During the Christmas of 1819, King George III – who by then was completely blind, increasingly deaf, had dementia, was in pain from rheumatism and suffering from another bout of insanity – spoke nonsense for 58 hours.

George III

For other uses, see George III (disambiguation).

George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 1738[c] – 29 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death in 1820. He was concurrently Duke and Prince-elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg (“Hanover”) in the Holy Roman Empire before becoming King of Hanover on 12 October 1814. He was a monarch of the House of Hanover, but unlike his two predecessors, he was born in Great Britain, spoke English as his first language, and never visited Hanover.

George’s life and reign, which were longer than those of any of his predec… Continue Reading (30 minute read)