The Madness of King George
King George III's bout of madness in 1788 touched off the Regency Crisis of 1788 and triggered a power struggle between factions of Parliament under the Tory Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger and the reform-minded Leader of the Opposition Charles James Fox.
At first, the King's behaviour appears mildly eccentric. He is deeply concerned with the wellbeing and productivity of Great Britain, and exhibits an encyclopedic knowledge of the families of even the most obscure royal appointments. He is devoted to his loving wife and their large brood of 15 children. However, he is growing more unsettled, partly over the loss of America. His memory fails, his behavior becomes erratic and hypersexual, he talks and talks, and his urine turns blue.
