George IV's Visit to Edinburgh
We are greatly indebted to
Wikipedia - and the author of this excellently detailed account of
George IV's Edinburgh visit in 1822.
Background
After a decade of ruling as Prince Regent, George IV acceded to
the throne and his coronation on 19 July 1821, was celebrated by
splendid traditional pageantry, much of it invented for the
occasion. He was obese and was widely unpopular, with many offended
by his treatment of his wife. He had also been struggling to
manipulate the government, which was seen as a corrupt oligarchy by
Radicals whose increasing unrest following the revolutions which
shook America and France culminated in the "Radical War" of 1820 in
Scotland and terrified the gentry. He was invited to attend a
Congress in Verona, but government ministers wanting to keep
Parliamentary control of foreign affairs pressed him to bring
forward a proposed visit to Scotland which it was hoped would calm
unrest. Suffering from painful illness and pushed by opposing
factions of diplomats and ministers, the King remained indecisive,
but preparations went ahead in the hope of his agreement.
Walter Scott was author of the novel Waverley which popularised
a romantic image of the Scottish Highlands. In 1815 this led to his
being invited to dine with George, who was then the Prince Regent.
By 1822 Scott had become a baronet, and was well acquainted with
both Highland and Lowland nobility.
Kilts and tartans were used for army uniforms but were no longer
ordinary Highland wear, having been proscribed in the wake of the
Jacobite Risings by the Dress Act. The "small" kilt as worn today
was a relatively recent innovation in the Highlands, having been
introduced around the 1720s and later adopted as dress uniform by
the army, but the romance of the "ancient" belted plaid still
appealed to those wanting to preserve the Highland identity. Soon
after the Act's repeal in 1782, Highland aristocrats set up
Highland Societies in Edinburgh and other centres including London
and Aberdeen. These were landowners' clubs with aims including
"Improvements" (the Highland Clearances) and promoting "the general
use of the ancient Highland dress" by obliging members to wear this
when attending meetings. Numerous less exclusive associations
including the Celtic Society of Edinburgh, of which Scott was
enthusiastic chairman, had membership including many lowlanders as
well as chieftains of impeccable Highland ancestry, and also
promoted Highland culture with all attending meetings and dances
wearing "the garb of old Gaul".
Preparations
When his advice was sought, Sir Walter Scott seized the
opportunity to invent a splendid pageant wherein ancient Scotland
would be reborn, and the king parodied in cartoons as a fat
debaucher would be seen as "a portly handsome man looking and
moving every inch a King". George would be presented as a new
Jacobite king, with the logic that he was by bloodline as much a
Stuart as Bonnie Prince Charlie had been, and would win the
affections of the Scots away from radical reform. A small committee
was set up, with Scott's principal assistant being his friend Major
General David Stewart of Garth who had made himself the undisputed
authority on Highlanders with his Sketches.
George had been persuaded by Scott that he was not only a Stuart
prince, but also a Jacobite Highlander, and could rightly and
properly swathe himself in "the garb of old Gaul [sic]", so in July
1822 the King placed his order with George Hunter & Co.,
outfitters of Tokenhouse Yard, London and Princes Street,
Edinburgh, for £1,354 18s (a sum equivalent to £100,000 today)
worth of highland outfit in bright red Royal Tartan, later known as
Royal Stuart, complete with gold chains and assorted weaponry
including dirk, sword and pistols.
Scott brought the Highland societies and the Clan chieftains
into arranging for a plaided pageantry. Garth now drilled the
younger members of the Celtic Society into four companies as honour
guards. Their mix of lowlanders and highlanders had already
offended Alasdair Ranaldson MacDonell of Glengarry, who was quick
to demand that his Society of True Highlanders be given precedence,
but his attempts to take over were generally disregarded. Some
chieftains took the event as a chance to show impressive forces and
thus disprove allegations about the Highland Clearances, but the
decimation of their tenantry rather undermined this. James Loch
acting for the Countess of Sutherland solved the problem of finding
kilts by borrowing army uniforms for the Sutherland
Highlanders.
For the management of all events, Scott took the advice of his
friend the young actor-manager William Henry Murray whose talents
at theatrical scenery and costume were put to good use in creating
the settings and the "revived ancient dresses" for the pageants he
arranged. Holyrood Palace had to be readied for state occasions,
but was not in fit condition as a royal residence and arrangements
were made for the king to stay at Dalkeith House, 7 miles (11 km)
from Edinburgh.
