Enlightenment · Europe · Politics

1760

Accession of George III

October 25, 1760

A shy twenty-two-year-old, raised by an overbearing mother and obsessed with being a moral king, inherited the British throne. 'Born and educated in this country, I glory in the name of Britain,' he told Parliament. He would reign sixty years - losing America, going mad, and outliving his enemies. His long twilight of blindness and dementia would eventually require his son to govern as regent.