£15 members/£18 non-members

In 1789, as revolution broke out in France, court life revived in England, with grandiose celebrations for George III’s recovery. A thousand or more would attend levers or drawing rooms , causing ‘crowding and squeezing’, ‘pushing and scrambling’ in St James’s Palace. Lines of courtiers’ carriages stretching from beyond Oxford street attracted admiring spectators. in 1821 his friend Walter Scott described the coronation of George IV as ‘beyond measure magnificent’. Governments considered control of the royal household essential, for example in the regency crises of 1788 and 1811–12, and the Bedchamber Question of 1839. The Tory leader Robert Peel refused to be Prime Minister, when the Queen would not dismiss her Whig ladies in waiting. His rival lord Melbourne went almost every day to court, always sitting beside the Queen at dinner. For her part the Queen believed: ‘I must be surrounded by my Court. I cannot keep alone’. Britain remained a court society as well as a parliamentary monarchy.

The talk starts at 6.30pm, doors open from 6.15pm.

Georgian Group members are eligible for a discount on their ticket by entering GGMEMBER at the checkout.

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If tickets have sold out for this event, please email members@georgiangroup.org.uk to be added to the waiting list