1 00:00:04,560 --> 00:00:10,040 In 1743, King George II became the last British king ever 2 00:00:10,040 --> 00:00:13,040 to lead his troops in person on the battlefield. 3 00:00:13,040 --> 00:00:18,600 "Now, boys," he said, "fire and be brave and the French will soon run!" 4 00:00:18,600 --> 00:00:20,000 BANG 5 00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:26,920 The battle was Dettingen, here in Germany, 6 00:00:26,920 --> 00:00:30,800 and the enemy was Britain's old adversary, France. 7 00:00:33,040 --> 00:00:36,600 George had reached the ripe old age of 59. 8 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:39,560 Some of the British thought the ageing king's military 9 00:00:39,560 --> 00:00:41,920 enthusiasm had got the better of him. 10 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:46,760 But when they tried to shuffle the king off the battlefield 11 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:48,800 for his own safety, he said, 12 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:52,200 "Don't tell me of danger. I'll be even with them." 13 00:00:53,960 --> 00:00:55,200 BANG 14 00:00:58,040 --> 00:01:01,600 Now, George II was undeniably brave, 15 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:04,680 but was he really acting in the best interests of Britain? 16 00:01:09,040 --> 00:01:12,640 German George II was a warrior king. 17 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:16,560 He was using the power of Britain to protect his other realm, 18 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:19,000 his native Hanover. 19 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:22,600 But the British were more interested in ruling the waves 20 00:01:22,600 --> 00:01:24,960 than fighting continental wars. 21 00:01:26,720 --> 00:01:30,680 For this series, I've been given access to the Royal Collection 22 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:33,640 as pieces are brought together for an exhibition about the first 23 00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:37,160 Georgian kings at the Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace. 24 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:43,600 This was a new dynasty who found themselves fighting the French, 25 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:47,440 the Jacobites and each other, all at the same time. 26 00:01:49,880 --> 00:01:52,680 It's remarkable that these Hanoverian kings 27 00:01:52,680 --> 00:01:55,840 didn't weaken the monarchy, they strengthened it. 28 00:01:55,840 --> 00:01:59,600 They helped transform Britain into a global superpower. 29 00:02:06,520 --> 00:02:10,160 What was George II doing on this foreign battlefield? 30 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:13,280 This is exactly where his artillery was positioned. 31 00:02:13,280 --> 00:02:16,720 Well, this is part of the War of the Austrian Succession. 32 00:02:16,720 --> 00:02:18,080 It was a gallant cause. 33 00:02:18,080 --> 00:02:22,000 It was the defence of the rights of Maria Theresa of Austria 34 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:25,280 to inherit her father's throne, even though she was a woman. 35 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:31,200 But George had ulterior motives. 36 00:02:31,200 --> 00:02:34,880 He wanted to contain the French threat 37 00:02:34,880 --> 00:02:38,920 and protect the interests of Hanover's near neighbour, Austria. 38 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:41,920 Although he was nearly 60, 39 00:02:41,920 --> 00:02:45,240 George II was determined to lead from the front. 40 00:02:45,240 --> 00:02:48,080 A cannonball went whizzing within half a yard of his head 41 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:51,920 and his son, the Duke of Cumberland, got shot in the leg. 42 00:02:51,920 --> 00:02:56,680 But despite these close brushes with death, the battle was a success. 43 00:03:03,200 --> 00:03:07,080 You'd think that George II would be riding high after thrashing 44 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:11,120 the French, but some of his British subjects weren't happy. 45 00:03:14,480 --> 00:03:16,480 On the battlefield of Dettingen, 46 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:19,880 George had worn the yellow sash of Hanover. 47 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:23,480 All the king's enemies at home seized upon the fact that he 48 00:03:23,480 --> 00:03:28,040 charged into battle wearing Hanoverian colours, not British. 49 00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:33,960 Some people went so far as to say that George was defending Hanover 50 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:36,920 with the blood of proud Englishmen. 51 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:43,440 It became such a PR problem that when this portrait was painted, 52 00:03:43,440 --> 00:03:45,760 George was portrayed wearing a sash 53 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:49,120 that was tactfully and Britishly blue. 54 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:54,400 Unsurprisingly, George's opponents 55 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:57,400 sought to capitalise on this controversy. 56 00:03:58,880 --> 00:04:01,600 On the one side were the king's own supporters, 57 00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:04,880 who wanted to defend the white horse of Hanover. 58 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:07,120 This lot wanted a strong British Army 59 00:04:07,120 --> 00:04:11,400 to get involved in continental wars to protect Hanover's interests. 60 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:13,040 On the other hand, 61 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:16,680 we have the patriots, represented by the British lion. Raar! 62 00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:20,400 This lot thought that Hanover was a chink in Britain's defences. 63 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:22,560 "Forget Hanover," they said, 64 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:25,800 "Britain is an island nation defended by the sea." 65 00:04:29,920 --> 00:04:35,080 The patriots were a charismatic group of politicians and poets. 66 00:04:35,080 --> 00:04:39,200 They counted both Whigs and Tories among their number. 67 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:44,320 They were the original Euro-sceptics. 68 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:48,160 The patriots believed Britain should go it alone. 69 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:52,920 Ignore continental disputes, build a strong navy 70 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:56,800 and gain more colonies in America and around the world. 71 00:04:56,800 --> 00:04:59,200 This was the way, they argued, 72 00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:02,360 for Britain to secure international dominance. 73 00:05:03,520 --> 00:05:05,520 Now, this lot needed a leader. 74 00:05:05,520 --> 00:05:10,280 And they settled upon the king's eldest son, Prince Frederick, 75 00:05:10,280 --> 00:05:11,600 who, by this point, 76 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:15,040 had become something of a professional activist. 77 00:05:16,240 --> 00:05:19,520 George II had always considered his eldest son Frederick 78 00:05:19,520 --> 00:05:22,400 to be the black sheep of the family. 79 00:05:22,400 --> 00:05:27,160 As people said, it ran in the blood of these Georgian monarchs 80 00:05:27,160 --> 00:05:30,240 to hate their eldest son. 81 00:05:30,240 --> 00:05:33,800 George II and Frederick had always had their petty feuds 82 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:38,040 and squabbles, but now the king was really worried. 83 00:05:38,040 --> 00:05:40,600 Frederick was gaining political momentum. 84 00:05:41,840 --> 00:05:46,480 In 1740, Frederick was the inspiration for a new song 85 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:50,320 that was to be the theme tune for these rebellious patriots. 86 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:52,320 Ready? 87 00:05:52,320 --> 00:05:56,920 It was so scandalous that it had to be performed privately. 88 00:05:56,920 --> 00:06:00,800 So you might be surprised to learn that you know it already. 89 00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:03,480 MUSIC: Rule, Britannia! 90 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:13,400 Today, people think Rule, Britannia! 91 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:15,000 on the Last Night of the Proms 92 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:17,760 is a cheery celebration of Britishness. 93 00:06:19,640 --> 00:06:25,080 But this song was in fact an open revolt against King George II, 94 00:06:25,080 --> 00:06:28,480 as I suggested to the historian Dr Oliver Cox. 95 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:32,400 I mean, when it's first performed, it's a royal revolt. 96 00:06:32,400 --> 00:06:35,160 It's a song for a prince against his father 97 00:06:35,160 --> 00:06:38,000 and against his father's Prime Minister. 98 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:39,960 Rule, Britannia! as we sing it now 99 00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:42,960 is, "Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves." 100 00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:44,880 It's a statement of present fact. 101 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:47,960 When it's first performed in 1740, it's, "Rule the waves." 102 00:06:47,960 --> 00:06:49,400 It's a command. 103 00:06:49,400 --> 00:06:54,120 It's an expectation that if we follow the patriots' policies, 104 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:56,600 Britain will rule the waves. 105 00:06:56,600 --> 00:07:00,240 The song goes on and on and on about this concept of liberty. 106 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:02,520 What does that mean in the 18th century? 