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 encyclopaedic knowledge of the families of even the most obscure royal appointments. He is devoted to his loving wife, Queen Charlotte, and their large brood of 15 children. However, he is growing more unsettled, partly over the
loss of America. His memory fails, his behaviour becomes erratic and
hypersexual, he talks and talks, and his urine turns blue.
George, Prince of Wales, aggravates the situation, knowing that he will be named
regent if the King becomes incapacitated. George chafes under his father's relentless criticism, and yearns for greater freedom, particularly when it comes to choosing a wife. He married the woman everyone believes to be his
mistress,
Mrs. Fitzherbert, in a secret ceremony in 1785. Without his father's consent, the marriage is illegal. Even with consent, it would remove him from the
succession, because Fitzherbert is a
Catholic. He knows that he has the moral support of Fox, whose agenda includes
abolition of the slave trade and friendlier
relations with America. Knowing how to exacerbate the King's behaviour, the Prince arranges a concert of music by
Handel. The King reacts as expected, interrupting the musicians, speaking lasciviously to
Lady Pembroke, and finally assaulting his son. In a private moment, the King tells Charlotte that he knows something is wrong. They are brutally interrupted when the Prince has them separated, supposedly on the advice of physicians. Led by the Prince of Wales' personal physician,
Dr. Warren, the King is treated using the medical practices of the time, which focus on the state of his urine and bowel movements and include painful
cupping and
purgatives. Lady Pembroke recommends
Dr. Francis Willis, who cured her mother-in-law. Willis uses novel procedures. At his farm in
Lincolnshire, patients work to gain "a better opinion of themselves." He observes to an
equerry "To be curbed, thwarted, stood up to, exercises the character." When the King insults him, foully, he is strapped into a chair and gagged. He will be restrained whenever he "swears and indulges in meaningless discourse" and "does not strive every day and always towards his own recovery". When the Prince has the King transferred to
Kew, Charlotte watches as her beloved, bearded and wearing a soiled diaper and a straitjacket, struggles against being put in the coach. "Until you can govern yourself, you're not fit to govern others. And until you do so, I shall govern you," Willis says. At Kew, the King spits soup at Willis, but gains control under the physician's intractable gaze. Later, the King, properly dressed, feeds himself to a round of applause from staff—but the delusions persist. The
Whig opposition confronts Pitt's increasingly unpopular
Tory government with a proposal that would give the Prince powers of regency.
Baron Thurlow, the
Lord Chancellor, obtains and suppresses proof of the marriage. Fox wins, and the Regency Bill is printed. Thurlow comes to see the King and joins in a moving reading of
King Lear. "I have remembered how to seem..." the King muses. "What, what!" an expression he has not used in six months. His urine is yellow. Thurlow and the King arrive at Parliament in time to thwart the bill. The King forces the Prince to admit his marriage and to put away Fitzherbert. With the crisis averted, all those who have witnessed his suffering are summarily dismissed, including Captain Greville, the King's equerry. Fitzroy, another equerry, observes to the sacked Greville: "To be kind does not commend you to kings." Cheering crowds welcome the royal family to
St. Paul's Cathedral. Willis stands by, but the King dismisses him. "We must be a model family," he declares; George wants "something to do." "Smile at the people, wave at them. Let them see that we're happy. That's why we're here." Saluting, Willis disappears into the crowd, where Mrs. Fitzherbert also smiles, wistfully. ==Cast==