Prince of Pleasure : The Prince of Wales and the Making of the Regency

The participation of George IV in public affairs had enduring positive influences. His support for overseas campaigns against Napoleon, culminating in such historic victories as Trafalgar and Waterloo, consolidated Britain's status as the preeminent world power amid the great social and economic upheavals of the industrial revolution. His passion for the arts left England with cultural legacies such as the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, Regent's Park and the National Portrait Gallery in London, and the defining architectural image of Regency style.

At once farce, tragedy, and melodrama, the story of George IV is depicted with artistry and great force, introducing a cast of contemporary figures such as Beau Brummel, Lord Byron, and Jane Austen. Drawing on a wealth of original accounts of life in Georgian Britain, Saul David has created a biography of extraordinary caliber, painting a brilliantly detailed portrait of the man who faced ruthless ridicule for his private life and who lived at the center of a nation in the throws of great change.

"Simply unputdownable theater of the personal and political absurd."--The New York Times Book Review

"Saul David...is a rising star. His marvelously lucid, and sometimes very witty, narrative is based on sound archival research, and written with great stylishness and verve."--The Sunday Telegraph (London)

"[An] excellently written biography...about the life of the spoiled, though charming and affable, voluptuary who finally became George IV."--The Wall Street Journal

"[Prince of Pleasure] careens between the prince's mind-boggling gustatory and sexual adventures, his secret marriage to a Catholic widow, his struggle to wrest power from his mentally ill father and, in spite of all his excesses, his devoted patronage of the finest talent of his time. The picture that emerges is admirably multi-layered--David allows the prince to be both buffoonishly absurd and intellectually complex."--Salon

Saul David was born in 1966 and educated at Edinburgh University. He has written several book, including the acclaimed The Homicidal Earl: The Life of Lord Cardigan. He lives near Monmouth, England, with his wife and daughter.