Even as a child the future George IV loved finery and luxury, he appreciated exquisite textiles and clothes, beautiful furniture and fine dining. It was not until 1783 that George II granted Carlton House to his son as his first independent residence. George thought his son should limit himself to a lick of paint and some new furniture, but The Prince had already set himself up as the leader of fashion and wanted to create a palace of European stature. Launching himself into transforming the old house on Pall Mall he, was not only setting the tone for others, he was deliberately setting himself up in opposition to his frugal and modest parents. It was, in short, an act of rebellion.
Carlton House was the Prince’s first extravagance in a lifetime of architectural extravagance. In the 1780s his income was highly restricted – some £62,000 a year when he believed that he needed at least £100,000. But in reality, he never took much notice of money and how much things cost, nor did his architects, who were spurred on to extravagance by their patron. By 1786 his debts were nearly £270,000, let’s say £20m in today’s money. His creditors threatened to repossess furniture and paintings from Carlton House and so everything stopped; the house was shut up, his horses and stud were sold and he left London for Brighton where he could live privately.
In Brighton he rented, then bought a house, employing Henry Holland, the architect of Carlton House, to make improvements. The beautified house (improvements were a snip at £22,000) quickly became the centre of fashionable society in Brighton. Here he brought Maria Fitzherbert and they lived a domestic existence together in what became known as the pavilion.
George learnt a lot from designing, building and decorating Carlton House and the Pavilion and, as he entered the Regency in 1813, his tastes had matured and developed considerably. That year James Wyatt, George III’s favoured architect, had been killed and this allowed the Prince Regent to appoint his own favourite, John Nash, who had been working for him on Brighton Pavilion.
Nash and the Regent were a perfect match, both consumed with ambitious ideas for both the Prince’s residences and for London as a whole. They had been inspired by the rebuilding of Paris and the triumph of the British over Napoleon created an atmosphere in which their ideas were admired and generally approved of.
The conception of Regent’s Park, Regent Street and a royal palace in St James’s were all one grand idea. When George became king Carlton House was demolished, St James’s was renovated and work began on transforming Buckingham Palace. Nash, meanwhile, began the process of linking them together in a grand metropolitan scheme.
Inevitably the cost of transforming Buckingham House into a private residence for the king got completely out of control. With costs approaching half a million Nash was sacked and George never moved in. Eventually much of his vision for the house was executed, though later alterations have obscured the brilliance of some of Nash’s work.
It was at Windsor that George’s works have most endured. His eye only turned to the castle in 1823 and the following year a master plan, devised by Sir Charles Long, was agreed and Parliament voted £150,000 for the work. A committee of taste was to oversee the project and avoid the problems that had arisen at Buckingham House. They failed in equal measure and in 1830 the costs were topping £800,000. But George created the castle we now have, both in external appearance and profile and in the magnificent suite of state rooms some of which were restored after the fire.
The legacy of George as Regent and King was huge. It is thanks to him that the monarchy now has any residences of splendour and that the West End of London has any regal magnificence. Architecture and urban planning were in fact George IV’s great legacy to posterity.