William IV - Greenwich, London, UK
Posted by: Metro2
N 51° 28.795 W 000° 00.394
30U E 707852 N 5707445
William IV was the last King in Britain's House of Hanover. He also served simultaneously as King of Hanover.
Waymark Code: WMDM5K
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 01/29/2012
Views: 19
This sculpture of Britain's William IV is located on the grounds of the National Maritime Museum. It depicts the monarch looking fairly young (he was 65 when he became King in 1830). He is standing holding an object (perhaps a scroll) in his right hand. He seems to be dressed in military garb with a long and heavy cape.
The granite piece was sculpted by Samuel Nixon and is dated 1845.
Wikipedia (
visit link) informs us:
"William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death. William, the third son of George III and younger brother and successor to George IV, was the last king and penultimate monarch of Britain's House of Hanover.
He served in the Royal Navy in his youth and was, both during his reign and afterwards, nicknamed the "Sailor King".[1][2] He served in North America and the Caribbean, but saw little actual fighting. Since his two older brothers died without leaving legitimate issue, he inherited the throne when he was 64 years old. His reign saw several reforms: the poor law was updated, child labour restricted, slavery abolished in nearly all the British Empire, and the Reform Act 1832 refashioned the British electoral system. Though William did not engage in politics as much as his brother or his father, he was the last monarch to appoint a Prime Minister contrary to the will of Parliament. Through his brother, the Viceroy of Hanover, he granted that kingdom a short-lived liberal constitution.
At his death William had no surviving legitimate children, though he was survived by eight of the ten illegitimate children he had by the actress Dorothea Jordan, with whom he cohabited for 20 years. William was succeeded in the United Kingdom by his niece, Victoria, and in Hanover by his brother, Ernest Augustus I."