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{{Short description|King of Great Britain and Ireland from 1760 to 1820}}
{{other uses}}
{{featured article}}
{{pp|small=yes}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2025}}
{{Infobox royalty
| image        = Allan Ramsay - King George III in coronation robes - Google Art Project.jpg
| caption      = [[Coronation Portrait of George III|Coronation portrait]], 1762
| alt          = Full-length portrait in oils of a clean-shaven young George in eighteenth century dress: gold jacket and breeches, ermine cloak, powdered wig, white stockings, and buckled shoes.
| succession   = {{Plainlist|
* [[King of Great Britain and Ireland]]{{efn|name=note 1|King of the United Kingdom from 1 January 1801, after the [[Acts of Union 1800]]}}
* [[Elector of Hanover|Elector]]/[[King of Hanover]]{{efn|name=note 2|King from 12 October 1814}}
}}
| reign        = 25 October 1760{{sndash}}{{avoid wrap|29 January 1820}}
| coronation   = 22 September 1761
| cor-type     = [[Coronation of George III and Charlotte|Coronation]]
| predecessor  = [[George II of Great Britain|George II]]
| regent       = George, Prince of Wales (1811{{nbnd}}1820)
| reg-type     = [[Prince regent|Regent]]
| successor    = [[George IV]]
| spouse       = {{Marriage|[[Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz]]|1761|1818|end=died}}
| issue        = {{list collapsed|title=''15 children''|1={{Plainlist|
* [[George IV]]
* [[Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany]]
* [[William IV]]
* [[Charlotte, Queen of Württemberg]]
* [[Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn]]
* [[Princess Augusta Sophia]]
* [[Elizabeth, Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg]]
* [[Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover]]
* [[Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex]]
* [[Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge]]
* [[Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh]]
* [[Princess Sophia of the United Kingdom|Princess Sophia]]
* [[Prince Octavius]]
* [[Prince Alfred of Great Britain|Prince Alfred]]
* [[Princess Amelia of the United Kingdom|Princess Amelia]]
}}}}
| issue-link   = #Issue
| full name    = George William Frederick
| house        = [[House of Hanover|Hanover]]
| father       = [[Frederick, Prince of Wales]]
| mother       = [[Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha]]
| birth_date   = {{birth date|df=y|1738|6|4}} {{Bracket|[[Old Style and New Style dates|NS]]}}{{efn|name=date}}
| birth_place  = [[Norfolk House]], London, England
| death_date   = {{death date and age|df=y|1820|1|29|1738|6|4}}
| death_place  = [[Windsor Castle]], Berkshire, England
| burial_date  = 16 February 1820
| burial_place = Royal Vault, [[St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle]]
| signature    = George III Signature.svg
| signature_alt = Handwritten "George" with a huge leading "G" and a large capital "R" at the end for "Rex"
| religion     = [[Anglicanism]]<ref>{{Citation |last=Ditchfield |first=G. M. |title=The Religion of George III |date=2002 |work=George III: An Essay in Monarchy |pages=77–108 |editor-last=Ditchfield |editor-first=G. M. |place=London |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |language=en |doi=10.1057/9780230599437_5 |isbn=978-0-230-59943-7}}</ref>
}}
'''George III''' (George William Frederick; 4 June 1738{{spaced en dash}}29 January 1820) was [[King of Great Britain]] and [[King of Ireland|Ireland]] from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The [[Acts of Union 1800]] unified [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] and [[Kingdom of Ireland|Ireland]] into the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]], with George as its king. He was concurrently duke and [[prince-elector]] of [[Electorate of Hanover|Hanover]] in the [[Holy Roman Empire]] before becoming [[King of Hanover]] on 12 October 1814. He was the first monarch of the [[House of Hanover]] who was born in Great Britain, spoke English as his first language,<ref name="rh">{{cite web |date=31 December 2015 |title=George III |url=https://www.royal.uk/george-iii-r-1760-1820 |access-date=18 April 2016 |website=Official website of the British monarchy |publisher=Royal Household}}</ref> and never visited Hanover.<ref>Brooke, p. 314; Fraser, p. 277.</ref>

George was born during the reign of his paternal grandfather, King [[George II of Great Britain|George II]], as the first son of [[Frederick, Prince of Wales]], and [[Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha]]. Following his father's death in 1751, Prince George became [[heir apparent]] and [[Prince of Wales]]. He succeeded to the throne on George II's death in 1760. The following year, he married [[Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz]], with whom he had 15 children. George III's life and reign 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. Early in his reign, Great Britain defeated [[Kingdom of France|France]] in the [[Seven Years' War]], becoming the dominant European power in North America and India. However, Britain lost [[Thirteen Colonies|13 of its North American colonies]] in the [[American War of Independence]]. Further wars against [[French Revolution|revolutionary]] and [[Napoleonic France]] from 1793 concluded in the defeat of [[Napoleon]] at the [[Battle of Waterloo]] in 1815. In 1807, the [[transatlantic slave trade]] was banned from the [[British Empire]].

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 either [[bipolar disorder]] or [[porphyria]]. In 1810, George suffered a final relapse, and his eldest son, [[George IV|George, Prince of Wales]], was named [[Prince Regent]] the following year. The King died aged 81, at which time the Regent succeeded him as George IV. George III reigned during much of the [[Georgian era|Georgian]] and [[Regency era|Regency]] eras. At the time of his death, he was the [[List of longest-living members of the British royal family|longest-lived]] and [[List of monarchs in Britain by length of reign|longest-reigning British monarch]], having reigned for 59 years and 96 days; he remains the {{Update after|2030|7|11|text=longest-lived}} and longest-reigning male monarch in British history.

==Early life==
[[File:Francis Ayscough with the Prince of Wales (later King George III) and Edward Augustus, Duke of York and Albany by Richard Wilson.jpg|thumb|left|George (right), his brother [[Prince Edward, Duke of York and Albany|Edward]], and their tutor, [[Francis Ayscough]] (later [[Dean (Christianity)|Dean]] of [[Bristol Cathedral|Bristol]]), by [[Richard Wilson (painter)|Richard Wilson]], {{Circa|1749}}|alt=Conversation piece in oils: Ayscough dressed in black with a clerical collar stands beside a settee on which the two boys sit, one wearing a grey suit the other a blue one. He holds a sheet of paper; the boys hold a book.]]

George was born at [[Norfolk House]] in [[St James's Square]], London, on 4 June 1738.{{efn|name=date|All dates in this article are in the [[New Style]] [[Gregorian calendar]]. George was born on 24 May in the Old Style [[Julian calendar]] used in Great Britain until 1752.}} He was a grandson of King [[George II of Great Britain|George II]] and the eldest son of [[Frederick, Prince of Wales]], and [[Augusta of Saxe-Gotha]]. As he was born two months prematurely, and thought unlikely to survive, he was baptised the same day by [[Thomas Secker]], who was both Rector of [[St James's Church, Piccadilly]], and [[Bishop of Oxford]].<ref>Hibbert, p. 8.</ref><ref>''The Third Register Book of the Parish of St James in the Liberty of Westminster For Births & Baptisms. 1723–1741''. 24 May 1738.</ref> One month later, he was publicly baptised at Norfolk House, again by Secker. His godparents were King [[Frederick I of Sweden]] (for whom [[Charles Calvert, 5th Baron Baltimore|Lord Baltimore]] stood proxy), his uncle [[Frederick III, Duke of Saxe-Gotha]] (for whom [[Henry Brydges, 2nd Duke of Chandos|Lord Carnarvon]] stood proxy), and his great-aunt [[Sophia Dorothea, Queen in Prussia]] (for whom [[James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton#Marriage and issue|Lady Charlotte Edwin]] stood proxy).<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=7712 |date=20 June 1738 |page=2}}</ref>

George grew into a healthy, reserved and shy child. The family moved to [[Leicester Square]], where George and his younger brother [[Prince Edward, Duke of York and Albany|Edward]] (later [[Duke of York and Albany]]) were educated together by private tutors. Family letters show that he could read and write in both English and German, as well as comment on political events of the time, by the age of eight.<ref>Brooke, pp. 23–41.</ref> He was the first [[British monarch]] to study science systematically.<ref name="Brooke, pp. 42–44, 55">Brooke, pp. 42–44, 55.</ref>

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. His religious education was wholly [[Anglican]].<ref name="Brooke, pp. 42–44, 55" /> At the age of 10, George took part in a family production of [[Joseph Addison]]'s play ''[[Cato, a Tragedy|Cato]]'' and said in the new prologue: "What, tho' a boy! It may with truth be said, A boy in ''England'' born, in England bred."<ref name=dnb/> Historian [[Romney Sedgwick]] argued that these lines appear "to be the source of the only historical phrase with which he is associated".<ref>Sedgwick, pp. ix–x.</ref>

King George II disliked Prince Frederick and took little interest in his grandchildren. However, in 1751, Frederick died unexpectedly from a lung injury at the age of 44, and his son George became [[heir apparent]] to the throne and inherited his father's title of [[Duke of Edinburgh]]. The King now took more interest in his grandson and created him [[Prince of Wales]] three weeks later.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=9050 |date=16 April 1751 |page=1}}</ref><ref>Hibbert, pp. 3–15.</ref>

[[File:George, Prince of Wales (1738-1820), by Jean-Étienne Liotard.jpg|thumb|Pastel of George as [[Prince of Wales]] by [[Jean-Étienne Liotard]], 1754|alt=Head-and-shoulders portrait of a young clean-shaven George wearing a finely-embroidered jacket, the blue sash of the Order of the Garter, and a powdered wig.]]
In the spring of 1756, as George approached his eighteenth birthday, the King offered him a grand establishment at [[St James's Palace]], but George refused the offer, guided by his mother and her confidant, [[John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute]], who later served as [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|prime minister]].<ref>Brooke, pp. 51–52; Hibbert, pp. 24–25.</ref> 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.<ref>Bullion, John L. (2004). [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/46829 "Augusta, princess of Wales (1719–1772)"]. ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. Oxford University Press. {{doi|10.1093/ref:odnb/46829}}. Retrieved 17 September 2008 (Subscription required): "George III adopted the moral standards she tried to teach."</ref><ref>Ayling, p. 33.</ref>

==Accession and marriage==
[[File:Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-92) - The Marriage of George III - RCIN 404353 - Royal Collection.jpg|thumb|left|Wedding of George and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, oil sketch by Sir [[Joshua Reynolds]], c. 1761]]
In 1759, George was smitten with [[Lady Sarah Lennox]], sister of [[Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond]], but Lord Bute advised against the match and George abandoned his thoughts of marriage. "I am born for the happiness or misery of a great nation," he wrote, "and consequently must often act contrary to my passions."<ref>Ayling, p. 54; Brooke, pp. 71–72.</ref> Nevertheless, George and his mother resisted attempts by the King to marry George to [[Princess Sophie Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel]].<ref>Ayling, pp. 36–37; Brooke, p. 49; Hibbert, p. 31.</ref>