There was widespread concern about procedure and etiquette, not
least amongst the touchy Highland chiefs (notably Glengarry), which
Scott met by producing a shilling booklet "HINTS addressed to the
INHABITANTS OF EDINBURGH AND OTHERS in prospect of HIS MAJESTY'S
VISIT by an old citizen" which gave an outline of planned events
with detailed advice on behaviour and clothing. All gentlemen of
the city were expected to attend public appearances in a uniform
blue coat, white waistcoat and white or nankeen (yellowish) cotton
trousers, and a low-crowned dark hat decorated with a cockade in
the form a white St. Andrew's saltire on a blue background.
Similarly detailed guidance was given for those fortunate enough to
attend functions or levees, with gentlemen to wear a full dress
suit, as well as a description of the dress of the Highland chiefs
and their "tail" of followers who were expected to "add greatly to
the variety, gracefulness and appropriate splendour of the
scene".
The exception was the "Grand Ball" held by the peers of Scotland
to entertain the king: Scott's "Hints" called this a "Highland
Ball", reminded readers that the king had ordered a kilt and set
the condition that, unless in uniform, "no Gentleman is to be
allowed to appear in any thing but the ancient Highland
costume". At this, lowland gentlemen suddenly embarked on a
desperate search for Highland ancestry (however remote) and a
suitable tartan kilt from the Edinburgh tailors, who responded
inventively. This can be seen as the pivotal event when what had
been thought of as the primitive dress of mountain thieves became
the national dress of the whole of Scotland.
The catering
contract was won by Ebenezer Scroggie, who would become the
posthumous
inspiration for Charles Dickens' character Ebenezer
Scrooge in A Christmas Carol
The Royal George at Leith.
The first of Scott's pageants took place on the King's birthday,
on Monday 12 August 1822. In procession the Midlothian Yeomanry and
companies of Highlanders escorted coaches carrying the Regalia of
Scotland and dignitaries from the Castle to Holyrood Palace. The
procession assembled on The Mound before going up to the Castle,
and within minutes of setting off was halted by the arrival on
horseback of a flamboyantly dressed Glengarry who announced that it
was his rightful place to ride at the head of the procession. After
a pause, a Captain Ewan MacDougall persuaded the hot-tempered
Glengarry to go away. Watched by packed crowds, the procession
formally received the regalia then returned down to The Mound and
went down it to Princes Street and on by Calton Hill to
Holyroodhouse.
The King's ship the Royal George arrived in the Firth of Forth
about noon on Wednesday 14 August, but his landing was postponed
due to torrential rain. On Thursday 15 August, the King in naval
uniform arrived in sunshine at the quayside of The Shore, Leith and
stepped ashore onto a red carpet strewn with flowers to greet the
waiting crowds. After fifteen minutes of the ritual salutations
traditional in a royal entry he got in his carriage. A quiet pause
was rudely interrupted by Glengarry on horseback galloping up
beside the King, sweeping off his bonnet and loudly announcing
"Your Majesty is welcome to Scotland!". The King, in good humour,
bowed graciously at this unplanned intrusion as his carriage moved
off. A procession including lowland regiments and Highland clan
regiments with pipe bands escorted the King's open carriage the 3
miles (5 km) up to Edinburgh past cheering Scots crowding every
possible viewpoint eager to show a welcome to their monarch. At a
theatrical "medieval" gateway the King was presented with the keys
to the city and "the hearts and persons" of its people.
Much of the pageantry for the visit would be medieval rather
than Highland, but the exotic outfits of the "gathering of the
Gael" were to attract most attention. The next day was one that the
King spent away from the public at Dalkeith. Edinburgh was full of
visitors for the occasion, and that evening they walked round
enjoying "illuminations" with illustrated tributes hung on public
buildings, businesses and houses, "Everywhere crowded to excess,
but in civility and quiet", before being escorted to their rest
around midnight by bands of boys carrying flaming torches to light
their way.
On Saturday afternoon, 17 August, the King attended a short
levee at Holyrood Palace, where the great and good queued to be
greeted by George in his Highland outfit complete with pink
pantaloons to conceal his bloated legs, described as "buff coloured
trowsers like flesh to imitate his Royal knees". When someone
complained that the kilt had been too short for modesty, Lady
Hamilton-Dalrymple wittily responded "Since he is to be among us
for so short a time, the more we see of him the better."
The King would not be seen again by the public until Monday
afternoon when a medium-sized crowd caught a brief glimpse of him
as he went in to Holyroodhouse to hear long repetitive addresses
from the Church of Scotland, the Scottish Episcopal Church,
universities, burghs, counties and the Highland Society, and give
his short formal responses.
The King's Drawing Room on Tuesday 20 August was attended by 457
ladies, and custom required that he kiss each one on the cheek.
