George III’s uncle, the Duke of Cumberland, next formed a ministry. Four months later he died, and the King had to turn to the Marquis of Rockingham, who lasted one year. Rockingham built his ministry on a base of over 100 Whigs, to which he added the supporters of Grenville, Pitt, and George III, the latter loyal courtiers being known as the “King’s Friends.” But Rockingham’s pursuit of Whig policies-a defensive alliance with Prussia to end England’s isolation, the repeal of the cider tax to please the country gentlemen, and repeal of the stamp tax to conciliate America-so irritated George III that he urged the King’s Friends to abandon this “hydra of faction.” To escape that hydra he asked William Pitt and the Duke of Grafton to construct, in 1766, a broad-bottom ministry, one made up of the ablest from all parties. They complied, but the ministry was a weak and disorganized one. Pitt became the Earl of Chatham in 1766 and retreated to the House of Lords and his illnesses, leaving the government to Graon, an amiable duke whose first loves were his mistress and horse racing. Four years of rudderless government followed-years that saw Americans grow angry at new taxes and Londoners indignant over Parliament’s expulsion of Middlesex’s duly elected MP, John Wilkes. Finally, in 1770, George III asked Lord North to lead a ministry. It astonished everyone by lasting 12 years.