107 00:07:02,520 --> 00:07:07,040 One of the problems with the 1730s, as far as the patriots are concerned 108 00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:11,040 is the liberty to choose their own representatives in Parliament, 109 00:07:11,040 --> 00:07:15,680 the liberty to be protected from external invaders, 110 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:21,720 the liberty to trade as they want to, is threatened and endangered. 111 00:07:21,720 --> 00:07:24,560 And what the patriots thought needed to happen 112 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:28,240 was an emphasis on English liberty, the navy and trade. 113 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:32,160 You've got these three important tenets 114 00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:35,680 that really bind everything they say together. 115 00:07:35,680 --> 00:07:39,040 Frederick, obviously, is born and grows up in Hanover. 116 00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:41,360 He's the family's main representative there 117 00:07:41,360 --> 00:07:42,960 for the first part of his life. 118 00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:46,800 But then later on, he becomes awfully English, doesn't he? 119 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:48,880 Yeah. He sort of rebrands himself. 120 00:07:48,880 --> 00:07:53,840 And whether it's a clever piece of opportunistic politicking 121 00:07:53,840 --> 00:07:57,600 in the sense that by acting far more English, 122 00:07:57,600 --> 00:08:00,640 he's able to bring in a sort of disparate group 123 00:08:00,640 --> 00:08:03,360 of the disaffected politicians and poets 124 00:08:03,360 --> 00:08:06,520 who may one day be able to help him 125 00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:10,360 conceive of a coherent opposition policy to his father. 126 00:08:10,360 --> 00:08:12,800 Does he do all this just to annoy his dad? 127 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:15,440 I think a lot of the difficulties and the issues 128 00:08:15,440 --> 00:08:18,080 that we see throughout the 1730s and 1740s 129 00:08:18,080 --> 00:08:20,640 is Frederick, you know, 130 00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:22,960 sticking his middle finger up at his dad. 131 00:08:27,640 --> 00:08:30,480 Frederick was the king in waiting. 132 00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:33,480 And he was, frankly, getting impatient for power. 133 00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:37,160 He now had his own rival court 134 00:08:37,160 --> 00:08:40,280 and he began to tussle with his father, George II, 135 00:08:40,280 --> 00:08:44,280 over foreign policy and how best to tackle the French threat. 136 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:49,280 Patriot William Pitt was just one politician 137 00:08:49,280 --> 00:08:53,160 who fought for Frederick's manifesto in Parliament. 138 00:08:53,160 --> 00:08:58,120 He felt that the Electorate of Hanover was Britain's weak link. 139 00:08:58,120 --> 00:09:01,280 Pitt was a notoriously good orator. 140 00:09:01,280 --> 00:09:04,840 This is one wonderful speech that he made in the Houses of Parliament, 141 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:09,600 complaining that the Hanoverian tail was wagging the British dog. 142 00:09:09,600 --> 00:09:13,040 "Britain," he said, "this great, this powerful, 143 00:09:13,040 --> 00:09:15,000 "this formidable country, 144 00:09:15,000 --> 00:09:20,000 "is treated merely as the province of a despicable electorate." 145 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:23,720 Clearly, this wasn't going to win him any favours with George II. 146 00:09:23,720 --> 00:09:28,520 And throughout the 1740s, Pitt was a lone voice in the wilderness, 147 00:09:28,520 --> 00:09:31,080 like Churchill before World War II. 148 00:09:31,080 --> 00:09:33,840 He was calling for more British self-confidence 149 00:09:33,840 --> 00:09:36,360 and aggression towards France, 150 00:09:36,360 --> 00:09:39,240 the seizing of French colonies in America. 151 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:41,400 But nobody was listening. 152 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:44,440 Pitt was right. 153 00:09:44,440 --> 00:09:48,520 The French were always looking for ways to destabilise Britain. 154 00:09:48,520 --> 00:09:51,440 And so, they conspired with Jacobite plotters. 155 00:09:53,680 --> 00:09:58,480 George II's exiled rival, the Pretender, James Stuart, 156 00:09:58,480 --> 00:10:01,280 had a good blood claim to the British crown. 157 00:10:02,960 --> 00:10:05,760 But he had been excluded for his Catholicism. 158 00:10:07,400 --> 00:10:12,000 This would-be King James III and his Jacobite supporters 159 00:10:12,000 --> 00:10:15,000 had been twiddling their thumbs in exile in Rome. 160 00:10:16,200 --> 00:10:19,280 But the French now threw them a lifeline - 161 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:22,760 military backing to attempt a coup in Britain. 162 00:10:25,600 --> 00:10:29,520 On 23rd July 1745, 163 00:10:29,520 --> 00:10:32,480 James III's son, Charles Edward Stuart, 164 00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:37,080 landed on the east coast of Scotland and sounded the rallying cry. 165 00:10:40,760 --> 00:10:43,240 Charles, who was basically an Italian, 166 00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:46,920 was here to challenge George, a German, to the British throne. 167 00:10:49,520 --> 00:10:51,880 And here at the Palace of Holyroodhouse 168 00:10:51,880 --> 00:10:54,040 is the man of the hour. 169 00:10:54,040 --> 00:10:59,080 Prince Charles Edward Stuart, AKA the Young Pretender. 170 00:11:02,240 --> 00:11:04,920 Charles Stuart had been brought up in Rome. 171 00:11:04,920 --> 00:11:08,920 And he'd always been told that the British throne was rightfully his, 172 00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:11,960 if only he could go out and get it. 173 00:11:11,960 --> 00:11:16,320 This portrait is like a recruiting poster for the prince's supporters. 174 00:11:16,320 --> 00:11:19,200 He's saying here, "Your prince needs you!" 175 00:11:19,200 --> 00:11:22,440 And what a dashing and handsome young prince he is. 176 00:11:22,440 --> 00:11:25,720 He's looking very martial in his armour. 177 00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:27,200 He's looking very official 178 00:11:27,200 --> 00:11:31,120 and respectable in his blue sash of the Order of the Garter. 179 00:11:31,120 --> 00:11:34,520 But on top of that, he's wearing the green ribbon 180 00:11:34,520 --> 00:11:38,120 with the Cross of St Andrews of the Order of the Thistle. 181 00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:40,000 The Scottish Order. 182 00:11:40,000 --> 00:11:41,880 And this is designed to appeal 183 00:11:41,880 --> 00:11:45,800 to his richest source of potential support, the Scots. 184 00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:51,640 The Stuarts had been Scottish kings 185 00:11:51,640 --> 00:11:55,320 long before they'd inherited the English throne in the 17th century. 186 00:11:56,600 --> 00:11:59,480 And many Scots, particularly in the Highlands, 187 00:11:59,480 --> 00:12:02,680 rallied to Charles Stuart's cause. 188 00:12:02,680 --> 00:12:06,840 George II's popularity was at a low point. 189 00:12:06,840 --> 00:12:11,000 His decision to go on fighting the War of the Austrian Succession 190 00:12:11,000 --> 00:12:14,240 was seen as a pointless drain on British resources. 191 00:12:15,560 --> 00:12:18,880 It was mainly the old Protestant dislike 192 00:12:18,880 --> 00:12:21,440 and mistrust of Catholicism 193 00:12:21,440 --> 00:12:25,040 that was keeping King George II on the throne 194 00:12:25,040 --> 00:12:27,640 and the exiled Stuarts off it. 195 00:12:31,640 --> 00:12:35,240 Edinburgh should have been a stronghold for George II, 196 00:12:35,240 --> 00:12:38,160 but with a sword in one hand and a cross in the other, 197 00:12:38,160 --> 00:12:41,240 the Young Pretender simply strolled with his forces 198 00:12:41,240 --> 00:12:44,160 into the Scottish capital and took control. 199 00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:48,000 He got a riotous reception, 200 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:50,800 particularly from two sections of the crowd. 201 00:12:50,800 --> 00:12:55,640 Firstly, the so-called common people and secondly, the ladies. 202 00:12:55,640 --> 00:12:58,360 All the women got out their handkerchiefs and threw them 203 00:12:58,360 --> 00:13:00,280 into the street in front of him. 204 00:13:00,280 --> 00:13:05,000 It was on this occasion that a new nickname was heard for Charles Stuart. 205 00:13:05,000 --> 00:13:08,760 People were shouting out for "Bonnie Prince Charlie". 206 00:13:12,880 --> 00:13:16,040 By now, Charles Stuart had got together an army 207 00:13:16,040 --> 00:13:20,600 of between 11,000 and 14,000 troops. 208 00:13:20,600 --> 00:13:23,600 His advisors encouraged him to seize the hour... 209 00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:27,960 ..to march on London to take the big prize. 210 00:13:29,520 --> 00:13:30,880 The British throne. 211 00:13:31,960 --> 00:13:33,760 Charles Stuart set up government 212 00:13:33,760 --> 00:13:37,280 here at the Palace of Holyroodhouse for five weeks. 213 00:13:37,280 --> 00:13:41,320 While he was here, he issued the declaration of King James, 214 00:13:41,320 --> 00:13:44,320 on behalf of his exiled father. 215 00:13:44,320 --> 00:13:46,880 This declaration appealed very cleverly 216 00:13:46,880 --> 00:13:49,520 to the self-interest of the British. 217 00:13:49,520 --> 00:13:52,720 It said that their German kings had been involving them 218 00:13:52,720 --> 00:13:55,080 in irrelevant foreign wars, 219 00:13:55,080 --> 00:13:58,600 wasting their resources, disrupting trade 220 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:02,360 and, anyway, nobody wants to be ruled by a foreigner. 221 00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:04,920 You can see how this touched a nerve 222 00:14:04,920 --> 00:14:08,120 amongst Prince Frederick's group of patriots. 223 00:14:13,040 --> 00:14:16,280 Charles Stuart was being rather clever here. 224 00:14:16,280 --> 00:14:21,200 He knew that running down Hanover would appeal to the British public. 