep Peel in power, and in other ways acted as a responsible constitutional king. 

William's short reign produced some of the most significant legislation of the 19th century. The Reform Act of 1834 reduced electoral corruption and expanded representation of growing urban areas and the middle classes. It weakened the influence of the aristocracy and reinforced the ascendancy of the House of Commons over the Lords in Parliament. Another act of 1833 abolished slavery in the empire. A third act produced the first effective regulation of child labor in the expanding factories. 

The legislation wasn't all good. A fourth major act reformed the Poor Law. The "New Poor Law" with its dreaded workhouses proved to be the most hated piece of legislation of the 19th century, at least among the working classes. 

William IV had eight illegitimate children with Mrs. Jordan, but failed to produce a legitimate heir. When he died, his 19-year old niece ascended the throne. Victoria reigned for 64 years, the longest reign of any British monarch until that of the late Elizabeth II. [Image: The Young Queen Victoria, by Franz Winterthalter]

Victoria's reign became nearly synonymous with the 19th century: "The Victorian Age." This had less to do with anything Victoria did than her longevity during the period of Britain's greatest international influence. 

Victorian Britain had the largest navy, the largest merchant fleet, and the largest empire, spread across every part of the globe. Thanks to its early lead in industrialization, Britain was, for decades, the greatest economic power in the world as well. 

By the end of Victoria's reign, British power had begun to erode. Other countries industrialized, and some of them possessed far greater resources. The United States and Germany matched or exceeded British production in many manufacturing sectors by the late 19th century. Others were not far behind.

Much like Elizabeth II, Victoria was succeeded by her elderly son Albert, who became king as Edward VII. His reign was short (1901-1910). He was most remembered as a royal playboy. 

Edward's more straight-laced son George V (1910-1935) sought to return the monarchy to a higher level of respectability. Much of the pomp and royal "tradition" that surrounds the monarchy today dates from his reign. 

Unfortunately, George V's heir, Edward VIII proved a disappointment. He insisted on marrying "the woman I love," that American divorcee Mrs. Simpson. He abdicated in favor of his younger brother, who became George VI (1936-1952). That brings us back to Elizabeth II and Charles III. 

For all the pomp and ceremony of royal coronations, marriages, and funerals, the United Kingdom monarchs now reign over is a shadow of its former glory. The British Empire continued to grow into the early 20th century. Victory in World War I brought new colonies in Africa and the Middle East in the form of League of Nations Mandates. 

Yet, beneath the surface, British power was showing signs of weakness. The First World War was enormously costly, and it ended with the UK deeply in debt to the United States. Britain had lost and was losing global markets to the USA, Japan, and other countries.

The first crack in the edifice of empire came at war's end. Between 1918 and 1921 Irish Republicans fought for and won virtual independence from the UK -- for most of the island. 

Ulster, or Northern Ireland, which contained a large Unionist (Loyalist) population, was separated from the rest of Ireland. It remained part of the United Kingdom, bedevilling its politics to this day.

World War II accelerated the decline of Britain's wealth, power, and status in the world. India and Pakistan gained independence in 1947. By the 1960s, most the empire dissolved, to be replaced by a weak association of independent nations, the British Commonwealth. 

Much like the monarchy, the Commonwealth is a symbol of former power and glory. Both survive on image, and the belief or illusion that they provide valuable service. How long that will continue is difficult to predict, given the Royal Family's recent but hardly unprecedented tendency to feud with one another. 

The current infighting within the Windsor family, featuring William and Harry, does indicate one item of historical interest: "The Game of Thrones" is not quite over, even if it is now fought out in the tabloids. The tabloids, mass media, and the "people" would not want it any other way. 

Nowadays, British monarchs no longer end quite so badly. The question is, will the monarchy itself end in the near future? Prince Harry's attack on the "institution" has probably done more for the anti-monarchy cause than all the republicans in British history.   

*Government by prime ministers is not necessarily a big improvement over monarchical government, as the recent run of revolving-door Tory prime ministers has shown. To be sure, elected presidents have not been performing so well either. Democratic governments are only as good as the people who elect them. The main advantage is that they are easier to get rid of than hereditary monarchs.

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British Monarchs Who Ended Badly, Part 8: Oliver Cromwell and the Republic

Following the execution of Charles I in 1649, the British Isles had no monarch for 11 years. In the history of the monarchy this period is known as the Interregnum ("between reigns"). Officially, the government was a republic, "The Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland."

The revolutionaries who won the Civil War not only killed the king. They abolished the monarchy itself, along with the House of Lords and the bishops. Nominally, power lay initially in the hands of the "Rump" of the Long Parliament, a minority of those elected in 1640. 

It soon became clear, however, that real power had gravitated to the New Model Army. The top army commander, Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), became de facto head of the Commonwealth. [Image: Cromwell by Samuel Cooper]

Cromwell was not a monarch, yet he ruled the British Isles as firmly as any king for several years. Prior to the Civil War, he had been a Cambridgeshire country gentleman living a generally unremarkable life. He became an MP in the late 1620s and served in the parliaments elected in 1640. During the war, he rose to high rank and eventually to overall commander. 

