The Last British Monarch to Personally Lead an Army Into Battle
George II (1683 – 1760) was King of Great Britain, Elector of Hannover, and Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, from 1727 until his death in 1760. As Prince of Wales, he quarreled viciously with his father, King George I, and his residence became a gathering spot for dissidents. As a constitutional monarch, George II exercised little control over British policy, as that was controlled by Parliament. Nonetheless, his was a calm reign, and the British Empire prospered and grew in his years as monarch.
Born in Hannover, George was the last British monarch born outside Great Britain. He was also the last British monarch to personally lead an army into battle. The latter took place in 1743, in the War of the Austrian succession, when George commanded his troops in the Battle of Dettingen against a French army. Other than a scare in 1745, when Jacobins staged a failed rebellion to restore the ousted Stuart Dynasty to the throne, George’s time on the throne was relatively stable.