The following year, at the age of 22, George succeeded to the throne when his grandfather George II died suddenly on 25 October 1760, at age 76. The search for a suitable wife intensified: after giving consideration to a number of [[Protestant]] German princesses, George's mother sent Colonel [[David Graeme (British Army officer)|David Graeme]] with, on her son's behalf, an offer of marriage to [[Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz]]. Charlotte accepted. While a [[Household#History|royal household]] and staff were assembled for Charlotte in London, [[Simon Harcourt, 1st Earl Harcourt|Lord Harcourt]], the royal [[Master of the Horse (United Kingdom)|Master of the Horse]], escorted her from [[Neustrelitz]] to London. Charlotte arrived in the afternoon of 8 September 1761 and the marriage ceremony was conducted that same evening in the [[Chapel Royal]], St James's Palace.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hadlow |first1=Janice |author-link=Janice Hadlow|title=A royal experiment: the private life of King George III |date=2014 |publisher=Holt |location=New York |isbn=978-0-8050-9656-9 |pages=139–148}}</ref>{{efn|George was falsely said to have married [[Hannah Lightfoot]], a [[Quaker]], on 17 April 1759, prior to his marriage to Charlotte, and to have had at least one child by her. However, Lightfoot had married Isaac Axford in 1753, and had died in or before 1759, so there could have been no legal marriage or children. The jury at the 1866 trial of [[Lavinia Ryves]], the daughter of imposter [[Olivia Serres]] who pretended to be "Princess Olive of Cumberland", unanimously found that a supposed marriage certificate produced by Ryves was a forgery.<ref>{{cite web |title=Documents relating to the case |url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C5895849 |access-date=14 October 2008 |publisher=[[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|The National Archives]]}}</ref>}} [[George and Charlotte's coronation]] was held at [[Westminster Abbey]] a fortnight later on 22 September. George never took a mistress (in contrast with his grandfather and his sons), and the couple enjoyed a happy marriage until his mental illness struck.<ref name="rh" /><ref name="dnb">{{cite ODNB|first=John|last=Cannon|title=George III (1738–1820)|date=September 2004|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/10540|access-date=29 October 2008|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/10540}} (Subscription required).</ref>
[[File:Daughters of King George III.jpg|thumb|Three of George's daughters, [[Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh|Mary]] (left), [[Princess Sophia of the United Kingdom|Sophia]] (right), and [[Princess Amelia of the United Kingdom|Amelia]] (baby), painted by [[John Singleton Copley]], {{c.|1785}}|alt=Imaginary garden scene with birds of paradise, vines laden with grapes, and architectural columns. The two young princesses and their baby sister wear fine dresses and play with three spaniels and a tambourine.]]
The King and Queen had 15 children—nine sons and six daughters. In 1762, George purchased Buckingham House (on the site now occupied by [[Buckingham Palace]]) for use as a family retreat.<ref>Ayling, pp. 85–87.</ref> His other residences were [[Kew Palace]] and [[Windsor Castle]]. St James's Palace was retained for official use. He did not travel extensively and spent his entire life in southern England. In the 1790s, the King and his family took holidays at [[Weymouth, Dorset]],<ref>Ayling, p. 378; Cannon and Griffiths, p. 518.</ref> which he thus popularised as one of the first seaside resorts in England.<ref>Watson, p. 549.</ref>

==Early reign==
=== Early regnal years ===
{{further|Great Britain in the Seven Years' War}}
George, in his accession speech to [[Parliament of Great Britain|Parliament]], proclaimed: "Born and educated in this country, I glory in the name of Britain."<ref>Brooke, p. 391: "There can be no doubt that the King wrote 'Britain'."</ref> 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.<ref>Brooke, p. 88; Simms and Riotte, p. 58.</ref> During George III's lengthy reign, Britain was a [[constitutional monarchy]], ruled by his ministerial government and prominent men in Parliament.<ref>Baer, [https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/george-iii-1738-1820/ George III (1738–1820)], 22 December 2021</ref> Although his accession was at first welcomed by politicians of all parties,{{efn|For example, the letters of [[Horace Walpole]] written at the time of the accession defended George but Walpole's later memoirs were hostile.<ref>Butterfield, pp. 22, 115–117, 129–130.</ref>}} the first years of his reign were marked by political instability, largely as a result of disagreements over the [[Seven Years' War]].<ref>Hibbert, p. 86; Watson, pp. 67–79.</ref> George came to be perceived as favouring [[Tories (British political party)|Tory]] ministers, which led to his denunciation by the [[Whigs (British political party)|Whigs]] as an [[autocrat]].<ref name="rh" />

On his accession, the [[Crown land]]s produced relatively little income; most revenue was generated through taxes and excise duties. George surrendered the [[Crown Estate]] to Parliamentary control in return for a [[civil list]] annuity for the support of his household and the expenses of civil government.<ref>{{cite web |date=2004 |title=Our history |url=http://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/who-we-are/our-history/ |access-date=7 November 2017 |website=The Crown Estate |archive-date=13 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171113080506/http://www.thecrownestate.co.uk/who-we-are/our-history }}</ref> Claims that he used the income to reward supporters with bribes and gifts<ref>{{cite news |last=Kelso |first=Paul |date=6 March 2000 |title=The royal family and the public purse |work=[[The Guardian]] |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/mar/06/monarchy.princessmargaret |access-date=4 April 2015}}</ref> are disputed by historians who say such claims "rest on nothing but falsehoods put out by disgruntled opposition".<ref>Watson, p. 88; this view is also shared by Brooke (see for example p. 99).</ref> Debts amounting to over £3&nbsp;million over the course of George's reign were paid by Parliament, and the civil list annuity was increased from time to time.<ref>Medley, p. 501.</ref> He aided the [[Royal Academy of Arts]] with large grants from his private funds,<ref>Ayling, p. 194; Brooke, pp. xv, 214, 301.</ref> and may have donated more than half of his personal income to charity.<ref>Brooke, p. 215.</ref> Of his art collection, the two most notable purchases are [[Johannes Vermeer]]'s ''[[The Music Lesson|Lady at the Virginals]]'' and a set of [[Canaletto]]s, but it is as a collector of books that he is best remembered.<ref>Ayling, p. 195.</ref> The [[King's Library]] was open and available to scholars and was the foundation of a new national library.<ref>Ayling, pp. 196–198.</ref>

=== Legislation and politics ===
[[File:George III (by Allan Ramsay).jpg|thumb|Portrait by [[Allan Ramsay (artist)|Allan Ramsay]], 1762|alt=Quarter-length portrait in oils of a clean-shaven young George in profile wearing a red suit, the Garter star, a blue sash, and a powdered wig. He has a receding chin and his forehead slopes away from the bridge of his nose making his head look round in shape.]]
In May 1762, the incumbent Whig government of [[Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle]], was replaced with one led by Lord Bute, a Scottish Tory. Bute's opponents worked against him by spreading the calumny that he was having an affair with the King's mother, and by exploiting [[anti-Scottish sentiment]] amongst the English.<ref>Brooke, p. 145; Carretta, pp. 59, 64 ff.; Watson, p. 93.</ref> [[John Wilkes]], a member of parliament, published ''[[The North Briton]]'', which was both inflammatory and defamatory in its condemnation of Bute and the government. Wilkes was eventually arrested for [[seditious libel]] but he fled to France to escape punishment; he was expelled from the [[House of Commons of Great Britain|House of Commons]] and found guilty ''[[Trial in absentia|in absentia]]'' of blasphemy and libel.<ref>Brooke, pp. 146–147.</ref> In 1763, after concluding the [[Treaty of Paris (1763)|Peace of Paris]] which ended the war, Lord Bute resigned, allowing the Whigs under [[George Grenville]] to return to power. Britain received enormous concessions, including [[West Florida]]. Britain restored to France lucrative slave-sugar islands in the [[West Indies]], including [[Guadeloupe]] and [[Martinique]]. The treaty also ended French control over nearly all of [[New France]]; [[Canada (New France)|Canada]] was ceded to Britain in its entirety, while [[Louisiana (New France)|Louisiana]] was divided in two, with the eastern half (from the [[Allegheny Mountains]] to the [[Mississippi River]]) ceded to Britain and the western half, plus the city of [[New Orleans]], ceded to Spain.<ref>Willcox & Arnstein (1988), pp. 131–132.</ref>

Later that year, the [[Royal Proclamation of 1763]] placed a limit upon the westward expansion of the American colonies and created an [[Indian Reserve (1763)|Indian reserve]]. The Proclamation aimed to divert colonial expansion to the north (to [[Nova Scotia]]) and to the south (Florida), and protect the British fur trade with the Indians.<ref>Chernow, p. 137.</ref> The Proclamation Line did not bother the majority of settled farmers, but it was unpopular with a vocal minority. This discontent ultimately contributed to conflict between the colonists and the British government.<ref>Watson, pp. 183–184.</ref> With the American colonists generally unburdened by British taxes, the government thought it appropriate for them to pay towards the defence of the colonies against native uprisings and the possibility of French incursions.{{efn|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.<ref>Cannon and Griffiths, p. 505; Hibbert, p. 122.</ref> In 1763, the total revenue from America amounted to about £1,800, while the estimated annual cost of the military in America was put at £225,000. By 1767, it had risen to £400,000.<ref>Cannon and Griffiths, p. 505.</ref>}}
[[File:George III's Procession to the Houses of Parliament.jpg|thumb|left|George travelling to the [[State Opening of Parliament]] in the [[Gold State Coach]], 1762]]
The central issue for the colonists was not the amount of taxes but whether Parliament could levy a tax without American approval, for there were no American seats in Parliament.<ref>Black, p. 82.</ref> The Americans protested that like all Englishmen they had rights to "[[no taxation without representation]]". In 1765, Grenville introduced the [[Stamp Act 1765|Stamp Act]], which levied a [[stamp duty]] on every document in the British colonies in North America. Since newspapers were printed on stamped paper, those most affected by the introduction of the duty were the most effective at producing propaganda opposing the tax.<ref>Watson, pp. 184–185.</ref>

Meanwhile, George had become exasperated at Grenville's attempts to reduce the King's prerogatives, and tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade [[William Pitt the Elder]] to accept the office of prime minister.<ref>Ayling, pp. 122–133; Hibbert, pp. 107–109; Watson, pp. 106–111.</ref> After a brief illness, which may have presaged his illnesses to come, George settled on [[Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham]] to form a ministry, and dismissed Grenville.<ref>Ayling, pp. 122–133; Hibbert, pp. 111–113.</ref>

[[File:King George III of the United Kingdom, by John van Nost the Younger 1767 CE. It is housed in the British Museum, London; lent by the Victoria and Albert Museum.JPG|thumb|upright|Bust by [[John van Nost the younger]], 1767]]
Lord Rockingham, with the support of Pitt and the King, repealed Grenville's unpopular Stamp Act. Rockingham's government was weak, and he was replaced as prime minister in 1766 by Pitt, whom George created [[Earl of Chatham]]. 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 [[History of New York City (1665–1783)|New York City]].<ref>Ayling, p. 137; Hibbert, p. 124.</ref> Lord Chatham fell ill in 1767, and [[Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton]], took over the government. Grafton did not formally become prime minister until 1768. That year, John Wilkes returned to England, stood as a candidate in the [[1768 British general election|general election]], and came top of the poll in the [[Middlesex constituency]]. Wilkes was again expelled from Parliament. He was re-elected and expelled twice more, before the House of Commons resolved that his candidature was invalid and declared [[Henry Luttrell, 2nd Earl of Carhampton|the runner-up]] as the victor.<ref>Ayling, pp. 154–160; Brooke, pp. 147–151.</ref> Grafton's government disintegrated in 1770, allowing the Tories led by [[Lord North]] to return to power.<ref>Ayling, pp. 167–168; Hibbert, p. 140.</ref>

