George IV and William IV in their Relations with the Church of England*

Abstract

Abstract George IV and William IV have long been represented as fundamentally pleasure-seeking monarchs who had little or no interest in religion. However, this assumption has never been sustained by detailed evidence. This article comprehensively challenges the stereotype by presenting the regency and reign of George IV together with William IV’s reign as a distinct and significant period in the relationship between the British monarchy and the Church of England. Three main aspects of this relationship are considered: George IV and William IV’s private commitments as manifested in court religion, the political actions of these monarchs in relation to the established church and their encouragement of Anglican church building and educational projects. The article draws upon a wide range of neglected sources, and especially the private correspondence and memoirs of those closest to George IV and William IV. Most notably, it introduces into the discussion the extensive and revealing autobiography of George IV’s chaplain Hugh Pearson, which has received scant attention from historians until now. From such sources, there emerges a picture of royal interaction with Anglicanism that almost entirely overturns the conventional view. Not only were the two last Hanoverian kings interested in religion; their Anglican beliefs directed much of their public and private conduct. This reinterpretation has important implications for our understanding of monarchy, religion and political culture in pre-Victorian England.