George II was the only son of
King George I of
England and was brought up in
Hanover (now part of
Germany) like his father. After his parents were divorced in
1694 when the younger George was 11, he and his sister were brought up by their grandmother (who engaged
English tutors for her grandchildren as soon as it was known that they were in line for the English throne; George served as
interpreter for his father for a long time). He was naturalized a
British subject while
Anne was still on the throne, though Anne would not let her heirs visit England while she was still alive.
George married Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansach in 1705 and the couple had nine children, two of whom did not survive infancy. They accompanied George I to England when he became king, but in 1717 the two fought, and George and Caroline withdrew from court. Nonetheless, George became king on his father's death in 1727. He would later fight with his son Frederick even more than he had fought with his own father.
George was a diplomatic man (though sometimes hot-tempered) and worked well with government ministers. He spent time in his European territories, but not as much as his father had. He was also the last English monarch to lead his men on the battlefield, defeating the French at Dettingen in 1743. The British empire began to take shape during these defeats which cut off the French power in their former colonies (such as Canada). During his reign, the Jacobite rebellion which was the last attempt to put the descendants of James II on the throne was put down in Scotland. George was a popular king, and the earliest version of "God Save The King" was performed at a celebration of one of Britain's victories.
George's son Frederick had died in 1751, so that Frederick's son George became the heir to the throne. In 1760, the king died just after a seemingly normal breakfast; a post-mortem showed a ruptured aneurysm of the aorta. Queen Caroline had died in 1737, and on George's orders, the sides of their two coffins were removed so that their dust could mix together eventually. George was succeeded by his grandson George III.