=== Family issues ===
George was deeply devout and spent hours in prayer,<ref>Brooke, p. 260; Fraser, p. 277.</ref> but his piety was not shared by his brothers. George was appalled by what he saw as their loose morals. In 1770, his brother [[Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn]], was exposed as an adulterer. The following year, Henry married a young widow, [[Anne Horton]]. The King considered her inappropriate as a royal bride: she was from a lower social class and German law barred any children of the couple from the Hanoverian succession.<ref name="Brooke pp. 272">Brooke, pp. 272–282; Cannon and Griffiths, p. 498.</ref>

George insisted on a new law that essentially forbade members of the royal family from legally marrying without the consent of the sovereign. The subsequent bill was unpopular in Parliament, including among George's own ministers, but passed as the [[Royal Marriages Act 1772]]. Shortly afterwards, another of George's brothers, [[Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh]], revealed he had been secretly married to [[Maria, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh|Maria, Countess Waldegrave]], the illegitimate daughter of Sir [[Edward Walpole]]. The news confirmed George's opinion that he had been right to introduce the law: Maria was related to his political opponents. Neither lady was ever received at court.<ref name="Brooke pp. 272" />

=== Increasing issues in America ===
[[File:George-III-by-Johan-Joseph-Zoffany.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Portrait of George III (Zoffany)|Portrait of George]] in army uniform and the [[Order of the Garter]], by [[Johan Zoffany]], 1771|alt=Three-quarter length seated portrait of a clean-shaven George with a fleshy face and white eyebrows wearing a powdered wig.]]
Lord North's government was chiefly concerned with discontent in America. To assuage American opinion most of the custom duties were withdrawn, except for the tea duty, which in George's words was "one tax to keep up the right [to levy taxes]".<ref>Hibbert, p. 141.</ref> In 1773, the tea ships moored in [[Boston Harbor]] were boarded by colonists and the tea was thrown overboard, an event that became known as the [[Boston Tea Party]]. In Britain, opinion hardened against the colonists, with Chatham now agreeing with North that the destruction of the tea was "certainly criminal".<ref>Hibbert, p. 143.</ref>

With the clear support of Parliament, Lord North introduced measures, which were called the [[Intolerable Acts]] by the colonists: the [[Port of Boston]] was shut down and the [[Explanatory charter|charter]] of [[Province of Massachusetts Bay|Massachusetts]] was [[Massachusetts Government Act|altered]] so that the upper house of [[Massachusetts General Court|the legislature]] was appointed by [[the Crown]] instead of elected by the lower house.<ref>Watson, p. 197.</ref> Up to this point, in the words of Professor Peter Thomas, George's "hopes were centred on a political solution, and he always bowed to his [[Cabinet of the United Kingdom|cabinet]]'s opinions even when sceptical of their success. The detailed evidence of the years from 1763 to 1775 tends to exonerate George III from any real responsibility for the [[American Revolution]]."<ref>Thomas, p. 31.</ref> Though both the Americans and older British historians characterised George as a tyrant, in these years he acted as a constitutional monarch supporting the initiatives of his ministers.<ref>Ayling, p. 121.</ref>

==American War of Independence==
{{Main|American Revolution|American Revolutionary War}}
[[File: William Walcutt statue George III.png|thumb|left|''Pulling Down the Statue of George III at Bowling Green, 9 July 1776'', [[William Walcutt]] (1854)]]

The [[American War of Independence]] was the culmination of the civil and political [[American Revolution]]. Armed conflict began between British regulars and colonial militiamen at the [[Battles of Lexington and Concord]] in April 1775. The [[Second Continental Congress]] sent [[Olive Branch Petition|petitions to the Crown for intervention with Parliament]], but the King and Parliament ignored them. George declared the American leaders [[Proclamation of Rebellion|to be traitors]] and a year of fighting ensued. [[Thomas Paine]]'s book ''[[Common Sense]]'' referred to George III as "the Royal Brute of Great Britain".<ref>Chernow, pp. 214–215.</ref>

The colonies [[United States Declaration of Independence|declared their independence]] in July 1776, listing [[Grievances of the United States Declaration of Independence|twenty-seven grievances]] against the British king and legislature while asking the support of the populace. Among George's other offences, the declaration charged, "He has abdicated Government here&nbsp;... He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people." The gilded equestrian statue of the King in New York was pulled down.<ref>Carretta, pp. 97–98, 367.</ref> The British captured the city in 1776 but lost Boston, and the [[Saratoga campaign|grand strategic plan]] of invading from Canada and cutting off New England failed with the surrender of British Lieutenant-General [[John Burgoyne]] following the [[battles of Saratoga]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=O'Shaughnessy |first=Andrew Jackson |title=The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire |date=2014 |pages=158–164}}</ref>

Prime Minister [[Lord North]] was not an ideal war leader, but George III managed to give Parliament a sense of purpose to fight, and North was able to keep [[North ministry|his cabinet]] together. North's cabinet ministers [[John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich]], [[First Lord of the Admiralty]], and [[Lord George Germain]], [[Secretary of State for the Colonies]], proved to lack leadership skills suited for their positions.<ref>Willcox & Arnstein (1988), p. 162.</ref>

George III is often accused of obstinately trying to keep Great Britain at war with the rebels, despite the opinions of his own ministers.<ref>O'Shaughnessy, ch 1.</ref> In the words of British historian [[George Otto Trevelyan]], the King was determined "never to acknowledge the independence of the Americans, and to punish their contumacy by the indefinite prolongation of a war which promised to be eternal."<ref>Trevelyan, vol. 1 p. 4.</ref> He wanted to "keep the rebels harassed, anxious, and poor, until the day when, by a natural and inevitable process, discontent and disappointment were converted into penitence and remorse".<ref>Trevelyan, vol. 1 p. 5.</ref> Later historians defend George by saying that, in the context of the times, no king would willingly surrender such a large territory,<ref name=dnb/><ref name="cg">Cannon and Griffiths, pp. 510–511.</ref> and his conduct was far less ruthless than contemporaneous monarchs in Europe.<ref>Brooke, p. 183.</ref> After Saratoga, both Parliament and the British people were in favour of the war; recruitment ran at high levels and political opponents, though vocal, remained a small minority.<ref name=dnb/><ref>Brooke, pp. 180–182, 192, 223.</ref>

With the setbacks in America, Lord North asked to transfer power to [[Lord Chatham]], whom he thought more capable, but George refused to do so; he suggested instead that Chatham serve as a subordinate minister in North's administration, but Chatham refused; he died later in the same year.<ref>Hibbert, pp. 156–157.</ref> North was allied to the "King's Friends" in Parliament and believed that George III had the right to exercise powers.<ref>Willcox & Arnstein, p. 157.</ref> In early 1778, [[Louis XVI]] of France (Britain's chief rival) signed a [[Treaty of Alliance (1778)|treaty of alliance]] with the United States.<ref name="Willcox161165">Willcox & Arnstein, pp. 161, 165.</ref> The [[French Navy]] outran the British naval blockade of the Mediterranean and sailed to America.<ref name=Willcox161165/> The conflict now affected America, Europe, and India.<ref name=Willcox161165/> [[Charles III of Spain]] had misgivings because of his own colonies but decided to side with France in the war in limited fashion in 1779.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Stein |first1=Stanley |title=Apogee of Empire: Spain and New Spain in the Age of Charles III, 1759–1789 |last2=Stein |first2=Barbara |publisher=Johns Hopkins University Press |year=2003 |isbn=978-0-8018-7339-3 |pages=338–340 |language=En}}</ref> One faction of the [[Dutch Republic]] aided the Americans, whereas another aided Britain, whose allies included [[Loyalists (American Revolution)|Loyalists]] and [[Germans in the American Revolution#Allies of Great Britain|German auxiliaries]]. [[Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford|Lord Gower]] and [[Thomas Thynne, 1st Marquess of Bath|Lord Weymouth]] both resigned from the government. Lord North again requested that he also be allowed to resign, but he stayed in office at George III's insistence.<ref>Ayling, pp. 275–276.</ref>
[[File:Benjamin West (1738-1820) - George III (1738-1820) - RCIN 405407 - Royal Collection.jpg|thumb|George III in 1779, with symbols of rule, scenes of the Royal Navy and British Army at war, by [[Benjamin West]]]]
During the summer of 1779, a combined French–Spanish naval fleet threatened to invade England and transport 31,000 French troops across the [[English Channel]]. George III said that Britain was confronted by the "most serious crisis the nation ever knew". In August, 66 warships entered the English Channel, but sickness, hunger, and adverse winds forced the French–Spanish [[Armada of 1779|armada]] to withdraw, ending the invasion threat.<ref>Taylor (2016), p. 287</ref>

In late 1779, George III advocated sending more British warships and troops across the Atlantic to the West Indies. He boldly said: "We must risk something, otherwise we will only vegetate in this war. I own I wish either with spirit to get through it, or with a crash be ruined." In January 1780, 7,000 British troops under General Sir [[John Vaughan (British Army officer, died 1795)|John Vaughan]] were transported to the West Indies.<ref>Taylor (2016), p. 290</ref> Nonetheless, opposition to the costly war was increasing, and in June 1780 contributed to disturbances in London known as the [[Gordon riots]].<ref>Ayling, p. 284.</ref>

As late as the [[siege of Charleston]] in 1780, Loyalists could still believe in their eventual victory, as British troops inflicted defeats on the Continental forces at the [[Battle of Camden]] and the [[Battle of Guilford Court House]].<ref>''The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Army'' (1994) p. 129.</ref> In late 1781, the news of [[Lord Cornwallis]]'s surrender at the [[siege of Yorktown]] reached London; North's parliamentary support ebbed away and he resigned the following year. George drafted an abdication notice, which was never delivered.<ref name=cg/><ref>Brooke, p. 221.</ref> He finally accepted the defeat in America and authorized peace negotiations. Britain formally recognized the independence of the United States in the [[Peace of Paris (1783)|Treaties of Paris]] signed in 1782 and 1783.<ref>U.S. Department of State, [https://history.state.gov/milestones/1776-1783/treaty Treaty of Paris, 1783]. Retrieved 5 July 2013.</ref> In early 1783, George III privately conceded "America is lost!" He reflected that the Northern colonies had developed into Britain's "successful rivals" in commercial trade and fishing.<ref>Bullion, ''George III on Empire, 1783'', p. 306.</ref> Up to 70,000 Loyalists fled to [[British North America|Canada]] (where they became known as the [[United Empire Loyalists]]), the [[Caribbean]], or England after their homes and businesses were looted and destroyed by pro-revolutionary Americans.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Roos |first1=Dave |title=7 Famous Loyalists of the Revolutionary War Era |url=https://www.history.com/news/loyalists-revolutionary-war |website=History |publisher=[[A+E Global Media]] |access-date=16 August 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250420063419/https://www.history.com/articles/loyalists-revolutionary-war |archive-date=20 April 2025 |date=7 October 2021}}</ref>

