George IV

According to Blackadder the Third, the Prince Regent was a fat, flatulent, sex-crazed fool.    More professional historians have a more mixed view as to the man who went on to become King George IV.

One thing for sure is that when he paid his famous visit to Scotland, tightly stage-managed by Sir Walter Scott, he was at the centre of a successful plan to market Scottishness.  A lot of what emerged was pure nonsense, of course.   But it has been a major economic plus for Scotland over the years.  

Here he stands at the junction of George Street and Hanover Street.   The whole New Town of Edinburgh was indeed an imprint for Union and House of Hanover that must irritate some Scots politicians.