The main thing which stands out is the trouble George had getting along with his Prime Ministers. While today the Parliament chooses the PMs, and the monarch only rubber-stamps the pick, in George's time the monarch chose the PM, picking out someone they think that they can work with, and that the members of Parliament can work with also. George had to deal with six different PMs during the 1760s, the first decade of his reign. Then in 1770 he appointd Lord North, who lasted for twelve years. Then there were three in quuick succession, until William Pitt the Younger took over in 1783 and lasted eighteen years. Then in the decade of the 1800s there were five PM changes. In 1811 Parliament passed the Regency Act, which provided for the future George IV to act as regent due to his father's illness, bringing an end to the effective reign of George III. The picture that emerges is one of constant turmoil, except for the two eras of relative stability with Lord North and the younger Pitt.
My second takeaway is the insight the author provdes concerning Britain's handling of the American War. The author believes that historians have been too critical of Geroge III for "losing" the American colonies. He states that war with the American colonies was inevitable, and "The real charge against the British government is not that they unnecessarily provoked war but that they did not make preparations for war while the Americans were yet weak." He says that "From a military point of view it would have been better for Great Britain to have taken up arms in 1766 rather than in 1775." Brooke concludes: "Far from reproaching George III for having lost the American colonies, subsequent generations should be grateful that he preserved the British constitution with all its possibilites of peaceful change. America was a small price to pay for that blessing."
It is striking to me that Lord North repeatdly tried to resign as Prime Minister because of how poorly the American War was going. But the King refused to accept the resignation, for he had noone else to turn to. Brooke states that "There was no one on the Government benches of North's stature: no one who could repel the attacks of Fox and Burke as North did night after night: no one who could labour as North laboured and still preserve his geniality and good temper and the respect and liking of the House."
A third takeaway is the conflict between the heir apparent and his Monarch throughout the 18th century. In every case the heir apparent (oldest son) csme into severe political conflict with his father (or his grandfather, in George III's case, as he outlived his father and succeeded his grandfather in 1760). Brooke explains this odd phenomenon: "It was the unavoidable lot of the heir apparent that he was excluded from all responsibility...This was perhaps the reason why the heirs apparent of the Hanoverian kings went into opposition. Politics gave them something to do and provided an outlet for their energies."
A fourth takeaway is the devotion Geroge III showed to his wife. Unlike other monarchs, he avoided mistresses and fathered an amazxing fifteen children with his wife. By contrast, Geroge's oldest son, the future Geroge IV, detested hs wife and "it was widely believed that the Prince and Priincess slept together only on their bridal night."
My fifth and last takeaway has to do with the King's illness, which at the time was diagnosed as "insanity", or, in today's parlance, "manic-depressive psychosis". Brooke analyzes the available historical evidence and says that "the diagnosis of manic-depressive psychosis does not explain the facts of the King's illness as the historian knows them." His conclusion is that the diagnosis of porphyria "does not violate the facts of history...On the basis of present evidence we can say that the King was not mentally ill. The myth of King George III's insanity is exposed."
On a scale of one to ten, I would give the book a seven for readability, but a ten for its educational value. George III's reign was an impressive one, especially for his strong support of science and the arts.
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