225 00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:24,400 Indeed, Sir Robert Walpole, when he was Prime Minister, 226 00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:26,680 had remarked that they would have been better off 227 00:14:26,680 --> 00:14:29,280 making Charles Stuart Elector of Hanover, 228 00:14:29,280 --> 00:14:34,160 because the public will never fetch another king from there. 229 00:14:36,640 --> 00:14:40,640 During the weeks of Charles Stuart's advance south into England, 230 00:14:40,640 --> 00:14:43,640 tensions mounted in the Georgian court. 231 00:14:45,480 --> 00:14:49,240 George II, bursting for a fight as usual, 232 00:14:49,240 --> 00:14:52,240 was ready to get on his horse and lead the charge. 233 00:14:53,360 --> 00:14:57,680 Instead, though, his younger son, the rotund Duke of Cumberland, 234 00:14:57,680 --> 00:15:01,160 was hurriedly brought back from the War of the Austrian Succession 235 00:15:01,160 --> 00:15:04,400 and sent north to face the Jacobite threat. 236 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:09,600 There was no love lost between the sons of George II. 237 00:15:09,600 --> 00:15:12,080 That's Frederick, the Prince of Wales, 238 00:15:12,080 --> 00:15:15,800 and his younger brother, the Duke of Cumberland. 239 00:15:15,800 --> 00:15:18,000 They really were chalk and cheese. 240 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:20,360 Frederick was thin and liked music, 241 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:23,440 whereas Cumberland was as fat as a Cumberland sausage 242 00:15:23,440 --> 00:15:25,840 and he was a career soldier. 243 00:15:25,840 --> 00:15:28,600 Frederick was right to worry about the threat 244 00:15:28,600 --> 00:15:31,120 his younger brother represented. 245 00:15:31,120 --> 00:15:33,640 George II had even talked about a plan 246 00:15:33,640 --> 00:15:37,000 where Frederick would be shuffled out of the line of succession 247 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:39,720 and given Hanover as a consolation prize, 248 00:15:39,720 --> 00:15:42,840 and the crown of Great Britain would be placed firmly 249 00:15:42,840 --> 00:15:46,680 on the head of the king's favourite son, Cumberland, instead. 250 00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:53,120 Cumberland now marched north 251 00:15:53,120 --> 00:15:57,200 for a showdown with the Jacobite army at Carlisle Castle. 252 00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:01,440 Meanwhile, his brother Frederick 253 00:16:01,440 --> 00:16:04,640 had Carlisle Castle recreated in spun sugar 254 00:16:04,640 --> 00:16:08,080 for a rather quirky dinner party rebellion. 255 00:16:08,080 --> 00:16:10,280 The Duke of Cumberland had liberated 256 00:16:10,280 --> 00:16:13,040 the city of Carlisle from the Jacobites. 257 00:16:13,040 --> 00:16:15,640 But Frederick wasn't very impressed by this. 258 00:16:15,640 --> 00:16:18,080 He decided to make a mockery out of it. 259 00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:19,560 One day for dessert, 260 00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:24,400 he ordered a model of the Citadel of Carlisle to be made out of sugar. 261 00:16:24,400 --> 00:16:27,920 And after dinner, he bombarded it with sugarplums. 262 00:16:27,920 --> 00:16:31,400 Now, this must have been quite hilarious for Frederick's guests 263 00:16:31,400 --> 00:16:34,080 and it may seem a little bit trivial. 264 00:16:34,080 --> 00:16:36,320 But actually, members of the royal family 265 00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:39,560 couldn't come right out and openly criticise each other. 266 00:16:39,560 --> 00:16:42,720 They had to express their opinions obliquely. 267 00:16:42,720 --> 00:16:45,320 And that's why their politics could be expressed 268 00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:47,680 through things like their puddings. 269 00:16:49,920 --> 00:16:53,920 Frederick was also making a bigger, humanitarian point. 270 00:16:53,920 --> 00:16:56,920 He was a gentler character than his brother 271 00:16:56,920 --> 00:17:00,280 and abhorred Cumberland's brutal approach to warfare. 272 00:17:03,680 --> 00:17:08,320 As Charles Stuart and the Jacobites retreated back north into Scotland, 273 00:17:08,320 --> 00:17:13,160 the Duke of Cumberland was beginning to pursue them with real ferocity. 274 00:17:15,320 --> 00:17:17,520 GUNFIRE 275 00:17:20,600 --> 00:17:22,200 FAINT SHOUTS 276 00:17:22,200 --> 00:17:24,600 CHORAL SINGING 277 00:17:41,280 --> 00:17:45,520 The struggle for the British throne came to a head here at Culloden... 278 00:17:46,880 --> 00:17:51,520 ..a battlefield that would become a byword for cruelty and bloodshed. 279 00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:57,240 This was the last battle ever to be fought on British soil. 280 00:17:57,240 --> 00:18:00,680 It was to be decided by two men in their 20s. 281 00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:04,160 Bonnie Prince Charlie was 25 282 00:18:04,160 --> 00:18:06,360 and Cumberland's 25th birthday 283 00:18:06,360 --> 00:18:08,240 was the day before the battle. 284 00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:12,480 Kate Heard, Royal Collection Trust's 285 00:18:12,480 --> 00:18:15,160 Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings, 286 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:18,400 believes this watercolour is the closest we have 287 00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:21,320 to a visual first-hand account of Culloden. 288 00:18:22,520 --> 00:18:27,680 This picture takes us to a ringside seat at the battle, doesn't it? 289 00:18:27,680 --> 00:18:29,600 How was the artist able to do that? 290 00:18:29,600 --> 00:18:32,480 We know that the artist was at the battle. He was working for 291 00:18:32,480 --> 00:18:35,120 the Duke of Cumberland as a draughtsman and surveyor. 292 00:18:35,120 --> 00:18:37,120 So we know he was an eyewitness to the battle. 293 00:18:37,120 --> 00:18:40,560 It looks like this side are winning because they're all coming forwards. 294 00:18:40,560 --> 00:18:43,080 - But that's not actually what's happening, is it? - No. 295 00:18:43,080 --> 00:18:46,440 You're absolutely right in that they are appearing to advance. 296 00:18:46,440 --> 00:18:49,400 They are advancing. It's the Jacobite troops on the right. 297 00:18:49,400 --> 00:18:51,160 They are doing this Highland charge, 298 00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:54,240 which is their characteristic means of fighting. 299 00:18:54,240 --> 00:18:56,520 And it had been very successful for them. 300 00:18:56,520 --> 00:19:00,440 They'd won the Battle of Prestonpans just earlier in the same manner. 301 00:19:00,440 --> 00:19:02,360 But what they are facing 302 00:19:02,360 --> 00:19:05,080 is devastating fire from the government troops. 303 00:19:05,080 --> 00:19:06,440 They've got better guns. 304 00:19:06,440 --> 00:19:09,360 They've got better guns and they've loaded them with canister shot, 305 00:19:09,360 --> 00:19:11,360 which scatters shot across the field. 306 00:19:11,360 --> 00:19:14,080 There's the Duke of Cumberland, sitting there watching. 307 00:19:14,080 --> 00:19:16,160 Was he a good commander, do you think? 308 00:19:16,160 --> 00:19:18,080 He had a lot to prove, at this point. 309 00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:21,040 He'd recently suffered a really humiliating defeat 310 00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:23,840 against the French on the Continent at the Battle of Fontenoy 311 00:19:23,840 --> 00:19:26,240 and he'd come to deal with a Jacobite threat. 312 00:19:26,240 --> 00:19:30,480 We know he sent spies to the Jacobite camp the night before, 313 00:19:30,480 --> 00:19:33,600 so he was forewarned of what was about to happen. 314 00:19:33,600 --> 00:19:36,440 And he also had the advantage, in that the Jacobites 315 00:19:36,440 --> 00:19:38,600 had attempted a night raid which had failed, 316 00:19:38,600 --> 00:19:42,680 so the soldiers were tired, in a way that his soldiers weren't. 317 00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:44,400 It's very distressing, 318 00:19:44,400 --> 00:19:47,360 because we've got all of these poor Highlanders running forwards, 319 00:19:47,360 --> 00:19:49,840 with what looks like a pitchfork in his hand 320 00:19:49,840 --> 00:19:52,480 and these guys are just shooting cannons at them. 321 00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:55,560 It was clearly a horrific battle. A great sort of toll. 322 00:19:57,400 --> 00:20:01,080 But there was another factor in the fall of the Jacobites. 323 00:20:03,360 --> 00:20:06,280 They'd been abandoned by their French allies. 324 00:20:08,320 --> 00:20:11,360 Things were now going well for the French on the Continent. 325 00:20:11,360 --> 00:20:15,760 They no longer needed to employ diversionary tactics in Scotland. 326 00:20:18,960 --> 00:20:22,600 I met Dr Tony Pollard, a battlefield historian, 327 00:20:22,600 --> 00:20:24,960 who believes that Bonnie Prince Charlie 328 00:20:24,960 --> 00:20:29,080 didn't have any choice but to turn and face Cumberland's forces. 329 00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:33,680 Tony, why did Bonnie Prince Charlie have to stand and fight here? 330 00:20:33,680 --> 00:20:35,360 Or why did he feel that he had to? 331 00:20:35,360 --> 00:20:37,280 There are a number of reasons, really. 332 00:20:37,280 --> 00:20:40,040 For the Jacobites, it's a last roll of the dice. 333 00:20:40,040 --> 00:20:43,280 And the option is either to fight here, 334 00:20:43,280 --> 00:20:47,200 or disappear into the mountains and basically fight a guerrilla war. 335 00:20:47,200 --> 00:20:49,200 Wouldn't they have been really good at that? 336 00:20:49,200 --> 00:20:52,760 I'm sure they would have been, given the Highland backbone to the army, 337 00:20:52,760 --> 00:20:55,640 but the thing is that Charles is a prince, 338 00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:57,720 and princes do not fight guerrilla wars. 339 00:20:57,720 --> 00:21:00,880 - It's a matter of masculine pride. - There's very much a matter of pride. 