Even as the situation deteriorated in the 1760s and 1770s and a peaceful solution remained out of reach, George did not emulate the despotic methods used by other European monarchs to suppress such unrest. Roberts writes that George’s intentions and actions in America have likewise been “badly misinterpreted.” George never acted in a despotic manner against the colonies.

He did so as he “saw himself as the ultimate custodian of the national interest” against the backdrop of factional politics. Roberts writes that George believed in the “near-divinity of the British constitution” and wished to preserve the “constitutional status quo.” George did, however, exercise the royal prerogatives granted him under the constitution as he sought to challenge the Whig ascendency and bring Tories into the government and royal household. The central theme throughout The Last King of America is that George ruled as a constitutional monarch and was far from being a despot or tyrant bent on restoring royal power. Rather than being the “royal brute of Great Britain,” as claimed by Thomas Paine, Roberts concludes that George was “well-meaning, hard-working, decent, dutiful, moral, cultured and kind” and loyal to the British constitution.

During George’s 60 year reign from 1760 to 1820 the King’s many British and American critics attacked him as a villain and “ruthless despot” and assailed him for “his supposed lack of intelligence.” Charges which have been repeated many times since by historians and, as Roberts notes, on the stage in Hamilton: An American Musical. Andrew Roberts’ latest book, The Last King of America: The Misunderstood Reign of George III, is a revisionist account that seeks to redeem the much-slandered and maligned reputation of the “mad” and supposedly tyrannical king who lost America.

Andrew roberts the last king of america