[[John Adams]] was appointed American [[List of ambassadors of the United States to the United Kingdom|minister to London]] in 1785, by which time George had become resigned to the new relationship between his country and the former colonies. He told Adams, "I was the last to consent to the separation; but the separation having been made and having become inevitable, I have always said, as I say now, that I would be the first to meet the friendship of the United States as an independent power."<ref>{{cite book |title=The works of John Adams, second president of the United States |date=1850–1856 |volume=VIII |pages=255–257 |editor-last=Adams |editor-first=C.F. |postscript=,}} quoted in Ayling, p. 323 and Hibbert, p. 165.</ref>

== Mid-reign ==
===Government ===
[[File:National-Debt-Gillray.jpeg|thumb|In ''A new way to pay the National Debt'' (1786), [[James Gillray]] caricatured King George III and Queen Charlotte awash with treasury funds to cover royal debts, with Pitt handing him another [[money bag]].|alt=Centre: George III, drawn as a paunchy man with pockets bulging with gold coins, receives a wheel-barrow filled with money-bags from William Pitt, whose pockets also overflow with coin. To the left, a quadriplegic veteran begs on the street. To the right, George, Prince of Wales, is depicted dressed in rags.]]
With the collapse of Lord North's ministry in 1782, the Whig Lord Rockingham became prime minister for the second time, but died within months. The King then appointed [[William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne]] to replace him. [[Charles James Fox]], however, refused to serve under Shelburne, and demanded the appointment of [[William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland]]. In 1783, the House of Commons forced Shelburne from office and his government was replaced by the [[Fox–North Coalition]]. Portland became prime minister, with Fox and Lord North, as foreign secretary and home secretary respectively.<ref name=dnb/>

The King disliked Fox intensely, for his politics as well as his character: he thought Fox unprincipled and a bad influence on the Prince of Wales.<ref>e.g. Ayling, p. 281.</ref> George III was distressed at having to appoint ministers not of his liking, but the Portland ministry quickly built up a majority in the House of Commons, and could not be displaced easily. He was further dismayed when the government introduced the India Bill, which proposed to reform the government of India by transferring political power from the [[East India Company]] to Parliamentary commissioners.<ref>Hibbert, p. 243; Pares, p. 120.</ref> Although George actually favoured greater control over the company, the proposed commissioners were all political allies of Fox.<ref>Brooke, pp. 250–251.</ref> Immediately after the House of Commons passed it, George authorised [[George Nugent-Temple-Grenville, 1st Marquess of Buckingham|Lord Temple]] to inform the [[House of Lords]] that he would regard any peer who voted for the bill as his enemy. The bill was rejected by the Lords; three days later, the Portland ministry was dismissed, and [[William Pitt the Younger]] was appointed prime minister, with Temple as his secretary of state. On 17 December 1783, the Commons voted in favour of a motion condemning the influence of the monarch in parliamentary voting as a "high crime" and Temple was forced to resign. Temple's departure destabilised the government, and three months later the government lost its majority and Parliament was dissolved; the subsequent [[1784 British general election|election]] gave Pitt a firm mandate.<ref name=dnb/>

Pitt's appointment was a great victory for George. It proved that the King could appoint prime ministers on the basis of his own interpretation of the public mood without having to follow the choice of the current majority in the House of Commons. 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.<ref>Watson, pp. 272–279.</ref> During and after Pitt's ministry, George was extremely popular in Britain.<ref>Brooke, p. 316; Carretta, pp. 262, 297.</ref> The British people admired him for his piety and for remaining faithful to his wife.<ref>Brooke, p. 259.</ref> He was fond of his children and was devastated at the death of two of his sons in infancy, in 1782 and 1783 respectively.<ref>Ayling, p. 218.</ref> Nevertheless, he set his children a strict regimen. They were expected to attend rigorous lessons from seven in the morning and to lead lives of religious observance and virtue.<ref>Ayling, p. 220.</ref> When his children strayed from George's principles of righteousness, as his sons did as young adults, he was dismayed and disappointed.<ref>Ayling, pp. 222–230, 366–376.</ref>

===Illness===
[[File:GeorgeIIIGuinea.jpg|left|thumb|Gold [[Guinea (British coin)|guinea]] of George III, 1789|alt=Gold coin bearing the profile of a round-headed George wearing a classical Roman-style haircut and a laurel wreath.]]
By this time, George's health was deteriorating. He had a mental illness characterised by acute [[mania]]. Until the mid-20th century, the King's illness was generally considered to be psychological. In 1966, a study by [[Ida Macalpine]] and [[Richard Alfred Hunter|Richard Hunter]] suggested that the illness was physiological, caused by the blood disease [[porphyria]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Macalpine |first1=Ida |last2=Hunter |first2=Richard |title=The "Insanity" of King George III: a Classic Case of Porphyria|journal=[[British Medical Journal]]|volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=65–71 |date=1966|doi=10.1136/bmj.1.5479.65 |pmid=5323262 |pmc=1843211 }}</ref> Although meeting with some contemporary opposition,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Robb-Smith |first=A.H.T.|title=George III and the Mad-Business by Ida Macalpine, Richard Hunter: Review|journal=[[The English Historical Review]] |volume=85 |issue=333|pages=808–810 |date=1970|jstor=563552 }}</ref> the view subsequently gained widespread scholarly acceptance.<ref>Röhl, Warren, and Hunt.</ref> A study of samples of George's hair published in 2005 revealed high levels of [[arsenic]], a cause of metabolic blood disorders and thus a possible trigger for porphyria. The source of the arsenic is not known, but it could have been a component of medicines or cosmetics.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cox, Timothy M. |last2=Jack |first2=N. |last3=Lofthouse |first3=S. |last4=Watling |first4=J. |last5=Haines |first5=J. |last6=Warren |first6=M. J. |title=King George III and porphyria: an elemental hypothesis and investigation |journal=[[The Lancet]] |volume=366 |issue=9482 |pages=332–335 |date=2005 |pmid=16039338 |s2cid=13109527 |doi=10.1016/S0140-6736(05)66991-7}}</ref> The theory was also established in the public mind through influential dramatisations, such as [[Alan Bennett]]'s play ''[[The Madness of George III]]'', and in [[Nicholas Hytner]]'s subsequent [[The Madness of King George|film]]. From 2010, this view has been increasingly challenged, and Macalpine and Hunter's study criticised.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Peters |first1=Timothy J. |last2=Wilkinson |first2=D. |title=King George III and porphyria: a clinical re-examination of the historical evidence |journal=History of Psychiatry |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=3–19 |date=2010 |pmid=21877427 |s2cid=22391207 |doi=10.1177/0957154X09102616}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Peters |first1=T. |title=King George III, bipolar disorder, porphyria and lessons for historians |journal=Clinical Medicine |date=June 2011 |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=261–264 |doi=10.7861/clinmedicine.11-3-261 |pmid=21902081|pmc=4953321}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rentoumi |first1=V. |last2=Peters |first2=T. |last3=Conlin |first3=J. |last4=Garrard|first4=P. |title=The acute mania of King George III: A computational linguistic analysis |journal=[[PLOS One]] |volume=3 |issue=12 |article-number=e0171626 |date=2017 |bibcode=2017PLoSO..1271626R |pmc=5362044 |pmid=28328964 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0171626 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Recent scholarship discounts the porphyria theory and contends that George's illness was psychiatric, most probably [[bipolar disorder]].<ref>Roberts, pp. 677–680</ref>

George may have had a brief episode of disease in 1765, and a longer episode began in the summer of 1788. At the end of the parliamentary session, he went to [[Cheltenham Spa]] to recuperate and in August visited the [[Bishop of Worcester]] at [[Hartlebury Castle]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Parishes: Hartlebury Pages 380–387 A History of the County of Worcester: Volume 3. |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/worcs/vol3/pp380-387 |website=British History Online |publisher=Victoria County History, 1918 |access-date=10 June 2023}}</ref> and [[Earl of Mount Edgcumbe|Viscount Mount Edgcumbe]] at [[Cotehele]], Cornwall, with the Queen, and their daughters the Princess Royal and Princesses Augusta and Elizabeth.<ref>{{cite web |title=Parishes: Callington – St Columb Pages 51–67 Magna Britannia: Volume 3, Cornwall. |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/magna-britannia/vol3/pp51-67 |website=British History Online |publisher=Cadell & Davies, London 1814 |access-date=10 June 2023}}</ref> It was the furthest he had ever been from London, but his condition worsened. In November of that year, he became seriously deranged, sometimes speaking for many hours without pause, causing him to foam at the mouth and his voice to become hoarse. George would frequently repeat himself and write sentences with over 400 words at a time, and his vocabulary became "more complex, creative and colourful", possible symptoms of bipolar disorder.<ref>{{cite news |title=Was George III a manic depressive? |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22122407 |publisher=[[BBC News]] |date=15 April 2013 |access-date=23 July 2018}}</ref> His doctors were largely at a loss to explain his illness, and spurious stories about his condition spread, such as the claim that he had shaken hands with a tree in the mistaken belief that it was the [[Frederick William II of Prussia|King of Prussia]].<ref>Ayling, pp. 329–335; Brooke, pp. 322–328; Fraser, pp. 281–282; Hibbert, pp. 262–267.</ref> Treatment for mental illness was primitive by modern standards; George's doctors, who included [[Francis Willis (physician)|Francis Willis]], treated the King by forcibly restraining him until he was calm, or applying caustic [[poultice]]s to draw out "evil humours".<ref>Ayling, pp. 334–343; Brooke, p. 332; Fraser, p. 282.</ref>

In the reconvened Parliament, Fox and Pitt wrangled over the terms of a regency during the King's incapacity. While both agreed that it would be most reasonable for the Prince of Wales to act as regent, Fox suggested, to Pitt's consternation, that it was the Prince's absolute right to act on his ill father's behalf with full powers. 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.<ref>Ayling, pp. 338–342; Hibbert, p. 273.</ref> In February 1789, the [[Regency Acts#Regency Bill 1789|Regency Bill]], authorising the Prince of Wales to act as regent, was introduced and passed in the House of Commons, but before the House of Lords could pass the bill, George recovered.<ref>Ayling, p. 345.</ref>

He would suffer brief temporary relapses in 1801 and 1804, followed by permanent illness from 1810 onward.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Putnam |first1=Polly |title=The King's 'Malady': George III's Mental Illness Explored |url=https://www.hrp.org.uk/blog/the-kings-malady-george-iiis-mental-illness-explored/ |website=Historic Royal Palaces |access-date=14 August 2025}}</ref>