340 00:21:00,880 --> 00:21:05,480 So, Bonnie Prince Charlie has his last great gamble. It fails. 341 00:21:05,480 --> 00:21:07,680 Just how bad was the defeat? 342 00:21:07,680 --> 00:21:10,360 For him personally, it seems to have been catastrophic. 343 00:21:10,360 --> 00:21:13,000 He can't deal with the fact that this was it. 344 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:15,880 But there are still men out there desperate to continue the fight. 345 00:21:15,880 --> 00:21:17,920 But he doesn't want to. 346 00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:20,640 And he disappears off into the heather, famously. 347 00:21:20,640 --> 00:21:24,440 And so, the Jacobite cause bleeds to death on Culloden Moor. 348 00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:28,800 What sort of reprisals did Cumberland start to take? 349 00:21:28,800 --> 00:21:30,840 This is where things get very nasty. 350 00:21:30,840 --> 00:21:33,160 Almost as soon as the gun smoke has cleared, 351 00:21:33,160 --> 00:21:35,480 the reprisals on the field begin, 352 00:21:35,480 --> 00:21:37,720 and wounded Jacobites are executed, 353 00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:41,600 men are taken away and imprisoned temporarily, then executed. 354 00:21:41,600 --> 00:21:44,600 Civilians are kept away from the battlefield. 355 00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:48,080 So, it beggars belief what might have gone on here. 356 00:21:48,080 --> 00:21:50,960 Now, some people have used the words "ethnic cleansing" 357 00:21:50,960 --> 00:21:52,720 to talk about these atrocities. 358 00:21:52,720 --> 00:21:55,080 - Do you think that's fair? - Very much so. 359 00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:58,000 There is a concerted campaign, particularly in the Highlands, 360 00:21:58,000 --> 00:22:01,160 basically, to wreak havoc and to take revenge. 361 00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:03,600 And there are some terrible stories. 362 00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:06,640 And Cumberland himself, at one point, wanted to exile 363 00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:09,760 most of the population of the Highlands to the Americas, 364 00:22:09,760 --> 00:22:11,960 so they couldn't cause more trouble. 365 00:22:11,960 --> 00:22:15,480 So, it's an understandable response to these events. 366 00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:21,480 Mass killings and mass graves. 367 00:22:21,480 --> 00:22:25,080 Unspeakable atrocities were witnessed at Culloden. 368 00:22:29,440 --> 00:22:33,840 And in Scotland, the duke is still known as "Butcher" Cumberland. 369 00:22:40,360 --> 00:22:45,760 Back in London though, he was feted as the man who'd saved Britain. 370 00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:50,520 Handel's Oratorio, Judas Maccabaeus, 371 00:22:50,520 --> 00:22:54,440 including the words, "See the conquering hero comes," 372 00:22:54,440 --> 00:22:58,640 was composed in his honour and rang out at St Paul's Cathedral. 373 00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:07,440 King George II had finally vanquished the Stuart threat. 374 00:23:07,440 --> 00:23:10,880 A visitor to his crowded court reported, 375 00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:14,720 "I never saw anyone in such glee as the king." 376 00:23:19,760 --> 00:23:22,960 You could also buy a little bit of the Hanoverian victory 377 00:23:22,960 --> 00:23:24,480 to take home with you, 378 00:23:24,480 --> 00:23:28,520 in the form of these commemorative medals in gold or silver, 379 00:23:28,520 --> 00:23:31,320 celebrating the Duke of Cumberland. 380 00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:34,880 And this is such a divisive image, isn't it? 381 00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:38,120 To the Hanoverian supporters in London, they would have seen here 382 00:23:38,120 --> 00:23:41,400 a conquering hero, a fine figure of a man. 383 00:23:41,400 --> 00:23:44,800 But if you show this image of the duke with his jowls 384 00:23:44,800 --> 00:23:49,080 to a Scottish person, even today, they are likely to spit on it. 385 00:23:51,400 --> 00:23:55,840 And the Hanoverians weren't done with the Highlanders yet. 386 00:23:55,840 --> 00:23:59,440 George II got Parliament to pass the Dress Act 387 00:23:59,440 --> 00:24:04,320 that made it illegal to wear tartan and banned the bagpipes. 388 00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:09,400 Frederick disagreed with this heavy-handed treatment, 389 00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:13,040 but again, he displayed his rebellion in quite a cunning way. 390 00:24:15,280 --> 00:24:17,840 He commissioned a painting of his son, 391 00:24:17,840 --> 00:24:22,280 the future George III, containing a coded message. 392 00:24:22,280 --> 00:24:24,360 People at the time thought there was something 393 00:24:24,360 --> 00:24:26,880 very strange about this picture. 394 00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:30,600 It was painted only months after the Battle of Culloden and yet, 395 00:24:30,600 --> 00:24:32,920 the little boy is wearing tartan. 396 00:24:32,920 --> 00:24:36,200 This could have been family politics. 397 00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:38,400 This is Frederick and his children 398 00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:41,640 having a go at Frederick's brother, the Duke of Cumberland, 399 00:24:41,640 --> 00:24:43,720 the victor of Culloden. 400 00:24:43,720 --> 00:24:45,160 Maybe Frederick is saying, 401 00:24:45,160 --> 00:24:49,480 "I have some sympathy for the vanquished Jacobites." 402 00:24:49,480 --> 00:24:53,400 And I'd like to think this is Frederick trying to assimilate 403 00:24:53,400 --> 00:24:56,760 the style of the Scots back into Great Britain. 404 00:24:56,760 --> 00:24:59,000 It would eventually work very well. 405 00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:03,040 Tartan would become a symbol of romanticism, rather than rebellion. 406 00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:10,480 Myth and romance swirl around our image of the brave Scots, 407 00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:14,960 with their pitchforks being cut down by a hi-tech army. 408 00:25:20,520 --> 00:25:26,160 In reality, Scotland was just as sophisticated a society as England. 409 00:25:31,120 --> 00:25:34,720 The Jacobites may have been in love with the past, 410 00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:40,000 wanting to turn back time to the days when kings had divine right. 411 00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:44,400 But Scotland also boasted more progressive people, 412 00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:46,560 such as a group of new thinkers 413 00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:50,160 who were much more interested in shaping the future. 414 00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:53,560 The men of the Scottish Enlightenment. 415 00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:58,680 From poetry to pathology, Enlightenment thinking 416 00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:02,920 flowed out into all sorts of channels, including architecture. 417 00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:07,440 Those behind it thought that their future lay within the Union. 418 00:26:07,440 --> 00:26:11,360 So, a competition to create a whole new quarter of Edinburgh 419 00:26:11,360 --> 00:26:15,160 was won by a design that featured a Union flag. 420 00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:21,640 George Street links the grand thoroughfares 421 00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:24,800 of Hanover Street and Frederick Street. 422 00:26:28,160 --> 00:26:32,360 But just why did the Scottish capital teem with innovation? 423 00:26:32,360 --> 00:26:34,520 The answer was education 424 00:26:34,520 --> 00:26:37,600 and education and education. 425 00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:42,120 By 1750, the Scots were the most literate nation in Europe. 426 00:26:42,120 --> 00:26:44,960 75% of them knew how to read. 427 00:26:44,960 --> 00:26:50,400 And they also had five universities, as opposed to just two in England. 428 00:26:50,400 --> 00:26:53,400 At the Scottish universities, the fees were relatively low 429 00:26:53,400 --> 00:26:56,600 and the social mix was relatively broad. 430 00:26:56,600 --> 00:26:58,880 Scottish people liked to joke 431 00:26:58,880 --> 00:27:02,520 that there were the same number of universities in the whole of England 432 00:27:02,520 --> 00:27:04,800 as there were in just the city of Aberdeen. 433 00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:11,880 There was also a practical bent to education in Scotland. 434 00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:14,560 Poor but ambitious Scots, 435 00:27:14,560 --> 00:27:18,440 armed with useful skills found plenty of opportunity abroad 436 00:27:18,440 --> 00:27:21,640 in Britain's trade networks and new colonies. 437 00:27:22,840 --> 00:27:25,760 The Scots had failed to beat the English, 438 00:27:25,760 --> 00:27:29,360 so now it seemed like time to join them and make a profit. 439 00:27:31,160 --> 00:27:33,080 Professor Tom Devine believes 440 00:27:33,080 --> 00:27:36,200 that while the English ruled Britain's colonies, 441 00:27:36,200 --> 00:27:38,600 the Scots actually ran them. 442 00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:41,520 What were the practical effects of the Scottish Enlightenment, 443 00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:44,800 when these well-educated Scottish people were going abroad 444 00:27:44,800 --> 00:27:47,040 to sort of practise it in other countries? 445 00:27:47,040 --> 00:27:49,720 The impact is significant across the Atlantic 446 00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:52,080 in the mid to late 18th-century period, 447 00:27:52,080 --> 00:27:54,720 because these new colonies, North American colonies, 448 00:27:54,720 --> 00:27:58,200 what became the USA, is looking for ideas. 