Which king george was mad

Gave him a strong dose of bark which had the effect of composing him and putting him to sleep for an hour and a half which he had not had for I think, nearly 48 hours before which time too he had been in a very restless and unquiet state.

He waked with a slower pulse and in every respect appearing better; so that the physicians were enabled to give a favourable report to the Prince of Wales in ye evening. If the report had been otherwise it was intended that other physicians should have been called in aid — the medicines of today since two o'clock were chiefly composed of musk and bark — his nourishment jellies and wine. Blistering was probably the worst thing the doctors did to him because that's when they used the James' Powders — mostly made up of arsenic — to blister his skin in an attempt to rid the body of toxins.

Many believe it was the arsenic that made his condition worse and led to his death. Whether the King suffered from porphyria or was just mad has long been debated. But a recent research project at St George's, University of London , concluded that the King did suffer from mental illness after all. Researchers used thousands of George III's own handwritten letters, to analyse his use of language. Dr Peter Garrard and Dr Vassiliki Rentoumi discovered that during the King's episodes of illness, his sentences were much longer than when he was healthy.

When he was going through a "mad episode", the King would repeat himself and his vocabulary became more complex and colourful. These are features common to patients going through the manic phase of a psychiatric illness, such as bipolar disorder. According to historian Lucy Worsley, the researchers are adamant that the porphyria theory is wrong and that the King definitely suffered from a psychiatric illness. In a prosperous, industrialising Britain, it was growing more important for a monarch to reign rather than rule, providing background stability rather than aggressive leadership," Worsley said.

By the King had recovered and managed to reign for another 12 years, until he suffered his final bout of "madness". That meant his eldest son George, Prince Regent, had the difficult task of trying to govern according to the unpredictable notions of his father.

But, oh dear, he strode up and made a bow and began 'My Lords and Peacocks'. The King's final months were spent being bound in a straitjacket and sometimes chained to a chair. Towards the end, he was deaf and blind and living in misery. George suffered extremely violent attacks which strained his grip on reality and debilitated him in the last years of his reign.

His outbursts were prescribed by physicians of the time as a sure-fire sign of insanity. And yet, perhaps most sadly, recent evidence suggests that the most common medication George was given was James' powders - which contained traces of arsenic - something now known as a typical trigger of severe porphyria attacks.

Towards the end, George's supposed "madness" meant his eldest son George, Prince Regent, was put in the daunting position of attempting to govern according to the increasingly erratic will of his father. A letter written at the time describes the situation: " But, oh dear, he strode up and made a bow and began 'My Lords and Peacocks'. He died at Windsor Castle on 29th January Listen: Emily Brand tackles key questions about Britain in the Regency era, from the lavish spending and reputation of the Prince Regent himself to how much we can really learn from Jane Austen , on this episode of the HistoryExtra podcast :.

Pitt, who knew the Prince of Wales a Whig ally would restore his rivals to power, resisted a regency for as long as possible. When the crisis finally came to a head, Pitt got parliament to vote in a regency that gave the Prince Regent as little power as possible, essentially making him into a puppet king. But in he suffered a relapse of porphyria. This time the king was duped into a second incarceration at Kew by his doctor, who pretended to be interested in the copy of a self-portrait of Van Dyck, by Nogari — that still hangs above the fireplace in the dining room of the Dutch House.

Once there, the king was persuaded to leave his family to undergo treatment once more. Throughout his treatment, his wife and daughters stayed at Kew with him, living in the upper floors of the Dutch House, while they waited for news of the king. These sumptuous rooms were a far cry from the spartan rooms occupied by the king and are still decorated in the fashionable styles of the day.

George had another relapse in and then a final, full-blown attack in from which he never fully recovered. Ailing and virtually blind with cataracts, he became permanently insane and finally died in George became ill and was confined here in before being moved to Kew.

It is now called the Enlightenment Gallery, with an exhibition on the 18th century. The books are now held at the British Library. While here, he used one of the first bathing machines to take a dip in the sea. Gloucester Lodge on the promenade became his holiday home and the chalk horse and rider on the hillside overlooking Weymouth bay is said to depict the king.

The academy moved several times before settling at Burlington House in Its first exhibition of contemporary art opened on 25 April Amanda Foreman is an author, historian and presenter. Words: Charlotte Hodgman.