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Message:: [QUOTE="johnmilton, post: 24615373, member: 101855"]Since it's been a day, I really posted the 1836 half eagle so that I could post this, and 1835 sovereign. The king is William IIII, "the sailor king." He was known as "silly Billy" when he was young because he was a poor student. His parents had him join the navy where he found his true calling. He was a good naval officer. He lived with an actress, Dorothea Jordan, for 20 years, from 1790 to 1810 "without benefit of marriage." They had 10 illegitimate children together. William's older brother, George IIII, had no surviving children. When he died, the crown passed to William. William never thought that he would be king. He married a princess, but they did not have any children. Therefore, when he died, the crown passed to his niece, Queen Victoria. The story was Victoria was just short of her 18th birthday when the old king was near death. William hated the Duchess of Kent and her ambitious secretary who were looking to take advantage of the situation if they got control of the government. It was said that that "The king dies like old lion," until Victoria reached 18. He succeeded. [ATTACH=full]1564901[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]