Regency

1811 was a significant year in England; it began what would be come known as Regency England, a fleeting time never again to be captured or duplicated. When "Mad King George" was legally declared unable to act as a ruler, his first-born son, the Prince of Wales, Prince George, officially became Regent. Hence the term "Regency Era."

When exactly did this happen?

That was harder to answer than I thought. As I researched this, different dates appeared on different sites. After a little searching, I believe the reason why several sites state 5 January 1811 is because they based their information on an article on George IV on Wikipedia. In the Regency section of that article, the beginning date of the Regency was incorrectly given as 5 January 1811. This article sites the Channel 4 web site which states that the date when the Regency Era truly began was 5 February 1811...which brings up a new issue: some sources claims the Regency began on 5 February 1811. In others, 6 February 1811.

So which is right???
Both. Sort of. On Tuesday, 5 February 1811, Parliament passed the Care of King During his Illness Act, the official name of the law which declared the Prince of Wales Regent of England. However, the prince was not officially the Regent until he took necessary oaths of office and provided evidence that he had recently partaken of the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, which happened the following day. Therefore, on the afternoon of Wednesday, 6 February 1811, at solemn ceremony at Carlton House, the Prince of Wales swore the necessary oaths before the designated government officials and provided the required certificate of communion to the Archbishop of Canterbury.

He the became legally Regent of Britain. So it really took two days to get it done. In steps historic Regency England, the setting for countless books and movies. And my favorite time period.

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