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1788: The Lion, The Unicorn, The Fox and the Madness of King George III

Aznavour

Well-known member
Published by SLP
Somewhere out there, in the best of all possible words, the Tories lost the 2015 election and Ed Thomas wrote his best work, an AH about the ministry of Charles James Fox, Britain’s least likely Prime Minister.

But since we’re not in that world, we’ll have to imagine such a scenario on our own.

Rewatching the wonderful Nigel Hawthorne and Ian Holm play off of each other in the Madness of King George, gave me an idea: what if the Regency Crisis of 1788 had ended with a permanently incapacitated George III and his waste of a son becoming Prince Regent 20 years earlier?

What does a Fox Ministry mean for Britain and Europe?

What does the earlier Regency mean for the immensely dysfunctional Royal Family and for the British Government?

 
Somewhere out there, in the best of all possible words, the Tories lost the 2015 election and Ed Thomas wrote his best work, an AH about the ministry of Charles James Fox, Britain’s least likely Prime Minister.

But since we’re not in that world, we’ll have to imagine such a scenario on our own.

Rewatching the wonderful Nigel Hawthorne and Ian Holm play off of each other in the Madness of King George, gave me an idea: what if the Regency Crisis of 1788 had ended with a permanently incapacitated George III and his waste of a son becoming Prince Regent 20 years earlier?

What does a Fox Ministry mean for Britain and Europe?

What does the earlier Regency mean for the immensely dysfunctional Royal Family and for the British Government?



My favourite scene in that movie.

Just so wonderful to have them play Zadok the Priest, that famous British coronation anthem, when the King is restrained to the chair.

That said, I do wonder how in the movie that it can really be said that Dr Willis "cured" the King, and whether or not Pitt the Younger was correct when at the end of the movie he says (in the presence of Dr Willis no less), that he is confident that all that really happened was King was away being "treated" for such a long time, that eventually his illness just disappeared as many illnesses do with time.

Though I suppose, in a sense, Dr Willis indeed did help him. Eventually the King was able to tell when an episode was coming, and then he learned to exercise the restraint and self-control necessary to subdue it.
 
Also, it's perfectly clear what would happen if the King was deemed to be ill.

His Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales, would have to be declared Regent, King in all but name. With all the powers, subject to Parliament. And certainly, all the funds. America forgiven! London rebuilt! Parliament could be reformed! A palace on Primrose Hill! The slave trade abolished! Oh yes, all that too...
 
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