Hanoverians (30595)

After the Stuarts, the Hanoverians became sovereigns of Great Britain.
The first member of the Hanover family to sit on the throne of England was George I (1714-1727).
As he was German, he was unable to speak English and for this fact he never had a good appeal or admiration with his subjects.
He always behaved as a stranger in his country, never really caring about policy or the problems about Church and State. For this reason he left to his ministers the duty to handle everything in his place. He just insisted that his ministers had to be Whigs, and also had the good idea to name Sir Robert Walpole as leader, thus promoting English constitutional liberties.
Sir Robert Walpole was Whig Minister from 1721 to 1742 and he did a lot to evolve the principal of the Common responsibility of the Cabinet, and the supremacy of the Prime Minister as the leading man both in the Cabinet and in the Commons.
Walpole was on good terms with George I, with whom he was used to discuss in Latin (the only language they both could understand) and drink a cup of Punch.
After George I’s death, his successor was George II (1727-1760), who was greatly superior to his father as a king.
In those years, however, Walpole’s rule gave England a period of peace and prosperity. He was a right man and a loyal Whig. His mind and character were particularly adapted to the work of pacification at home and abroad.
The common habit of the Prime Minister to have his famous residence at number 10 Downing Street started with him, when George II presented it to Walpole, and Walpole said that he would only accept it as an official gift to be passed to his successors.
But the real gift Sir Robert made to his country was a long period of peace after three generations of strife. In fact the fear of a dynastic counter revolution inspired Walpole’s moderation at home and the peace policy he adopted at home.