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Mar 22, 2024 · Date: 22 March 2024. Author: Polly Putnam. George III had four prolonged periods of illness during his reign. Despite his achievements, he is perhaps most commonly referred to as ‘The Mad King’ – an unhelpful phrase that undermines the extent of his deeply traumatic ailments, and ignores his physical symptoms.
This review is concerned with the nature of the recurrent mental ill health of King George III (1738–1820), reinvestigation of the widely accepted belief that he suffered from acute porphyria, how this unlikely diagnosis was obtained and, in particular, why it has gained so much unwarranted support.
In the later part of his life, George had recurrent and eventually permanent mental illness. The exact nature of the mental illness is not known definitively, but historians and medical experts have suggested that his symptoms and behaviour traits were consistent with bipolar disorder or porphyria.
Apr 24, 2024 · George III, the controversial British monarch known for his long reign and struggles with mental illness, played a pivotal role in shaping Britain’s political landscape during a time of significant global change.
Apr 29, 2015 · 8:00 am. History posts, The Georgians. George III is much remembered for his illness and his son taking over as Regent, but what was his illness and how did it affect him? From an early stage in his reign (1760-1801), George had mild bouts of poor mental health, but they began to become frequent and longer, starting in 1788.
Violent mania. George’s second bout of illness in 1788 was far worse than the first. Whereas before George had displayed mild mental distress, this time around he was struck down with full-blown mania. Residing in Windsor Castle at the time, the king’s behaviour quickly spiralled out of control.
George III’s mental illness, the efforts of his family, court, and doctors to manage and treat it, and historians and others’ subsequent efforts to understand his ailment in light of modern diagnostic criteria shed important light not only on the eighteenth century, but every subsequent era as it confronts ‘the madness of George III’.
