Regency era

The regency era is the period between 1812 and 1820. It’s the period in the United Kingdom, after George III was deemed unfit to rule (gone crazy) and his son, Prince of Wells, got the regent status and ruled as Prince Regent till 1820, when the king died, and he finally became George IV, king.

But lot of times the “Regency era” to a more extended frame of time, then the actual and formal regency (1812-1820), the timeframe in question is the period between 1795 and 1837. It is actually unknown, but probably it’s the time between the “Georgian era” and “Victorian era” and it’s the time of the excess for the aristocracy in United Kingdom.

The excess I speak off is, for example, the Brighton Pavilion that Prince Regent had built. But it’s also the time of Napoleon wars on the continent, which lead to some periodic riots and the concerns – to some as a hope, and others as a threat - that the Brits would imitate the French and do a revolution.

An interesting fact about the Prince Regent is, that when Jane Austen finished her novel Emma, he gave her the honor of dedicating it to him. The dedication in it, is seldom used in the new editions, but it goes like this:

TO
HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS
THE PRINCE REGENT,
THIS WORK IS,
BY HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS’S PERMISSION,
MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED,
BY HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS’S
DUTIFUL
AND OBEDIENT
HUMBLE SERVANT,
THE AUTHOR

Which is as her novels, and the fact is that she had to dedicated it to him, even if she didn’t liked him. Actually she probably hated him, but was smart enough not to go against this honor.