Early regnal years George, in his accession speech to
Parliament, proclaimed: "Born and educated in this country, I glory in the name of Britain." He inserted this phrase into the speech, written by
Lord Hardwicke, to demonstrate his desire to distance himself from his German forebears, who were perceived as caring more for Hanover than for Britain. During George III's lengthy reign, Britain was a
constitutional monarchy, ruled by his ministerial government and prominent men in Parliament. Although his accession was at first welcomed by politicians of all parties, the first years of his reign were marked by political instability, largely as a result of disagreements over the
Seven Years' War. George came to be perceived as favouring
Tory ministers, which led to his denunciation by the
Whigs as an
autocrat. Claims that he used the income to reward supporters with bribes and gifts are disputed by historians who say such claims "rest on nothing but falsehoods put out by disgruntled opposition". Debts amounting to over £3 million over the course of George's reign were paid by Parliament, and the civil list annuity was increased from time to time. He aided the
Royal Academy of Arts with large grants from his private funds, and may have donated more than half of his personal income to charity. Of his art collection, the two most notable purchases are
Johannes Vermeer's
Lady at the Virginals and a set of
Canalettos, but it is as a collector of books that he is best remembered. The
King's Library was open and available to scholars and was the foundation of a new national library.
Legislation and politics , 1762|alt=Quarter-length portrait in oils of a clean-shaven young George in profile wearing a red suit, the Garter star, a blue sash, and a powdered wig. He has a receding chin and his forehead slopes away from the bridge of his nose making his head look round in shape. In May 1762, the incumbent Whig government of
Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, was replaced with one led by Lord Bute, a Scottish Tory. Bute's opponents worked against him by spreading the calumny that he was having an affair with the King's mother, and by exploiting
anti-Scottish sentiment amongst the English.
John Wilkes, a member of parliament, published
The North Briton, which was both inflammatory and defamatory in its condemnation of Bute and the government. Wilkes was eventually arrested for
seditious libel but he fled to France to escape punishment; he was expelled from the
House of Commons and found guilty
in absentia of blasphemy and libel. In 1763, after concluding the
Peace of Paris which ended the war, Lord Bute resigned, allowing the Whigs under
George Grenville to return to power. Britain received enormous concessions, including
West Florida. Britain restored to France lucrative slave-sugar islands in the
West Indies, including
Guadeloupe and
Martinique. The treaty also ended French control over nearly all of
New France;
Canada was ceded to Britain in its entirety, while
Louisiana was divided in two, with the eastern half (from the
Allegheny Mountains to the
Mississippi River) ceded to Britain and the western half, plus the city of
New Orleans, ceded to Spain. Later that year, the
Royal Proclamation of 1763 placed a limit upon the westward expansion of the American colonies and created an
Indian reserve. The Proclamation aimed to divert colonial expansion to the north (to
Nova Scotia) and to the south (Florida), and protect the British fur trade with the Indians. The Proclamation Line did not bother the majority of settled farmers, but it was unpopular with a vocal minority. This discontent ultimately contributed to conflict between the colonists and the British government. With the American colonists generally unburdened by British taxes, the government thought it appropriate for them to pay towards the defence of the colonies against native uprisings and the possibility of French incursions. in the
Gold State Coach, 1762 The central issue for the colonists was not the amount of taxes but whether Parliament could levy a tax without American approval, for there were no American seats in Parliament. The Americans protested that like all Englishmen they had rights to "
no taxation without representation". In 1765, Grenville introduced the
Stamp Act, which levied a
stamp duty on every document in the British colonies in North America. Since newspapers were printed on stamped paper, those most affected by the introduction of the duty were the most effective at producing propaganda opposing the tax. Meanwhile, George had become exasperated at Grenville's attempts to reduce the King's prerogatives, and tried, unsuccessfully, to persuade
William Pitt the Elder to accept the office of prime minister. After a brief illness, which may have presaged his illnesses to come, George settled on
Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham to form a ministry, and dismissed Grenville. , 1767 Lord Rockingham, with the support of Pitt and the King, repealed Grenville's unpopular Stamp Act. Rockingham's government was weak, and he was replaced as prime minister in 1766 by Pitt, whom George created
Earl of Chatham. The actions of Lord Chatham and George III in repealing the Act were so popular in America that statues of them both were erected in
New York City. Lord Chatham fell ill in 1767, and
Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, took over the government. Grafton did not formally become prime minister until 1768. That year, John Wilkes returned to England, stood as a candidate in the
general election, and came top of the poll in the
Middlesex constituency. Wilkes was again expelled from Parliament. He was re-elected and expelled twice more, before the House of Commons resolved that his candidature was invalid and declared
the runner-up as the victor. Grafton's government disintegrated in 1770, allowing the Tories led by
Lord North to return to power.
Family issues George was deeply devout and spent hours in prayer, but his piety was not shared by his brothers. George was appalled by what he saw as their loose morals. In 1770, his brother
Prince Henry, Duke of Cumberland and Strathearn, was exposed as an adulterer. The following year, Henry married a young widow,
Anne Horton. The King considered her inappropriate as a royal bride: she was from a lower social class and German law barred any children of the couple from the Hanoverian succession. George insisted on a new law that essentially forbade members of the royal family from legally marrying without the consent of the sovereign. The subsequent bill was unpopular in Parliament, including among George's own ministers, but passed as the
Royal Marriages Act 1772. Shortly afterwards, another of George's brothers,
Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, revealed he had been secretly married to
Maria, Countess Waldegrave, the illegitimate daughter of Sir
Edward Walpole. The news confirmed George's opinion that he had been right to introduce the law: Maria was related to his political opponents. Neither lady was ever received at court. In 1773, the tea ships moored in
Boston Harbor were boarded by colonists and the tea was thrown overboard, an event that became known as the
Boston Tea Party. In Britain, opinion hardened against the colonists, with Chatham now agreeing with North that the destruction of the tea was "certainly criminal". With the clear support of Parliament, Lord North introduced measures, which were called the
Intolerable Acts by the colonists: the
Port of Boston was shut down and the
charter of
Massachusetts was
altered so that the upper house of
the legislature was appointed by
the Crown instead of elected by the lower house. Up to this point, in the words of Professor Peter Thomas, George's "hopes were centred on a political solution, and he always bowed to his
cabinet's opinions even when sceptical of their success. The detailed evidence of the years from 1763 to 1775 tends to exonerate George III from any real responsibility for the
American Revolution." Though both the Americans and older British historians characterised George as a tyrant, in these years he acted as a constitutional monarch supporting the initiatives of his ministers. ==American War of Independence==