William IV of the United Kingdom William IV of the United Kingdom William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded his elder brother George IV, becoming the last king and penultimate monarch of Britain's House of Hanover. William served in the Royal Navy in his youth, spending time in North America and the Caribbean, and was later nicknamed the "Sailor King". In 1789, he was created Duke of Clarence and St
Ireland in the Coalition Wars several wars had occurred, including the Nine Years' War (1594–1603), the Cromwellian conquest (1649–1653), and the Williamite War (1688–1691, part of the larger War of the League of Augsburg). Anti-British (and anti-Protestant) sentiment was high in largely Catholic Ireland (with the exception of Protestant-majority Ulster), despite the repeal of the restrictive Penal Laws, instituted by the Protestant government in London after the Williamite War, in which Irish rebels had turned out in support of ousted Catholic monarch James II, formerly king of England. The Penal Laws, introduced during the reign of Dutch-born king William III, prohibited Catholics from keeping arms,