King George IV’s visit to Scotland in 1822

Today is the bicentenary of the arrival at Leith of King George IV on his historic visit to Scotland in 1822. Not since 1650-51 had a reigning monarch visited their northern realm unless count one counts the stay by King James VIII in 1715-16 the Jacobite uprising of that year, or the presence of Prince Charles Edward in 1745-6 as Regent during the rising of those months.

King George IV was often underrated in his own lifetime and since as a monarch and as a man. Notwithstanding that he was of course one of the greatest patrons of the visual arts to occupy the throne and his taste for spectacle laid the foundations of what came to fruition in later reigns.

His  Scottish visit paved way for not just his visit to to Ireland but for Queen Victoria’s discovery of and love for Scotland and all things Scottish. That she bequeathed to her descendants and imagery of the monarch and their family in Scotland has become very much part of the modern iconography of the monarchy.

Sir Walter Scott was very much the inspiration for the 1822 visit and for much of its detail - as well indeed as the rediscovery of the history of Scotland by those who read his novels.

The BBC News website has an interesting account of the King’s visit and how kilts and tartan, once proscribed, now became de rigeur, which can be seen at How the king's visit saw kilts become Scotland's national dress

Prominent in the ceremonies of the visit were the Honours of Scotland, which Sir Walter had rediscovered in Edinburgh Castlr in 1818, and which had gone on permanent display the following year. Wikipedia has a good account of their history and of their use in 1822 at Honours of Scotland

Christopher Duffy’s excellent “ The ‘45” recounts how amongst those presented to the King at Holyrood were his “Oldest enemy” - a surviving Jacobite volunteer from 1745 - and also the granddaughter of the then Bishop of Carlisle who had been born at the episcopal residence of Rose Castle in 1745. A Jacobite officer sent to reassure the bishop gave the baby a white cockade - symbol of the Cause - which she wore to meet King George seventy seven years later. There is more about these two stories in Duffy’s book.