== Later reign ==
=== War in Europe ===
[[File:Portrait of King George III of the United Kingdom (1738-1820), by Sir William Beechey (1753-1839) - Royal Collection (RCIN 405422).jpg|thumb|[[Portrait of George III (Beechey)|Portrait of George III]] by Sir [[William Beechey]], 1799/1800|alt=George wearing the red jacket of an 1800 British army general with the star of the Order of the Garter, white breeches, black knee-high boots, and a black bicorne hat. Behind him a groom holds a horse.]]
[[File:James Gillray The King of Brobdingnag and Gulliver.–Vide. Swift's Gulliver- Voyage to Brobdingnag The Metropolitan Museum of Art edit.jpg|thumb|Caricature by [[James Gillray]] of George holding Napoleon in the palm of his hand, 1803|alt=A span-high Napoleon stands on the outstretched hand of a full-size George III, who peers at him through a spy-glass.]]
After George's recovery, his popularity, and that of Pitt, continued to increase at the expense of Fox and the Prince of Wales.<ref>Ayling, pp. 349–350; Carretta, p. 285; Fraser, p. 282; Hibbert, pp. 301–302; Watson, p. 323.</ref> His humane and understanding treatment of two insane assailants, [[Margaret Nicholson]] in 1786 and [[John Frith (assailant)|John Frith]] in 1790, contributed to his popularity.<ref>Carretta, p. 275.</ref> [[James Hadfield]]'s failed attempt to shoot George in the [[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane]], on 15 May 1800 was not political in origin but motivated by the apocalyptic delusions of Hadfield and [[Bannister Truelock]]. George seemed unperturbed by the incident, so much so that he fell asleep in the interval.<ref>Ayling, pp. 181–182; Fraser, p. 282.</ref>

The [[French Revolution]] of 1789, in which the [[French monarchy]] had been overthrown, worried many British landowners. [[French First Republic|France]] declared war on Great Britain in 1793; in response to the crisis, George allowed Pitt to increase taxes, raise armies, and suspend the right of ''[[habeas corpus]]''. Pitt [[1794 Treason Trials|prosecuted British radicals for treason]] in 1794, and in October 1795, crowds attacked George's carriage on his way to opening Parliament, demanding an end to the war and lower bread prices. In response, Parliament passed the [[Treason Act 1795|Treason]] and [[Seditious Meetings Act 1795|Seditious Meetings]] Acts a month later.<ref>{{cite book |last=Thompson|first=E. P. |author-link=E. P. Thompson |date=1966 |title=The Making of the English Working Class |location=New York |publisher=Vintage Books |page=144 |isbn=0-394-70322-7}}</ref> The [[First Coalition]] to oppose revolutionary France, which included [[Habsburg monarchy|Austria]], [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussia]], and [[History of Spain (1700-1808)|Spain]], broke up in 1795 when Prussia and Spain made separate peace with France.<ref>Ayling, pp. 395–396; Watson, pp. 360–377.</ref> The [[Second Coalition]], which included Austria, [[Russian Empire|Russia]], and the [[Ottoman Empire]], was defeated in 1800. Only Great Britain was left fighting [[Napoleon Bonaparte]], the [[First Consul]] of the French Republic.

A brief lull in hostilities allowed Pitt to concentrate effort on Ireland, where there had been [[Irish Rebellion of 1798|an uprising and attempted French landing in 1798]].<ref>Ayling, pp. 408–409.</ref> In 1800, the [[Parliament of Great Britain|British]] and [[Parliament of Ireland|Irish parliaments]] passed an [[Acts of Union 1800|Act of Union]] that took effect on 1 January 1801 and united [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] and [[Kingdom of Ireland|Ireland]] into a single state, known as the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland]]. George used the opportunity to abandon the title "King of France", which [[British claims to the French throne|English and British sovereigns had maintained]] since the reign of [[Edward III]].<ref name="weir286">Weir, p. 286.</ref> It was suggested that George adopt the title "[[British Emperor|Emperor of the British Isles]]", but he refused.<ref name=dnb/> As part of his Irish policy, Pitt planned to remove certain [[Anti-Catholicism in the United Kingdom|legal disabilities]] that applied to [[Roman Catholicism in the United Kingdom|Roman Catholics]]. George III claimed that to emancipate Catholics would be to violate his [[Coronation oath of the British monarch|coronation oath]], in which sovereigns promise to maintain Protestantism.<ref>Ayling, p. 411.</ref> Faced with opposition to his religious reform policies from both the King and the British public, Pitt threatened to resign.<ref>Hibbert, p. 313.</ref> At about the same time, George had a relapse of his previous illness, which he blamed on worry over the Catholic question.<ref>Ayling, p. 414; Brooke, p. 374; Hibbert, p. 315.</ref> On 14 March 1801, Pitt was formally replaced by the [[Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)|Speaker of the House of Commons]], [[Henry Addington]]. Addington opposed emancipation, instituted annual accounts, abolished income tax and began a programme of disarmament. In October 1801, he made peace with the French, and in 1802 signed the [[Treaty of Amiens]].<ref>Watson, pp. 402–409.</ref>

George did not consider the peace with France as real; in his view it was an "experiment".<ref>Ayling, p. 423.</ref> The war resumed in 1803, but public opinion distrusted Addington to lead the nation in war, and instead favoured Pitt. An [[Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom|invasion of England by Napoleon]] seemed imminent, and a massive volunteer movement arose to [[British anti-invasion preparations of 1803–05|defend England against the French]]. George's review of 27,000 volunteers in [[Hyde Park, London]], on 26 and 28 October 1803 and at the height of the invasion scare, attracted an estimated 500,000 spectators on each day.<ref>Colley, p. 225.</ref> ''[[The Times]]'' said: "The enthusiasm of the multitude was beyond all expression."<ref>''[[The Times]]'', 27 October 1803, p. 2.</ref> A courtier wrote on 13 November that "The King is really prepared to take the field in case of attack, his beds are ready and he can move at half an hour's warning."<ref>Brooke, p. 597.</ref> George wrote to his friend [[Richard Hurd (bishop)|Bishop Hurd]], "We are here in daily expectation that Bonaparte will attempt his threatened invasion&nbsp;... Should his troops effect a landing, I shall certainly put myself at the head of mine, and my other armed subjects, to repel them."<ref>Letter of 30 November 1803, quoted in Wheeler and Broadley, p. xiii.</ref> After Admiral [[Lord Nelson]]'s famous naval victory at the [[Battle of Trafalgar]], the possibility of invasion was extinguished.<ref>{{cite web |title=Nelson, Trafalgar, and those who served |url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nelson/gallery8/default.htm |website=National Archives |access-date=31 October 2009}}</ref>

[[File:A-Kick-at-the-Broad-Bottoms-Gillray.jpeg|thumb|left|upright=1.35|In ''A Kick at the Broad-Bottoms!'' (1807), James Gillray caricatured George's dismissal of the Ministry of All the Talents.|alt=The King, his face obscured by a pillar, kicks out at the behinds of a group of well-fed ministers.]]
In 1804, George's recurrent illness returned; after his recovery, Addington resigned and Pitt regained power. Pitt sought to appoint Fox to [[Second Pitt ministry|his ministry]], but George refused. [[Lord Grenville]] perceived an injustice to Fox, and refused to join the new ministry.<ref name=dnb/> Pitt concentrated on forming a coalition with Austria, Russia, and [[Gustavian era|Sweden]]. This [[Third Coalition]], however, met the same fate as the First and Second Coalitions, collapsing in 1805. The setbacks in Europe took a toll on Pitt's health, and he died in 1806, reopening the question of who should serve in the ministry. Grenville became prime minister, and his "[[Ministry of All the Talents]]" included Fox. Grenville pushed through the [[Slave Trade Act 1807]], which passed both houses of Parliament with large majorities.<ref name=bitesize/> George was conciliatory towards Fox, after being forced to capitulate over his appointment. After Fox's death in September 1806, the King and ministry were in open conflict. To boost recruitment, the ministry proposed a measure in February 1807 whereby Roman Catholics would be allowed to serve in all ranks of the armed forces. George instructed them not only to drop the measure, but also to agree never to set up such a measure again. The ministers agreed to drop the measure then pending, but refused to bind themselves in the future.<ref>Pares, p. 139.</ref> They were dismissed and replaced by the Duke of Portland, as the nominal prime minister, with actual power being held by the [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]], [[Spencer Perceval]]. Parliament was dissolved, and the [[1807 United Kingdom general election|subsequent election]] gave the ministry a strong majority in the House of Commons. George III made no further major political decisions during his reign; the replacement of Portland by Perceval in 1809 was of little real significance.<ref>Ayling, pp. 441–442.</ref>

===Final years===
[[File:George III by Henry Meyer.jpg|thumb|right|Engraving by [[Henry Hoppner Meyer|Henry Meyer]], 1817, depicting an elderly George|alt=Monochrome profile of elderly George with a long white beard]]
In late 1810, at the height of his popularity,<ref>Brooke, p. 381; Carretta, p. 340.</ref> King George, already virtually blind with [[cataract]]s and in pain from [[rheumatism]], suffered a relapse into his mental disorder and became dangerously ill. In his view, the malady had been triggered by stress over the death of his youngest and favourite daughter, [[Princess Amelia of the United Kingdom|Princess Amelia]].<ref>Hibbert, p. 396.</ref> The princess's nurse reported that "the scenes of distress and crying every day{{nbsp}}... were melancholy beyond description."<ref>Hibbert, p. 394.</ref> George accepted the need for the [[Regency Act 1811]],<ref>Brooke, p. 383; Hibbert, pp. 397–398.</ref> and the Prince of Wales (later [[George IV]]) acted as regent for the remainder of the King's life. Despite signs of a recovery in May 1811, by the end of the year, George III had become permanently insane, and lived in seclusion at Windsor Castle until his death.<ref>Fraser, p. 285; Hibbert, pp. 399–402.</ref>

Prime Minister Spencer Perceval was [[Assassination of Spencer Perceval|assassinated in 1812]] and was replaced by [[Lord Liverpool]]. Liverpool oversaw British victory in the Napoleonic Wars. The subsequent [[Congress of Vienna]] led to significant territorial gains for Hanover, which was elevated from an [[Electorate of Hanover|electorate]] to a [[Kingdom of Hanover|kingdom]]. Meanwhile, George's health deteriorated. He developed [[dementia]], and became completely blind and increasingly deaf. He was incapable of knowing or understanding that he was declared King of Hanover in 1814, or that his wife died in 1818.<ref>Ayling, pp. 453–455; Brooke, pp. 384–385; Hibbert, p. 405.</ref> At Christmas 1819, he spoke nonsense for 58 hours, and for the last few weeks of his life was unable to walk.<ref>Hibbert, p. 408.</ref>

He died of [[pneumonia]] at [[Windsor Castle]] at 8:38&nbsp;pm on 29 January 1820, six days after the death of his fourth son [[Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn]].<ref name="Black, p. 410">Black, p. 410.</ref> His favourite son, [[Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany]], was with him.<ref>Letter from Duke of York to George IV, quoted in Brooke, p. 386.</ref> George III [[lay in state]] for two days, and his funeral and interment took place on 16 February in [[St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle]].<ref name="Black, p. 410" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Royal Burials in the Chapel since 1805 |url=https://www.stgeorges-windsor.org/about-st-georges/royal-connection/royal-burials/royal-burials-chapel-since-1805/ |access-date=7 November 2017 |website=St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle |publisher=Dean and Canons of Windsor}}</ref><ref>Brooke, p. 387.</ref>

