Good morning, we are going to look into the history of King George III.  He goes down in history as the Mad King.  However, a digitization project is shedding light on this monarch.  The run time for this documentary is 59:17.  This was a documentary originally produced for Time Watch.

It is 1809 and the King was going to celebrate his Golden Jubilee.  After these events, he would disappear from public life.  He was the king that was known as the Mad King.  However, he was the longest king that reigned in British History.  He was the king that was the last king of America.  He was the first king of Australia.  He oversaw the Industrial Revolution.  His reign marked a period of change in the world.  While this change was happening, he was writing and documenting what was going on.  What will these writings reveal about the man?

George III was halfway through his reign when his first bout of madness happened.  He was out of commission for four months and when he came out of it, he wrote a letter to his wife.  He told her he would avoid the discussions agitating him in the first place.  This letter is just one piece in a collection of documents belonging to George III.  These documents are kept in Windsor Castle and are only allowed to be accessed by a select group of people.  That is going to change.  A project targeting these documents is taking shape.  Hundreds of thousands of documents from the reign of King George III are going to be digitized and accessible to the public.  The website for this collection is https://www.rct.uk/collection/georgian-papers-programme.

A group of historians is coming together to examine the documents for the first time before the digitization project gets underway.  Scholars from both Britain and America will be able to look at these papers.  The Queen has decided that the archives will be available to the public.  This collection will be uploaded to an online database.  This collection covers the King, the Queen, and the children. 

King George III succeeded his grandfather King George II to become King of Great Britain and Hannover.  His father had died but had left instructions on how to be a good king.  King George took advice on kingship from his late father.  King George was also a man who was consciously English.  His first language was English.  The Union Jack was created under his watch.  The Gold State Coach was created under his reign and it continued to be used in coronations for the British Monarchs.  He even arranged his marriage to Princess Charlotte and he was a man devoted to her.

King George was a frugal man but would dress in ceremonial garbs for his portraits.  He preferred wearing comfortable close to the robes of the state.  King George was a man who understood the public image of the king.  He was curious and wanted to satisfy his curiosity.  The newspapers at the time made fun of his curiosity.  He was well-read in government affairs and even worked his back channels to gain information.  He was a king well engaged in government.

He was a devoted father to his children and detailed the care.  No other monarch had given such care to raising the royal children.  Queen Charlotte was equally devoted to the care of the children.  The governesses were given two days off and were encouraged to think of the children as their own.  King George recorded his children’s heights in a journal.  What else do these documents reveal about King George III?  Tune into the rest of this episode to find out more.

This was one documentary I had always meant to do a review on.  Yes, I have it listed as a suggested documentary because I had created a web assignment for the King George III Papers.  However, I did not do a proper review at the time.  This time I moved it to the top of the list of documentaries to do.  I found this documentary insightful about the life of King George III.  It also presented a new perspective on the Mad Monarch.  George III: The Genius of the Mad King would be an excellent documentary to show in both a World History and an American History class.

Two more days and then Thirty-One Days of the Time Team will be done.  It makes me sad to be winding down with the Thirty-One Days of the Time Team.  IT was a nice little challenge to do for March and I’m glad that the Time Team came back to YouTube.  In today’s episode, we will learn about King George III and his lost palace.
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Kew Gardens is the setting for the Time Team.  This was the site of the home of King George III called the white house palace.  It was a favorite of King George III.  The White House Palace was where King George III spent his later, made years locked up.  What did it look like?  Where was it located in the gardens?  Time Team has three days to find out more about the palace.

The White House palace was a spectacular home for King George.  A sundial seems to mark the spot where the palace was.  However, it does not tell the Time Team what it looked like.  Was it a house that had a façade or was it built from scratch?  Geophysics works on the site.  However, the results are confusing.  There seems to be a four-meter wide wall.  That does not sound right to the Time Team.  So why was there a four-meter-wide feature on the geophysics results?

Trench one goes in.  The Time Team carefully takes the top layers of turf off the lawn.  There was a Tudor Mansion on the site.  Was it knocked down to build a new home?  Or did the architect just put a new face on the house?  So far, all Phil is finding is gravel.

