17 January 2013Last updated at 07:17

A life in the frame: David Lloyd George

David Lloyd George as a 16-year-old law student. The last Liberal prime minister was born 150 years ago, on 17 January 1863. He led a coalition government with the Conservatives between 1916 and 1922, was the only Welsh prime minister, and spoke English as his second language

David Lloyd George, his wife Margaret, and their children Megan and Mair (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

On 24 January 1888 Lloyd George married Margaret Owen. They had five children together: Richard (1889-1968), Mair (1890-1907), Olwen (1892-1990), Gwilym (1894-1967) and Megan (1902-1966). Pictured with the couple, circa 1904, are Megan and Mair

Elected to parliament on 13 April 1890, Lloyd George became the youngest member of the House of Commons. He was made a cabinet minister in 1906, and founded the welfare state by introducing state support for the unemployed, ill and elderly.

Lloyd George in October 1915, when he was minister of munitions, walking down Whitehall with Winston Churchill, the first lord of the Admiralty

David Lloyd George, Sir Douglas Haig and General Joseph Jacques Cesaire Joffre, 12 September 1916 (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

David Lloyd George (right) with Sir Douglas Haig and General Joseph Jacques Cesaire Joffre, 12 September 1916, at the 14th Army Corps headquarters at Méaulte, northern France. Three months earlier Lloyd George had succeeded Lord Kitchener as secretary of state for war

David Lloyd George and King George V outside Buckingham Palace, August 1917 (AR Coster/Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

David Lloyd George became prime minister in December 1916, leading a coalition government containing Liberals and Conservatives. He remained in power after the end of World War I. He is pictured meeting King George V at the gates of Buckingham Palace in August 1917

David Lloyd George, French prime minister Georges Clemenceau and US president Woodrow Wilson on their way to the Versailles Peace Conference, June 1919. The meeting set peace terms for the defeated powers after World War I. Clemenceau and Wilson wished to see Germany harshly punished; afterwards Lloyd George said he had done "Not badly, considering I was seated between Jesus Christ and Napoleon."

Andrew Bonar Law and David Lloyd George in conversation in Cannes, 1922. Just weeks later, following a series of scandals including the mis-selling of honours, the Conservatives withdrew their support for the coalition and Law succeeded Lloyd George as prime minister

David Lloyd George addressing Liberal Party members at the Albert Hall, London, 1929 (Popperfoto/Getty Images)

Although David Lloyd George defied many predictions that he would return to high office, he remained a prominent politician and in 1929 became Father of the House, the longest-serving member of the Commons. In 1945 he was given a peerage and became Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor and Viscount Gwynedd. He is pictured addressing a crowd at London's Albert Hall at the start of the Liberal Party's 1929 general election campaign

With Adolf Hitler in Berchtesgaden, Germany in 1936. Lloyd George underestimated Germany's rearmament plans, and described Hitler as "the greatest living German" and "the George Washington of Germany".

David Lloyd George and his wife, Countess Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, 1944 (Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

David Lloyd George was a notorious womaniser, which led to the nickname "the Goat". In 1941 his first wife Margaret died, and two years later, at the age of 80, he married his secretary and long-term mistress Frances Stevenson. Lloyd George died of cancer at his home, Ty Newydd, Llanystumdwy, on 26 March 1945, at the age of 82

David Lloyd George is buried beside the river Dwyfor in Llanystumdwy; a monument by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis surrounds the grave. The Lloyd George Museum opened in the village in 1963

Wales

A life in the frame: David Lloyd George

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