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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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William IV
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(known as the Sailor King, 1765–1837)
King of Great Britain, Ireland and *Hanover from 1830; third son of George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz; married Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen (1818).
He saw active service as a midshipman from the age of 13 and continued in the navy until he was 25. In the following year, 1791, he began his long liaison with the actress Dorothea Jordan (1761–1816), by whom he eventually had ten illegitimate children – all given the surname FitzClarence, for he had been created Duke of Clarence in 1789. The death in 1817 of Princess Charlotte, the only child of *George IV, made Clarence the heir to the throne and caused all the king's bachelor brothers to look round for brides.
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After being rejected by several (he was somewhat uncouth), Clarence was accepted by Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen; they had two daughters but both died in infancy. The early years of his short reign were dominated by the agitation surrounding the *Reform Act. A constitutional crisis loomed when the Tories in the Lords persistently rejected the reform bills passed in the Commons. It was only resolved when the king, wisely but against his own inclinations, agreed to create sufficient Whig peers to carry the legislation; the threat was enough. He was succeeded by his niece, Victoria (see the *royal house).
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