449 00:27:58,200 --> 00:28:02,120 For example, it's looking for a kind of intellectual toolkit 450 00:28:02,120 --> 00:28:05,960 from European thinking, in order to build up 451 00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:09,240 its institutions virtually from scratch. 452 00:28:09,240 --> 00:28:11,760 And to a significant degree, it gets them from Scotia. 453 00:28:11,760 --> 00:28:15,320 The most remarkable example was what was called 454 00:28:15,320 --> 00:28:18,600 the College of New Jersey, better known now as Princeton. 455 00:28:18,600 --> 00:28:19,880 Princeton was the seminary 456 00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:22,720 for the first generation of statesmen in the USA. 457 00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:25,800 And Princeton's president was John Witherspoon, 458 00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:29,640 a Scot, a Scottish cleric of the Enlightenment period. 459 00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:32,120 Do you think it's fair to say the Scottish Enlightenment 460 00:28:32,120 --> 00:28:35,880 was a sort of engine driving the expansion of the British Empire? 461 00:28:35,880 --> 00:28:38,840 Well, it certainly was in terms of thinking 462 00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:41,280 and it certainly was in terms of the tremendous regard 463 00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:42,720 that during the Enlightenment, 464 00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:46,000 Scotland developed almost a reverence for learning. 465 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:47,800 And that was very important, 466 00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:50,720 because not all immigrants 467 00:28:50,720 --> 00:28:53,360 into the empire in this period were literate. 468 00:28:53,360 --> 00:28:57,560 Scots had this particular advantage of literacy and numeracy. 469 00:28:57,560 --> 00:29:00,840 I mean, don't forget, you get Scottish stereotypes aplenty. 470 00:29:00,840 --> 00:29:03,200 The Scottish doctor, the Scottish physician, 471 00:29:03,200 --> 00:29:05,640 the Scottish engineer. "Beam me up, Scotty." 472 00:29:05,640 --> 00:29:09,320 So you've got these intelligent, well-educated, rational, 473 00:29:09,320 --> 00:29:11,880 - commercially successful Scots. - And greedy. 474 00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:14,000 But they're not making their own society fairer, 475 00:29:14,000 --> 00:29:16,520 they're going off across the world to get rich elsewhere. 476 00:29:16,520 --> 00:29:21,560 But it's important to recognise that among this range of influences, 477 00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:24,640 if you like, the intellectual engine of Enlightenment, 478 00:29:24,640 --> 00:29:30,360 I would argue the primary engine is materialistic. 479 00:29:30,360 --> 00:29:32,960 The reason why Scottish doctors 480 00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:36,200 went in their large numbers to the Caribbean 481 00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:39,640 was not simply to study disease 482 00:29:39,640 --> 00:29:43,240 or to provide support or healing, 483 00:29:43,240 --> 00:29:46,160 it was to make lots and lots of filthy lucre. 484 00:29:46,160 --> 00:29:47,640 SHE CHUCKLES 485 00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:54,320 One settlement that provided these kinds of opportunities 486 00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:57,360 was the new American colony of Georgia, 487 00:29:57,360 --> 00:29:59,960 named after King George II. 488 00:30:01,080 --> 00:30:05,840 In exchange for bringing education to the Native American population, 489 00:30:05,840 --> 00:30:08,600 Britain gained fertile territory 490 00:30:08,600 --> 00:30:12,560 for growing new empire products, like tobacco. 491 00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:17,080 In 1734, the kings of this New World 492 00:30:17,080 --> 00:30:21,400 came to pay their respects to the king of the old. 493 00:30:21,400 --> 00:30:24,720 A party of chiefs from the Cherokee nation came here 494 00:30:24,720 --> 00:30:26,920 to this room in Kensington Palace, 495 00:30:26,920 --> 00:30:30,200 to pay their respects to the King of Britain. 496 00:30:30,200 --> 00:30:32,480 Their leader was called Tomochichi. 497 00:30:32,480 --> 00:30:34,440 He came with his war captains 498 00:30:34,440 --> 00:30:37,720 and their faces were painted in red and black. 499 00:30:37,720 --> 00:30:41,120 The British thought it looked like they were wearing masks. 500 00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:43,280 As part of the welcome ceremony, 501 00:30:43,280 --> 00:30:46,760 Tomochichi was introduced to the ladies of the British court. 502 00:30:46,760 --> 00:30:49,520 And he was asked to judge which of them 503 00:30:49,520 --> 00:30:52,000 he thought was the most beautiful. 504 00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:55,640 Tomochichi gave what I think is a very diplomatic answer. 505 00:30:55,640 --> 00:30:57,720 He said, "I can't possibly tell, 506 00:30:57,720 --> 00:31:00,600 "because all you white folk look the same to me." 507 00:31:05,240 --> 00:31:08,680 The race was on to colonise the New World. 508 00:31:10,560 --> 00:31:15,080 And, again, George II's Scottish subjects were helping to win it. 509 00:31:15,080 --> 00:31:18,560 Protecting Georgia's lucrative frontier lands 510 00:31:18,560 --> 00:31:22,680 against the Spanish in Florida and the French in the Alabama Basin 511 00:31:22,680 --> 00:31:26,800 were Scottish Highlanders, who'd emigrated as soldier-settlers. 512 00:31:28,160 --> 00:31:32,080 One of the first towns they founded was New Inverness, 513 00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:34,760 named after the home they'd left behind. 514 00:31:41,280 --> 00:31:45,120 Transporting the products of the empire safely back to Britain 515 00:31:45,120 --> 00:31:46,960 was not without risk. 516 00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:53,120 Vessels faced the hazards of piracy and shipwreck. 517 00:31:55,080 --> 00:31:58,760 Prince Frederick, still banging his patriot drum, 518 00:31:58,760 --> 00:32:03,000 believed a strong navy to protect the trade routes was vital, 519 00:32:03,000 --> 00:32:05,560 and he said so on a visit to Bristol. 520 00:32:07,000 --> 00:32:10,360 When Frederick was entertained here at the Merchants' Hall, 521 00:32:10,360 --> 00:32:14,000 it was very lavishly, with 100 dishes on the table. 522 00:32:14,000 --> 00:32:17,440 And he was mobbed by the wives of 500 merchants. 523 00:32:17,440 --> 00:32:21,240 He made a speech that was all about the importance of the Navy, 524 00:32:21,240 --> 00:32:24,640 to protect the ships of all of these people, carrying their cotton 525 00:32:24,640 --> 00:32:28,840 and their sugar. And this went down very well, as you might expect. 526 00:32:28,840 --> 00:32:31,400 He finished with a few rousing words on 527 00:32:31,400 --> 00:32:34,080 "the importance of the advancement of trade, 528 00:32:34,080 --> 00:32:36,000 "which has a valuable effect 529 00:32:36,000 --> 00:32:38,960 "on the liberty and happiness of our nation." 530 00:32:38,960 --> 00:32:40,160 Cheers! 531 00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:52,200 All sorts of new empire goods were now available in Britain, 532 00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:54,720 and keen consumers were to be found 533 00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:57,240 in the growing middling rank of society. 534 00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:03,000 Crucially, the Georgians now had a reliable system of credit. 535 00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:06,160 You could order goods now and pay for them later. 536 00:33:08,240 --> 00:33:11,320 People could now buy not only what they needed, 537 00:33:11,320 --> 00:33:13,000 but what they wanted. 538 00:33:13,000 --> 00:33:16,480 The British went mad for the so-called Empire products - 539 00:33:16,480 --> 00:33:19,960 tea from China and textiles from India. 540 00:33:19,960 --> 00:33:22,640 And they also loved the 18th-century phenomenon 541 00:33:22,640 --> 00:33:26,560 known as the toy shop. We're not talking here about toys for kids, 542 00:33:26,560 --> 00:33:29,920 but for adults, little knick-knacks and table decorations, 543 00:33:29,920 --> 00:33:31,240 that sort of thing. 544 00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:33,680 Dr Johnson defined a toy as 545 00:33:33,680 --> 00:33:36,160 "something for show rather than use, 546 00:33:36,160 --> 00:33:39,000 "a petty commodity, a trifle." 547 00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:48,360 It was during this era that luxury became something of a buzz word. 548 00:33:50,880 --> 00:33:57,320 Paul Bertrand ran a fashionable toy shop for adults in Westminster, 549 00:33:57,320 --> 00:33:59,200 where Frederick, Prince of Wales, 550 00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:04,400 extravagantly spent over £700 in a single visit on knick-knacks. 551 00:34:07,760 --> 00:34:11,200 His purchases ranged from a silver corkscrew 552 00:34:11,200 --> 00:34:13,560 to a selection of antique porcelain. 553 00:34:16,440 --> 00:34:19,400 Frederick was desperate to look up-to-date, 554 00:34:19,400 --> 00:34:21,400 because for the first time, 555 00:34:21,400 --> 00:34:25,640 the Royal Court was not associated with all that was fashionable. 556 00:34:28,720 --> 00:34:31,560 You can see this in a very striking way, 557 00:34:31,560 --> 00:34:36,160 if you look at what women were wearing at court. 558 00:34:36,160 --> 00:34:39,680 One of the most incredible dresses to have survived 559 00:34:39,680 --> 00:34:43,360 from the Georgian period is the Rockingham Mantua. 560 00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:48,720 Joanna Marschner, Curator of the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection, 561 00:34:48,720 --> 00:34:53,240 believes this glittering relic was a fabulous creation, yes, 562 00:34:53,240 --> 00:34:56,640 but out of step with modern society. 