In 1788, King George III (Nigel Hawthorne) is going about his kingly duties and bemoaning the loss of the colonies. Prime Minister Pitt (Julian Wadham) reminds him that they are independent now. Other than his dismay at the loss of America, the king seems fine. Then he wakes up at 4 AM and commences to rant and rave, dash about in his bed clothes with various servants chasing, and even attempts to ravish the beautiful Lady Pembroke (Amanda Donahoe) despite the presence of his wife, Queen Charlotte (Helen Mirren). Efforts are made to hide the odd behavior of the king, but the Prince of Wales (Rupert Everett) engineers a public appearance where the king's madness is exposed. While doctors - mostly in the pocket of the prince - endeavor to restore the king's sanity, Mr. Fox (Jim Carter) proposes a bill of regency that will grant all the powers of the monarchy to the prince. As the days drag into weeks, the votes accumulate to pass the proposed regency bill. Requiring a specialist, Francis Willis (Ian Holm) was summoned from Lincolnshire to treat the king. Can Willis restore the king before he is usurped by his power-hungry son?
I had originally seen this while I was taking English History at the University of Iowa. Though we were covering the Restoration (1660) at the time, the professor could not help but comment on the film. He thought it was mostly good though he questioned the emphasis on George III's obsession about the loss of America shown in the film. He particularly liked the joke about Piss the Younger and Piss the Elder, which didn't click with me at the time. Pitt the Elder was prime minister from 1766 to 1768, while his son, Pitt the Younger, was PM from 1783-1801 and again from 1804-1806.
The most glaring error that I saw was the representation of the United States on the globe in the King's office. It showed the US in possession of the Louisiana Purchase (1804) and with the Oregon Treaty boundary settled on the 49th parallel (1846). This is a very specific window, as the US would acquire the southwest from Mexico two years later.
Though usually cast as a villain on this side of the Atlantic, George is quite likable here. I wonder how accurate Hawthorne's portrayal is. Did the king really say, "what what" as a tick? Though he recovered from this bout of madness, he had a recurrence in 1810 that resulted in The Regency Act of 1811. George III died in 1820.
Outstanding film that has both drama and comedy. Better still, it provides fairly accurate history of the period though it does compress a few things for the sake of the narrative. Highly recommended.
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