This study explores the immense popularity of Shakespeare's Henry IV Part 1 and 2, relating both plays to the society that produced them, and as contributions to more permanent political issues.
George IV continues to be admired as a collector of discernment and an architectural patron of genius. Yet his life was also stalked by tragedy and farce: his father was considered mad, his daughter died in childbirth and his secret marriage was illegal. This biography introduces the monarch.