ABSTRACT
The theme of ‘visions of kingship’ in the later eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries provides a reminder of the means by which ‘visions’ could turn into ‘idealisation’, and the frequency of the opportunities for the expression of those visions. It allows us to consider the ways in which the British monarchy could associate itself with, and be turned to account by, the aspirations of numerous interest groups in society. One thinks immediately of the philanthropic, the artistic and cultural visions of kingship, each of which received considerable enhancement during the period reviewed in this chapter. 1 Georgian monarchs and their consorts were expected to provide cultural patronage, to sponsor artistic initiatives and at the same time to entertain. There was, in addition, a growing presumption that the monarchy would offer moral leadership, by precept and (perhaps less probably) by example. The moral vision could be credited with some plausibility to George III; his successor, by contrast, achieved a measure of distinction – not always intentionally – in the realm of entertainment. 2 This chapter, however, takes a rather different form and focuses on the three most enduring visions of late Georgian kingship which were central to the years of the Personal Union, namely the Anglo-Hanoverian vision, the military (and naval) vision and, finally, the Protestant vision. These three visions were closely interconnected and each was heavily contested. The balance between them, moreover, changed fundamentally during this period, so that by the late 1820s the Protestant vision, both in terms of ‘high’ politics and in the public domain, had come to predominate.