Stewart is looking at the records for the old palace.  There was a survey done that revealed a plan of the palace.  The plans highlight the location of the rooms.   “Geophysics seems to be doing fine without the plan,” Tony quips.  A second trench is put in the ground.  Time Team is hoping that they end up in the White House.  Phil Works with a turf cutter to help remove the turf.

The White House was where King George III stayed during his fits of madness.  It was a time of change for Britain.  England stood alone against France.  The Industrial Revolution was occurring.  Great Britain was growing wealthy. 

Phil is excavating trench one.  There is plenty of gravel but no archeology.  Nick the site manager wants to close out the trench and move Phil on to another Trench.  Phil insists on staying.  However, everyone is growing worried.  Was the building completely rubbed out of the landscape when it was taken down?  Trench Two puts those fears to rest when there is brickwork is discovered.  Back at trench one, there is evidence of a cellar, and Phil’s instincts are proven right.

Going into day two, things are going well for the Time Team.  However, while John Gater reviews the geophysics results alongside the blueprints of the palace.  None of it is making sense to John.  Another trench will be needed to find the back of the palace.  There is a problem: there is a gas pipe running through the lawn.  This will prevent the Time Team from digging where they need to to find the back of the palace.

Trench one is yielding some more brick as well as a glass stem for a wine glass from the Georgian period.  What else will Time Team find out about the White House?  What will this dig tell us about King George III?  Tune into this episode to find out more.

This episode would be a good episode to show while learning about King George III.  This was the place where George III spent his last years.

In this series, Lucy Worsley explores the Myths and Fibs of King George IV and the Regency.  This is the second series of the Royal Myths Series and the second episode.  I only found four episodes of Royal Myths on YouTube.

She discusses the madness of King George III, the Prince Regent's complicated relationship with his wife Caroline and Napoleon, the Battle of Waterloo, Peterloo massacre, and how the British monarchy survived the revolutions surrounding them.  The story kicks off with a lie: the Prince of Wales secret marriage to a Catholic woman.  This marriage could effectively disinherit him from the throne due to the Act of Settlement.  Then she goes into King George III and how his madness overshadowed everything about his reign. Worsley discusses how the French Revolution had an impact on how the British handled things at home and how they suppressed the dark side of what they did to stop a revolution from happening at home.

Lucy Worsley's discussion on King George III was fascinating, I found it interesting that while the Prince of Wales was satirized, the King wasn't and that he was a figure of sympathy.  Combine this with Prince Charles' commentary on George III, you can gain a nuanced version of the king.

You can use this episode of the series in the classroom when there is a sub in the room.  Unless you want to use it as a supplement for a lecture in a history classroom.

You can highlight, copy, and paste the questions into a Word, GoogleDoc or Google Classroom document for use in school or home school.  Format it the way you want to.  All questions after formatting should fit onto one page.

You can find the link to the YouTube video here. 

Royal Myths George IV and the Regency Questions:

1. What was the royal scandal that could stop the Prince of Wales from being king?
2. Who cleared up the rumor?
3. When was King George III treated for his first bout of mental illness?
4. What satirical images were non-existent?
5. Who was portrayed in satire?
6. Who fought to avoid a regency?
7. Who image improves after his first bout of mental illness?
8. When did the image of the “Mad King” take off?
9. Who did the Prince of Wales marry?
10. Who was the Prince Regent’s nemesis?

Royal Myths George IV and the Regency  Answers:

1. What was the royal scandal that could stop the Prince of Wales from being king? - That he had secretly married a Catholic
2. Who cleared up the rumor? - Charles James Foxe, close friend of the prince
3. When was King George III treated for his first bout of mental illness? - November 1788
4. What satirical images were non-existent? - King George’s Madness
5. Who was portrayed in satire? - Prince of Wales
6. Who fought to avoid a regency? - Tories
7. Who image improves after his first bout of mental illness? - King George III
8. When did the image of the “Mad King” take off? - 20th Century / American Bicentennial
9. Who did the Prince of Wales marry? - Caroline of Brunswick
10. Who was the Prince Regent’s nemesis? - Napoleon