GEORGE III., KING OF GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE, AND IRELAND, AFTERWARDS KING OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, AFTERWARDS KING OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
First Coat-of-Arms
Arms.—Within the Garter. Quarterly.
1st, England and Scotland impaled. 2nd, France. 3rd, Ireland. 4th, The arms of the Royal Dominions in Germany; all as used by George I. (q.v.).
Crest.—A royal crown ppr., thereon a lion statant guardant or, crowned ppr.
Supporters.—The lion and the unicorn, as used by James I. (q.v.).
Motto.—Dieu et mon droit.
Badges.—A rose for England and a thistle for Scotland.
Note.—Used from 24th October 1760 until 1st January 1801.
[Vitruvius Pollio. Architecture. London, 1791.]
First Coat-of-Arms
Variety.—With supporters bearing the standards of St. George and St. Andrew. Probably a foreign design.
[Secondat. Le Temple de Guide. Parisiis, 1772.]
First Coat-of-Arms
Variety.—Within the Garter, with the "George" jewel, and the badges and collars of the Orders of the Thistle and the Bath (Civil), with their respective mottoes, Nemo me impune lacessit and Tria juncta in uno.
[Petavius. De Nithardo breve Syntagma. Parisiis, 1613.]
First Coat-of-Arms
Variety.—Used without supporters.
[Monro. Works. Edinburgh, 1781.]
Second Coat-of-Arms
Arms.—Within the Garter. Quarterly.
1st and 4th, England. 2nd, Scotland. 3rd, Ireland.
Over all, on an escutcheon of pretence, the arms of the Royal Dominions in Germany ensigned with an electoral bonnet gu., turned up with miniver. Used from 1st January 1801 until 8th June 1816. Colours as used by George I. (q.v.).
Crest, Supporters, and Motto as used by James I. (q.v.).
Badges.—Roses and thistles.
[S. Augustinus. De Civitate Dei, etc. 1467.]
Third Coat-of-Arms
Arms.—Within the Garter. Quarterly, as in the preceding case, but with the Royal Hanoverian Crown, instead of the electoral bonnet, over the escutcheon of pretence. Used from 8th June 1816 until 29th January 1820.
Crest, Supporters, Badges, and Motto.—As before, with a Royal helmet, but the shield is additionally enclosed within the collar of the Order of the Garter, dependent from which is the badge of the Great George.
[Inventories of plate belonging to the Crown, etc.]
The Royal Initials ensigned with a Royal Crown.
[Allionius. Tractatio de Miliarium origine et curatione. Aug. Taurinorum, 1758.]
The Irish Harp, crowned.
[Lord's Journals of Ireland. Dublin, 1780.]
George III. (born 4th June 1738, died 29th January 1820) was the eldest son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, and grandson of George II. He succeeded to the throne in 1760.
The troubles in Ireland ended, for a time, in the Legislative Union in 1801. During the latter part of his reign George III. became insane and the Prince of Wales was appointed Regent. Almost as soon as George III. succeeded to the throne he began collecting books, no doubt to a great extent induced to do so because of the fact that George II. had practically denuded the Royal Libraries of their treasures in 1757, but in many ways he possessed the true collector's instinct. The Royal Librarian was Sir Frederick Barnard, K.C.H., who travelled about the Continent seeking early editions and desirable books generally, under the advice of Dr. Samuel Johnson. Besides the books collected abroad by Sir Frederick, large numbers were acquired in England, among these the entire library of Joseph Smith, British Consul at Venice. Sir Frederick Barnard did not neglect the sale-room, and he acquired especially valuable additions to the Royal Library at the sales of the important libraries of James West, John Ratcliffe, and Richard Farmer, all of which took place about the same time.
The library collected by George III. is now housed in the beautiful room known as the "King's Library" in the British Museum. All the books have one or other of the many book-stamps used by the King impressed upon them, either on the sides or on the back. The estimated number of volumes in the library at the time of its acquisition by the British Museum was about eighty-four thousand, as well as a very large collection of charts, maps, and drawings, and several manuscripts. The books in the King's Library are in splendid condition, and among them are numbers of precious bindings, especially later English, Scottish, and Irish. Several of the Royal books were bound by Charles Kalthoeber, a German binder who copied the style and stamps used by Roger Payne.
The coat-of-arms used by George III. in the early part of his reign was the same as that used by his predecessor, viz. first quarter, England and Scotland impaled; second quarter, France; third quarter, Ireland; and fourth quarter, Brunswick impaling Lunenburg, in the base point Saxony, and an escutcheon of pretence bearing the crown of Charlemagne, as a badge of the office of High Treasurer of the Holy Roman Empire. This coat was used until 1801.
On the 1st of January 1801, a Proclamation was issued by the King regarding the Legislative Union with Ireland, and certain armorial changes are noted. The first is that in future the title of the King is to be "of Great Britain and Ireland King," instead of as heretofore, "King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland." Next the arms "shall be Quarterly: first and fourth England; second Scotland; third Ireland; and it is our Will and Pleasure that there shall be borne therewith on an escutcheon of pretence, the arms of Our Dominions in Germany, ensigned with the electoral Bonnet." So that now the fourth quarter, as used by George I. and George II., is moved up, and shown on the escutcheon of pretence in the centre of the shield.
It will be noticed that the Fleurs-de-lys of France are now left out of the English coat-of-arms, as well as the title of King of France. The arms of France had been used in the English coat-of-arms since their adoption, with the motto "Dieu et mon Droit," by Edward III. in 1341, when he claimed the throne of France by right of his mother Isabella, only surviving child of Philippe IV. From that time until 6th March 1706, when Queen Anne changed the first quarter of the English coat, the French Fleurs-de-lys had held the place of honour. Although the French coat was discarded in 1801, the motto which alluded to the same claim to the French throne has been retained and is still used. The Fleurs-de-lys of France were at first semées, but Charles VI. of France reduced them to three, and a corresponding change was presently made in the English coat.
In 1816 the electorate of Hanover was given the rank of a kingdom, so that the electoral bonnet no longer properly represented the dignity. On 8th June 1816, a notice was given in the London Gazette that his Majesty was in future "King of Hanover," and that a corresponding alteration is to be made in the Royal arms, and it is ordered that, "instead of the arms of His Majesty's Dominions in Germany, ensigned with the electoral bonnet, as directed by His Majesty's Proclamation above mentioned, there shall henceforth be used and borne with the arms or ensigns armorial of His Majesty's said United Kingdom, on an escutcheon of pretence, the arms of His Majesty's Dominions in Germany, ensigned with the Hanoverian Royal Crown."
The Royal title Britanniarum Rex, "King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland," without the Ducal titles of the Royal Dominions in Germany, which had been used by George I. and George II., first appears on the Fifth Great Seal of George III., used from 1st August 1815 to 17th September 1821.
