ABSTRACT
History abounds with stories of mad kings and princes. One concerns King George HI of Great Britain and Ireland who reigned from 1760, when he was 22 years of age, until his death in 1820 and who was on the English throne when America won its war of independence. His illness commenced when he was 50 and he had consultations with no fewer than seven physicians but there was no agreement on a diagnosis. One suggestion was flying gout which was supposed to have flown from the King’s legs to his head and stayed there! He suffered from weakness and pain in the limbs, rarely slept and talked faster and faster becoming increasingly incoherent. In all, he had four attacks of this unknown illness, the last in 1811 when he was permanently disabled by blindness, senility and mental disturbance. At this point a Regent was appointed to rule, his son, the future King George IV.
