© Richard Randall

Caribbean

Sundries

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Lords Commissioners as valid, but resumed full control of government.

Napoleonic Wars

After George recovered from his illness, his popularity greatly increased. The French Revolution, in which the French monarchy had been overthrown, worried many British landowners. France subsequently declared war on Great Britain in 1793, and George soon represented the British resistance. George allowed Pitt to increase taxes, raise armies, and suspend the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in the war attempt.

As well-prepared as Great Britain may have been, France was stronger. The First Coalition (which included Austria, Prussia, and Spain) was defeated in 1798. The Second Coalition (which included Austria, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire) was defeated in 1800. Only Great Britain was left fighting Napoleon Bonaparte, the military dictator of France. Perhaps surpisingly, a failed assassination attempt of May 15, 1800 was not political in origin but motivated by the religious delusions of his assailant, James Hadfield, who shot at the King in the Drury Lane Theatre during the playing of the national anthem.

Soon after 1800, a brief lull in hostilities allowed Pitt to concentrate on Ireland, where there had been an uprising in 1798. Parliament then passed the Act of Union 1800, which, on 1 January 1801, united Great Britain and Ireland into a single nation, known as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. George used the opportunity to drop the claim to the Throne of France, which English and British Sovereigns had maintained since the reign of Edward III. It is sometimes suggested that George dropped the claim pursuant to the Treaty of Paris (1783) or the Treaty of Amiens. Chronologically, neither would be logical; the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783, and the Treaty of Amiens in 1802 (after George actually dropped his claim to the Throne of France.) It was suggested that George adopt the title "Emperor of the British and Hanoverian Dominions," but he refused. (A. G. Stapleton writes that George III "felt that his true dignity consisted in his being known to Europe and the world by the appropriated and undisputed style belonging to the British Crown.")

Pitt unpopularly planned to remove certain legal disabilities that applied to Roman Catholics after the Union. George III claimed that to emancipate Catholics would be to violate his coronation oath, in which Sovereigns promise to maintain Protestantism. The King famously declared, "Where is the power on Earth to absolve me from the observance of every sentence of that oath, particularly the one requiring me to maintain the Protestant Reformed Religion? … No, no, I had rather beg my bread from door to door throughout Europe, than consent to any such measure. I can give up my crown and retire from power. I can quit my palace and live in a cottage. I can lay my head on a block and lose my life, but I cannot break my oath."

Faced with opposition to his religious reform policies, Pitt threatened to resign. At about the same time, the King suffered an attack of insanity, but quickly recovered. On 14 March 1801, Pitt was formally replaced by the Speaker of the House of Commons, Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth. As Addington was his close friend, Pitt remained as a private advisor. Addington's ministry was particularly unremarkable, as almost no reforms were made or measures passed. In fact, the nation was strongly against the very idea of reform, having just witnessed the bloody French Revolution. Although they called for passive behaviour in the United Kingdom, the public wanted strong action in Europe, but Addington failed to deliver. In October 1801, he made peace with the French, and in 1802 signed the Treaty of Amiens.

George did not consider the peace with France as "real"; it was more of an experiment. In 1803, the two nations once again declared war on each other. In 1804, George was again affected by his porphyria; as soon as he was able to continue his rule, he discovered that Addington was displeasing the public, which did not trust him to lead the nation into war. Instead, the public tended to put more faith in William Pitt the Younger. Pitt sought to appoint Charles James Fox to his ministry, but George III refused. The King disliked Fox, who had encouraged the Prince of Wales to lead an extravagant and expensive life. William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville perceived an injustice to Fox, and refused to join the new ministry.

Pitt concentrated on forming a coalition with Austria, Russia, and Sweden. The Third Coalition, however, met the same fate as the First and Second Coalitions, collapsing in 1805. An invasion by Napoleon seemed imminent, but the possibility was extinguished after Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson's famous victory at the Battle of Trafalgar.

The setbacks in Europe took a toll on William Pitt's health. Pitt died in 1806, once again reopening the question of who should serve in the ministry. Lord Grenville became Prime Minister, and his "Ministry of All the Talents" included Charles James Fox. The King was extremely distressed that he was forced to capitulate over the appointment. After Fox's death in September 1806, the King and ministry were in open conflict. The ministry had proposed a measure whereby Roman Catholics would be allowed to serve in the Armed Forces. George not only instructed them to drop the measure, but also to make an agreement to never set up such a measure again. The ministers agreed to drop the measure then pending, but refused to bind themselves in the future. In 1807, 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; the 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 the Duke of Portland by Perceval was of little actual significance.

Later years

In 1810, George III became dangerously ill, the malady possibly having been triggered by the death of his youngest and favourite daughter, Princess Amelia, from erysipelas or porphyria. Arsenic poisoning is also a possible cause. By 1811, George III had become permanently insane and was locked away at Windsor Castle until his death. Sometimes speaking for many hours without pause, he claimed to talk to angels and once greeted an oak tree as King Frederick William III of Prussia. His doctors gave him James's Powder (calomel and tartar emetic) and bled him regularly. They also advised him to bathe in the sea (thus encouraging seaside holidays).

Parliament then passed the Regency Act 1811, to which the Royal Assent was granted by the Lords Commissioners, appointed under the same irregular procedure as was adopted in 1788. The Prince of Wales acted as Regent for the remainder of George III's life.

Spencer Perceval was assassinated in 1812 (the only British Prime Minister to have suffered such a fate) and was replaced by Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool. Lord Liverpool oversaw British victory in the Napoleonic Wars. The subsequent Congress of Vienna led to significant territorial gains for Hanover, which was upgraded from an electorate to a kingdom.

Meanwhile, George's health deteriorated. Over the Christmas of 1819, he suffered a further bout of madness and spoke nonsense for 58 hours, then sank into a coma. On 29 January 1820, he died, blind, deaf and insane, at Windsor Castle. George lived for over 81 years and reigned for more than 59 years — in each case, more than any other English or British monarch until that point. This record has been surpassed only once, by George's granddaughter Queen Victoria. George III's reign was longer than the reigns of all three of his immediate predecessors (Queen Anne, King George I and King George II) combined. George III was buried on 16 February in St. George's Chapel, Windsor.

George was followed by his eldest son George IV. Next came another of George III's sons, who became William IV. William IV, too, died without legitimate children, leaving the throne to his niece, Victoria, the last monarch of the House of Hanover.

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