We continue from the discovery that all is not well with George III. Next week we will be taking a little break from the Regency to celebrate Mr. Al’s Tudor blogs. The week following we will once again trace the ways and means of a rake on the throne.
For obvious reasons, those close to the King, both doctors and laymen, were reluctant to publicly declare His Majesty mad. It did not help that, because none of the doctors knew what was wrong, all of them made guesses. Some said it was minor and he would get better any day now. Others were not so sanguine. Those who’s prognosis was grim were immediately labeled “opposition doctors.” To be thus labeled was to be pilloried by the Tories in the House; to have their qualifications questioned by people who knew even less about medicine than they did, to have their alleged motives made front page news and to have their patriotism closely examined.
Not surprisingly, doctors weren’t clawing one another’s eyes out to be at the head of the line of physicians to treat His Majesty. As bad as all this was to the Royal Family, the Kings illness was also sweeping the government into a profound political crisis. Since no one knew with any certainty what was wrong, rumors flourished. Because the King wielded real political power, and his heir seemed to be in the back pocket of the opposition, What happened to the king was of the utmost importance.
There were no checks and balances of the sort we take for granted today. If the King died, the Prince of Wales became King. That much was clear. But what if he’s only incapacitated? And what if whatever is wrong is only temporary? And what if His Majesty is the God-fearing, baby-loving embodiment of all that is Right and Good, and his heir is a drunken, debt ridden, Catholic-marrying lout? And…All of his brothers are just as bad?
While the Prince became King upon the death of his father, it DID NOT automatically follow that he became Regent upon dad’s incapacitation. No indeed! There were those, like Fox, who insisted that it did. It was Fox’s view that the Prince should wield the full powers enjoyed by his father. Particularly those powers concerned with granting offices, making peers and handing out cash. The Tories were, to say the least, astounded by Fox’s new-found love for Royal privilege.
That the Prince of Wales should wield the same power as the King, without actually being King, with no restraint whatsoever, to be accountable to no one for where, when or how he spent taxpayer money, with no one to tell him when to brush his teeth and go to bed, was preposterous. The Tories were having NONE of that, thank you very much! The response to Fox was vigorous and immediate. Don’t count your chickens, buster! If you think we will allow that drunken buffoon to wield the power of the King, with you boy-o’s backing him up, think again! It was the fall of 1788. It would be a long winter.
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