His affection for his immediate family circle dominated his life. It may with truth be said, A boy in England born, in England bred. He developed dementia, and became completely blind and increasingly deaf. As king, in 1761, he asked Bute for a review of all eligible German Protestant princesses “to save a great deal of trouble,” as “marriage must sooner or later come to pass.” He chose Charlotte Sophia of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and married her on September 8, 1761. "[8] Historian Romney Sedgwick argued that these lines appear "to be the source of the only historical phrase with which he is associated". [35] In 1763, after concluding the Peace of Paris which ended the war, Lord Bute resigned, allowing the Whigs under George Grenville to return to power. March 4, 2020 King George III is most well known for being the King of England during the American Revolutionary War. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people." Bute’s only other useful contribution to his royal pupil was to encourage his interest in botany and to implant in the court more respect for the graces of life, including patronage of the arts, than had been usual for the past half century. George III, in full George William Frederick, German Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, (born June 4 [May 24, Old Style], 1738, London—died January 29, 1820, Windsor Castle, near London), king of Great Britain and Ireland (1760–1820) and elector (1760–1814) and then king (1814–20) of Hanover, during a period when Britain won an empire in the Seven Years’ War but lost its American colonies and then, after the … [5], Prince George grew into a healthy, reserved and shy child. Only Queens Victoria and Elizabeth II lived and reigned longer. Throughout Pitt's ministry, George supported many of Pitt's political aims and created new peers at an unprecedented rate to increase the number of Pitt's supporters in the House of Lords. In the later part of his life, George had recurrent, and eventually permanent, mental illness. Fast Facts: King George III Full Name: George William Frederick Known For: King of Great Britain and Ireland during the American Revolution, suffered from acute and debilitating bouts of mental illness Born: June 4, 1738 in London, England Parliament was dissolved, and the subsequent election gave the ministry a strong majority in the House of Commons. [7] At age 10, George took part in a family production of Joseph Addison's play Cato and said in the new prologue: "What, tho' a boy! George realized too late that his clumsiness had destroyed one political combination and made any other difficult to assemble. [87] The King was conciliatory towards Fox, after being forced to capitulate over his appointment. The victory against France and losing the American colonies. [106], In 1804, George's recurrent illness returned; after his recovery, Addington resigned and Pitt regained power. The King then appointed Lord Shelburne to replace him. Armed conflict between British regulars and colonial militiamen broke out at the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775. Watson, p. 88; this view is also shared by Brooke (see for example p. 99). George was a child of strong feelings but of slow mental development. [91] His humane and understanding treatment of two insane assailants, Margaret Nicholson in 1786 and John Frith in 1790, contributed to his popularity. It was the furthest he had ever been from London—just short of 100 miles (150 km)—but his condition worsened. He died later in the same year. In 1801, when Great Britain united with Ireland, he dropped the title of king of France, which had been used for every English monarch since Edward III's claim to the French throne in the medieval period. In 1770, his brother Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn, was exposed as an adulterer, and the following year Cumberland married a young widow, Anne Horton. [34] John Wilkes, a member of parliament, published The North Briton, which was both inflammatory and defamatory in its condemnation of Bute and the government. Pitt, fearing he would be removed from office if the Prince of Wales were empowered, argued that it was for Parliament to nominate a regent, and wanted to restrict the regent's authority. 334–343; Brooke, p. 332; Fraser, p. 282, Ayling, pp. On 8 September 1761 in the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace, the King married Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, whom he met on their wedding day. 329–335; Brooke, pp. "[104] George wrote to his friend Bishop Hurd, "We are here in daily expectation that Bonaparte will attempt his threatened invasion ... Should his troops effect a landing, I shall certainly put myself at the head of mine, and my other armed subjects, to repel them. An American taxpayer would pay a maximum of sixpence a year, compared to an average of twenty-five shillings (50 times as much) in England. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). “An Emblem of the Effects of the STAMP,” a warning against the Stamp Act published in the. All failed him. The family moved to Leicester Square, where George and his younger brother Prince Edward, Duke of York and Albany, were educated together by private tutors. However, many of Britain's American colonies were soon lost in the American War of Independence. Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Princess Sophie Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn, Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, petitions to the Crown for intervention with Parliament, William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, Voyages: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database, English and British Sovereigns had maintained, United States Declaration of Independence, Descendants of George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Charlotte, Princess Royal and Queen of Württemberg, Charlotte, Princess Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Augusta, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Princess Frederica, Baroness von Pawel-Rammingen, Alexandra, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick and Prince of Hanover, Ernest Augustus, Hereditary Prince of Brunswick and Prince of Hanover, Princess Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Princess Friederike of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, Princess Sophia Dorothea of Brunswick-Celle, John Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, Princess Eleonore Erdmuthe of Saxe-Eisenach, Frederick I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, Frederick II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, Princess Magdalena Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst, Cultural depictions of George III of the United Kingdom, "The acute mania of King George III: A computational linguistic analysis", "Reasons for the success of the abolitionist campaign in 1807", "Black Abolitionists and the end of the transatlantic slave trade", "Nelson, Trafalgar, and those who served", "Marks of Cadency in the British Royal Family", online 90-minute video lecture given at Ohio State in 2006; requires Real Player, "The 'insanity' of King George III: a classic case of porphyria", "Porphyria in the Royal Houses of Stuart, Hanover, and Prussia", George III papers, including references to madhouses and insanity from the Historic Psychiatry Collection, Menninger Archives, Kansas Historical Society, Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh, George III and the Prince of Wales Reviewing