George III: Mad or Misunderstood?

Palomar · 2004-07-21 13:54:26

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3889903.stm]Arsenic the cause

*Poor man. The "medicine" being used to "treat" him made his condition even worse. :-\ Really intriguing; I enjoy medical science, forensics and etc.

::edit:: "One of the great mysteries of King George's porphyria was the severity of his attacks.

It is rare for men to suffer this acute form at all - normally males show no symptoms.

And - a final puzzle - King George didn't have any attacks before his 50s."

--Cindy

Shaun Barrett · 2004-07-22 17:33:37

Interesting stuff about "Farmer George", Cindy.
My mother was an English history buff; what she didn't know about it wasn't worth knowing. So, while I never had quite the same fascination with the subject, I picked up interesting snippets of information from her over the years. From memory, George III loved the soil and enjoyed nothing more than the topic of farming in his earlier years. Apparently, this made him very popular with his subjects, who saw him as being 'closer' to them because of this.
One of the reasons this man is much more prominent in my mind, of all the monarchs of that era, is that when I was a child I had a penny from 1803 with his head on it. He had a classical look about him, his hair apparently tied back with a ribbon,as it was the custom in those days to make the king look like a Roman emperor. The coin wasn't in good condition, rather well worn actually, and not worth anything much to a collector because of that. But, to me, it was a prized possession. I used to hold it reverently and run my fingers over its almost smooth surface, trying to 'feel' its history - the places it had been and the untold hundreds of people who must have touched it. My mother had told me that, back in 1803, a penny would buy far more than its modern day equivalent and so I imagined a child of my own age perhaps owning that penny and thinking he was rich! I wondered how long it had been in money boxes, in purses, in bakers' shop tills, how many towns in England it had passed through.

It must have been a terrible life for poor old George - treated like a madman all those years years when all he needed was a proper medical diagnosis and the right treatment. But it definitely makes for a great forensic medicine story!

Palomar · 2004-07-23 05:10:41

Interesting stuff about "Farmer George", Cindy.
My mother was an English history buff; what she didn't know about it wasn't worth knowing. So, while I never had quite the same fascination with the subject, I picked up interesting snippets of information from her over the years. From memory, George III loved the soil and enjoyed nothing more than the topic of farming in his earlier years. Apparently, this made him very popular with his subjects, who saw him as being 'closer' to them because of this.
One of the reasons this man is much more prominent in my mind, of all the monarchs of that era, is that when I was a child I had a penny from 1803 with his head on it...But, to me, it was a prized possession. I used to hold it reverently and run my fingers over its almost smooth surface, trying to 'feel' its history -

*Must be part (at least) of the reason Prince Charles is so fond of this particular ancestor, based on what I've read. Prince Charles enjoys growing plants, flowers -- has a working farm (?) -- and, given the choice, he'd have rather been a farmer (or so I've read is what he's said). I suppose there are other factors too, like sympathy for his ancestor.

What happened to that 1803 (!) penny, by the way? Wow. The oldest coin I've ever held in my hand that I remember was a Buffalo (?) nickel maybe the very late 1800s. I have a penny on my bureau from 1904, which I received in some change just a few years ago.

Oh, by the way, some of Beethoven's hairs were analyzed recently after finding a few strands and they've determined what caused his deafness and etc., though I can't recall the particulars. I might have created a thread about it, but don't have time to search now.

Interesting stuff for sure.

--Cindy

Shaun Barrett · 2004-07-23 07:15:30

Thanks for asking about 'that penny' but I haven't seen it for many years. I always assumed my mother had it and, when she died, that it must have gone to one of my nieces in Ireland.
I'll ask 'em one day.

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#1 2004-07-21 13:54:26

Re: George III: Mad or Misunderstood?

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Re: George III: Mad or Misunderstood?

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Re: George III: Mad or Misunderstood?

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Re: George III: Mad or Misunderstood?

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