All in the MIND
Martha Alexander explores the life and reign of King George III who famously succumbed to “madness” and ushered in the Regency era
On Christmas Day in 1819, wearing a tatty dressing gown, crowned by dishevelled hair and masked by a long unkempt beard, King George III talked incessantly for 58 hours and sank into a coma; within little over a month, he would be dead. It was an undignified end for a monarch who had ruled Britain for more than half a century and was loved by his subjects.
Yet the story of George III is defined by his “madness”; tales of blue urine and a vicious anger and extreme verbosity chase his memory. Centuries later, scientists and historians alike are unable to agree on specifically what ailment dogged him. This fixation on his mental health almost totally eclipses George’s virtues which include being a