563 00:34:56,640 --> 00:35:00,400 So, Joanna, this is a dress fit to be worn at the Georgian Court. 564 00:35:00,400 --> 00:35:01,880 You can just see, 565 00:35:01,880 --> 00:35:05,200 this is the flashiest dress that you can even begin to imagine. 566 00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:08,040 And it was really, really expensive. 567 00:35:08,040 --> 00:35:11,640 It is made out of the most precious textile. 568 00:35:11,640 --> 00:35:15,360 It's called an orris tissue, woven with real silver. 569 00:35:15,360 --> 00:35:18,520 There was something a bit uniform-like about it, too, 570 00:35:18,520 --> 00:35:20,840 wasn't there? You had to wear something like this 571 00:35:20,840 --> 00:35:24,960 - if you were going to appear at court? - The absolute courtly giveaway 572 00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:27,320 is that you wore it with a petticoat. 573 00:35:27,320 --> 00:35:30,000 And the petticoat stemmed out from here, 574 00:35:30,000 --> 00:35:32,560 and you can do the same thing on the other side. 575 00:35:32,560 --> 00:35:34,120 And it is enormous. 576 00:35:34,120 --> 00:35:36,360 It would have come down like this. 577 00:35:36,360 --> 00:35:40,000 And it stood out like a piece of pasteboard, 578 00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:43,200 it really was a bit like a billboard. 579 00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:48,520 This gives a sense of how impractically vast it is, doesn't it? 580 00:35:48,520 --> 00:35:50,760 It must've been pretty difficult to walk in. 581 00:35:50,760 --> 00:35:54,400 But that's sort of the point of this type of dress, isn't it? 582 00:35:54,400 --> 00:35:56,560 This is a style of dress for a person 583 00:35:56,560 --> 00:35:59,880 who will go to one of these lovely gatherings. 584 00:35:59,880 --> 00:36:03,600 And you'd have stood there, just looking glamorous and glorious. 585 00:36:03,600 --> 00:36:07,160 And as this style falls away in fashionable circles, 586 00:36:07,160 --> 00:36:09,760 in the court, it gets ever more entrenched. 587 00:36:12,080 --> 00:36:14,760 Now, yes, these dresses are spectacular 588 00:36:14,760 --> 00:36:16,640 and they're otherworldly, 589 00:36:16,640 --> 00:36:19,360 but as the reign of George II goes on, 590 00:36:19,360 --> 00:36:23,680 they're getting increasingly out of step with contemporary society. 591 00:36:23,680 --> 00:36:26,720 At court, they're still wearing a type of dress 592 00:36:26,720 --> 00:36:31,080 that had been fashionable in the real world 60 years before. 593 00:36:31,080 --> 00:36:34,320 And there's a brilliant description from the very late Georgian period 594 00:36:34,320 --> 00:36:38,000 of an elderly court beauty going to the palace 595 00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:41,400 in one of these dresses, wearing a bit too much make-up. 596 00:36:41,400 --> 00:36:45,720 She's travelling by sedan chair, and through its glass window, 597 00:36:45,720 --> 00:36:50,400 she looks like "a specimen from a natural history collection." 598 00:36:50,400 --> 00:36:54,080 She looks like "the foetus of a hippopotamus 599 00:36:54,080 --> 00:36:56,400 "pickled in a bottle of brandy." 600 00:37:01,000 --> 00:37:04,560 The court was turning into an outsized bauble... 601 00:37:05,920 --> 00:37:07,760 ..ornamentally important, 602 00:37:07,760 --> 00:37:11,880 yet increasingly separate from the serious business of getting ahead. 603 00:37:14,160 --> 00:37:18,600 The drivers of taste were now the merchants, the middling sort. 604 00:37:21,280 --> 00:37:23,640 And they had a fresh passion - 605 00:37:23,640 --> 00:37:25,080 the novel. 606 00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:32,880 The 18th century saw the birth of this new literary genre, 607 00:37:32,880 --> 00:37:36,080 which was driven by a growing and increasingly literate 608 00:37:36,080 --> 00:37:38,080 middle rank in society. 609 00:37:39,520 --> 00:37:43,120 But many novelists were keen on attacking the luxury 610 00:37:43,120 --> 00:37:45,200 enjoyed by their readers. 611 00:37:46,880 --> 00:37:51,240 They believed Empire products were corrupting the British. 612 00:37:53,960 --> 00:37:57,080 One of the most vociferous critics of luxury 613 00:37:57,080 --> 00:38:00,320 was the Scottish writer Tobias Smollett. 614 00:38:00,320 --> 00:38:03,000 In this novel, Humphry Clinker, 615 00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:06,640 there's a sort of an antihero called Matthew Bramble. 616 00:38:06,640 --> 00:38:09,640 And Matthew Bramble goes on this great voyage or adventure 617 00:38:09,640 --> 00:38:14,880 all around Britain, and everywhere he finds debauchery, and conmen, 618 00:38:14,880 --> 00:38:18,680 and pimps, and particularly, the nouveau riche. 619 00:38:18,680 --> 00:38:23,000 Smollett is very down on their empty glitter and glare. 620 00:38:23,000 --> 00:38:26,400 Now, Tobias Smollett and Matthew Bramble are practically 621 00:38:26,400 --> 00:38:31,960 the same person, and can claim to be the original grumpy old man. 622 00:38:31,960 --> 00:38:35,600 Smollett had such a pessimistic and negative view of life 623 00:38:35,600 --> 00:38:39,560 that his rival writers called him "snail fungus." 624 00:38:44,120 --> 00:38:49,160 Smollett ridiculed the super-rich in their mock Palladian palaces. 625 00:38:51,760 --> 00:38:56,240 Behind the facades of these la-di-da Georgian town houses, he said, 626 00:38:56,240 --> 00:38:58,120 lay dirty secrets. 627 00:39:01,720 --> 00:39:04,200 Smollett thought that Georgian cities were 628 00:39:04,200 --> 00:39:08,240 "the grand sources of luxury and corruption" 629 00:39:08,240 --> 00:39:10,760 and that their inhabitants were controlled 630 00:39:10,760 --> 00:39:14,440 "by the demons of licentiousness." 631 00:39:16,520 --> 00:39:20,040 Smollett was just one of many writers who revealed that 632 00:39:20,040 --> 00:39:23,440 the engine driving much of Britain's economic success 633 00:39:23,440 --> 00:39:27,840 was far less palatable than tea or sugar. 634 00:39:36,840 --> 00:39:42,480 Professor James Walvin has made the slave trade his life's study. 635 00:39:42,480 --> 00:39:45,440 He believes that slavery seeped into 636 00:39:45,440 --> 00:39:48,720 every pore of Britain's emerging empire. 637 00:39:53,480 --> 00:39:56,280 So, how does this trade actually work? 638 00:39:56,280 --> 00:39:59,320 What are the goods that are involved? 639 00:39:59,320 --> 00:40:01,040 We talk of it as a triangular trade. 640 00:40:01,040 --> 00:40:03,400 It's much more complex, geographically, than that. 641 00:40:03,400 --> 00:40:05,600 Nonetheless, that's the basic core of it. 642 00:40:05,600 --> 00:40:09,040 Ships that leave here, Bristol, Liverpool, London, 643 00:40:09,040 --> 00:40:12,360 packed to the gunnels with produce from the hinterland. 644 00:40:12,360 --> 00:40:15,760 Metal goods, but, above all, textiles for West Africa. 645 00:40:15,760 --> 00:40:19,040 And, in West Africa, those goods are traded for Africans. 646 00:40:19,040 --> 00:40:21,240 They're traded with other African traders. 647 00:40:21,240 --> 00:40:24,600 It's Africans providing the Africans for the slave ships. 648 00:40:24,600 --> 00:40:27,320 And then, they're shipped across in huge numbers, 649 00:40:27,320 --> 00:40:30,080 the largest enforced movement of people ever, 650 00:40:30,080 --> 00:40:31,840 to the plantations of the Americas. 651 00:40:31,840 --> 00:40:35,360 The last leg is the leg that brings back the produce 652 00:40:35,360 --> 00:40:39,040 that the slaves had grown. It's tobacco. It's sugar. 653 00:40:39,040 --> 00:40:41,280 It's dye - dyestuffs. 654 00:40:41,280 --> 00:40:43,440 Rice, which we use for starch. 655 00:40:43,440 --> 00:40:45,960 18th-century clothing, ladies' fashionable clothing, 656 00:40:45,960 --> 00:40:48,720 starched and beautiful, where does the starch come from? 657 00:40:48,720 --> 00:40:52,400 It comes from rice. And who grows the rice? Africans in South Carolina. 658 00:40:52,400 --> 00:40:57,480 What impact do you think the slave trade had on Britain's economy then? 659 00:40:57,480 --> 00:40:59,360 Was it central to it? 660 00:40:59,360 --> 00:41:02,360 Historians have been arguing about this now for 50, 60 years. 661 00:41:02,360 --> 00:41:06,640 How central is the slave trade in the emergence of the British economy? 662 00:41:06,640 --> 00:41:09,200 It's very hard to pin down to numbers. 663 00:41:09,200 --> 00:41:13,320 The knock-on effect of the slave trade is extraordinary. 664 00:41:13,320 --> 00:41:17,240 Who thinks, if you're looking at small textile villages in Yorkshire, 665 00:41:17,240 --> 00:41:20,120 that this is somehow or other driven by the slave trade? 666 00:41:20,120 --> 00:41:22,920 Who thinks of the trade in textiles from India, that this has got 667 00:41:22,920 --> 00:41:25,880 something to do with the slave trade? But Africans in Jamaica 668 00:41:25,880 --> 00:41:29,160 and Barbados are clothed in cool-fitting cotton, 669 00:41:29,160 --> 00:41:31,360 goods from Gujarat. 670 00:41:31,360 --> 00:41:34,440 The ramifications of it are extraordinary, 671 00:41:34,440 --> 00:41:36,160 not merely in Britain but globally. 672 00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:38,600 You're actually looking at a form of globalisation, 673 00:41:38,600 --> 00:41:40,480 in a world that doesn't use the word. 674 00:41:40,480 --> 00:41:43,520 Do you think people were aware of this sort of dirty secret 675 00:41:43,520 --> 00:41:45,480 behind their economic success? 676 00:41:45,480 --> 00:41:48,640 Or was it a case of out of sight, out of mind? 677 00:41:48,640 --> 00:41:52,520 The British have traditionally not thought of slavery as something that's to do with them. 678 00:41:52,520 --> 00:41:55,480 This is something to do with Africa or the Atlantic, or the Americas. 679 00:41:55,480 --> 00:41:57,720 Whereas, in fact, British ships had taken them over, 680 00:41:57,720 --> 00:42:00,040 it's British money that makes it possible, 681 00:42:00,040 --> 00:42:02,920 it's Britain that profits from slave work. 682 00:42:02,920 --> 00:42:05,360 So that it's very easy to think of yourself 683 00:42:05,360 --> 00:42:08,280 as being committed to freedom and liberty, 684 00:42:08,280 --> 00:42:12,200 and not remember that actually, all of your material wellbeing 685 00:42:12,200 --> 00:42:14,680 is bound up with something quite different, 686 00:42:14,680 --> 00:42:17,720 and that is the enslavement of millions of Africans. 