Representing The Mad King Analysis
Queen Charlotte (Helen
Mirren) consoles the “Mad
King” (Nigel Hawthorne) in
The Madness of King George.
Photo courtesy of Photofest.
Copyright © 2008 Heldref Publications
72
Representing the Mad King:
George III in the Cinema
By David Chandler
Abstract: The “madness” of George III has made him one of the best-known British monarchs but has also problematized his representation. The author briefly considers the significance of the essential absence of representations prior to the mid-twentieth century, before examining in detail compelling cinematic portrayals of the “Mad King” in Beau Brummell (1954) and The Madness of King George (1994). Both films highlight the importance of George III’s relationship with his eldest …show more content…
Before looking at the cinematic portraits of the man widely known as the
“Mad King,” it is worth briefly considering earlier visual representations for what they reveal of the subject.
The late 1700s were the golden age of the English political print, and George
III was repeatedly represented, making him “the first monarch to be recognized by ordinary men and women in the street” (Baker 6). Remarkably, however, there is only one known print in which the King was actually represented in his “madness”—Thomas Rowlandson’s
“Filial Piety” of 25 November 1788.
The print shows the King in bed, in an attitude of prayer, or despair, as the drunken Prince of Wales bursts into the room with two cronies, exclaiming:
“Damme, come along, I’ll see if the
Old Fellow’s—or not” (Baker 109).
The print is obviously pro-King and government, like most inspired by the first Regency Crisis, but the fact that no others actually represent George III in his illness suggests that Rowlandson’s imaginative glimpse into the …show more content…
Moreover, the most significant historical event specifically referenced is the Treaty of Amiens of 1802. This is important in the script because it allows the main characters to discuss the Prince’s quarrel with Brummell indirectly, and establishes the short-lived peace that allows
Brummell to exile himself to France.
Tunberg’s script is certainly full of anachronisms, but the film is far more historically coherent if the Regency
Crisis represented is loosely understood as the limited one of 1801, rather than the more serious one of 1788–89. It seems, indeed, to have been the proximity of this second Regency Crisis to the Treaty of Amiens that inspired the basic chronology of the film, which can be understood thus: Brummell leaves the army (1798; historically accurate); he becomes friends with the Prince of
Wales (c.1799; historically accurate);
Brummell advises the Prince to press for full rights as Regent on the grounds of his father’s “madness” (1801; histori-
75
cally plausible); Brummell exiles himself in France (1802; in reality, not
Mirren) consoles the “Mad
King” (Nigel Hawthorne) in
The Madness of King George.
Photo courtesy of Photofest.
Copyright © 2008 Heldref Publications
72
Representing the Mad King:
George III in the Cinema
By David Chandler
Abstract: The “madness” of George III has made him one of the best-known British monarchs but has also problematized his representation. The author briefly considers the significance of the essential absence of representations prior to the mid-twentieth century, before examining in detail compelling cinematic portrayals of the “Mad King” in Beau Brummell (1954) and The Madness of King George (1994). Both films highlight the importance of George III’s relationship with his eldest …show more content…
Before looking at the cinematic portraits of the man widely known as the
“Mad King,” it is worth briefly considering earlier visual representations for what they reveal of the subject.
The late 1700s were the golden age of the English political print, and George
III was repeatedly represented, making him “the first monarch to be recognized by ordinary men and women in the street” (Baker 6). Remarkably, however, there is only one known print in which the King was actually represented in his “madness”—Thomas Rowlandson’s
“Filial Piety” of 25 November 1788.
The print shows the King in bed, in an attitude of prayer, or despair, as the drunken Prince of Wales bursts into the room with two cronies, exclaiming:
“Damme, come along, I’ll see if the
Old Fellow’s—or not” (Baker 109).
The print is obviously pro-King and government, like most inspired by the first Regency Crisis, but the fact that no others actually represent George III in his illness suggests that Rowlandson’s imaginative glimpse into the …show more content…
Moreover, the most significant historical event specifically referenced is the Treaty of Amiens of 1802. This is important in the script because it allows the main characters to discuss the Prince’s quarrel with Brummell indirectly, and establishes the short-lived peace that allows
Brummell to exile himself to France.
Tunberg’s script is certainly full of anachronisms, but the film is far more historically coherent if the Regency
Crisis represented is loosely understood as the limited one of 1801, rather than the more serious one of 1788–89. It seems, indeed, to have been the proximity of this second Regency Crisis to the Treaty of Amiens that inspired the basic chronology of the film, which can be understood thus: Brummell leaves the army (1798; historically accurate); he becomes friends with the Prince of
Wales (c.1799; historically accurate);
Brummell advises the Prince to press for full rights as Regent on the grounds of his father’s “madness” (1801; histori-
75
cally plausible); Brummell exiles himself in France (1802; in reality, not