Golden Cavalry of St George

rdf:langString Golden Cavalry of St George

rdf:langString The Golden Cavalry of St George was the colloquial name of subsidies paid out by the British government to other states in Europe in the 18th and the 19th centuries, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. The name is a euphemism and derives from the British sovereign gold coins often used in those payments, which bore an image of Saint George, the patron saint of England, on horseback slaying the dragon. During the War of the Austrian Succession, Britain kept Austria afloat by large subsidies owing to the Anglo-Austrian Alliance. In the Seven Years' War, Britain did the same for Prussia, which was now allied against the Austrians. The Anglo-Prussian Convention, signed in April 1758, guaranteed Prussia a payment of £670,000 a year. In more recent times T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) is reported to have made payments of gold sovereigns to Arab soldiers during the Arab Revolt in return for their co-operation, and he was nicknamed in Arabic Abu Khayyal, meaning "father of the horsemen". During World War II, the Cavalry of St George was a euphemism for large-scale bribery of Spanish officials in Francisco Franco's dictatorship to prevent Spain from joining the Germans in the war.