George III

The 18th-century was long deemed "the classical age of the constitution" in Britain, with cabinet government based on a two-party system of Whigs and Tories in Parliament, and a monarchy whose powers had been emasculated by the Glorious Revolution of 1688-9. This study furthers the work of Sir Lewis Namier who argued in 1929 that no such party system existed, George III was not a cypher and that Parliament was an administration composed of factions and opposition. George III was a high-profile and well-known character in British history whose policies have often been blamed for the loss of Britain's American colonies, around whom rages a perennial dispute over his aims: was he seeking to restore royal power or merely exercising his constitutional rights? This is a chronological survey of the first ten years of George III's reign through power politics and policy-making.