687 00:42:21,560 --> 00:42:23,200 Britain was helped in becoming 688 00:42:23,200 --> 00:42:25,960 the biggest slave-trading nation in the world 689 00:42:25,960 --> 00:42:27,920 because it had a strong navy. 690 00:42:30,520 --> 00:42:33,720 Prince Frederick's supporters, singing Rule, Britannia!, 691 00:42:33,720 --> 00:42:37,040 claimed that "Britons never shall be slaves." 692 00:42:40,360 --> 00:42:44,040 They were praising Britain's extraordinary liberties. 693 00:42:44,040 --> 00:42:47,120 But by policing British trade routes, the Royal Navy 694 00:42:47,120 --> 00:42:50,400 was helping to enslave millions of Africans. 695 00:42:54,400 --> 00:42:57,400 The irony was lost, not just on Frederick, 696 00:42:57,400 --> 00:42:59,920 but on the majority of the British people. 697 00:43:01,680 --> 00:43:05,080 His patriot faction had never been more influential. 698 00:43:06,480 --> 00:43:11,680 King George II felt that he was losing the PR battle to his son 699 00:43:11,680 --> 00:43:15,080 and relations between them were as bad as ever. 700 00:43:16,440 --> 00:43:21,320 There was still no love lost between father and son. 701 00:43:21,320 --> 00:43:23,400 George II was overheard saying 702 00:43:23,400 --> 00:43:26,280 that he cared for his son "no more than a louse," 703 00:43:26,280 --> 00:43:29,560 and that when Frederick succeeded, "he'd ruin everything." 704 00:43:29,560 --> 00:43:31,760 But the king was wrong about this. 705 00:43:33,920 --> 00:43:38,440 When Frederick was only 44, he quite unexpectedly died. 706 00:43:41,120 --> 00:43:43,920 He'd been out in the rain, he caught a cold, 707 00:43:43,920 --> 00:43:48,160 and what actually killed him was a clot of blood on the lungs. 708 00:43:51,240 --> 00:43:53,840 The news reached George II one evening, 709 00:43:53,840 --> 00:43:57,000 when he was playing at cards with a whole load of courtiers. 710 00:43:57,000 --> 00:44:01,360 Now, they all turned to look at him and they were closely watching him 711 00:44:01,360 --> 00:44:04,640 for further evidence that he'd hated his son. 712 00:44:04,640 --> 00:44:08,960 And they thought they'd found it, because he didn't react at all. 713 00:44:08,960 --> 00:44:11,040 His face was impassive. 714 00:44:11,040 --> 00:44:14,640 This could've been cold-heartedness, or it could have been 715 00:44:14,640 --> 00:44:18,160 that the king was just following rigid royal etiquette - 716 00:44:18,160 --> 00:44:20,920 never to express emotion in public. 717 00:44:26,960 --> 00:44:30,560 So, we were never to have King Frederick I, 718 00:44:30,560 --> 00:44:35,080 described by his supporters as "the greatest king we never had." 719 00:44:36,840 --> 00:44:40,760 Frederick had been the most popular member of the royal family. 720 00:44:42,760 --> 00:44:45,320 But his funeral, here at Westminster Abbey, 721 00:44:45,320 --> 00:44:51,040 was marred by disorganisation, rain and a lack of refreshments. 722 00:44:52,760 --> 00:44:57,560 It confirmed everything Frederick's friends believed about George II 723 00:44:57,560 --> 00:45:02,640 and his favouritism towards his younger son, the Duke of Cumberland. 724 00:45:02,640 --> 00:45:06,440 The death of his son got the king thinking about his own mortality 725 00:45:06,440 --> 00:45:08,560 and he now made a new will. 726 00:45:08,560 --> 00:45:13,440 He designated his grandson, the future George III, as his successor. 727 00:45:13,440 --> 00:45:16,480 The king's first idea had been to say that his second 728 00:45:16,480 --> 00:45:19,400 and favourite son, the Duke of Cumberland, 729 00:45:19,400 --> 00:45:23,120 should be Regent, if necessary, but this wouldn't wash. 730 00:45:23,120 --> 00:45:26,600 Butcher Cumberland was just too unpopular. 731 00:45:26,600 --> 00:45:30,200 In fact, when Frederick died, people on the street were heard to say, 732 00:45:30,200 --> 00:45:32,840 "Oh, we wish it had been his brother." 733 00:45:36,840 --> 00:45:41,440 Frederick's death threw his patriot supporters into turmoil. 734 00:45:42,680 --> 00:45:45,720 Those who had hoped to rise to power in his reign 735 00:45:45,720 --> 00:45:47,960 were extremely disappointed. 736 00:45:49,600 --> 00:45:52,720 Their promised peerages had gone up in smoke. 737 00:45:57,040 --> 00:45:59,160 In the wake of Frederick's death, 738 00:45:59,160 --> 00:46:03,880 it was his widow Augusta who reacted the most decisively. 739 00:46:05,760 --> 00:46:08,480 One of the reasons that we don't fully understand 740 00:46:08,480 --> 00:46:13,240 the character of Prince Frederick is because his wife burnt his papers. 741 00:46:13,240 --> 00:46:17,080 And she did it to control his lasting reputation, 742 00:46:17,080 --> 00:46:20,600 so that no hint of scandal would get out. 743 00:46:20,600 --> 00:46:22,520 I think that this shows that 744 00:46:22,520 --> 00:46:25,880 Augusta was quite a politically savvy person, 745 00:46:25,880 --> 00:46:29,320 and it also demonstrates a certain steeliness. 746 00:46:29,320 --> 00:46:32,160 She would now devote the rest of her life 747 00:46:32,160 --> 00:46:35,440 to looking after the interests of Frederick's son, and hers, 748 00:46:35,440 --> 00:46:40,520 the little boy who was her route to power, the future King George III. 749 00:46:46,560 --> 00:46:51,520 Augusta was worried that if she antagonised King George II, 750 00:46:51,520 --> 00:46:54,040 he could take her son away from her, 751 00:46:54,040 --> 00:46:58,280 just as George I had taken Princess Caroline's children. 752 00:47:01,960 --> 00:47:04,480 Augusta had lost her husband. 753 00:47:04,480 --> 00:47:07,400 She didn't want to lose her children as well. 754 00:47:10,120 --> 00:47:14,240 But she knew that she had to act cleverly and with subtlety. 755 00:47:16,120 --> 00:47:20,080 Desmond Shawe-Taylor, Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures, 756 00:47:20,080 --> 00:47:24,000 believes this portrait is Augusta's manifesto 757 00:47:24,000 --> 00:47:27,560 for becoming the matriarch of the Georgian dynasty. 758 00:47:27,560 --> 00:47:30,800 What do you think Augusta's motivation was, 759 00:47:30,800 --> 00:47:32,440 getting all this put together? 760 00:47:32,440 --> 00:47:35,840 First of all, this is a portrait of a widow, 761 00:47:35,840 --> 00:47:39,480 painted in the same year that her husband has died. 762 00:47:39,480 --> 00:47:41,080 They're looking quite cheerful. 763 00:47:41,080 --> 00:47:43,720 I think it's difficult immediately to understand that, 764 00:47:43,720 --> 00:47:45,480 except I think that the idea is 765 00:47:45,480 --> 00:47:48,520 that you wear a black veil, of course, for form's sake, 766 00:47:48,520 --> 00:47:52,200 but your duties of looking after your children 767 00:47:52,200 --> 00:47:56,000 and looking after the realm continue 768 00:47:56,000 --> 00:47:58,480 and you might as well undertake them in a cheerful way. 769 00:47:58,480 --> 00:48:01,480 Is she saying, "Look, he may be dead, but his work continues"? 770 00:48:01,480 --> 00:48:05,240 I'm sure that's exactly the message. "I'm carrying the flame." 771 00:48:05,240 --> 00:48:08,720 It makes me think almost of a piece of propaganda for an election. 772 00:48:08,720 --> 00:48:11,280 - "This is the team. Vote for us." - Exactly! 773 00:48:11,280 --> 00:48:14,040 On one side, you have the role of the monarch, 774 00:48:14,040 --> 00:48:17,360 represented here by the late heir to the throne, Frederick, 775 00:48:17,360 --> 00:48:20,320 the Prince of Wales, and, on the other side, you have Britannia, 776 00:48:20,320 --> 00:48:22,120 that being the constitution. 777 00:48:22,120 --> 00:48:24,400 And what's going on underneath Britannia? 778 00:48:24,400 --> 00:48:25,960 That's all very significant. 779 00:48:25,960 --> 00:48:28,720 That's the key, I think, to the entire allegory. 780 00:48:28,720 --> 00:48:30,040 There are some scales, 781 00:48:30,040 --> 00:48:34,800 and exactly balanced in the scales are the crown and the cap of liberty. 782 00:48:34,800 --> 00:48:38,720 The emblem of Britain, the lion, is holding another cap of liberty. 783 00:48:38,720 --> 00:48:41,680 So, if you want to take away the liberty of the British people, 784 00:48:41,680 --> 00:48:43,800 you've got a lion to fight with. 785 00:48:43,800 --> 00:48:47,000 The mere fact of presenting the royal family 786 00:48:47,000 --> 00:48:51,080 in this ingratiating fashion is an expression of British liberty. 787 00:48:51,080 --> 00:48:54,760 What of the significance of the activities of the children? 788 00:48:54,760 --> 00:48:58,000 - They're doing things that make Britain great, aren't they? - Yes. 789 00:48:58,000 --> 00:49:02,440 Yes. In this era, there was a convention that naval power 790 00:49:02,440 --> 00:49:04,840 was protective of liberty, 791 00:49:04,840 --> 00:49:08,480 whereas the power of a standing army 792 00:49:08,480 --> 00:49:11,600 was sometimes thought to threaten liberty. 793 00:49:11,600 --> 00:49:13,840 So, I think it is important 794 00:49:13,840 --> 00:49:17,280 that they're engaged in the defence of the realm, 795 00:49:17,280 --> 00:49:20,600 but it's specifically in the naval defence of the realm. 796 00:49:24,520 --> 00:49:28,080 Augusta was continuing Frederick's legacy, 797 00:49:28,080 --> 00:49:33,440 promoting the patriot philosophy of liberty and a strong navy, 798 00:49:33,440 --> 00:49:36,880 controlled here from the headquarters of the admiralty. 799 00:49:39,280 --> 00:49:43,040 Britain was now the largest naval power in the world. 800 00:49:43,040 --> 00:49:44,960 But this was turning us into 801 00:49:44,960 --> 00:49:48,120 a nation greedy for territory and conquest. 802 00:49:49,960 --> 00:49:52,800 Our continued skirmishes with the French 803 00:49:52,800 --> 00:49:55,720 built towards a new and global conflict, 804 00:49:55,720 --> 00:49:57,760 the Seven Years' War. 805 00:49:59,560 --> 00:50:01,600 Britain was empire-building. 806 00:50:01,600 --> 00:50:05,400 We weren't content with our 13 colonies in the Americas. 807 00:50:05,400 --> 00:50:09,440 We wanted more. And this wasn't just a land grab. 808 00:50:09,440 --> 00:50:12,240 It was a war over trade and trading routes. 