Mad King George of England
King George III of Great-Britain (1738 to 1820) was a family man who had recurring bouts of mental illness. He was given a good education as a child but unable to learn. He was lethargic and incapable of concentration and would become stubborn and sullen. He also never really mastered writing.
As a young man in 1759 he became obsessed with a fifteen year old named Sarah Lennox and his infatuation, which was unrequited love, depressed and obsessed him for over twenty years. However he did manage to have fifteen children with his Queen Charlotte who he married in 1761. He was a very jealous and possessive man who kept his Queen isolated from society.
During his bouts of madness, he would have to be put in a strait jacket. He was famous for mistaking an oak tree for the King of Prussia and shaking its hand.
He would often go for long treatments in healing waters of Cheltenhelm. This did not seem to cure the bilious attacks that went along with the madness that included legs cramps, rashes, rheumatism, agitation, emotional outburst, insomnia and feverish non-stop ranting all day and all night. He also complained of diminished hearing and vision in an incoherent fashion. He would often just yell one word out loud like “What! What! What!” His condition degraded to the point where he was bound and gagged by physicians after a sexual assault on a much older (over iffy years) countess. He also mistook his pillow for a young baby and would call him Prince Octavious. Among his wild imaginings were that London was flooding and that dead people were coming to life to fulfil his orders.
The madness was caused by a hereditary disease called porphyria in which victims suffer from delirium, paralysis, hypertension and severe pain. However the disease itself was not recognized in him and his descendents who also contracted until the 1960s. Porphyry is identified by the presence of purple colored urine which both George and his father had during their bouts of madness. Big blisters and excruciating cramps are also part of the symptoms and the problems with vasodilating arteries cause a person to go mad. So not only did this poor mad king psychologically suffer, he was often in physically agony as well. His son “Silly Billy” died of it in 1834 and so did the King’s brother, Edward of Kent, in 1820. Not knowing how to handle these victims, caregivers of the court tied up these victims as well which is about the worst treatment you can give sufferers of this disease that is characterized by agonizing muscle cramps.
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