Tea at Trianon: Was George III Britain’s Best King?

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, June 10, 2023

Was George III Britain’s Best King?

From Historic Royal Palaces:

On 4 June 1738, 281 years ago, George III was born in London. He was the first Hanoverian born in UK, and was King for 60 years. Yet in 1811 – 50 years into his reign – his mental and physical illnesses overwhelmed him rendering him unable to rule. Secluded in his apartments in Windsor, the blind and largely deaf old man would hammer out Handel loudly on his harpsichord in hope of hearing comforting and familiar music. Today, George III is often overlooked. He is the “mad king” or the “King who lost America”.

History tends to remember and glorify monarchs who are winners. These are the monarchs who have presided over battles, like Henry V, Richard the Lionheart, Edward I and William the Conqueror. Henry VIII, Charles II and even George IV are popular Kings, memorialised because of their appetites for sex and for food. Physical strength and sexual prowess are the hallmarks of great monarchs. Henry VIII’s treatment of his wives as being largely disposable assets readily dismissed in relentless pursuit of his aims is shameless behaviour today. Similarly, we don’t see war, whether we win or not, as a good thing because our 24-hour news cycle means we are ever more aware that it entails the slaughter of the innocent. Likewise, it’s not really possible to gloss over the fact that Edward I expelled all Jews from England in 1290. In a society which no longer excuses discrimination and violence, nor dismisses the abuse and objectification of women we probably need to re-think our monarchical top ten. Here is my pitch for George III making the top slot. (Read more.)