On 19 December 1783, amidst a profound political crisis, King George III made a desperate and astonishing decision. He asked 24-year-old William Pitt the Younger to form a government, making him the fifth Prime Minister in just two turbulent years. This bold move would define British politics for a generation.
A Kingdom in Chaos: The Road to December 1783
The path to Pitt's unprecedented appointment was paved with instability and defeat. The crisis began with the loss of the American colonies. After General Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown in 1781, the war in America effectively ended. By March 1782, the House of Commons voted to stop the fighting, leading to the resignation of Lord North, who had been the King's favoured minister.
What followed was a rapid and unstable succession of premiers. The King reluctantly asked the Whig Lord Rockingham to lead, but he died of influenza after only 97 days in office. His successor, the Earl of Shelburne, faced immediate rebellion. Key figures like Charles James Fox and Lord North refused to serve under him, forcing Shelburne to appoint a young and inexperienced MP, William Pitt the Younger, as Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Shelburne's main task was to secure peace with America, which he did on generous terms in early 1783. However, an unlikely and powerful coalition between the bitter rivals Fox and North united against him. They defeated his government on the peace terms in February, forcing his resignation.
The King's Gamble: Appointing a 'Mince-Pie' Premier
George III was horrified by the resulting Fox-North coalition, which saw the Duke of Portland become a nominal Prime Minister while Fox and North held real power. The King's moment came when their government introduced the India Bill in December 1783. Fearing it would give parliament too much patronage, George III made it clear he opposed it. The bill was defeated in the House of Lords on 17 December, and the King immediately dismissed the government.
Faced with the need for a fifth Prime Minister in 24 months, the King turned to William Pitt, now 24. To many, it seemed a laughable stopgap. Pitt did not command a majority, and he refused to include North in his administration, leaving him with almost no experienced colleagues. Whig hostess Lady Crewe famously dismissed it as a "mince-pie administration" that would not last beyond Christmas.
Defying Expectations: The Dawn of a New Era
Pitt, however, possessed a formidable combination of intellect, seriousness, and the unwavering confidence of the monarch. His youth became an asset, distancing him from the failures of the American war. He faced down immediate votes of censure in the Commons, refusing to resign even as his government suffered defeats.
Public and parliamentary opinion gradually swung behind the resolute young minister. In March 1784, a general election gave Pitt's supporters a commanding majority of 120 seats, crushing the Fox-North coalition. Lady Crewe's prediction was spectacularly wrong. Pitt remained Prime Minister for the next 17 years, steering Britain through the French Revolutionary Wars, restoring public finances, and building the Royal Navy into a dominant global force.
When he died, exhausted, in 1806 at the age of 46, he left a nation poised for a century of global supremacy. The King's gamble on a 24-year-old had not just ended a political crisis; it had launched one of the most transformative premierships in British history.