After the execution of Charles I, which he had at first opposed and then supported, he served on the Council of State of the new republic and in the "Rump," the remnants of the Long Parliament. 

By 1651, Cromwell had become thoroughly disillusioned with the behavior of the Rump MPs. He used his power as army commander to dissolve it, accusing its members of having become a corrupt and self-perpetuating oligarchy. 

That left him with the problem of what should replace it. He wanted to establish a workable representative government for the Commonwealth. Despite several experiments, he never succeeded. 

In effect, he ruled as a military dictator, dividing the British Isles into districts, each governed by a major general. Some of his supporters wanted him to take the title of king. He refused. Instead, he accepted the title of Lord Protector of the Commonwealth in 1653. 

To many people in England during the following centuries, Cromwell was a hero who defended the liberty of the people. A statue of him was erected in 1899 outside the Parliament buildings in Westminster. [Image: Cromwell statue]

The statue was controversial. Sincere royalists detested it. Though hardly royalists, Irish Nationalist MPs protested vehemently against it. Most of the Irish reviled Cromwell. In 1649 he had suppressed a royalist revolt in Ireland with brutal ferocity. Rightly or wrongly, he was blamed for atrocities committed by his soldiers. 

Cromwell's Irish campaign and the penal laws against Catholics that followed did more to poison Anglo-Irish relations than anything besides the Famine of the 1840s. Cromwell's name remains a byword among the Irish for English cruelty and tyranny. Winston Churchill called it "the curse of Cromwell."

Cromwell also suppressed a royalist rebellion in Scotland in 1650-51. That produced its own atrocities, but he treated the Scots more leniently than the Irish. Religion explains the difference. 

The Scots were largely Protestant and had been allies against Charles I. Cromwell viewed them as a people "godly but deceived." The Catholic majority in Ireland was simply ungodly, enslaved to the mass and the Pope. 

Cromwell's exact religious views and policies remain something of an enigma. He was a strong believer in Providence, the idea that God was actively engaged in world affairs. Not surprisingly, he considered himself a servant that God had "provided" to make Britain a more moral and godlier place.

As for the organization of religion, Cromwell was an "Independent." He opposed any central church hierarchy, whether bishops in England or presbyters in Scotland. Each congregation, he believed, should be left independent to run its own affairs. 

Cromwell tolerated various interpretations of Protestantism. He also welcomed Jews back to England for the first time since Edward I had banished them in the 13th century. He continued to make life difficult for Catholics, and persecuted some radical Protestant fringe sects, especially the Quakers and Fifth Monarchists. 

The breakdown of traditional authorities and institutions encouraged the spread of surprisingly radical ideas. Historian Christopher Hill entitled a book on the 1650s The World Turned Upside Down. A movement within the army, the Levellers, pushed for a democratic political system. Small groups of people known as Diggers even attempted to establish a communistic society. 

In contrast to the film named after him, starring Richard Harris, Cromwell was not a democrat. He believed in a representative government, but one controlled by men of property. He presented his views at a series of meetings that took place at St. Mary's Church in Putney in 1647, pictured below.

The meetings became known as the Putney Debates. The Levellers demanded a political system of one man, one vote, and freedom of conscience. One of the most memorable statements came from the Leveller leader Colonel Thomas Rainsborough:

"For really I think that the poorest he that is in England hath a life to live, as the greatest he; and therefore truly, Sir, I think it clear, that every man that is to live under a government ought first by his own consent to put himself under that government; and I do think that the poorest man in England is not at all bound in a strict sense to that government that he hath not had a voice to put himself under."

Cromwell and his allies rejected the Levellers' demands. When the Levellers continued to agitate for democratic reforms, he crushed them. Democracy would have to wait two more centuries.

Religious innovations also flourished during the Civil War and Republic. Some sects advanced positions embraced by the hippies of the 1960s, including nudity and free love. The "Ranters" argued that the best cure for temptation was to give in to it. For example, an urge to swear should be cured by swearing.  

Several religious sects that "came out" in the 1650s did not last long, but a few are with us today, notably Congregationalists, "Quakers" (Society of Friends), and Baptists. 

Cromwell died in 1658, probably of kidney disease complicated by malaria. He had nominated his son Richard to succeed him as Lord Protector, but Richard lacked his father's political and military skill. The major generals pushed him aside after a few months. he became known as "Tumble Down Dick."

Without a clear leader, Britain seemed destined to descend into chaos and Civil War once again. George Monck, one of Cromwell's major generals, marched his army from Scotland to London and recalled the remnants of the Long Parliament. They voted to restore the monarchy. In 1660, the eldest son of Charles I took the throne, inaugurating the period known as the Restoration. 

PS. After Charles II became king, he moved to avenge his father's execution. The MPs who had signed Charles I's death warrant and remained alive were arrested and executed.  

Cromwell's body was dug up and hanged in chains. It was then tossed into a pit, except for his head. It was displayed on a pole outside Westminster Hall until 1685. It passed through various hands until 1960, when it was buried beneath the floor of a chapel at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. 

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