In this detailed study Dr Beattie provides evidence of the size, composition, administration and finances of George I's household, and discusses its social and political importance. The book shows that many familiar impressions of George I are misleading, and makes it clear that his court was still 'the most obvious source of patronage and political power and the centre of the upper-class social world of London and the country'. This study is based on material in the archives of England, Germany and America and gives a valuable insight into the control and distribution of patronage in the eighteenth century.