Proclamation by the King for Suppressing Rebellion and Sedition

About the Author

George III, king of the United Kingdom and Ireland and king of Hanover, was born in 1738 to Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales, and Augusta of Saxe-Gotha. His birth at the Duke of Norfolk's residence in Saint James's Square had particular significance, since he was the first Prince of Wales born in England since Charles II before the English Revolution of the 1640s. The British had a difficult time embracing a king they perceived as a German. Reports of George III's abilities as a student varied widely from claims of retardation to keen aptitude for his studies. The most reasonable assessment appears to be that he had above-average intelligence, but not brilliance, and that he was shy, reserved, and socially backward. The death of his father in 1750 left George III in an unenviable position: a minor having to negotiate the twisted paths of the English court and the assumption of his father's duties as the Prince of Wales. While he was a minor, George III remained part of his mother's household and entered into one of his most significant relationships, that with John Stuart, the 3rd Earl of Bute. Named groom of the robe, Stuart served as adviser, mentor, and confidant to the young prince.

Shortly after George III reached majority, two events occurred that had a profound effect on his career and personal life. In 1760 George II, George III's grandfather, died and left him as his heir. In his twentieth year, George III became king of the United Kingdom and Ireland as well as king of Hanover, a hereditary German holding. After a protracted search for a suitable wife, on September 8, 1761, George III married Charlotte, princess of Mechlenburg-Streiltz at Saint James's Palace. Two weeks later Great Britain witnessed their coronation at Westminster Abbey. Observers characterized the court that they established, primarily at Buckingham Palace, as temperate, respectable, and prizing formality and procedure. George III's siblings and offspring proved to be less sober and frequently engaged in activities that the king found uncomfortable and which often led to strained relations. The tendencies of both his sibling and his offspring toward debt and unfortunate personal misalliances, within and outside the bonds of matrimony, created considerable anxiety and familial estrangements.

George III's political life was equally strained. The first decade of his tenure saw seven prime ministers. The revolving ministries operated most notably under George Grenville; Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham; and the elder William Pitt (later Lord Chatham). Until the appointment of Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford, in 1770 factions formed and fell with nearly annual regularity. George III also eventually severed his close ties to Lord Bute but had no one to replace him. Lord North and the younger William Pitt came closest to filling the void left by Bute's fall from grace. George III's reactions to troubles in North America were colored by his desires to eliminate factional politics and to maintain order. George III's reaction to the escalation to arms in North America was predictable. As an eighteenth-century monarch, he saw suppression of the rebellion as his only viable option.

George III ruled Great Britain and her empire for sixty years. While the American rebellion and the eventual loss of the North American colonies caused some damage to his reputation, his subsequent alliance with the younger William Pitt, and his strong opposition to the French Revolution and the Napoleonic conquest made him extremely popular. His political opposition, primarily Whigs, frequently criticized George III for overstepping the constitutional boundaries established by the Glorious Revolution of 1688. He was, however, fairly circumspect in his actions for an eighteenth-century ruler.

One final factor, illness, had a profound impact on George III's long reign. His contemporaries believed that their king suffered from periodic bouts of insanity, during which he raved, ranted, and needed physical restraint. Medical historians today contend that George III suffered from porphyria, an inherited homological disorder causing intermittent bouts of acute pain, paralysis, personality changes, and general neurological damage. George III's first confirmed attack occurred in 1788–1789, although the mental breakdown he suffered during the Stamp Act crisis in 1765 may have been related. He fell ill again in 1801, but then stabilized for nine years. After 1810 his condition worsened, and he never fully recovered. He eventually lost his hearing and his sight. Although his people waited for his recovery, in 1811 Parliament confirmed his oldest son, George, as Prince Regent. George III died in confinement on January 29, 1820. His legacy is a mixed one. British historians interpret his reign as one characterized by sedate competency occasionally blighted by periods of instability. U.S. historians have generally vilified him in terms akin to Thomas Paine's “Royal Brute.”