Was King George III quite absurd or just misunderstood? Was he really the mad King that ruled like a tyrant or was he simply a man who succumbed to mental illness? If so, can we argue that he as an individual as well as his legacy have been misjudged and misconstrued?
The year is 1788. At Kew Palace. Inside the stone walls, a 50-year-old King George has descended into madness in the last few months. His behavior and mannerisms have shifted from calm and confident to agitated, angry and incoherent. The problem unclear, his family and five personal doctors are concerned. In their panic the King is placed into a mental asylum to be treated in secrecy. The question that concerns the monarchy is can the King be cured or will his legacy be overshadowed by his illness?
Sophie Riley explains.
George III. 1779 painting by Benjamin West.
The Crisis of 1788-89
By late 1788, the Kings decline could no longer be ignored what started as hours of endless monologues quickly turned into violent outbursts that ended in tearful fits. His Courtiers watched in alarm as they witnessed the decline of a man they once respected.
Doctors were quickly summoned but late 18th century medicine was ill equipped for curing mental illnesses. Some believed his blood had been poisoned which caused the king to have consistent bloodletting sessions, whilst others believed his mental decline was caused by his nerves and the rest blamed it on divine punishment. Alongside the bloodletting the additional treatments were severe and coldly dished out. In their desperation for the king’s welfare, he was subjected to hours of isolation, physical restraints and blistering several doctors in the hope of shocking the King back to good health. None worked and he became a spectacle and a man to be feared by parliament and his own family.
As the Kings condition declined, the monarchy teetered on the brink. With the sovereign ill who would govern the country if the worst should happen? The Price of Wales and his allies pushed for the Regency Bill to be drawn up, whilst the Kings hopeful ministers clung to a quick recovery. Britain however would have to watch in a state of desperation as their fate hung in the balance of a man’s fragile mind.
Contemporary Conceptions
As the King’s health continued to decline, the news began to spread beyond the confinements of Kew Palace. His illness became a public spectacle. Britain in 1788 was nation of rumor where daily updates about the King’s mental wellbeing spread like wildfire through tavern gossip and in the news bulletins. The caricature of the mad monarch pacing the palace grounds became a source of both pity and fascination by the public.
For ordinary citizens to see the king decline felt like a personal attack on their stability. Despite his legacy of madness King George III was a dutiful and conscientious monarch who made decisions for the good of his country. Despite his loss of America, he was a popular figure who brough stability in a time of industrial and social change. As well as being a dutiful monarch he was also a devote family man who set an example for his wife, children, and his people. To see him unravel like this was to watch stability begin to shatter, some prayed for his recovery whilst others deemed this as a divine punishment for losing their colonies in America.
The media of the 18th century like now was unforgiving, Satirical artists seized an opportunity to dehumanizer and degrade the King. Caricature images of George in deranged poses surrounded by his concerned family and attendants appeared daily. He was forever compared to the Flamboyant Price of Wales who was portrayed as a saint waiting eagerly for power. These cruel yet compelling images shaped the public’s imagination by reducing a complex human illness to a farce.
Parliament became a political battlefield in which the kings condition became ammunition for both sides. The Prince of Wales argued for immediate regency through establishing the Regency Bill, however the Kings cabinet insisted on patience and loyalty to the crown. George’s health became a state emergency where every doctor’s report and flicker of coherence where up for debate as if it where law. The monarchy during this time had never been so fragile.
Yet despite all the mockery and intrigue there was a quiet sympathy from those who served the King personally. Accounts from them speak of a man who was tormented by illness, a man who begged for forgiveness from his wife and children and above all this a sovereign who begged for empathy from those around him. In their eyes George was not mad but a tragic symbol of human fragility.
Medical Theories Then and Now
Medicine and science were still a mystery when King Georges health declined. His physicians observed his erratic behavior and yet they had no framework to go off. The belief during the 18th century was to purge and shock the body into releasing the illness. Treatments were brutal and consisted of constant bloodletting and purging whilst being restrained. The Kings Doctors led by Francis Willis believed that a combination of strict control and moral discipline would restore their King.
Towards the end of the century, it seemed that the Kings health was improving as he began to recover and gradually return to his royal duties. His subjects, parliament and his family were both relieved and uncertain. Historians today are also stunned as some would argue that his recovery was miraculous, however modern historians believed that his illness had a cyclical nature and that the moments of clarity were followed by relapse. The mystery of King George’s illness still baffles people today.
Researchers in the 20th century would propose that King George III suffered from porphyria when they studied his medical records. Porphyria is a disorder that affects your nervous system which in turn can cause confusion, depression, and memory loss. This proposal at the time was very persuasive as it transformed the mad king into a misunderstood patient.
For decades the diagnosis of Porphyria would reign until modern day scholars revisited his records and in turn cast a shadow on the late King’s diagnosis. Recent in-depth studies into the Kings medical records and his own personal letters have highlighted a more appropriate diagnosis of bipolar disorder. His personal letters highlight periods of mania where his energy would burst off the page in long sentences some of which contained over 400 words and eight verbs. he would also often repeat himself and talk until he was foaming at the mouth. Were eighteenth century physicians saw mental weakness and twentieth century researchers saw chemistry, twenty first century scientists seen a mind that was struggling with mental illness.
This ever-changing diagnosis tells us much about ourselves as a society as it does about King George’s condition. Each century has diagnosed and depicted his story to fit their own understanding of madness- from divine punishment to bodily disorder to mental health condition. However, what remains consistent is the humanizing of George’s suffering. The King who once governed an empire was reduced to a man trapped by the medicine and judgements of his time.
A King Beyond Illness
History remembers him for his madness but King George should be remembered for more than just that. Long before the illness came, he had already changed the country and the monarchy in ways that would extend beyond his lifetime.
Unlike previous monarchs, George valued simplicity in life and the monarchy, he showed this in his devotion to his wife and fifteen children. He strived to make the monarchy a symbol of morality in the age of scandal. His modest lifestyle and agricultural interests earned him the affectionate nickname Farmer George which showed his enthusiasm for rural improvement and scientific innovation.
George was also a consumer of the arts and had a passion for knowledge which he showed in creating a national library from his own personal book collection. He was also the first monarch to have a formal education in science and have his own astronomical observatory. This shows that despite his illness George seen himself as a servant of the people and not just a ruler from privilege.
Even in the face of losing the Americas and bouts of illness George’s resilience was remarkable. His subjects who once either ridiculed or where fearful of him came to see him as a symbol of endurance and strength. By the end of his reign satire had been replaced with sympathy. The once mocked King was now a symbol of dignity in suffering— a man who wore his crown and his condition with strength.
Conclusion- Reassessing King George III
To label George as the mad King is a sign that you support his enemies who were calling for his abdication. His story is one of tragic humanity where a man was reduced to a shell of himself due to mental illness. An illness that pulled his whole life as a king, father, and a servant to his people into question.
His legacy has become a footnote of his own derangement. This sadly overshadows the diligent monarch, father, and the patron of artistic and scientific progression that we have come to discover. He was a man who struggled with illness in a time were no sympathy was given and no medicine could cure. The ability we have now to reassess him is to acknowledge not just human tragedy but also the endurance of George’s spirit.
Perhaps, in understanding him better, we also see how far our own perceptions of mental health and the monarchy have come.
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