20th March 2018

20th March 2018 - The Visit of King George IV to Edinburgh

Eric Melvin

At our meeting on Tuesday 20th March the speaker was Mr Eric Melvin and the title of his talk was “The Visit of King George IV to Edinburgh” which took place in August 1822. The visit came about thanks to Walter Scott being a great friend of the then Prince Regent who was a glutton, heavy drinker, gambler, and womaniser. Scott attended a supper party in London at which everybody became very inebriated and he convinced the Prince Regent that he should come to Scotland when he became king. King George III died in 1820 and King George IV was crowned in 1821 at a lavish coronation held in Westminster Abbey. One of his first acts was to grant Scott a baronetcy, hence Sir Walter Scott. On 23rd July a letter was received by the Council which said that King George IV was coming to Edinburgh in 3 weeks’ time. There was huge excitement as, unlike the present, the Royal Family were rarely seen in public and almost never out of London. Sir Walter Scott was given absolute authority to organise the visit. He declared that “No gentleman to appear in anything but ancient Highland costume”. It was decided that Holyrood Palace was not in a fit state for the King and that he would stay in Dalkeith Palace and 300 gas lamps were erected between the two. Edinburgh New Town had been developed and was a stunning place to visit, but the Old Town had to be cleaned up including the High Street and the Grassmarket. The Royal yacht arrived off Leith on the 12th August, and a bonfire was lit on the Bass Rock, but the weather was too bad for the King to land. The 15th August was a beautiful day and the King landed to be met by Sir Walter Scott and large crowds of people giving him a huge welcome and the celebrations began. A Grand Banquet was held at which 457 women were presented to the King, each of whom got a kiss. Lavish balls were held on two different nights at the Assembly Rooms in George Street. The King visited Edinburgh Castle and was carried on a chair to the Half Moon Battery from where he waved to the crowds. There was a military parade to Portobello and a visit to Hopetoun House. The final night was a performance of Rob Roy in the Theatre Royal at the east end of Princes Street. The whole visit was great success and on his return to London the King arranged for the cannon, Mons Meg, to be sent back to Scotland where it still is today. Ian Dewar gave a vote of thanks to Mr Melvin for painting such a vivid picture of the King George IV’s visit to Edinburgh. The next Probus meeting will be the AGM on Tuesday 3rd April at 9.45am.

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