Â鶹Éç

Amanda Foreman examines the formative years of British politics when the most important structures of British life - still valued and recognised today - were established in the shadow of revolution.

In the first of two programmes, Amanda invites us to enter the world of the political elite in London's luxurious St James' Square. Here, political heavyweights would gather for a season debating and defining British politics. Against a backdrop of decadence, they went about the serious business of crafting the structures of politics and society so familiar to us in the 21st Century.

The Georgians continuously tested where true power lay – in the Monarchy, or in Parliament. At Buckingham Palace with the keeper of the Queen's pictures, Desmond Shawe-Taylor, Amanda discovers how the monarchy styled themselves.

But this wasn't just a power play by ambitious politicians, it was part of a reforming attitude exemplified by calls to reform Parliament and make it more representative of the people. Amanda discusses the influence of Irish philosopher and politician Edmund Burke, with MP Jesse Norman.

The struggle for power was a struggle for control of the people, made more pressing in a climate of fear as revolution took hold across the channel in France.
But, as Amanda shows, local-level politics in Georgian Britain was a type of 'soft power' that eased tensions.

Producer: Katherine Godfrey

A Whistledown production for Â鶹Éç Radio 4, first broadcast in July 2014.