This is the time frame (1811-1820) when George III was still King but not "sane" so his son, the Prince of Wales, was made Regent (King-in-effect) so that the country would have a legitimate monarch who could act in matters of state for the incapacitated King George III. Prince Regent became King George IV when his father, George III, died in 1820. Jane Austen died in 1817, three years before the Prince Regent became king; thus over the course of her novels George III is King of England and his son is Prince Regent. In Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice, the Prince Regent's connection to Brighton figures importantly since the Prince was known for his excesses in spending and self-indulgence, In his association with Brighton as a vacationing spot, Brighton becomes a logical environment for the irresponsible behavior of Lydia in attaching herself to Wickham and in running off with him without being married to him.

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