King George II
1683 – 1760 · Generation XXIX · King of Great Britain and Ireland (r. 1727–1760) · House of Hanover
George II (1683–1760). King of Great Britain and Ireland (r. 1727–1760). Married Caroline of Ansbach in 1705. The last British monarch to lead troops in battle, at Dettingen in 1743. No British monarch since has been born outside Great Britain: raised in northern Germany, he remained an elector at heart, passing twelve of his reign's summers in Hanover, where his hand in government was far heavier than in Britain, whose domestic policy Parliament largely ran. His eldest son Frederick aligned himself with the parliamentary opposition, and the rift endured until Frederick's sudden death in 1751 left the succession to a grandson, the future George III. The Jacobite rising of 1745 tried and failed to unseat him. Judged with contempt for two centuries — the temper, the mistresses, the coarse manners — he has since been credited with real weight in foreign affairs and in army appointments.
One of 34 people of House of Hanover (from 1700) in this archive. Called from Germany by the Act of Settlement; the Georges, then Victoria.
Line of descent: Owen Tudor → Edmund Tudor → King Henry VII → Margaret Tudor → King James V of Scotland → Mary Queen of Scots → King James I → Elizabeth Stuart → Sophia of Hanover → King George I → King George II.
Parents
- King George I (1660 – 1727)
- Sophia Dorothea of Celle (1666 – 1726)
Siblings
- Sophia Dorothea of Hanover (1687 – 1757)
Partners
- Married Caroline of Ansbach (1683 – 1737) in 1705 — 8 children together
Children
- Frederick Prince of Wales (1707 – 1751)
- Anne Princess Royal (1709 – 1759)
- Amelia of Great Britain (1711 – 1786)
- Caroline of Great Britain (1713 – 1757)
- George William of Great Britain (1717 – 1718)
- William Augustus Duke of Cumberland (1721 – 1765)
- Mary of Great Britain (1723 – 1772)
- Louise of Great Britain (1724 – 1751)
Life
- 1683 — Born
- 1705 — Married Caroline of Ansbach
- 1727 — George II succeeds his father, George I.
- 1737 — Death of George’s wife, Queen Caroline.
- 1743 — George leads troops into battle at Dettingen in Bavaria.
- 1746 — Scots defeated at the Battle of Culloden. Duke of Cumberland, the King's 2nd son, ruthlessly represses the rebels and Scottish traditions.
- 1751 — Death of Frederick, Prince of Wales. His son, George, becomes heir to the throne.
- 1760 — Died
- 1760 — George II dies.