On This Day In Royal History . 26 June 1830 . King William IV accession to the throne. . Accession & early reign; . . ◾ When King George IV died on 26 June 1830 without surviving legitimate issue, the Duke of Clarence succeeded him as William IV. . ◾ The new King was aged 64, & was the oldest person ever to assume the British throne. . ◾ Unlike his extravagant brother, William was unassuming, discouraging pomp & ceremony. . ◾ In contrast to George IV, who tended to spend most of his time in Windsor Castle, William was known, especially early in his reign, to walk, unaccompanied, through London or Brighton. Until the Reform Crisis eroded his standing, he was very popular among the people, who saw him as more approachable & down-to-earth than his brother. . ◾ The King immediately proved himself a conscientious worker. His first Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington, stated that he had done more business with King William in ten minutes than he had with George IV in as many days. . ◾ The King did his best to endear himself to the people. He gave much of George IV’s art collection to the nation. . 👑 His coronation took place on 8 September 1831. . ◾ George IV had begun an extensive (& expensive) renovation of Buckingham Palace; his brother refused to reside there, & twice tried to give the palace away, once to the Army as a barracks, & once to Parliament after the Houses of Parliament burned down in 1834. . ▪ William would reign for seven years, & was succeeded by his niece Victoria. . Portrait - King William IV, by Sir David Wilkie, 1837 . . . #OnThisDayInHistory #ThisDayInHistory #WilliamIV #WilliamIVoftheUnitedKingdom #KingWilliamIV #HisMajesty #History #RoyaltyinArt #Royalty #HouseoHanover #BritishMonarchy #d26jun #otd #thisday #ThisDayInhistory #historyfacts #Britishhistory #britishroyalty #thecrown #britishroyals #britishmonarchy #history #windsor #RoyalHistory #HistoryFacts #British #London #Historic #historyblogger #historyinpictures (at United Kingdom) https://www.instagram.com/p/CB5zPtPjY5x/?igshid=16n88idslr4hq