George III, Parliament and foreign policy, 1760–1800

Parliament played relatively little role in the initial calculations of George III (r. 1760–1820). He wanted peace and ministerial change, and assumed that a new government would be able to manage Parliament. Given the subsequent political instability of the 1760s, this assumption might appear ridiculous, but, in fact, the crucial business of the early years of the decade, most obviously support for peace, was carried through Parliament with few problems. The displacement of Hanover to the margins of British political contention was another change ushered in by the new king. This was not due to any triumph by extra-parliamentary forces, nor, solely, to the impact of, by now widely held, Patriot attitudes. Instead, the change reflected a marked shift in the dynastic dynamic, away from the Anglo-Hanoverian monarchy of Georges I and II, and towards a more clearly British conception on the part of the new king. This helped George III and his ministers to overcome the leading parliamentary challenge to his foreign policy in his first two decades as king, that over ending the Seven Years' War. Despite the earlier hopes of George II, the controversial return of conquests from France and Spain in the peace of 1763 were not accompanied by gains for the Electorate of Hanover. This helped lessen opposition to the peace.