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Biography - King George III [VHS]

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American history tells us that George III was the tyrant from whose brutal grip the American colonies declared and won their independence. The Declaration of Independence was largely directed at the king, despite the fact I have always found Parliament the more adversarial aspect of the British government in that era. I had never really given George III much thought, nor was I even aware that he eventually went mad. Thus, the A&E Biography documentary on the life of George III greatly increased my store of knowledge - clearly, here was a truly fascinating individual.

The video doesn't go into many details concerning the political situation in Britain during the first two decades of George III's reign aside from the problems the king had finding a minister who could deal effectively with Parliament. Having succeeded his grandfather on the throne in 1760 (at the age of 21), George III found himself, just three years later, the king of the most powerful nation on earth. During his 50+ year reign, he would lead Britain through two wars with France and one with the rebellious colonies of America. Victory in the Seven Years' War with France did, as we all know, greatly tax the English economy and populace (and no one could accuse George III of being a profligate ruler), and so it was that Parliament began taxing the American colonists. By 1783, the United States was a reality, and the loss of the colonies greatly affected the already questionable health of the monarch.

It is the health issue that makes George III so fascinating. Experts now believe he suffered from porphyria, and the signs of mental illness appeared (according to some historians) as early as 1765. In 1788, he was clearly mad; after attempting to kill the Prince of Wales (the future King George IV, for whose notorious ways George III had little use), he was taken away in a strait jacket and subjected to the some of the era's most barbarous treatments for insanity. Much to his successor's chagrin, George III eventually recovered and assumed the reigns of power once again. He was largely a figurehead in the first decade of the 19th century, and in 1810 madness overtook him once more - George III died ten years later blind, deaf, and insane.

Perhaps the most interesting segment of the video concerns pretty convincing evidence that, before he became king (and married Charlotte, the queen who would bear him 15 children), George III married a commoner and had three children by her. I also found the discussion of the king's final years in power interesting; the video tells us that he finally became popular beginning in 1789 because the public sympathized with him over his dread illness and the notorious behavior of his sons. There is no mention of the disdain cast upon the king in the wake of the new tax burden that followed war with France in 1793, the fact that several attempts were made on his life over the ensuing years, and that some opponents were so outspoken against the king that new sedition laws were passed in the mid-1790s.

In the end, my feelings about George III are still mixed, but his great significance on both British as well as American history makes him a subject well worth examining. While you can only cover so much of a long and significant life in some forty-five minutes, this look at the life of the mad king provides an informative albeit somewhat pro-George III introduction to one of the most fascinating rulers in history.

In the United States, children are taught that the war of independence against Great Britain was due to the tyrannical practices of King George III as well as a Parliament that placed onerous taxes on the colonies. Both of these positions are incorrect, the actions of Parliament were thoroughly reasonable, given the British war debt. In fact the British population was more heavily taxed and they were united in believing that the colonists should pay their "fair share." George was in fact no way a tyrant, being extremely frugal in his personal finances and subject more to the will of elected representatives than other monarchs. While he eventually went mad, that had little to do with governmental practices leading to the war.
One underlying theme that runs through the tape is the knowledge that the British people were not enamored of their monarchs until the nineteenth century. George III was not popular until he started suffering from his illness, raising the interesting point that it took acts of madness to make him popular. I was also not aware that George may have been married and a father before he married the woman that was his queen. From the perspective of historical accuracy, hopefully some day DNA analysis will determine if that was indeed the case.
The American history books reflect a cultural bias when they paint George III as a despot who ground down the colonists with a heavy burden until they could bear it no more. Other than his mental illness, he was a reasonable monarch, and he deeply regretted the loss of the American colonies. I enjoyed this tape, seeing sides of George that I never knew before. I would like to see this tape being shown to children in American history classes so that they can see that history is often interpreted rather than factual.