==Slavery==
[[File:DunmoresProclamation.jpg|thumb|180px|right|[[Dunmore's Proclamation]], by the King's authority, set free Rebel slaves.]]
Over the course of George's reign, a coalition of [[abolitionists]] and [[Atlantic slave trade|Atlantic slave]] uprisings caused the British public to spurn slavery. According to the historian [[Andrew Roberts (historian)|Andrew Roberts]], "George never bought or sold a slave in his life. He never invested in any of the companies that did such a thing. He signed legislation to abolish slavery." George wrote a document in the 1750s "denouncing all of the arguments for slavery, and calling them an execration and ridiculous and 'absurd{{'"}},<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/why-andrew-roberts-wants-us-to-reconsider-king-george-iii |title=Why Andrew Roberts Wants Us to Reconsider King George III |first=Isaac |last=Chotiner |magazine=The New Yorker |date=9 November 2021 |access-date=5 December 2021}}</ref> but the King and his son, the [[William IV|Duke of Clarence]], supported the efforts of the [[London Society of West India Planters and Merchants]] to delay the abolition of the British slave trade for almost 20 years.<ref name="newman">{{cite magazine |last=Newman |first=Brooke |date=28 July 2020 |title=Throne of Blood |url=https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/07/british-royal-family-slavery-reparations.html |access-date=21 August 2021 |magazine=Slate}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Rodriguez |first=Junius P. |author-link=Junius P. Rodriguez |title=Encyclopedia of Emancipation and Abolition in the Transatlantic World |url={{GBurl|id=DXysBwAAQBAJ|p=90}} |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year= 2015 |isbn=978-1-317-47180-6 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> [[William Pitt the Younger]] conversely wished to see slavery abolished but, because the cabinet was divided and the King was in the pro-slavery camp,<ref name="bitesize">{{cite web |title=Reasons for the success of the abolitionist campaign in 1807 |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z3rj7ty/revision/9 |access-date=25 October 2019 |work=BBC Bitesize}}</ref>{{bsn|reason=This is an exam revision site, not a scholarly source|date=November 2024}} Pitt decided to refrain from making abolition official government policy. Instead, he worked toward abolition in an individual capacity.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ditchfield |first=G. |url={{GBurl|id=6n2GDAAAQBAJ|p=160}} |title=George III: An Essay in Monarchy |date= 2002 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-230-59943-7 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

On 7 November 1775, during the American War of Independence, [[John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore]], issued a proclamation that offered freedom to the slaves of rebel masters if they enlisted to put down the colonial rebellion. Dunmore was the last [[Royal Governor of Virginia]], appointed by King George III in July 1771. [[Dunmore's Proclamation]] inspired slaves to escape from captivity and fight for the British. On 30 June 1779, George III's Commanding General [[Henry Clinton (British Army officer, born 1730)|Henry Clinton]] broadened Dunmore's proclamation with his [[Philipsburg Proclamation]]. For all colonial slaves who fled their rebel masters, Clinton forbade their recapture and resale, giving them protection by the British military. Approximately 20,000 freed slaves joined the British, fighting for George III. In 1783, given British certificates of freedom, 3,000 former slaves, including their families, settled in [[Nova Scotia]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Klein |first=Christopher |title=The Ex-Slaves Who Fought with the British |url=https://www.history.com/news/the-ex-slaves-who-fought-with-the-british |website=History |date=13 February 2020 |access-date=22 August 2021}}</ref>

Between 1791 and 1800, almost 400,000 Africans were shipped to the Americas by 1,340 slaving voyages mounted from British ports. On 25 March 1807, George III signed into law ''[[An Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade]]'', under which the transatlantic slave trade was banned in the British Empire.<ref>{{cite web |title=Transatlantic slave trade and abolition |url=https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/how-did-slave-trade-end-britain |publisher=[[Royal Museums Greenwich]] |date=2021 |access-date=14 September 2021}}</ref>

==Legacy==
George was succeeded by two of his sons, [[George IV]] and [[William IV]] in turn, who both died without surviving legitimate children, leaving the throne to [[Queen Victoria|Victoria]], the only legitimate child of his fourth son Prince Edward.

George III lived for 81 years and 239 days, and reigned for 59 years and 96 days: both his life and his reign were longer than those of any of his predecessors {{Update after|2030|7|11|text=and subsequent kings; only queens Victoria and [[Elizabeth II]] [[List of longest-living members of the British royal family|lived]]}} and [[List of monarchs in Britain by length of reign|reigned longer]].

[[File:TransitOfVenus1769.png|thumb|Extract from ''Observations on the Transit of Venus'', a manuscript notebook from the collections of George III, showing George, Charlotte and those attending them.]]
George III was dubbed "Farmer George" by satirists, at first to mock his interest in mundane matters rather than politics, but later to portray him as a man of the people, contrasting his homely thrift with his son's grandiosity.<ref>Carretta, pp. 92–93, 267–273, 302–305, 317.</ref> Under George III, the [[British Agricultural Revolution]] reached its peak and great advances were made in fields such as science and industry. There was unprecedented growth in the rural population, which in turn provided much of the workforce for the concurrent [[Industrial Revolution]].<ref>Watson, pp. 10–11.</ref> George's collection of mathematical and scientific instruments is now owned by [[King's College London]] but housed in the [[Science Museum, London]], to which it has been on long-term loan since 1927. He had the [[King's Observatory]] built in [[Richmond-upon-Thames]] for his own observations of the [[1769 transit of Venus]]. When [[William Herschel]] discovered [[Uranus]] in 1781, he at first named it ''Georgium Sidus'' (George's Star) after the King, who later funded the construction and maintenance of Herschel's 1785 [[40-foot telescope]], which at the time was the biggest ever built.

George III hoped that "the tongue of malice may not paint my intentions in those colours she admires, nor the sycophant extoll me beyond what I deserve"<ref>Brooke, p. 90.</ref> but, in the popular mind, George III has been both demonised and praised. While very popular at the start of his reign, by the mid-1770s George had lost the loyalty of revolutionary American colonists.<ref>Carretta, pp. 99–101, 123–126.</ref>  The grievances in the [[United States Declaration of Independence]] were presented as "repeated injuries and usurpations" that he had committed to establish an "absolute Tyranny" over the colonies. The declaration's wording has contributed to the American public's perception of George as a tyrant. Contemporary accounts of George III's life fall into two camps: one demonstrating "attitudes dominant in the latter part of the reign, when the King had become a revered symbol of national resistance to French ideas and French power", while the other "derived their views of the King from the bitter partisan strife of the first two decades of the reign, and they expressed in their works the views of the opposition".<ref>Reitan, p. viii.</ref>

Building on the latter of these two assessments, British historians of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, such as [[Sir George Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet|Trevelyan]] and [[Erskine May]], promoted hostile interpretations of George III's life. However, in the mid-twentieth century the work of [[Lewis Namier]], who thought George was "much maligned", started a re-evaluation of the man and his reign.<ref>Reitan, pp. xii–xiii.</ref> Scholars of the later twentieth century, such as [[Herbert Butterfield|Butterfield]] and Pares, and Macalpine and Hunter,<ref>Macalpine, Ida; Hunter, Richard A. (1991) [1969]. ''George III and the Mad-Business''. Pimlico. {{ISBN|978-0-7126-5279-7}}</ref> are inclined to treat George sympathetically, seeing him as a victim of circumstance and illness. Butterfield rejected the arguments of his Victorian predecessors with withering disdain: "Erskine May must be a good example of the way in which an historian may fall into error through an excess of brilliance. His capacity for synthesis, and his ability to dovetail the various parts of the evidence&nbsp;... carried him into a more profound and complicated elaboration of error than some of his more pedestrian predecessors&nbsp;... he inserted a doctrinal element into his history which, granted his original aberrations, was calculated to project the lines of his error, carrying his work still further from centrality or truth."<ref>Butterfield, p. 152.</ref> In pursuing war with the American colonists, George III believed he was defending the right of an elected Parliament to levy taxes, rather than seeking to expand his own power or prerogatives.<ref>Brooke, pp. 175–176.</ref> In the opinion of modern scholars, during the long reign of George III, the monarchy continued to lose its political power and grew as the embodiment of national morality.<ref name=dnb/>

==Titles, styles, honours and arms==
===Titles and styles===
* 4 June 1738 – 31 March 1751: ''His Royal Highness'' Prince George<ref>''The London Gazette'' consistently refers to the young prince as "His Royal Highness Prince George" {{London Gazette|issue=8734|page=3|date=5 April 1748}} {{London Gazette|issue=8735|page=2|date=9 April 1748}} {{London Gazette|issue=8860|page=2|date=20 June 1749}} {{London Gazette|issue=8898|page=3|date=31 October 1749}} {{London Gazette|issue=8902|page=3|date=17 November 1749}} {{London Gazette|issue=8963|page=1|date=16 June 1750}} {{London Gazette|issue=8971|page=1|date=14 July 1750}}</ref>
* 31 March 1751 – 20 April 1751: ''His Royal Highness'' The Duke of Edinburgh
* 20 April 1751 – 25 October 1760: ''His Royal Highness'' The Prince of Wales
* 25 October 1760 – 29 January 1820: ''His Majesty'' The King

In Great Britain, George III used the official [[Style (manner of address)|style]] "George the Third, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, [[Defender of the Faith]], and so forth". In 1801, when [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] united with [[Kingdom of Ireland|Ireland]], he dropped the title of King of France, which had been used for every English monarch since [[Edward III]]'s [[British claims to the French throne|claim to the French throne]] in the medieval period.<ref name=weir286/> His style became "George the Third, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith."<ref name="p390">Brooke, p. 390.</ref>

In Germany, he was "Duke of [[Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg|Brunswick and Lüneburg]], [[Arch-Treasurer]] and [[Prince-elector]] of the [[Holy Roman Empire]]" (''Herzog von Braunschweig und Lüneburg, Erzschatzmeister und Kurfürst des Heiligen Römischen Reiches''<ref>{{cite book |last=Marquardt |first=Bernd |title=Universalgeschichte des Staates: von der vorstaatlichen Gesellschaft zum Staat der Industriegesellschaft |url={{GBurl|id=3D7S8qxVz4MC|p=326}} |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |year= 2018 |isbn=978-3-643-90004-3 |via=Google Books}}</ref>) until the end of the empire in 1806. He then continued as duke until the [[Congress of Vienna]] declared him "King of Hanover" in 1814.<ref name=p390/>

===Honours===
* {{Flagcountry|Kingdom of Great Britain}}: [[Order of the Garter|Royal Knight of the Garter]], ''22 June 1749''<ref name="p44">Shaw, Wm. A. (1906) ''The Knights of England'', '''I''', London, [https://archive.org/stream/cu31924092537418#page/n133/mode/2up p. 44].</ref>
* {{Flagicon image|Royal Standard of Ireland (1542–1801).svg}} [[Kingdom of Ireland|Ireland]]: Founder of the [[Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick|Most Illustrious Order of St Patrick]], ''5 February 1783''<ref name="pIX">Shaw, [https://archive.org/stream/cu31924092537418#page/n33/mode/2up p. ix].</ref>

