Broadside entitled 'By the King, a Proclamation, for a Publick Thanksgiving for His Majesty's Recovery', 1789

This proclamation, by George III (r. 1760-1820) begins: 'WE, taking into our Consideration the indispensible Duty which We owe to Almighty GOD, for the manifold and inestimable Blessings which We have received at His Hands.. .' The sheet was printed by 'the Assigns of Alexander Kincaid, His Majesty's Printer' who worked out of Edinburgh. The Royal Coat of Arms adorns the top of the page. In 1811, after the death of his favourite child, Amelia, George's condition took a turn for the worse and his son, George, the Prince Regent, was granted personal rule. George III died, blind and insane, at Windsor Castle in January 1820. King George III suffered from ill health for much of his life: he had a type of mental disorder which has now been diagnosed as porphyria. This proclamation orders all citizens to join in thanksgiving for the King's recovery (from a period of mental instability) on 23rd April, 1789. Robert Burns (1759-96) had no time for this show of appreciation, and regarded the 'whole business as a solemn farce or pageant mummery', as many Scots with Jacobite sympathies would have done.

Collection

Popular Print in Scotland, 1650-1850

Inventory Number

4502025

Title

Broadside entitled 'By the King, a Proclamation, for a Publick Thanksgiving for His Majesty's Recovery', 1789

Object Type

PhysicalObject

Measurements

- 334 x 415mm