The Children of Adam and Eve

He was also king of Ireland (1760-1820). He presided over the loss of
Britain's American colonies; he was also elector of Hannover (1760-1815)
and, by decision of the Congress of Vienna, king of Hannover (1815-20).

The first of the Hannoverian house to be born and educated as an
Englishman, he was primarily interested in his royal prerogatives as king
of Great Britain in contradistinction to his two predecessors, to whom
Hannover was the main concern. George's aim was to rule as well as reign,
and he was a skillful and astute intriguer; by 1763 he had managed to
regain many of the powers that Strong Whig ministries had appropriated
during the reigns of the first two Georges. His problem was that he lacked
the self-confidence and the mature statesmanship to form and achieve any
Long-term policy. After the dismissal of several ministers who did not
satisfy him, the king found a firm supPorter in Frederick North, 2d earl
of GuilFord, prime minister from 1770 to 1782. Lord North executed the
royal policies that provoked the American Revolution. The unsuccessful
conclusion of that protracted conflict forced North to resign, and during
the government crisis that followed when three cabinets came and went in
less than two years the king himself was almost induced to abdicate. He
then took a political gamble by placing the government in the hands of the
24-year-old William Pitt, thereby restoring stability for the rest of the
century. In line with his belief in royal authority, George favored the
wars with France (1793-1815) that grew out of the French Revolution.

In 1809 the king became blind. As early as 1765 he had suffered an
apparent dementia, and in 1788 his derangement recurred to such a degree
that a regency bill was passed, but the king recovered the following year.
It is now thought likely that he had inherited porphyria, a defect of the
metabolism that may in time lead to delirium. In 1811 he succumbed
hopelessly, and his son, later George IV, acted as regent for the rest of
his reign. George III died at WindsorPalace on January 29, 1820.