===Arms===
Before his succession, George was granted the [[royal arms]] differenced by a [[Label (heraldry)|label]] of five points [[Azure (heraldry)|Azure]], the centre point bearing a [[fleur-de-lis]] [[Or (heraldry)|Or]] on 27 July 1749. Upon his father's death, and along with the dukedom of Edinburgh and the position of heir-apparent, he inherited his difference of a plain label of three points [[Argent]]. In an additional difference, the crown of Charlemagne was not usually depicted on the [[Coat of arms of the Prince of Wales|arms of the heir]], only on the Sovereign's.<ref>{{cite web |last=Velde |first=François |title=Marks of Cadency in the British Royal Family |url=http://www.heraldica.org/topics/britain/cadency.htm |website=Heraldica |date=5 August 2013 |access-date=25 December 2021}}</ref>

From his succession until 1800, George bore the royal arms: [[Quartering (heraldry)|Quarterly]], I [[Gules]] three lions [[passant guardant]] in [[Pale (heraldry)|pale]] Or ([[Royal Arms of England|for England]]) [[Impalement (heraldry)|impaling]] Or a lion [[rampant]] within a [[tressure]] flory-counter-flory Gules ([[Royal coat of arms of Scotland|for Scotland]]); II Azure three fleurs-de-lys Or (for France); III Azure a harp Or stringed Argent ([[Coat of arms of Ireland|for Ireland]]); IV [[Division of the field|tierced per pale and per chevron]] (for Hanover), I Gules two lions passant guardant Or (for Brunswick), II Or a [[semy]] of hearts Gules a lion rampant Azure (for Lüneburg), III Gules a horse [[Attitude (heraldry)#Courant|courant]] Argent ([[Saxon Steed|for Saxony]]), overall an escutcheon Gules charged with the [[Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire|crown of Charlemagne]] Or (for the dignity of Archtreasurer of the Holy Roman Empire).<ref>See, for example, {{cite book |last=Berry |first=William |author-link=William Berry (genealogist) |title=An introduction to heraldry containing the rudiments of the science |url=https://archive.org/details/anintroductiont00berrgoog |date=1810 |pages=110–111}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Pinches |first1=John Harvey |last2=Pinches |first2=Rosemary |title=The Royal Heraldry of England |publisher=Hollen Street Press  |series=Heraldry Today |location=Slough, Buckinghamshire |date=1974 |pages=215–216 |isbn=978-0-900455-25-4}}</ref>

Following the [[Acts of Union 1800]], the royal arms were amended, dropping the French quartering. They became: Quarterly, I and IV England; II Scotland; III Ireland; overall an escutcheon of Hanover surmounted by an electoral bonnet.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=15324|page=2|date=30 December 1800}}</ref> In 1816, after the [[Electorate of Hanover]] became a kingdom, the electoral bonnet was changed to a crown.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=17149|page=1|date=29 June 1816}}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="170px">
File:Coat of arms of George William Frederick, Duke of Edinburgh.svg|Coat of arms from 1749 to 1751
File:Coat of Arms of the Hanoverian Princes of Wales (1714-1760).svg|Coat of arms from 1751 to 1760 as Prince of Wales
File:Coat of arms of Great Britain (1714–1801).svg|Coat of arms used from 1760 to 1801 as King of Great Britain
File:Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (1801-1816).svg|Coat of arms used from 1801 to 1816 as King of the United Kingdom
File:Coat of Arms of the United Kingdom (1816-1837).svg|Coat of arms used from 1816 until death, also as King of Hanover
</gallery>

==Issue==
{{see also|Descendants of George III}}
{{House of Hanover (UK) sidebar|george3}}
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|- style="background-color:#cccccc"
!Name!!Birth!!Death!!class="unsortable"|Notes<ref>{{cite book |last=Kiste |first=John Van der |url={{GBurl|id=yiwTDQAAQBAJ|pg=PT205}} |title=George III's Children |date=19 January 2004 |publisher=The History Press |isbn=978-0-7509-5382-5 |page=205}}</ref>
|-
|data-sort-value="George IV"|[[George IV]]||12 August 1762||26 June 1830||Prince of Wales 1762–1820; married 1795, [[Princess Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel]]; had one daughter: [[Princess Charlotte of Wales (1796–1817)|Princess Charlotte]]
|-
|data-sort-value="Frederick"|[[Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany]]||16 August 1763||5 January 1827||Married 1791, [[Princess Frederica of Prussia]]; no issue
|-
|data-sort-value="William IV"|[[William IV]]||21 August 1765||20 June 1837||Duke of Clarence and St Andrews; married 1818, [[Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen]]; no surviving legitimate issue, but had illegitimate children with [[Dorothea Jordan]]
|-
|[[Charlotte, Princess Royal]]||29 September 1766||6 October 1828||Married 1797, [[King Frederick of Württemberg]]; no surviving issue
|-
|data-sort-value="Edward"|[[Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn]]||2 November 1767||23 January 1820||Married 1818, [[Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld]]; had one daughter: [[Queen Victoria]] 
|-
|data-sort-value="Augusta Sophia"|[[Princess Augusta Sophia]]||8 November 1768||22 September 1840|| Never married, no issue
|-
|data-sort-value="Elizabeth"|[[Princess Elizabeth of the United Kingdom|Princess Elizabeth]]||22 May 1770||10 January 1840||Married 1818, [[Frederick VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg]]; no issue
|-
|data-sort-value="Ernest Augustus"|[[Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover]]||5 June 1771||18 November 1851||Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale 1799–1851; married 1815, [[Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz|Princess Friederike of Mecklenburg-Strelitz]]; had one son: [[George V of Hanover]]
|-
|data-sort-value="Augustus Frederick"|[[Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex]]||27 January 1773||21 April 1843||(1) Married 1793, in contravention of the [[Royal Marriages Act 1772]], [[Lady Augusta Murray]]; had issue; marriage annulled 1794<br />(2) Married 1831, [[Lady Cecilia Buggin]] (later [[Duchess of Inverness]] in her own right); no issue
|-
|data-sort-value="Adolphus"|[[Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge]]||24 February 1774||8 July 1850||Married 1818, [[Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel]]; had issue
|-
|data-sort-value="Mary"|[[Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh|Princess Mary]]||25 April 1776||30 April 1857||Married 1816, [[Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh]]; no issue
|-
|data-sort-value="Sophia"|[[Princess Sophia of the United Kingdom|Princess Sophia]]||3 November 1777||27 May 1848||Never married, no issue
|-
|data-sort-value="Octavius"|[[Prince Octavius]]||23 February 1779||3 May 1783||Died in childhood
|-
|data-sort-value="Alfred"|[[Prince Alfred of Great Britain|Prince Alfred]]||22 September 1780||20 August 1782||Died in childhood
|-
|data-sort-value="Amelia"|[[Princess Amelia of the United Kingdom|Princess Amelia]]||7 August 1783||2 November 1810||Never married, no issue
|}

==Ancestry==
{{Ahnentafel
|collapsed=yes |align=center |ref=<ref>{{cite book |url={{GBurl|id=AINPAAAAcAAJ|p=4}} |title=Genealogie ascendante jusqu'au quatrieme degre inclusivement de tous les Rois et Princes de maisons souveraines de l'Europe actuellement vivans |date=1768 |publisher=Frederic Guillaume Birnstiel |location=Bourdeaux |page=4 |language=fr |trans-title=Genealogy up to the fourth degree inclusive of all the Kings and Princes of sovereign houses of Europe currently living}}</ref>
|boxstyle_1=background-color: #fcc;
|boxstyle_2=background-color: #fb9;
|boxstyle_3=background-color: #ffc;
|boxstyle_4=background-color: #bfc;
|1= 1. '''George III of the United Kingdom'''
|2= 2. [[Frederick, Prince of Wales]]
|3= 3. [[Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha]]
|4= 4. [[George II of Great Britain]]
|5= 5. [[Princess Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach]]
|6= 6. [[Frederick II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg]]
|7= 7. [[Princess Magdalena Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst]]
|8= 8. [[George I of Great Britain]]
|9= 9. [[Sophia Dorothea of Celle|Princess Sophia Dorothea of Brunswick-Celle]]
|10= 10. [[John Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach]]
|11= 11. [[Princess Eleonore Erdmuthe of Saxe-Eisenach]]
|12= 12. [[Frederick I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg]]
|13= 13. [[Magdalena Sibylle of Saxe-Weissenfels|Princess Magdalena Sibylle of Saxe-Halle]]
|14= 14. [[Charles William, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst]]
|15= 15. [[Sophia of Saxe-Weissenfels, Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst|Princess Sophia of Saxe-Halle]]
}}