This brief occasion took him away from Dalkeith House for two
hours, and the presentation of the ladies lasted from 2.15 to 3.30.
In the rush some ladies received no "buss" on the cheek, or in
their nervousness scarcely felt the kiss at all. All were dressed
in rich gowns with sweeping trains, and most had coloured ostrich
plumes above their elaborately curled hair. The King was courteous
and smiling, and paid particular attention to "the lady on whose
account so many Highlanders went down to Elgin two years ago" when
election passions led to Lady Anne Margaret Grant, daughter of the
late Sir James Grant, 8th Baronet, and her sisters who had also
supported the Tories, being besieged by a "democratic mob" of Whig
supporting townsfolk until a rescue party of her clansmen was
"summoned by the fiery cross" and released them without coming to
blows. The story of "The Raid to Elgin" had amused the king, and he
remarked "Truly she is an object fit to raise the chivalry of a
clan", echoing Scott's romanticism. He spent the next day at
Dalkeith, and that evening Scott dined with him.
Heavy rain returned on Thursday 22 August as a Grand Procession
went from Holyrood to Edinburgh Castle. The procession and the
King's closed carriage went up a Royal Mile flanked by colourful
bunting and densely packed cheering crowds obscured by their
umbrellas. At the castle, the king climbed out onto the battlements
of the Half Moon Battery to wave his cocked hat to continuing
"huzzas" from the crowd for fifteen minutes, reportedly saying
"Good God! What a fine sight. I had no conception there was such a
fine scene in the world; and to find it in my own dominions; and
the people are as beautiful and as extraordinary as the scene." and
"Rain? I feel no rain. Never mind, I must cheer the people." He had
not been used to this kind of reception.
On Friday, 23 August, a review of 3,000 volunteer cavalrymen was
held on Portobello sands. The king was also to honour the Clans
including a contingent from the Celtic Society of Edinburgh. Though
disappointingly his review ended before reaching them, the
Highlanders took part in the Grand March Past then were cheered by
the crowds as they marched back to Edinburgh. That evening, George
appeared at the Peers' Grand Ball wearing a field marshal's uniform
as earlier in the day rather than the anticipated kilt, and sat to
enjoy watching the Scottish country dancing and the splendour of
the belted plaids worn by the men. He left before midnight, but the
Ball continued with increasing spirit until past one in the
morning. The Assembly Rooms had been theatrically transformed by
William Henry Murray, and the occasion was hailed as a triumph for
him.
Saturday morning was marked by a small ceremony and procession
including a Clan MacGregor Regalia Guard, as the Honours of
Scotland were returned from Holyroodhouse up the Royal Mile to the
Castle. That evening the King attended a tumultuous civic banquet
in the great Hall of Parliament House which Murray had splendidly
decorated.
Next day the King went in state to the Presbyterian Church of
Scotland Sunday service at St. Giles' Cathedral. On the Monday he
made a private visit to the Holyrood Palace apartments of his
ancestor Mary, Queen of Scots, then in the evening attended the
Caledonian Hunt Ball in a Guards uniform. Again many of the dancers
were kilted, and the King was excited by the reels and strathspeys.
Once more his wish was met, that while he was in Scotland all music
would be "purely national and characteristic". On the Tuesday, 27
August, George made his last and least formal public appearance,
showing his evident pleasure at a theatre performance of Scott's
Rob Roy adapted and produced by William Henry Murray.
The king arrives at Hopetoun House.
George's visit closed on Thursday 29 August with a brief visit
to Hopetoun House 12 miles (19 km) west of Edinburgh. Elaborate
arrangements had been made and crowds waited for him in the rain.
He then joined his ship at nearby South Queensferry and
departed.
Outcome
While the King's one kilted appearance was to be ruthlessly
caricatured creating a memorable image of "our fat friend" being
hoisted onto a horse, the effect of the event wryly described as
"one and twenty daft days" was an increase in goodwill and a
new-found Scottish national identity uniting Highlander and
Lowlander in sharing the iconic symbolism of kilts and tartans. The
pride of the Clan chieftains in their heritage was reinvigorated,
but there was no check in the progress of the Highland
Clearances.
Additionally, the next Duke of Rothesay, The Prince Albert
Edward was the first duke to make use of that title since the Union
of the Crowns. The use of that title in Scotland has continued ever
since - The Prince of Wales is known there today as HRH The Prince
Charles, Duke of Rothesay. Equally, the Duke's wife has since been
known in Scotland as Duchess of Rothesay - for instance The Duchess
of Cornwall is known in Scotland as HRH The Duchess of
Rothesay.