William IV, King of Great Britain and Ireland

b. 1765; d. 1837

The third son of George III, born at Buckingham Palace. He served in the navy from 1779 to 1790, reaching the rank of rear-admiral. He was created duke of Clarence in 1789. Shortly after this he became the lover of the actress, Dorothea Jordan. In the interests of the royal succession he married in 1818 Adelaide, eldest daughter of George, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Meiningen, but none of their children survived infancy. He was appointed lord high admiral in 1827 and three years later, on the death of George IV, succeeded to the throne. He was boisterous, tactless, but good-hearted, and occasionally as king he showed unexpectedly sound common sense, as in his handling of the constitutional crisis of 1830-32.

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