==See also==
* [[Cultural depictions of George III]]
* [[List of mentally ill monarchs]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Bibliography===
* {{cite book |last=Ayling |first=Stanley Edward |title=George the Third |url={{GBurl|id=NWdnAAAAMAAJ}} |date=1972 |publisher=Collins |isbn=0-00-211412-7 |location=London}}
* {{cite book |last=Benjamin |first=Lewis Saul |title=Farmer George |date=1907 |publisher=Pitman and Sons}}
* {{cite web |last=Baer |first=Marc |title=George III (1738–1820) |date=22 December 2021 |publisher=Encyclopedia Virginia |url=https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/george-iii-1738-1820}}
* {{cite book |last=Black |first=Jeremy |title=George III: America's Last King |date=2006 |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |isbn=0-300-11732-9 |location=New Haven |author-link=Jeremy Black (historian)}}
* {{cite book |last=Brooke |first=John |title=King George III |date=1972 |publisher=Constable |isbn=0-09-456110-9 |location=London |author-link=John Brooke (English historian)}}
* {{cite journal |last=Bullion |first=John L. |title=George III on Empire, 1783 |date=1994 |journal=The William and Mary Quarterly |volume=51 |issue=2 |pages=305–310 |publisher=Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture |doi=10.2307/2946866|jstor=2946866}}
* {{cite book |last=Butterfield |first=Herbert |title=George III and the Historians |date=1957 |publisher=Collins |location=London |author-link=Herbert Butterfield}}
* {{cite ODNB |last=Cannon |first=John || author-link =John Cannon (historian)|date=2004 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/10540 |title=George III (1738–1820) |series=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/10540}}
* {{cite book |last1=Cannon |first1=John  |last2=Griffiths |first2=Ralph |author-link2=Ralph A. Griffiths|title=The Oxford Illustrated History of the British Monarchy |date=1988 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-822786-8 |location=Oxford}}
* {{cite book |last=Carretta |first=Vincent |url={{GBurl|id=xQqs0qxcnJMC}} |title=George III and the Satirists from Hogarth to Byron |date=1990 |isbn=0-8203-1146-4 |location=Athens, Georgia |publisher=University of Georgia Press}}
* {{cite book |last=Chernow |first=Ron |title=Washington: A Life |url=https://archive.org/details/washingtonlife00cher_0 |url-access=registration |publisher=Penguin Press |date=2010 |isbn=978-1-59420-266-7}}
* {{cite book |last=Colley |first=Linda |title=Britons: Forging the Nation, 1707–1837 |url={{GBurl|id=UvekhU69KagC}} |publisher=Yale University Press |date=2005 |isbn=0-300-10759-5}}
* {{cite book |last=Fraser |first=Antonia |author-link=Antonia Fraser |title=The Lives of the Kings and Queen of England |publisher=[[Weidenfeld & Nicolson]] |location=London |date=1975 |isbn=0-297-76911-1}}
* {{cite book |last=Hibbert |first=Christopher |author-link=Christopher Hibbert |title=George III: A Personal History |publisher=Penguin Books |location=London |date=1999 |isbn=0-14-025737-3}}
* {{cite book |last=Medley |first=Dudley Julius |title=A Student's Manual of English Constitutional History |date=1902 |page=[{{GBurl|id=xi4GAAAAMAAJ|p=501}} 501]}}
* {{cite book |last=O'Shaughnessy |first=Andrew Jackson |url={{GBurl|id=zFc-UCp6ZQsC}} |title=The Men Who Lost America: British Leadership, the American Revolution, and the Fate of the Empire |date=2013 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-19107-3}}
* {{cite book |last=Pares |first=Richard |title=King George III and the Politicians |date=1953 |publisher=Oxford University Press}}
* {{cite book |title=George III, Tyrant Or Constitutional Monarch? |date=1964 |publisher=D. C. Heath and Company |editor-last=Reitan |editor-first=E. A. |editor-link=E. A. Reitan |location=Boston}} A compilation of essays encompassing the major assessments of George III up to 1964.
* {{cite book |last=Roberts |first=Andrew |author-link=Andrew Roberts, Baron Roberts of Belgravia|title=George III: The Life and Reign of Britain's Most Misunderstood Monarch |oclc=1334883294|publisher=Penguin Books |date=2023 |isbn=978-0-141-99146-7}}
* {{cite book |last1=Röhl |first1=John C. G. |title=Purple Secret: Genes, "Madness" and the Royal Houses of Europe |last2=Warren |first2=Martin |last3=Hunt |first3=David |date=1998 |publisher=Bantam Press |isbn=0-593-04148-8 |location=London |author-link=John C. G. Röhl}}
* {{cite book |title=Letters from George III to Lord Bute, 1756–1766 |date=1903 |publisher=Macmillan |editor-last=Sedgwick |editor-first=Romney}}
* {{cite book |last1=Simms |first1=Brendan |title=The Hanoverian Dimension in British History, 1714–1837 |last2=Riotte |first2=Torsten |date=2007 |publisher=Cambridge University Press}}
* {{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Alan |title=American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750–1804 |url={{GBurl|id=E92aCwAAQBAJ|q=American+Revolutions}} |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. |location=New York City |date=2016 |isbn=978-0-393-35476-8}}
* {{cite journal |last=Thomas |first=Peter D. G. |author-link=P. D. G. Thomas |date=1985 |title=George III and the American Revolution |journal=[[History: The Journal of the Historical Association|History]] |volume=70 |issue=228 |pages=16–31 |doi=10.1111/j.1468-229X.1985.tb02477.x}}
* {{cite book |last=Trevelyan |first=George |title=George the Third and Charles Fox: The Concluding Part of the American Revolution |date=1912 |publisher=Longmans, Green |location=New York |author-link=Sir George Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet}}
* {{cite book |last=Watson |first=J. Steven |title=The Reign of George III, 1760–1815 |date=1960 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=London |author-link=J. Steven Watson}}
* {{cite book |last=Weir |first=Alison |title=Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy |date=1996 |publisher=Random House |isbn=0-7126-7448-9 |edition=Revised |location=London |author-link=Alison Weir}}
* {{cite book |last1=Wheeler |first1=H. F. B. |title=Napoleon and the Invasion of England. Volume I |last2=Broadley |first2=A. M. |date=1908 |publisher=John Lane The Bodley Head |location=London}}
* {{cite book |last1=Willcox |first1=William B. |url={{GBurl|id=w49ZOx-KufMC|q=Willcox%20%26%20Arnstein%20The%20Age%20of%20Aristocracy%201688%20to%201830}} |title=The Age of Aristocracy 1688 to 1830 |last2=Arnstein |first2=Walter L. |date=1988 |publisher=D.C. Heath and Company |isbn=0-669-13423-6 |edition=Fifth |author-link=William B. Willcox}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite journal |last=Black |first=Jeremy |date=1996 |title=Could the British Have Won the American War of Independence? |journal=Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research |volume=74 |issue=299 |pages=145–154 |jstor=44225322}} [http://hdl.handle.net/1811/30022 Online 90-minute video lecture given at Ohio State in 2006; requires Real Player].
* {{cite journal |last=Butterfield |first=Herbert |date=1965 |title=Some Reflections on the Early Years of George III's Reign |journal=Journal of British Studies |volume=4 |issue=2 |pages=78–101 |doi=10.1086/385501 |jstor=175147|s2cid=162958860 }}
* Colley, Linda. (1984) “The Apotheosis of George III: Loyalty, Royalty and the British Nation 1760-1820.” ''Past & Present'', no. 102, 1984, pp. 94–129. [http://www.jstor.org/stable/650761 online]
*  Dickinson, H. T.  (2011) "George III and Parliament." ''Parliamentary history'' 30.3: 395-413. [https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Harry-Dickinson-3/publication/230355955_George_III_and_parliament/links/5d1a1b79299bf1547c8df874/George-III-and-parliament.pdf  online]
* {{cite book |last=Ditchfield |first=G. M. |url={{GBurl|id=koxbPN_AHsgC}} |title=George III: An Essay in Monarchy |date=31 October 2002 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |isbn=978-0-333-91962-0}}
* {{cite book |last=Golding |first=Christopher T. |title=At Water's Edge: Britain, Napoleon, and the World, 1793–1815 |date=2017 |publisher=Temple University Press}}
* Garrett, Natalee. (2022). "Royalty, Celebrity, and the Press in Georgian Britain, 1770-1820." ''Royal Studies Journal''  9.2 [https://rsj.winchester.ac.uk/articles/351/files/submission/proof/351-1-3049-1-10-20221209.pdf  online]
* {{cite book |last=Hadlow |first=Janice |title=A Royal Experiment: The Private Life of King George III |date=2014 |publisher=Henry Holt and Company}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Macalpine |first1=Ida |last2=Hunter |first2=Richard |date=1966 |title=The 'insanity' of King George III: a classic case of porphyria |journal=Br. Med. J. |volume=1 |issue=5479 |pages=65–71 |doi=10.1136/bmj.1.5479.65 |pmc=1843211 |pmid=5323262}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Macalpine, I. |last2=Hunter, R. |last3=Rimington, C. |date=1968 |title=Porphyria in the Royal Houses of Stuart, Hanover, and Prussia |journal=British Medical Journal |volume=1 |issue=5583 |pages=7–18 |doi=10.1136/bmj.1.5583.7 |pmc=1984936 |pmid=4866084}}
* {{cite book |last=Namier |first=Lewis B. |title=Personalities and Power |date=1955 |publisher=Hamish Hamilton |location=London |chapter=King George III: A Study in Personality |author-link=Lewis Bernstein Namier}}
* {{cite journal |last=O'Shaughnessy |first=Andrew Jackson |date=Spring 2004 |title='If Others Will Not Be Active, I Must Drive': George III and the American Revolution |journal=Early American Studies |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=iii, 1–46 |doi=10.1353/eam.2007.0037 |s2cid=143613757}}
* Percy, Carol.  (2012) "The king's speech: metalanguage of nation, man and class in anecdotes about George III1." ''English Language & Linguistics'' 16.2: 281-299. [
* {{cite book |last=Roberts |first=Andrew |title=The Last King of America: The Misunderstood Reign of George III |date=2021 |publisher=[[Viking Press]] |isbn=978-1-9848-7926-4 |author-link=Andrew Roberts (historian)}}
* {{cite book |last=Robertson |first=Charles Grant |url=https://archive.org/stream/cu31924014654044#page/n6/mode/1up |title=England under the Hanoverians |date=1911 |publisher=Methuen |location=London |author-link=Charles Grant Robertson}}
* Sawyer. Sean. "Sir John Soane's Symbolic Westminster: The Apotheosis of George IV," ''Architectural History'', Vol. 39 (1996), pp. 54-76. [https://doi.org/10.2307/1568607  online]

===Historiography===
* Christie, Ian R.   "George III and the historians–thirty years on." ''History'' 71.232 (1986): 205–221. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/24415259  online]
* Detweiler, Robert. "Retreat from Environmentalism: A Review of the Psychohistory of George III." ''The History Teacher'' 6.1 (1972): 37-46. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/492622  online]
* Gopaul, Paul A. "George III of England and his role in the American Revolution as seen in the writings of American history, 1920--1950" (PhD dissertation, University of Ottawa (Canada), 1958; [https://dam-oclc.bac-lac.gc.ca/download?is_thesis=1&oclc_number=1369584517&id=252fa7b2-0de7-4993-aabc-7a6c51912061&fileName=DC53446.PDF  online].
* {{cite book |last=Hecht |first=J. Jean |title=Changing views on British history: essays on historical writing since 1939 |date=1966 |publisher=Harvard University Press |editor-last=Furber |editor-first=Elizabeth Chapin |pages=206–234 |chapter=The Reign of George III in Recent Historiography}}
* Mooney, Francis T., "The American historiography of King George III : the monarch as mirror. " (Thesis, U of Tennessee, 1982; [https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/15063  online]
* Mowat, C. L. "George III: The Historians' Whetstone." (1959): 121-128. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/1918855 online]
* Neill, Scott C.  " 'Almighty God placed her Sceptre in the Hands of a Prince:' George III and the Historians--Sixty Years On" (Thesis,  U. Of Nebraska, 2022)   [https://www.proquest.com/docview/2726365805?pq-origsite=gscholar&fromopenview=true  online]
* {{cite journal |last=Robson, Eric |date=1952 |title=The American Revolution Reconsidered |journal=History Today |volume=2 |issue=2 |pages=126–132}} British views
* {{cite book |last=Smith, Robert A. |title=Recent Views on British History: Essays on Historical Writing since 1966 |date=1984 |publisher=Rutgers University Press |editor-last=Schlatter |editor-first=Richard |pages=197–254 |chapter=Reinterpreting the Reign of George III}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links|s=Author:George III of the United Kingdom}}
* [https://www.royal.uk/george-iii George III] at the official website of the [[British monarchy]]
* [https://www.rct.uk/collection/people/george-iii-king-of-the-united-kingdom-1738-1820#/type/subject George III] at the official website of the [[Royal Collection Trust]]
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/george_iii_king.shtml George III] at BBC History
* {{NPG name|name=King George III}}
* [http://georgianpapersprogramme.com Georgian Papers Programme]
* [http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/223267 George III papers, including references to madhouses and insanity from the Historic Psychiatry Collection, Menninger Archives, Kansas Historical Society]
* {{20th Century Press Archives|FID=pe/005984}}
* {{cite web |title=Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade – Estimates |url=https://slavevoyages.org/assessment/estimates |website=slavevoyages.org}}

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