George IV (1762-1830)
Played with lip-curling venom by Rupert Everett in The Madness of King George, the real George IV (son of the mad monarch) was borderline pathological in his spending. By the age of 18, his annual clothing budget alone was £10,000 (close to $1.6 million today), and by the age of 33, Prinny (as he was derisively called) had burned through so much of the royal treasury that his debts hit £630,000, or around $100 million today. How? Aside from that passion for Tom Ford bespoke, Prinny’s real weakness was building palaces on a whim. In the seaside retreat of Brighton, for example, he ordered a vast neoclassical manse on spec then decided, once it was finished, that he preferred an Indian vibe and had the entire place instantly remodeled. The result, Brighton Pavilion, has, oddly, ended up a British national treasure.