The Madness of King George III

Full transcript

In the autumn of 1788, King George III of Britain began behaving in deeply alarming and erratic ways, shocking his court and the entire nation. He spoke incessantly for hours without stopping, rambled nonsense, and was found foaming at the mouth, his eyes wild and unfocused during fits of uncontrollable mania. His relationship with his son, the Prince of Wales, was already deeply strained, and the king's illness gave the ambitious prince a dangerous opportunity to seize political power. Doctors and attendants physically restrained the king by strapping him tightly into a specially designed chair, completely immobilizing his arms and legs to prevent him from harming himself. A clergyman named Dr. Francis Willis took charge of the king's treatment, using strict discipline, cold baths, and a special straightjacket to manage and subdue the royal patient. Remarkably, by early 1789, King George III recovered sufficiently to resume his royal duties, though his illness would return in later years and eventually claim him permanently.