The Prince of Pleasure is the immaculately researched and engaging story of George IV (1762-1830), a rakish and contradictory figure who became one of the most controversial and outrageous monarchs in British history. Critically acclaimed biographer Saul David has captured the passions and foibles of this monarch -- infamous for being overweight, overdressed, and oversexed -- who epitomized England's regency period. George IV was marked throughout his life by financial ruin and domestic entanglements. Though known primarily for his scandalous lifestyle, he was also a man of high intelligence with a great appreciation for art and literature. In addition to encouraging the works of both Jane Austen and Sir Walter Scott, as well as purchasing the Elgin Marbles, he promoted England's Regency style of architecture. In fast-moving and incisive prose, Saul David paints a brilliantly detailed portrait of the Regency period.
Described as "a man who would prefer a girl and a bottle to politics and a sermon," George Augustus Frederick (1762-1830), the oldest son of King George III, was a pivotal and highly controversial figure in England's Regency period. Although his scandalous liaisons with prostitutes and duchesses, a "secret" marriage to his true love--the Catholic Mrs. Fitzherbert--and a publicly ridiculed (bigamous) marriage to Caroline of Brunswick threatened to eclipse his contributions to British history, Saul David's engrossing biography Prince of Pleasure shows a man of high intelligence and political ambition. His actions reflected the ambivalent relationship of the monarchy to Parliament at a time when the nation was infected by revolution fervor in America and France.
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.
