E. A. SmithCríticas

When the Duke of Wellington heard that his dear friend Mrs Arbuthnot had died suddenly in 1834 he was devastated. Lady Salisbury wrote that ‘He threw himself in the greatest agitation on the sofa ... and the letter on the floor; and then rose and walked a few minutes almost sobbing about the room, after which he retired. In the morning Lord S got a note from him saying he must go to Mr Arbuthnot’. Harriet Arbuthnot was a fervent Tory despising anything with a hint of liberalism – Catholic emancipation or widening the franchise. She married the much older and perpetually worried political fixer, Charles Arbuthnot (a husband she was devoted to) and gained an entree to the most illustrious political circles and once there she was became the confidante of the Duke, advising, bolstering, encouraging and revelling in his friendship. At times, as Lady Salisbury recorded, ‘she tried to monopolise him as much as she could’ but, as Harriet confessed, it was because ‘His life is so precious & he is so inexpressibly dear to me’. This was, as Elizabeth Longford wrote, ‘a most unusual, subtle and successful essay in triangular friendship.’

This is a very readable account of the life of George IV, a controversial monarch. Living when he did, he figures prominently in the politics and affairs of Britain during the Napoleonic Wars. His father's long life rendered George IV politically excluded for much of his life. His mistresses, his extravangance, his views on religion, his attitude and treatment of his wife, have made this monarch very unpopular with his subhects and among historians. Others find him a product of the times and his circumstances and seek to excuse him. Smith strives for some middle ground objectivity. This is not the definitive, authorative biography of George IV, but it is a decent contribution to the literature and scholarly discourse.