809 00:50:12,240 --> 00:50:15,360 I'm not exaggerating when I say that the question at stake here 810 00:50:15,360 --> 00:50:19,760 was global dominance by the British or by the French. 811 00:50:19,760 --> 00:50:22,360 So, the fighting was played out in America, 812 00:50:22,360 --> 00:50:25,200 but also in Africa, in India, 813 00:50:25,200 --> 00:50:28,920 and down here in the Philippines, with the Battle of Manila. 814 00:50:28,920 --> 00:50:32,400 Winston Churchill came up with a good name for this conflict, 815 00:50:32,400 --> 00:50:34,160 the Seven Years' War. 816 00:50:34,160 --> 00:50:37,040 He called it "the First World War". 817 00:50:40,400 --> 00:50:44,440 Ever the old soldier, the king went into battle mode, 818 00:50:44,440 --> 00:50:47,560 coordinating army tactics with his favourite lieutenant, 819 00:50:47,560 --> 00:50:49,160 the Duke of Cumberland. 820 00:50:51,720 --> 00:50:55,400 He took to shuffling around the palace in the same old coat 821 00:50:55,400 --> 00:50:58,480 he'd worn at the Battle of Dettingen, 822 00:50:58,480 --> 00:51:02,240 and he sent an army into Europe to face the French. 823 00:51:02,240 --> 00:51:03,920 But it went badly. 824 00:51:05,480 --> 00:51:08,320 George II was out of touch. 825 00:51:08,320 --> 00:51:12,840 Wars were no longer won by kings on horseback leading from the front. 826 00:51:14,280 --> 00:51:18,400 What was happening in Europe was a bit of a sideshow. 827 00:51:18,400 --> 00:51:22,560 This statue shows George II dressed as a Roman emperor. 828 00:51:22,560 --> 00:51:26,040 And this was the context in which he used the word "empire", 829 00:51:26,040 --> 00:51:27,800 when he was talking about history, 830 00:51:27,800 --> 00:51:29,840 when he was talking about the Romans. 831 00:51:29,840 --> 00:51:33,200 The politician William Pitt, on the other hand, understood 832 00:51:33,200 --> 00:51:37,240 that Britain could aspire to have an empire in the present day. 833 00:51:37,240 --> 00:51:40,160 Pitt knew that what was happening in Europe was important, 834 00:51:40,160 --> 00:51:42,720 but it wasn't the most important thing. 835 00:51:42,720 --> 00:51:45,560 What was at stake was domination of the globe. 836 00:51:51,160 --> 00:51:54,440 Here's William Pitt, Secretary of State, 837 00:51:54,440 --> 00:51:58,280 at home at Chatham House. He was to become Earl of Chatham. 838 00:52:00,600 --> 00:52:02,160 Never short of confidence, 839 00:52:02,160 --> 00:52:05,240 Pitt took military strategy firmly in hand. 840 00:52:08,040 --> 00:52:11,800 His opening gambit was, "I am sure I can save this country 841 00:52:11,800 --> 00:52:13,480 "and no-one else can." 842 00:52:16,000 --> 00:52:19,120 During this time, poor old William Pitt was ill, 843 00:52:19,120 --> 00:52:21,880 so he had to stay at home here at Chatham House. 844 00:52:21,880 --> 00:52:23,360 And all the great and the good 845 00:52:23,360 --> 00:52:26,800 came trooping up to his bedroom to discuss strategy. 846 00:52:26,800 --> 00:52:30,000 There's a really nice picture of William Pitt being tucked up in bed 847 00:52:30,000 --> 00:52:31,840 and the room was very cold. 848 00:52:31,840 --> 00:52:34,080 So the Prime Minister, the Duke of Newcastle, 849 00:52:34,080 --> 00:52:36,680 got into another bed on the other side of the room 850 00:52:36,680 --> 00:52:39,000 and together, the two of them lay there, 851 00:52:39,000 --> 00:52:41,520 shaping British foreign policy. 852 00:52:41,520 --> 00:52:44,480 It was here that Pitt came up with his masterstroke - 853 00:52:44,480 --> 00:52:47,320 to use both the Army and the Navy. 854 00:52:47,320 --> 00:52:50,000 He sent the British troops to the Continent 855 00:52:50,000 --> 00:52:52,920 to tie down the French troops, to keep them busy. 856 00:52:52,920 --> 00:52:56,200 Meanwhile, he sent the British Navy all around the globe, 857 00:52:56,200 --> 00:52:58,360 snapping up French colonies. 858 00:53:01,560 --> 00:53:05,600 Oddly, it was only in the last gasp of George II's reign 859 00:53:05,600 --> 00:53:07,640 that these two elements, 860 00:53:07,640 --> 00:53:10,640 the Army of the king and Frederick's Navy, 861 00:53:10,640 --> 00:53:12,480 managed to come together, 862 00:53:12,480 --> 00:53:15,960 to coalesce in this defining war with the French. 863 00:53:19,800 --> 00:53:24,320 1759 was the year of military miracles. 864 00:53:25,600 --> 00:53:28,160 With the triumph of all Pitt's plans, 865 00:53:28,160 --> 00:53:31,560 Britain effectively became a world superpower. 866 00:53:34,920 --> 00:53:39,160 George II was by now deaf and blind in one eye, 867 00:53:39,160 --> 00:53:43,800 but the old king provided an excellent focus for national celebration 868 00:53:43,800 --> 00:53:46,920 in what became known as the "annus mirabilis", 869 00:53:46,920 --> 00:53:48,560 the miraculous year. 870 00:53:50,280 --> 00:53:53,680 And, yet, his new empire was of little consolation 871 00:53:53,680 --> 00:53:55,600 to George personally. 872 00:53:57,760 --> 00:54:02,600 In his youth, George II had suffered from these terrible temper tantrums. 873 00:54:02,600 --> 00:54:05,560 His rage had given him energy. 874 00:54:05,560 --> 00:54:09,920 But, as time went on, his friends started to die off. 875 00:54:09,920 --> 00:54:15,160 His children were dying, one by one, predeceasing him. 876 00:54:15,160 --> 00:54:20,440 As he grew older, he grew wiser and more contemplative. 877 00:54:20,440 --> 00:54:23,800 And, ironically, this happened at the very same time 878 00:54:23,800 --> 00:54:27,120 that Britain grew ever more powerful and successful. 879 00:54:29,400 --> 00:54:33,760 His beloved wife and five of his eight children were dead. 880 00:54:33,760 --> 00:54:36,800 His famous military zeal was ebbing away, 881 00:54:36,800 --> 00:54:40,800 and he regretted his former harshness and aggression. 882 00:54:42,560 --> 00:54:46,960 George II's empire, as it stood, would not exist for long. 883 00:54:49,920 --> 00:54:53,880 A generation later, Britain would have to deal with the next conflict, 884 00:54:53,880 --> 00:54:55,560 and the loss of America. 885 00:54:58,040 --> 00:55:02,880 We had denied our colonies the liberty we so highly valued, 886 00:55:02,880 --> 00:55:06,520 but Americans would want it badly enough to fight for it. 887 00:55:09,160 --> 00:55:12,480 This was a war George II would not live to see. 888 00:55:13,520 --> 00:55:17,320 He died on October 25th 1760, 889 00:55:17,320 --> 00:55:20,360 the last of the German-born Georgian kings 890 00:55:20,360 --> 00:55:24,080 who came over from Hanover to plug Britain's dynastic gap. 891 00:55:36,840 --> 00:55:40,760 The king who succeeded him couldn't have been more different. 892 00:55:41,800 --> 00:55:44,840 George II's grandson, George III, 893 00:55:44,840 --> 00:55:48,400 would reject everything his grandfather stood for 894 00:55:48,400 --> 00:55:51,520 to become the patriotic, British king 895 00:55:51,520 --> 00:55:55,240 his own father, Frederick, had never had the chance to be. 896 00:55:58,400 --> 00:56:02,320 This coach was designed for the coronation of George III. 897 00:56:02,320 --> 00:56:06,520 But, unfortunately, it was so fancy that it wasn't finished in time. 898 00:56:06,520 --> 00:56:09,640 It has been used at every coronation since. 899 00:56:09,640 --> 00:56:13,800 It weighs four tonnes, and it takes eight horses to pull it. 900 00:56:13,800 --> 00:56:15,840 But it isn't just a vehicle. 901 00:56:15,840 --> 00:56:21,200 It's also a sort of rolling manifesto for the British monarchy. 902 00:56:21,200 --> 00:56:25,400 George III's coach in the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace 903 00:56:25,400 --> 00:56:27,680 depicts Britain's naval victories, 904 00:56:27,680 --> 00:56:30,880 at the precise moment of her greatest triumph 905 00:56:30,880 --> 00:56:33,640 in the Seven Years' War. 906 00:56:33,640 --> 00:56:36,960 If you want to see what ruling the waves looks like, 907 00:56:36,960 --> 00:56:39,800 here it is, in all of its gilded glory. 908 00:56:41,960 --> 00:56:47,000 Even Neptune and his four Tritons are on the side of the British. 909 00:56:48,440 --> 00:56:52,400 By the time we get to George III, the process of transplantation 910 00:56:52,400 --> 00:56:56,040 from Hanover to Britain is pretty much complete. 911 00:56:56,040 --> 00:57:00,160 And George III emphasised this. In his first public speech, 912 00:57:00,160 --> 00:57:03,800 he distanced himself from his father and his grandfather. 913 00:57:03,800 --> 00:57:07,680 "I was born and educated in this country," he said. 914 00:57:07,680 --> 00:57:11,280 "I glory in the name of Briton." 915 00:57:11,280 --> 00:57:17,480 916 00:57:17,480 --> 00:57:21,720 917 00:57:21,720 --> 00:57:24,880 Beyond all the bling and the bombast, 918 00:57:24,880 --> 00:57:28,240 this royal coach was saying that Britain's new king 919 00:57:28,240 --> 00:57:32,600 belonged to a confident and deep-rooted royal dynasty. 920 00:57:36,160 --> 00:57:41,320 The Hanoverians had seen off every single threat to their survival. 921 00:57:42,720 --> 00:57:47,920 The Georgian kings were like successful stepfathers to the nation. 922 00:57:47,920 --> 00:57:50,920 They'd been brought in and grafted on and yet, 923 00:57:50,920 --> 00:57:54,080 people began to accept them as part of the family, 924 00:57:54,080 --> 00:57:57,760 because of their killer advantages, their Protestantism, 925 00:57:57,760 --> 00:57:59,600 and the support of Parliament. 926 00:58:01,960 --> 00:58:05,800 People today often overlook the first two Georges, 927 00:58:05,800 --> 00:58:09,000 but actually, they were pretty successful as rulers. 928 00:58:09,000 --> 00:58:13,360 Under them, Britain went from being a bit of a provincial backwater 929 00:58:13,360 --> 00:58:15,960 to a global superpower. 930 00:58:15,960 --> 00:58:21,600 And this coach stands for Britain's self-confidence in 1760. 931 00:58:21,600 --> 00:58:25,240 The Hanoverian dynasty was now secure. 932 00:58:25,240 --> 00:58:28,680 But isn't it funny to think that the British monarchy 933 00:58:28,680 --> 00:58:31,160 was made in Germany? 934 00:58:31,160 --> 00:58:37,480 935 00:58:37,480 --> 00:58:45,160 936 00:58:45,160 --> 00:58:53,160