George II of Great Britain

King of Great Britain

30 October / 9 November 1683O.S./N.S. Herrenhausen Palace, or Leine Palace, Hanover

25 October 1760(1760-10-25) (76) Kensington Palace, London

NamesGeorge Augustus German: Georg August

King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1727 to 1760 King of Great Britain and Ireland, George IIPortrait by Thomas Hudson, 1744King of Great Britain and Ireland, Elector of Hanover (more...) Reign11/22O.S./N.S. June 1727 – 25 October 1760Coronation11/22O.S./N.S. October 1727PredecessorGeorge ISuccessorGeorge IIIBorn30 October / 9 November 1683O.S./N.S. Herrenhausen Palace, or Leine Palace, HanoverDied25 October 1760(1760-10-25) (aged 76) Kensington Palace, LondonBurial11 November 1760 Westminster Abbey, LondonSpouseCaroline of Ansbach ​ ​(m. 1705 ; died 1737 )​Issue Detail Frederick, Prince of Wales Anne, Princess of Orange Princess Amelia Princess Caroline Prince George William William, Duke of Cumberland Mary, Landgravine of Hesse-Kassel Louisa, Queen of Denmark and Norway HouseHanoverFatherGeorge I of Great BritainMotherSophia Dorothea of CelleReligionProtestantSignature George II (George Augustus; German: Georg August; 30 October / 9 November 1683O.S./N.S. – 25 October 1760) was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (Hanover) and a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 (O.S.) until his death in 1760. Born and brought up in northern Germany, George is the most recent British monarch born outside Great Britain. The Act of Settlement 1701 and the Acts of Union 1707 positioned his grandmother, Sophia of Hanover, and her Protestant descendants to inherit the British throne. After the deaths of Sophia and Anne, Queen of Great Britain, in 1714, his father, the Elector of Hanover, became George I of Great Britain. In the first years of his father's reign as king, George was associated with opposition politicians until they rejoined the governing party in 1720. As king from 1727, George exercised little control over British domestic policy, which was largely controlled by the Parliament of Great Britain. As elector, he spent twelve summers in Hanover, where he had more direct control over government policy. He had a difficult relationship with his eldest son, Frederick, who supported the parliamentary opposition. During the War of the Austrian Succession, George participated at the Battle of Dettingen in 1743, and thus became the last British monarch to lead an army in battle. In 1745 supporters of the Catholic claimant to the British throne, James Francis Edward Stuart ("The Old Pretender"), led by James's son Charles Edward Stuart ("The Young Pretender" or "Bonnie Prince Charlie"), attempted and failed to depose George in the last of the Jacobite rebellions. Frederick died suddenly in 1751, nine years before his father, so George II was ultimately succeeded by his grandson, George III. For two centuries after George II's death, history tended to view him with disdain, concentrating on his mistresses, short temper, and boorishness. Since then, reassessment of his legacy has led scholars to conclude that he exercised more influence in foreign policy and military appointments than previously thought.