The political constellation of the personal union between England and Hanover lasted for 123 years. The figure of a foreign king became a determining factor and was in itself a historical condition for the emergence and the development of caricatures in England after the Glorious Revolution. The contributors of the volume show that, as a political weapon of the opposition and as an institution of public opinion, the caricatures affected the establishment. Is the visual criticism of the rulers more than a loyal subversion of their subjects?

Elisabeth Reich is Scientific Assistant at the Wilhelm Busch - Deutsches Museum für Karikatur und Zeichenkunst in Hanover, Germany. Anorthe Kremers is Vice Head of the Conferences & Symposia department at the Volkswagen Foundation, based in Hanover.

During the Personal Union between England and Hanover (1714-1837), the figure of a foreign king had a strong influence on, and was a condition for, the rapid development of caricatures and satirical prints in England. The present volume shows that caricatures threatened the establishment, being both a political weapon of the opposition and an institution of public opinion. But the question is whether the visualised criticism of the rulers amounted to more than 'loyal subversion' on the part of their subjects.