George III Biography

George William Frederick was born on 4 June 1738 in London two months premature. As he was not expected to live, he was baptised on the same day. He however grew up into a healthy if shy and reserved boy.

The family moved to a home in Leicester Square and George was educated alongside his brother Edward by private tutors. Letters show that George could write in both English and German by the age of eight. He was also the first monarch to systemically study science.

He became heir to the throne on the death of his father from a lung injury in 1751 and was appointed the Prince of Wales three weeks later by his grandfather who had disliked his son. When George approached his 18th birthday, his grandfather offered him St James' Palace but he declined as he was persuaded to stay at home by his mother.

In 1759, George fell in love with Lady Sarah Lennox, sister of the Duke of Richmond, but his mother's confidant and future prime minister William Bute advised against the match, leading George to abandon hopes of marriage.

He succeeded his grandfather, George II, in 1760. He was the third Hanoverian monarch, but the first one to be born in England and to speak English as his first language.

He married Charlotte of Mecklinburg-Strelitz in 1761, and seems to have enjoyed a very happy marriage. The couple produced 15 children: nine sons and six daughters.

George III is widely remembered for losing the American colonies but his responsibility for the loss was not great. He opposed the bid for independence to the end, but he did not develop the policies which led to war in 1775-76 and which had the support of Parliament.

He was deeply devout and spent hours in prayer disliking his brothers' loose morals. His brother Prince Henry was revealed as an adulterer and married a young widow the following year, who was deemed inappropriate due to her social standing.

As a result, he passed the Royal Marriages Act in 1772, which made it illegal for a member of the Royal family to marry without the consent of the monarch.

However, his political influence could be decisive. In 1801, he forced Pitt the Younger to resign, when the two men disagreed about whether Roman Catholics should have full civil rights.

George started a new royal collection of books which was open to scholars, and in 1768, he founded the Royal Academy of Arts.

Part of his collection of scientific instruments can be seen at London's Science Museum. He also took a keen interest in agriculture, sometimes being known as 'Farmer George'.

George was afflicted with porphyria, a disease affecting the nervous system, from around 1765. Several attacks strained his grip on reality and debilitated him in the last years of his reign. Control was handed to his son George, the Prince Regent, in 1811.

George III died blind, deaf and mad at Windsor Castle on 29 January 1820 after a reign of almost 60 years - the second longest in British history.