Jeremy Black on George III: An Interview

November/December 2007 Historically Speaking 23 Jeremy Black on George III: An Interview Conducted by Donald A. Yerxa Recently Jeremy Black 's biography, George III: America's Last King, appearedin the Yale English Monarchs series. Historically Speaking editorDonald Yerxa caught up with the prolific University of Exeter historian in August 2007 to get his take on America's last king. Donald A. Yerxa: Have historians and playwrights been fair to George III? Jeremy Black: George Ill's reputation suffered at the hands of Whig writers—people such as Thomas Macaulay, W.E.H. Lecky, G.O. Trevelyan—who portrayed him as a reactionary advocate of royal authority swimming against the tide of British constitutional history . More evenhanded treatments began to appear in the 1920s with Sir Lewis Namier's The Structure of Politics at the Ascension of George III (1929) and SirJohn Fortescue's six-volume edition of George's correspondence (192728 ). After World War II, George III was no longer a major figure in Whiggish accounts of progress toward liberty Indeed, progress was understood more in terms of egalitarianism and social welfare than limitations on royal authority . As a result George's reputation improved , especially in a series of scholarly treatments, such as John Brooke's biography, articles by Ian Christie and Peter Thomas, and a published lecture by J.H. Plumb. That said, throughout the 1 970s and 1 980s, scholarly interest in the royals, especially the Hanoverians, waned in the U.K. By die early 1 990s, George III was largely forgotten. That was not the case in the U.S., of course, where George remained a central figure in the narrative of the American Revolution. He was conventionally portrayed as an oppressor of American liberty and an unwitting enabler in the fight for independence. Alan Bennett's play, The Madness of George III (1991), and the film adaptation, The Madness of King George (1994), restored interest in George III, though Bennett's efforts to humanize the king rendered him somewhat absurd. Christopher Hibbert offered a more sympathetic account in his George III:A PersonalHistory (1998), which portrayed George as a conscientious ruler and cultured individual . My George III is more critical than tiiis neoTory approach, while more sympathetic than earlier Whiggish portrayals on both sides of the Adantic. Yerxa: In what ways were George Ill's intentions and policies key to understanding the struggle for American independence? Black: They were key. In judging his views on King George III. Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division [reproduction number, LC-USZ62-7819]. America it is necessary to avoid the traps of hindsight and the prejudices of 18th- and 19th-century Whigs. That said, the American fiscal policies of George III and his ministers were arguably not only inappropriate in functional terms, resting as they did on a failure to understand American circumstances, but also challenged the assumptions of imperial politics . For George, it was a war not only for the authority of a sovereign Parliament, but also against the political and moral challenges of disorder. George was very concerned with what he understood to be right and fair before God, and duty, legality , and order were central to his political and moral assumptions. Once fighting broke out, he kept a close eye on the details and activities linked to the war. George played a key role in stiffening resolve. George's attitude might seem an impressive display of pertinacity and resolve—indeed, an anticipation of Churchillian determination—were it not based on a flawed assessment of the military and political situation in North America. George understood the distinction between battie and war, and appreciated that victory in the former would not ensure success in the latter. But he underestimated how difficult it would be to get the Americans to accept that they had lost. Yerxa: In addition to the important political , military, and diplomatic matters, you draw attention to George III the man—his personality, character, religion, and morality . Could you speak briefly to some of these lesser-known aspects of his life? Black: George was a cultured monarch. He was a committed patron of the arts and sciences , with wide-ranging cultural and intellectual interests and...