What was up with King George?

Happy Fourth of July, Compatriots!

For 240 years, we have been celebrating our freedom from the rule of any other country but ourselves. That’s why we make it a pretty big deal once a year to enjoy our freedom on the Fourth of July. Back in the colonial days, around the 1750’s, our ancestors made settlements in ‘The New World’ in an attempt to flee the unjust government of Great Britain under the rule of King George III.

But still pulling the colonial strings from across the Atlantic Ocean, King George implemented unfair taxes and unfair laws over the colonies. To much dismay of George, the settlers increasingly felt that they were able to be its own government—independent of British rule. They fought back.

Couldn’t we all just get along? Well, ol’ George was turning into quite a villain as he continued to make life pretty unfair for everyone in The New World with his unrelenting taxes and unjust laws. He acted so brashly that modern historians have started posing the question, ‘What was up with King George anyway?’

Known as ‘the mad king’, many agree that George must have been crazy to have driven 13 colonies out of the British Empire. Was he literally crazy? Yes, he was. It turns out that George battled with insanity throughout his life. In fact, his condition reached levels of such severity at one point that he was restrained in a straitjacket. He’s recorded to have had fits of rage, shouting, hallucinations, confusion, and extreme pain.

The cause of his mental state is thought to be connected to a metabolic disorder called porphyria. Porphyria attacks are known to create extreme agitation and confusion. They can cause nausea as well acute pain in the abdomen and make speech difficult for the victim. By the end of his life, the mad king had gone blind, deaf, and absolutely mad.

So, poor George may not have been such a bad guy after all—just absolutely nuts. In any case, he certainly was not fit for kingly duties and we owe our independence to the colonists who recognized the injustice of their situation and aimed to correct it. Happy Independence Day to our fellow Americans and, as always, thanks for reading!

- John