Troops, Prince Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Charles Edward, Duke of Albany and of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick, Alastair, 2nd Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, Johann Leopold, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=George_III&oldid=1018200579, British people of the American Revolution, Burials at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle, Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the ODNB, Short description is different from Wikidata, Wikipedia indefinitely semi-protected pages, Pages using Sister project links with wikidata mismatch, Pages using Sister project links with default search, Articles with Encyclopædia Britannica links, Wikipedia articles with BIBSYS identifiers, Wikipedia articles with CANTIC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with PLWABN identifiers, Wikipedia articles with RKDartists identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SELIBR identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SNAC-ID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with SUDOC identifiers, Wikipedia articles with TePapa identifiers, Wikipedia articles with Trove identifiers, Wikipedia articles with WORLDCATID identifiers, Wikipedia articles with multiple identifiers, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Lord North again requested that he also be allowed to resign, but he stayed in office at George III's insistence. Even so, people remember George III as the king who lost the American colonies. The actions of Lord Chatham and George III in repealing the Act were so popular in America that statues of them both were erected in New York City. Despite being mocked for his humility and nicknamed ‘Farmer George,’ George III was the compassionate king who took care of his subjects.. His primary focus was the good of the ordinary people and protection of his government and assets. [3], George was born in London at Norfolk House in St James's Square. Early in his reign, Great Britain defeated France in the Seven Years' War, becoming the dominant European power in North America and India. "[22] He inserted this phrase into the speech, written by Lord Hardwicke, to demonstrate his desire to distance himself from his German forebears, who were perceived as caring more for Hanover than for Britain. "I am born for the happiness or misery of a great nation," he wrote, "and consequently must often act contrary to my passions. The first decade of the reign was one of such ministerial instability that little was done to solve the basic financial difficulties of the crown, made serious by the expense of the Seven Years’ War. George used the opportunity to abandon the title "king of France", which English and British Sovereigns had maintained since the reign of Edward III. [119] Under George III, the British Agricultural Revolution reached its peak and great advances were made in fields such as science and industry. 92–93, 267–273, 302–305, 317. In the 1790s, the King and his family took holidays at Weymouth, Dorset,[20] which he thus popularised as one of the first seaside resorts in England. The event became known as the Massacre of St. George’s Fields, and this hardline approach to Parliamentary reformers would characterize the reign of King George III. "King George III." King George III had said to be infected by a genetic disease called porphyria, … [138], Coat of arms from 1751 to 1760 as Prince of Wales, Coat of arms used from 1760 to 1801 as King of Great Britain, Coat of arms used from 1801 to 1816 as King of the United Kingdom, Coat of arms used from 1816 until death, also as King of Hanover, King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1760 to 1820, Articles and topics related to George III of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom from 1 January 1801, following the, George was falsely said to have married a. By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. Apart from chemistry and physics, his lessons included astronomy, mathematics, French, Latin, history, music, geography, commerce, agriculture and constitutional law, along with sporting and social accomplishments such as dancing, fencing, and riding. [23], Although his accession was at first welcomed by politicians of all parties,[e] the first years of his reign were marked by political instability, largely generated as a result of disagreements over the Seven Years' War. 106–111, Ayling, pp. From the Magna Carta to the Battle of Agincourt, test your knowledge of kings of England in this quiz. [12] George's mother, now the Dowager Princess of Wales, preferred to keep George at home where she could imbue him with her strict moral values. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Politically, Bute encouraged the most disastrous of George’s delusions. George III was the son of Frederick Louis, prince of Wales, and Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. St James's Palace was retained for official use. He was a monarch of the House of Hanover, but unlike his two predecessors, he was born in Great Britain, spoke English as his first language,[1] and never visited Hanover.[2]. Lord Grenville perceived an injustice to Fox, and refused to join the new ministry. In an additional difference, the crown of Charlemagne was not usually depicted on the arms of the heir, only on the Sovereign's. "[105] After Admiral Lord Nelson's famous naval victory at the Battle of Trafalgar, the possibility of invasion was extinguished. [26] Claims that he used the income to reward supporters with bribes and gifts[27] are disputed by historians who say such claims "rest on nothing but falsehoods put out by disgruntled opposition". [97] Faced with opposition to his religious reform policies from both the King and the British public, Pitt threatened to resign. "[111] He accepted the need for the Regency Act 1811,[112] and the Prince of Wales acted as Regent for the remainder of George III's life. In truth, however, the king was not guilty of causing chaos by intrigue. [102] The Times said, "The enthusiasm of the multitude was beyond all expression. 349–350; Carretta, p. 285; Fraser, p. 282; Hibbert, pp. While both agreed that it would be most reasonable for George III's eldest son George, Prince of Wales, to act as regent, to Pitt's consternation Fox suggested that it was the Prince of Wales's absolute right to act on his ill father's behalf with full powers. [29] He aided the Royal Academy of Arts with large grants from his private funds,[30] and may have donated more than half of his personal income to charity. George's life and reign, which were longer than those of any of his predecessors, were marked by a series of military conflicts involving his kingdoms, much of the rest of Europe, and places farther afield in Africa, the Americas, and Asia. George III. George Augustus Frederick, King George III's first son out of fifteen, was born on this day. He was the longest ruling king in the history of England. The Treaties of Paris, by which Britain recognised the independence of the American states and returned Florida to Spain, were signed in 1782 and 1783. [70] Immediately after the House of Commons passed it, George authorised Lord Temple to inform the House of Lords that he would regard any peer who voted for the bill as his enemy. Jonathan Groff as King George III in Hamilton. That year, John Wilkes returned to England, stood as a candidate in the general election, and came top of the poll in the Middlesex constituency. 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