With the opening of the year 1760, England entered into a long and crowded chapter of her history.

In this chapter the Whig Oligarchy lay in ruins a king attempted and largely succeeded to reign and rule; the British flag disappeared from the North American Colonies, the British sun began to be radiant in the Indian Empire; the English kingdom was ‘entrusted to a school-boy’s care; the war with Revolutionary France took place; and lastly, Napoleonic Empire was founded on the rock bed of the English coalition.

The procession of these events centered round the reign of the third Hanoverion Monarch, George III.

George III, asended the English throne in October, 1760, after the death of George II, his grandfather.

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Unlike his predecessors, George III was first of the Hanoverions to be an Englishman by birth and Englishman by upbringing. Ignorant of anything that was German he was a cent percent Englishman in appearance, language and thought.

To him, England was dearer than Hanover. He used to say that he had nothing to bother about Hanover. Further, born and educated in England, he used to be proud of his British origin. That he clearly expressed in his opening speech in Parlia­ment “I glory in the name of Briton”.

George III was a good man, but a bad king. Owing to his sincerity to duty, morality and religion simplicity in all his tastes, profound interest in art literature and learning he proved himself to be a popular man. His aims were very simple. He wanted to restore the old system of the constitution by taking all the affairs of the Government into his own hands.

He maintained that the Government should be for the people and not by the people. The king ought to stand at the head of the nation and should choose his own minister. On the whole he wished to be his own Prime Minister.

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Factors which Helped George-III in Reviving the Power of the Monarchy.

George I and George II, being aliens left the administra­tion in the hands of the Whig’s But George III, born and bred in England, was determined not to delegate, his power gover­nance to the Whig Ministers and politicians. Further the social political set up of England was quite favourable to him. Pitt the Elder had already prepared the ground for the annihilation of the party system.

Instead of one party there were parties within party and groups within .group. The Whigs hand no unity among themselves and their Party was sections. Because of the dissension and internal faction, the king could easily play one against the other. Further, the People were thoroughly disgusted with the Whig Oligarchy and they wanted to overthrow the small privileged class for which they joined hands with George III who had equal determination in this respect.

Then the Tories alto transferred their Loyalty to the new king as the pretender James III and his son were in exile. Lastly the finan­cial stability favoured the king in realising his objective He had gross income of one million sterling.

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How did he revive his Powers?

In the Long run George III could succeed in translating his ideas in the action through several ways and means. He first made an alliance with the Tories who were about a hundred in number holding half the independent sorts in the Parliament. Through their devoted support he could beat the Whigs in their own games.

Further, he tried and largely succeeded in keeping his supporters in the House of Commons by distributing secret money, titles, pensions, appointments and royal patronage. They were usually called as King’s friends. They were ready to carryout kings desire and were ready too to support what the king approved and opposed what he disliked.

This is how George-III considerable increased the power of the crown and gained enough to influence in the Parliament, of course he accepted supremacy of the Parliament and retained all its power except the power to choose his own ministers.

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Then, to revive his power, George-III himself wanted that ministers in a cabinet should be chosen by him. On his succession Pitt, the Elder, was his minister, who quarreled with his colleagues and resigned 1761.

Then the king got the opportunity of selecting the ministers of his own following. He forced his former tutor and close friend Lord Bute to form the ministry in 1762. Through him he could convey the royal will to the House of Commons and other members of the cabinet.

During his ministry the king took all the powers of the royal patronage into his own hands. But he became highly unpopular in England and after a year he resigned in April 1763.

George III then selected such Whigs who differed from one another. Greenville was his choice. He attached the liberty of the Press and that because one John Wilkes, a member of the Parliament from Middle sex constituency published a criti­cism of King’s opening speech in the Parliament, in his paper ‘No 45 North Briton.

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He issued a general warrant to arrest the authors Publishers and Printers. John Wilkes was expelled from the House. So his government became unpopular and he was forced to resign from his office. Then in 1765, came Buckingham who could not remain in the good books of the King for which he had to relinquish his office. In 1766 Pitt the Elder was called to form a non-Party government.

He governed in accordance with the King’s wishes. But he was too old. So he left the actual conduct of the government in the hands of King’s supporters.

It was now that the king received all the powers of the crown which were taken away by the Whigs He resigned; and Grafton formed the ministry in 1768. He remained in office till 1770. Thus for ten years the king in search of a favourable ministry, changed it in Quick succession.

Finally, George III could find in a Tory, Lord North, a man of his desire. He was invited to form the ministry in 1770. He proved to the king’s minister who approved of what the king very much wanted. George III directed the policy of Government and Lord North acted as a mere rubber stamp. George III became the real Prime Minister.

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Thus in Lord North’s ministry which continued for 12 years (1770 to 1782) the king had an administration in which the personal rule of the crown attained its zenith. The king then exercised so much of power that in 1780, Dunning introduced a resolution in the House of Commons, “the influence of the crown had increased, is increasing and ought to be diminished.

Thus, within a period of 22 years George. Ill rose up to his mother’s expectations, basing his ideas on Bolingbrook’s patriot king. He raised him­self to the position of the constitutional king after Revolutionary settlement of 1683. He raised the powers of the crown broke the Whig Oligarchy and selected the ministers of his choice. Of course he never acted beyond the constitutional limits and he played all the cards according to rules of the game.

Fall of his personal rule:

When George III was the height of his power, his health was in a state of decline. So he was bound to bring younger Pitt to from the Minister. In 1782, with the advent of his ministry the personal rule of George III gradually declined. Pitt like North could not be a mere mouth piece or servile agent of the king. Hence king’s control over public affairs lessened and an English monarch’s attempt to reign as well as to rule come, to an end.

Results of his personal role:

The results of the personal rule of George III were not at all momentous. No doubt he fulfilled his Mother’s ambition to be a real king and he could overthrow the corrupt reign of the Whigs, but his rule proved disastrous for himself and for England.

At the end of his reign, he was not the king he had desired to be. Further, as he was opposed to parliamentary reforms, his rule was remarkably barren in actual constitutional legislation. Also he could not keep himself away from the corrupt political system. Lastly, his rule saw the loss of American colonies, consequent upon the outbreak of the American War of Independence.