The "who's your fat friend" quotation has become iconic, hasn't it? What the piece does not say in respect to that, possibly as it is not very relevant, is that the Prince Regent indeed got so fat that he famously could not "manage it" (as it is usually euphemistically put), so although he had a few illegitimate children, he left it too late to provide a legitimate heir. Subsequently, he divorced his wife, Queen Caroline -- in another scandalous episode she demanded to participate when the Prince Regent was finally crowned George IV, so the doors of Westminster Abbey had to be locked against her, as the story goes. Because of these various problems we ended up having George's brother William as King after George died. William never expected to be king and loved sailing more than anything, so he had not bothered having children either. So upon his death, William passed on the throne to his 18-year-old niece Victoria.
The "who's your fat friend" quotation has become iconic, hasn't it?
ReplyDeleteWhat the piece does not say in respect to that, possibly as it is not very relevant, is that the Prince Regent indeed got so fat that he famously could not "manage it" (as it is usually euphemistically put), so although he had a few illegitimate children, he left it too late to provide a legitimate heir.
Subsequently, he divorced his wife, Queen Caroline -- in another scandalous episode she demanded to participate when the Prince Regent was finally crowned George IV, so the doors of Westminster Abbey had to be locked against her, as the story goes. Because of these various problems we ended up having George's brother William as King after George died. William never expected to be king and loved sailing more than anything, so he had not bothered having children either. So upon his death, William passed on the throne to his 18-year-old niece Victoria.