George III

To most English people George III is the King who went mad; to most Americans he is the King stigmatised in the Declaration of Independence as 'unfit to be the ruler of a free people'. In the 19th century, because he was unwilling to leave government to the Whig aristocracy, he was discredited as a clumsy tyrant and a villain. In this absorbing book Christopher Hibbert reassesses a remarkable man, discusses his political beliefs and aspirations, his relationships with his ministers, courtiers and family, and the reasons why he came to be so widely loved by his subjects. For all his eccentricities and occasional cantankerous outbursts, he is seen as a man of wide sympathies, intelligence and interests. As the author of several highly praised studies of 18th century society, including a two-volume life of King George IV, Christopher Hibbert is well qualified to write the biography of George IV's father. In this book he again shows himself to be, in the words of the Independent, 'one of England's greatest living historical writers'.