Of all the British monarchs who have claimed that they have ruled the seas, only one, King William IV, has been a truly professional seafarer. Known as the "Sailor King" in his own lifetime, he saw himself as a naval officer who happened to become the sovereign rather than a monarch who had been a naval officer. His life presents an appealing, if sometimes shocking character. His life in the Royal Navy was fraught with crisis: rivalries, doomed love affairs, extravagance and rebelliousness. Often he seems a Hogarthian character, or a nautical version of the Regency rake. Yet, while many mocked or despised him, there were those who loved him. And, when he came to the throne and was all but swept away by the tide of the Age of Reform, he faced it with resolution and survived with honour. He had overcome the pressures and contradictions of a royal upbringing, to end his days a king who was not only loved but admired for setting an unstable monarchy on an even keel for the long reign of his niece Victoria which followed his.

Despite a long and eventful reign, Britain's George II is a largely forgotten monarch, his achievements overlooked and his abilities misunderstood. This landmark biography uncovers extensive new evidence in British and German archives, making possible the most complete and accurate assessment of this thirty-three-year reign. Andrew C. Thompson paints a richly detailed portrait of the many-faceted monarch in his public as well as his private life. Born in Hanover in 1683, George Augustus first came to London in 1714 as the new Prince of Wales. He assumed the throne in 1727, held it until his death in 1760, and has the distinction of being Britain's last foreign-born king and the last king to lead an army in battle. With George's story at its heart, the book reconstructs his thoughts and actions through a careful reading of the letters and papers of those around him. Thompson explores the previously underappreciated roles George played in the political processes of Britain, especially in foreign policy, and also charts the intricacies of the king's complicated relationships and reassesses the lasting impact of his frequent return trips to Hanover. George II emerges from these pages as an independent and cosmopolitan figure of undeniable historical fascination.

A detailed critique of the eighteenth-century German family and their reign on the British throne includes coverage of such topics as the language barrier that impacted George I's controversial rule, George III's loss of the American colonies and bouts with mental instability, and George IV's scandalous marriage and attempted divorce.

This study of the reign of Frederick William IV, King of Prussia from 1840 to 1861, focuses on the structures, institutions and transformations of the monarchial system in Prussia during a time of revolutionary change.

The story of George IV's relationships with five women - the actress Mary Robinson, the Catholic Maria Fitzherbert, Lady Jersey, the arch-Tory Lady Hertford, and Lady Conyngham, the companion of his final years