George III was the longest reigning of male British monarchs. Born onJune 4, 1738, he was the son of Frederick, prince of Wales, and thegrandson of George II. He succeeded his grandfather in 1760, his fatherhaving died in 1751.
George had high but impractical ideas of kingship. On his accession he sought to rule without regard to party, to banish corruption from political practice, and to abandon the Hanoverian preoccupations of his predecessors. The chief minister chosen to implement his new system of politics, the third earl of Bute (1713-92), however, was an unpracticed politician who merely succeeded in disrupting the established politics of the day without creating a viable alternative. The result was 10 years of ministerial instability and public controversy, which ended only in 1770 with the appointment of Frederick, Lord North, an able and congenial minister.
Although never an autocratic monarch in the sense that his opponents contended, George III was always a powerful force in politics. He was a strong supporter of the war against America, and he viewed the concession of independence in 1783 with such detestation that he considered abdicating his throne. At the same time, he fought a bitter personal feud with the Whig leader Charles James Fox, and his personal intervention brought the fall of the Fox-North ministry in 1783. He then found another minister, William Pitt, the Younger, who suited him. Even as late as 1801 he preferred, however, to force Pitt to resign as prime minister rather than permit Catholic Emancipation, a measure that he interpreted as contrary to his coronation oath to uphold the Church of England.
After 1801 George III was increasingly incapacitated by an illness ,sometimes identified as porphyria, that caused blindness and senility. His recurring bouts of insanity became a political problem and ultimately compelled him to submit to the establishment of a formal Regency in 1811.The regent was his oldest son, the future George IV, one of 15 children borne him by his wife, Charlotte Sophia of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
George III was bitterly criticized by Whig historians of his own and later days. But 20th-century scholarship has somewhat redressed the balance, and he is now seen as a strong-minded but public-spirited monarch who perhaps ascended the throne at an overly young and impressionable age. He learned quickly, however, and developed into a shrewd and sensible statesman, although one of conservative views. To the court he brought a sense of public duty and private morality that proved popular in a society already being transformed by the evangelical revival. He showed considerable interest in agricultural improvement and was an avid collector of paintings and books. The best loved of the Hanoverian rulers, he enjoyed a personal reputation that stood his house in good stead during the disastrous reign of his son George. George III died on Jan. 29, 1820.
> Can anyone point me to a good online source for the children of King
> George III of England including illegitimate, what's known of. I used
> to think there was a newsgroup for royalty but couldn't find one,
> apologies this being off-topic.
1) George, Prince of Wales, later George IV (1762-1830)
2) Frederick, Duke of York (1763-1827)
3) William, Duke of Clarence, later William IV (1765-1837)
4) Edward, Duke of Kent (1767-1820) (father of Queen Victoria)
5) Princess Augusta (1768-1840)
6) Princess Elizabeth, m. Frederick of Hesse-Homburg (1770-1840)
7) Ernest, Duke of Cumberland, later King of Hanover (1771-1851)
8) Augustus, Duke of Sussex (1773-1843)
9) Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge (1774-1850)
10) Princess Sophia (1777-1845)
11) Prince Octavius (1779-1783)
12) Prince Alfred (1780-1782)
13) Princess Amelia (1783-1810)
14) Princess Mary, m. the Duke of Gloucester (1776-1857)
George III had no illegitimate children, having a most un-Hanoverian fidelity
to Queen Charlotte.
7. HANOVER Edward Augustus Of, b. 2 Nov 1767, Buckingham, London, England, Great Britain , d. 23 Jan 1820, Sidmouth, Devon, England, England
8. HANOVER Augusta Sophia, b. 8 Nov 1768, Buckingham, London, England, Great Britain , d. 22 Sep 1840, London, , England, Great Britain
9. HANOVER Elizabeth, b. 22 May 1770, Buckingham, London, England, Great Britain , d. 10 Jan 1840, Frankfurt, -Am-Main
10. OF HANOVER Ernest Augustus I, b. 5 Jun 1771, Buckingham, London, England, Great Britain , d. 18 Nov 1851, Herrenhausen
11. OF SUSSEX Augustus Frederick, b. 27 Jan 1773, Buckingham, London, England, Great Britain , d. 21 Apr 1843, Kensington, London, England, Great Britain