KING GEORGE IV (GREAT BRITAIN) - AUTOGRAPH ENVELOPE SIGNED - HFSID 155094

KING GEORGE IV of the UNITED KINGDOM
Envelope addressed to Lord Ellenborough, franked and addressed by the King
Autograph Envelope signed:"G[eorge] R[ex]" as King of the United Kingdom, 4½x3. Addressed by the King himself to "Lord Ellenborough/&c.&c.&c./Bloomsbury Square". George IV (1762-1830)became Prince Regent in 1811, when his father King George III became permanently deranged. He succeeded his father as King in 1820. Carlton Palace, more commonly known as Carlton House, had been his residence as Prince Regent. It was demolished in 1825, George IV having moved into an enlarged and renovated Buckingham Palace. In 1822, George IV seemed to be a popular monarch, even though he had attempted to divorce Queen Caroline in 1820 on charges of adultery and denied her permission to attend his coronation. He made a very successful visit to Scotland in 1822, the first British monarch to travel there since 1650. His extravagance and other misjudgments were to make him a generally unpopular king in later years. Since this letter is franked as King, the recipient must be the younger Lord Ellenborough (Edward Law, First Earl of Ellenborough, 1790-1871), a Tory politician who served several terms as President of the Board of Control and would later be Governor-General of India (1842-1844). His father, Edward Law, First Baron of Ellenborough, Lord Chief Justice from 1802-1817, died in 1818 while the future King was still Prince Regent. Toned and creased. Mounting residue on verso. Otherwise fine condition.