Born June 4, 1738
London, England
Died January 29, 1820
London, England

King of Great Britain and Ireland

"[Fighting] must decide whether they [the American colonies] are to be subject to this country [England] or be independent."
Portrait: George III.
Reproduced by permission of the National Archives and Records Administration.

King George III is widely blamed for Great Britain's loss of the American colonies in the Revolutionary War (1775–83). In some ways, George III was a capable king who stubbornly controlled the British government as best he could. But in the last decades of his life, George III suffered from a mental disorder that caused him to lose his hold on reality.

George III was the son of Frederick Louis, prince of Wales, who was the eldest son of King George II. Frederick Louis died in 1751, while George II was still king, leaving behind Augusta, his German-born wife, and their twelve-year...