George II. succeeded his father as Elector of Hanover and king of Great Britain and of Ireland. Born in Hanover on 30th October 1683, he was created Duke of Cambridge in 1706, and declared Prince of Wales in council in 1714. In 1705 he married Caroline of Anspach, a woman of many attainments and great force of character. She exercised great influence over her husband, and winked at his infidelities. When on her deathbed in November 1737 she implored him to marry again, he replied, with tears in his eyes, that he would rather keep a mistress. Though George interfered more in the government than his father had done, the policy pursued during his reign was first that of Walpole and second that of Pitt. During the greater part of Walpole's administration of the government peace was preserved; during the period that Pitt was almost supreme wars were fought and much glory was gained. In 1743 George II. was present and showed courage at the battle of Dettingen, the last occasion this on which an English sovereign has played a part in actual warfare. The rebellion in 1745 was ended at Culloden, where the adherents of the Young Pretender made their last stand. The Pretender had defeated General Cope at Prestonpans, and marched as far as Derby before succumbing to the royal forces under the command of the king's second son, the Duke of Cumberland, whose cruelty in dealing with the rebels caused him to be stigmatised as 'the Butcher.' The country prospered so well that in 1749 the funds rose above par. Pelham, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, effected a saving by reducing the interest on the national debt from 4 to 3½, and then to 3 per cent. Among the victories which made this reign glorious was that of Clive at Plassey and that of Wolfe at Quebec. The earlier years of the reign are pronounced by Hallam to be 'the most prosperous season that England had ever experienced.' George II. died suddenly on 25th October 1760. He had no conspicuous virtues. He may be credited, however, with a few pointed sayings.
One was, 'What a strange country is this! I have never known but two or three men in it who understood foreign affairs.' Another was, 'Confidence is a plant of slow growth in an aged bosom.'
See the Histories of England by Stanhope and by Lecky; Memoirs of the Reign of George II., by Harvey; Dodington's Diary; and Horace Walpole's Memoirs of the last Ten Years of the Reign of George II.