King George II (born 30 October 1683; ascended throne of Great Britain and Ireland 11 June  1727, died 25 October 1760).

This sovereign holds a number of “last” records – among them, the last British monarch to be born outside the country, the last to lead an army into battle. He was born in Hanover before there was any thought his father would become King George I of England. His mother was locked away and he was no longer allowed to see her. His father did permit him to choose his own wife and his marriage with Caroline of Ansbach was a mutually happy one, though she tolerated his mistresses, and the happy relationship did not extend to his children. During his reign, Britain was engaged in wars on the continent, the Jacobite rebellion of ’45 was brutally suppressed, Canada was taken from the French and retained, Guadeloupe was taken from the French and returned, the Province named Georgia in his honour later became a State of the Union.

George continued to have responsibilities on the continent, for both Hanover and England, while he was away Caroline and her children resided in summertime at Hampton Court. In the winter they would reside at St. James’ Palace in London. In 1737, the King and Queen were dining with their despised son Frederick Prince of Wales and his wife Augusta, when Augusta went into labour. She was rushed by Frederick out of Hampton and to St. James where she gave birth in trying circumstances, to her mother in law’s annoyance. Whether this was the reason, or it was fortuitous, King George II never again lived in Hampton Court, although he visited his horses that were stabled there. George banished his son from court, friction and feuding between them persisted until Frederick died in 1751, the same year as his mother.

The last reigning monarch to use Kensington Palace as his frequent abode, George spent between four and six months a year there. He added the north-western angle in order to form a nursery for his children; and to his queen, Caroline of Anspach, we owe the introduction of the ornamental water into the gardens and pleasure grounds.

It was recorded when free from the restraint caused by Sir Robert Walpole’s presence, the king if angry with his ministers or his attendants, would fly into furious rages, expending his anger even on his innocent wig; while his clever spouse, Queen Caroline, stood by, maintaining her dignity and self-possession, and, consequently, her ascendancy over him, and acting as a “conducting wire” between the sovereign and the premier. A good story is told by Horace Walpole, showing the lax and romping manners of the Court under the early Georges, “There has been a great fracas at Kensington (he wrote in 1742). One of the princesses pulled the chair from under Countess Deloraine at cards, who, being provoked that her monarch was diverted with her disgrace, with the malice of a hobby-horse gave him just such another fall. But, alas! the monarch, like Louis XIV is mortal in the part that touched the ground, and was so hurt and so angry, that the countess is disgraced, and her German rival remains in the sole and quiet possession of her royal master’s favour.” The Countess of Deloraine was governess to the young princesses, daughters of George II, and was a favourite with the king, with whom she generally played cards in the evenings in the princesses’ apartments. Sir Robert Walpole considered her a dangerous person about the Court, for she possessed, said the shrewd minister, “a weak head, a pretty face, a lying tongue, and a false heart.”

George II. died quite suddenly as he sat at breakfast in the palace, on Saturday, October 25, 1760. The building underwent considerable alterations during his reign; he was the last monarch to live in Kensington Palace.