When George the third ascended the British throne in 1760, he was by all accounts a normal and healthy monarch, mentally and physically sound. The first half of his reign ran smoothly without any serious complications. He was happily married with several children, 15 to be precise. The British Empire was in the ascendant and life was going well for the King and the British Empire. But it was a tumultuous time in many parts of the world. He was the third ‘George’ of the Georgian-era, which ran from 1714-1830. His reign witnessed the American and the bloody French revolutions and the great battles that were fought under the watch of Napoleon.
King George had an innate curiosity about the world around him so it was natural that science and technology fascinated him. He extended his support to a struggling clock and watchmaker named John Harrison, whose invention — the marine chronometer — became instrumental in improving the accuracy of navigation at sea.
But today, George III is widely remembered for two things: losing the American colonies and going mad. This is far from the whole truth. Although the latter is very true, the former is not because George opposed independence to America bitterly to the very end.
George III is well known in children’s history books for being the ‘mad king who lost America’. Many historians have put his ‘madness’ down to the physical — a genetic blood disorder called porphyria whose symptoms include aches and pains and blue urine. This theory formed the basis of a long-running play by Alan Bennett, The Madness of George III, later made into the critically acclaimed film starring Nigel Hawthorne in the title role. However, a new research project based at St George’s, University of London, has now offered conclusive proof that George III did actually suffer from mental illness after all.
Using the evidence of thousands of George III’s handwritten letters, experts studied the monarch’s use of language and discovered that during his episodes of illness, his sentences were much longer than when he was well. For instance, a sentence containing 400 words and eight verbs was not unusual for George III, who when ill, tended to repeat himself. At the same time his vocabulary became much more complex, creative and colourful. In fact, these are the features which are evident in the writing and speech of patients experiencing the manic phase of psychiatric illnesses such as bipolar disorder.
Mania or harmful euphoria is characterised by mood disorders at one end of the spectrum and sadness, or depression at the other. Witnesses to his malaise have left accounts of his incessant loquacity, habit of talking until the foam ran out of his mouth, bouts of convulsions during which his pages had to sit on him to keep him safe on the floor.
Researchers have disputed the accounts of blue urine as evidence of porphyria since George III’s medical records show that the king was given medicine based on gentian. Gentian is a plant with deep blue flowers that is still used today as a mild tonic and may turn the urine blue. So, in all probability it wasn’t the king’s ‘madness’ that caused his most famous symptom of blue urine but it was simply his medicine. Eventually, George III’s recurring bouts of illness caused him to withdraw from daily business and royal duties to recuperate out of the public eye at the secluded Kew Palace, near Richmond.
Every absence of his triggered a crisis of who was to make decisions in his absence. His son, the Prince of Wales, with whom George III had an acrimonious relationship was very keen to be appointed regent and act as king in everything but name. But the future George IV had a deep association with the political opposition, and the government was determined to keep him out. Eventually, it was resolved quite easily, partly because the king just got better despite the bizarre and at times inhumane treatments given to him by the royal doctors.
At the end of the day, despite his illness, George III is remembered as a dedicated and diligent king who won the respect of his politicians. Paradoxically, when his illness drove him away from the political scene, they realised how much they needed his calming effect on their incessant squabbles.