German George |
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 George
1st of Great Britain and Ireland was born in May 1660 in Lower
Saxony which in now part of Germany. In 1708 he was proclaimed Prince
Elector of the House of Handover.Previously in Britain the Act of Settlement of 1707 prohibited a catholic from inheriting the throne. And as George of Handover was the nearest living Protestant to Queen Ann he was first in line. Queen Ann was the first sovereign of the Kingdom of Great Britain which she reigned for twelve stormy years.  King
James 1stAnn was the last remaining monarch of the House of Stuart and had no surviving issue. Ann had difficulty in choosing a successor due to religious differences. Her father James II had been a Catholic whereas Ann was devoted to the Church of England George of Handover a descendant of the Stuart line through his grandmother Elizabeth was Ann's second cousin. Grandmother Elizabeth was the daughter of King James 1st who had proclaimed himself King of Great Britain. James of Tudor descent became king after the death of Queen Elizabeth of England, his God Mother. James married Ann of Denmark and had a daughter Elizabeth who married the King of Bohemia, Frederick V, known as the Winter King and she the Winter Queen. They were both expelled from Bohemia by the Catholic League and sought whatever sanctuary available in Brandenburg. Then moved to Palatine a region of Franche- Comte in eastern France and then to Holland.  They
had a daughter Sophia, Countess
Palatine of Simmern who married Ernest Augustus Elector of
Handover. Their son was no other than George the future king. He was no the first choice as his mother Sophia was to accede to the English throne as she was Queen Ann's first cousin once removed. A few week before the death of Ann, Sophia ran to shelter from a sudden downpour of rain, collapsed and died at the age of 83. Her son George was next in line and was therefore proclaimed King. In Scotland it was noted some fifty Catholics bore a closer relationship to the later Queen Ann. The Jacobites favoured James Francis Edward Stuart. The old Chevalier was the son of the deposed James II of England and claimed the English, Scotland and Ireland thrones. He was encouraged by the Louis XIV of France who proclaimed him King of those countries. Some Tories also favoured the old Pretender (old Chevalier) and in the General Election of 1715 when the Whigs succeeded trouble followed. The 1715 Jacobite Rebellion began in Scotland. Lord Mar's ineptitude and the Old Pretenders lack of finance insured its collapse. Reprisals followed, but it is said that George's government acted with some lenience and the money from the forfeited estates was paid to Scotland schools and helped paying off the national dept. During the reigned of King George the modernisation of the government of Great Britain began with the Cabinet and the leader a Prime Minister. George died on the way to visit his beloved Handover and was buried in its soil. It was often said that his love of Handover made him indifferent to the problems of Britain. This was not so as George left a country secure and open to improvement. His mother Sophia explained, 'he could be jolly, that he took things to heart, that he felt deeply and sincerely and was more sensitive than he cared to show.' The rise of the Jacobites and much later the connections with the German Emperors and the Royal family, during the First World War mixed with a good dose of ignorance blurred the truth. George I, had good Scots blood in him going back as far as Robert de Brus.
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