rol, and was both morally and physically courageous.
Though as a youth he had been idle, he was never addicted to pleasure;
his accession brought him work which was congenial to him, he overcame
his natural tendency to sloth and, so long as his health allowed,
discharged his kingly duties with diligence. His intellectual powers
were small and uncultivated, but he had plenty of shrewdness and common
sense; he showed a decided ability for kingcraft, not of the highest
kind, and gained many successes over powerful opponents. The welfare of
his people was dear to him; he was jealous for the honour of England,
rejoiced in her prosperity, and strove with all his strength to save her
from humiliation. In religion, tastes, and prejudices he was in sympathy
with the great mass of his people; and in matters in which his policy
and conduct seem most open to censure, he had the majority of the nation
with him.

He had, however, some serious failings which brought trouble both on his
people and himself. They were largely the results of his training. His
father, Frederick, Prince of Wales, a fool, a fribble and worse, died
when George was twelve years old. His mother, the Princess Augusta, was
a woman of strong will, ambitious of power, unamiable in temper,
thoroughly insincere, narrow-minded, and full of petty feelings. She was
strict in all religious matters, had a high sense of duty, and was a
careful mother. When her son became king, she acted as though she had a
right to direct him in his political work. Her interference was
mischievous: she was unpopular and incapable of understanding the
politics of a great country; for she had the prejudices of a little
German court, and regarded politics merely in a personal light. George
grew up completely under her influence. Jealous of her authority and
influence over her sons, she was quick to suspect their governors and
preceptors of trying to act independently of her, and thwarted them
continually. They had no chance of gaining George's confidence or of
giving him the benefits which a lad may derive from the society of men
experienced in the ways of the world. Do what they would, the princess
was always too strong for them, and Lord Waldegrave, one of the prince's
governors, records as his own experience that "the mother and the
nursery always prevailed". Nor had George the opportunity of learning
anything from companions of his own age; his mother was afraid that his
morals would be c