An Elegant Madness

The Regency aristocracy lived through one of the most romantic and turbulent ages in British history, an era that spanned the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, that witnessed unprecedented industrial progress, artistic accomplishment, and violent social unrest and -- paradoxically -- the most sparkling social scene English high society has ever enjoyed. Under the influence of the excessively fat, loose-moraled Prince of Wales, the Regency became the very apex of British decadence, an era of lavish parties, ferocious gossip, relentless bed hopping, and notorious gambling that set a…