Rejection of the Stamp Act came around the same time George is first recorded displaying a fit of mania.Īfter the episode passed, the king would replace George Grenville with Charles Watson-Wentworth as prime minister, and therefore soon repeal the Stamp Act. Not when there was taxation without representation in Parliament-and not when a required British stamp would therefore be a discrete form of approval over what kind of newspapers were printed and by which kind of colonists. Of course colonists didn’t see it that way. The Stamp Act levied on all printed paper in North American colonies was also at a smaller rate than the taxes on the West Indies colonies, or the taxes paid in general by British citizens in Europe. After the French and Indian War, George’s Royal Proclamation of 1763-which forbade westward expansion-was for the colonists’ benefit, as the crown saw it, so as to prevent conflict with Indigenous Native American tribes. At the time, the king considered himself to be a friend to the colonists.
The final decline over the last 10 years of his life can be attributed to dementia, but there is some debate about what afflicted George in his youth… and when it actually began.Īrguably the first fit of “illness” occurred in 1765 during growing tension with the North American colonies. Despite being the then-longest ruling monarch in British history (and still the longest-ruling king), the end of his reign was marked by infamous incidents like the Christmas of 1819 where he ranted about “nonsense” for 58 straight hours, or being unable to comprehend in his blindness and near deafness that his beloved wife died in 1818. With his son reigning as Prince Regent-hence the period being remembered as the Regency era-George wandered the halls of Windsor Castle, not knowing at points that he was king.
Technically, he was even king when Britain had its shining moment at Waterloo, defeating Napoleon for good in 1815.īut by that period in his life, George III was only nominally king. He also saw the unification of Ireland and Britain, thereby becoming the first monarch of the “United Kingdom.” And he was there when France fell into revolution, and then embraced the imperialism and world conquest of Napoleon Bonaparte. He was there to declare victory in the Seven Years’ War at the beginning of his rule-the conflict started before his time during the reign of grandfather George II-and essentially claim supremacy over France as Europe’s greatest colonial power, including in North America where the western most region of the global conflict is remembered as the French and Indian War. In addition to being the first monarch to see colonies forsake his crown, he also came to power when the British Empire reached unparalleled heights. It all makes for a merciless sendup of the monarch remembered for being crazy, even in the UK where on playgrounds he’s recalled as the “Mad King Who Lost America.” But why exactly was he “mad” and what did it do to his reign? While no one knows the exact cause for sure, there are theories-even as he ruled over a relatively successful period of time… if one ignores his distinctly American problem.ĭuring his lifetime, George III presided over multiple moments of change and upheaval in the British Empire.
I didn’t have the pleasure of seeing Jonathan Groff perform King George III live, but I giggled all the same at every stammering outburst in the three variations of the song “You’ll Be Back,” a fawning ballad fit for 1970s pop radio, save for the moments where George laughs maniacally. Draped in a red, white, and gold mantle, and trapped beneath a sparkling crown, he looks like an oil painting that’s been shrunk on a postcard-and a perfect satire of British monarchy. Whether live in the theater or at home on Disney+, the bristling energy of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton comes to a sudden halt the moment King George III makes his pompous entrance.
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