Did you know that King George III suffered several terrifying episodes of mental illness during his reign? King George III ruled over the most powerful empire on Earth, but inside his own palace walls, he was completely powerless against a terrifying, invisible enemy.

While history often remembers him simply as the tyrannical "Mad King" who lost America, the raw reality of his mental health episodes is a haunting story of isolation, psychosis, and medical torture.

During his most severe episodes, George III suffered from intense hallucinations, violent agitation, and manic fits where he would speak continuously for up to 19 hours straight until he was completely hoarse and foaming at the mouth. He once grew so physically aggressive that he threw his own son, the Prince of Wales, against a wall. Desperate to "cure" him, the royal physicians subjected the King to the most brutal medical treatments of the 18th century—locking him in straitjackets, gagging him, burning his legs with caustic blistering powders, and inadvertently poisoning him with arsenic-laced medications.

In this episode of History, but Strange, Vicky explores the tragic reality behind the "Madness of King George," shifting from the long-held theory of the blood disorder porphyria to the modern forensic belief that the King was battling severe, untreated bipolar disorder.

If you love uncovering the bizarre, dark, and unsettling side of history that your textbooks left out, make sure to hit that subscribe button!

#weirdhistory #britishhistory #historybutstrange #royalhistory #kinggeorgeiii #darkhistory #medicalhistory