King of Great Britain and Ireland and dependencies overseas, King of Hanover (1830–37). The third son of George III, his reign marked a decline in the political influence of the crown. He joined the navy as an able seaman in 1779, subsequently becoming a close friend of Horatio Nelson. In 1790 he set up house with an actress, Dorothea Jordan, who bore him ten children. In order to secure the succession to the throne, in 1818 he married Adelaide of Saxe‐Meiningen and had two daughters, who both died in infancy. Becoming king on the death of his brother, George IV, in 1830, he overcame his natural conservatism sufficiently to help ensure the passage of the Reform Act of 1832.