George I of Great Britain
George I accedes after Queen Anne's death
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Original prompt & settings (JSON) ↗Britain acquired a new king at about a quarter to eight in the morning — one who would not set foot in the country for another 48 days.
1 August 1714: an accession at 7:45 in the morning
Queen Anne died at Kensington Palace at about 7:45 a.m. on 1 August 1714 — the British Old Style date, 12 August in the Gregorian calendar — without surviving children. Under the statutory Protestant succession, the crowns passed immediately to Georg Ludwig, Elector of Hanover, as George I.
Sophia of Hanover, the heir the Act of Settlement had named, had died two months before Anne. George inherited as her Protestant heir, ahead of roughly 50 Roman Catholic relatives with stronger hereditary claims.
Proclaimed in his absence
The Privy Council met, adapted the established accession proclamation, and declared the Elector lawful king of Great Britain, France and Ireland. It was issued in London that day, over more than 120 signatures.
George was still in Hanover. The regency arrangements were opened, and Lords Justices began administering the government in his name.
Forty-eight days to Greenwich
He took no oath and underwent no ceremony on the day he became king; the accession was automatic. George arrived at Greenwich on 18 September 1714 and was crowned on 20 October.
The accession on 1 August had already created a personal union of crowns, not a merger: Great Britain and Hanover remained separate states. And while the Stuart reign had ended, the Stuart claim had not: James Francis Edward Stuart and his Jacobite supporters went on challenging the Hanoverian succession.
Sources
Researched 23 Aug 2026 5 sources 2 audit passes, 2 issues open
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What the sources leave uncertain
- The date 1 August is the British Old Style/Julian date used by contemporary British records. Its Gregorian equivalent was 12 August 1714.
- There is no uncertainty about the legal accession date: under the contemporary rule, the successor became monarch immediately upon the predecessor’s death; proclamation and coronation recognized rather than created the accession.