KING GEORGE IV (GREAT BRITAIN) - ROYAL WARRANT SIGNED 09/22/1826 CO-SIGNED BY: PRIME MINISTER GEORGE CANNING (GREAT BRITAIN) - HFSID 57290

KING GEORGE IV of the UNITED KINGDOM
The King and his Foreign Affairs Secretary sign royal warrant appointing a George Hamilton Seymour as Secretary to Legations with the King of Wurtemberg
Royal warrant signed: "George R[ex]" as King of United Kingdom in brown ink. Also, "George Canning" as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs. 6 pages front and verso, bound with blue string, 7¾x12½. Paper seal in left margin affixed with red wax. Windsor Castle, Windsor, England. September 22, 1826. In part: "Our Will and Pleasure is, that forthwith cause the Great Seal of Our United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to be affixed to an Instrument bearing date with these Presents (a Copy whereof is hereunto annexed) containing a Commission to Our Trusty and Well beloved George Hamilton Seymour, Esquire, constituting and appointing him Secretary to Our Legating to Our Good Brother The King of Wurtemberg. And for so doing this shall be your Warrant". KING GEORGE III of the United Kingdom (1738-1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland until their union on January 1, 1802, after which was named the United Kingdom, and furthermore was Duke of Brunswick-Luneburg (part of the Holy Roman Empire), until his promotion as King of Hanover on October 12, 1814. He was the third British monarch from the House of Hanover, but unlike his Hanoverian predecessors, he was born in Britain, English was his first language, and he never visited Hanover. George's long tenure as King spanned many military conflicts in Europe and abroad in North America and India: early in his reign Great Britain defeated France in the Seven Years' War which made Britain the dominant European power in North America and India, although many of their colonies were soon lost in the American Revolutionary War. Most notably, King George III led the country against revolutionary and Napoleonic France in 1793, concluding with Napoleon's defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. However, George III earned his nickname "Mad King George" when later in his life he suffered from recurrent and eventually permanent mental illness (now believed to have been cause by the blood disease porphyria), and in 1810, after a final relapse, a regency under his son Prince Regent George of Wales (future King George IV) was established. His reputation as a King has never been flattering, in the United States he is often viewed as a tyrant, and in Great Britain he is often used as a scapegoat for the failure of imperialism, but really King George was just a victim of circumstances and illness in an era when the monarchy was continuing to lose political power. GEORGE CANNING (1770-1827) served as British Foreign Secretary from 1807-1810 and 1822-1827 and as Prime Minister from April 10, 1827 until his death four months later. In 1809, still serving as Foreign Secretary, Canning engaged in a duel with the Secretary of War, Lord Castlereagh. Both men survived the duel, though Canning was wounded, and continued their longstanding and bitter rivalry. Horizontal folds throughout. Slightly soiled. Edges slightly worn. Light surface creases. Light stains. Otherwise, fine condition.