"No, Mr Fox." "Get away from me, you scabby bumsucker!" "Do you enjoy all this flummery, Mr Pitt?" The Madness of King George (III, in UK marketing and historical accuracy) certainly has all the ingredients for a juicy historical drama. In 1788, not long after losing his American colonies, King George III of Great Britain and Ireland lost his sanity. What is The historical accuracy of the 1994 film The Madness of King George? It tells the true story of George III of Great Britain's deteriorating mental health, and his equally declining relationship with his eldest son, the Prince of Wales, particularly focusing on the period around the Regency Crisis of 1788–89. Despite the talents involved, however, the effect is surprisingly static and unexciting, probably because the source material is the kind of talky tour de force that is best carried off on the stage.
I am not sure anyone but Nigel Hawthorne could have brought such qualities to this role. King George III (Nigel Hawthorne) is opening parliament, and prime minister William Pitt the Younger is sparring with Whig leader Charles James Fox. But he has compromised himself by his secret marriage to Maria Fitzherbert. For the play by Alan Bennett, see Review: 'The Madness of King George'.
This raised a constitutional problem the film glosses over: Only Parliament could appoint a regent; but Parliament could not lawfully meet until the king formally opened the session with a Speech from the Throne, which George III was in no condition to do. As the monarchy enters 2018, unavoidable demographic effects are becoming more apparent. Political adversaries collude with the king’s son, the Prince of Wales (Rupert Everett), to take steps to dethrone the monarch. Even so, Hawthorne's performance is tremendously intelligent and affecting. The real treat, though, is Hawthorne who, whether lecturing his family on regal responsibility or taking a dump in front of the PM, gives what is undoubtedly the performance of his career. exclaims the king, crossly) may get his way. Riotous adaptation of Alan Bennett's comedy about monarchal frailty. "Do you enjoy anything, Mr Pitt?" It lays down interesting beginnings for what will become modern psychiatry, albeit in a crude and often brutal fashion.
bellows his majesty. All photographs: The Ronald Grant ArchiveNigel Hawthorne's King George runs riot. Overall, the excellent production values of the film are represented well. The mean Dr Willis turns up to torture the king. That makes it a deft, mischievous, beautifully acted historical drama with exceptionally broad appeal. With a style that's more tongue-in-cheek than melodramatic, the film is always witty and occasionally satirical.
(In fact, there were two Doctors Willis – father and son.) "A balance-sheet, Mr Fox." "Do you enjoy all this flummery, Mr Pitt?" These poignant sequences show vulnerability, amplified by his relationship with Queen Charlotte, another regal performance by Helen Mirren. The Madness of King George mixes the ebullience of Tom Jones with a pop-theatrical royal back-stabbing that is reminiscent of films like The Lion in Winter.
Unfortunately, this is accurate. There is a massive effort to rewrite history in such a manner that any evidence of mental illness in the Royal family be seen as something else. This, too, is quite correct. He is less antagonized by America, but also shows signs that his insanity remains. Plagued by the loss of the overseas territories, his behavior is unstable. George III did suffer a temporary fit of insanity in 1788, and it was proposed to appoint the Prince of Wales as regent.
A triumph. Alan Bennett’s acclaimed 1991 exploration of George III’s first bout of mental illness and the constitutional crisis it triggered is reborn in this National Theatre and Nottingham Playhouse collaboration. "I hate all the physicians, but most the Willises," complained the king in real life.Parliament is having a ding-dong over the regency, and it looks like the Prince of Wales ("The fat one?"