George III and Edmund Burke

What was the role of King George III in the abruption of America from Britain? Was the revolution against a tyrannical and possibly mad leader? Probably not the whole story. George had some strikes against him from the get go. He was reportedly crippled by shyness, which is a hard row to hoe for a future king. His mentor and teacher became more powerful when George assended to the thrown at age 12, and played an outsized role even after he reached the age of majority. There have been a lot of theories about King George III, that he was a devoted family man and poorly understood, but a prominent politician of the time, Edmund Burke, the so called father of conservatism, thought he was the devil incarnate, a cruel leader and a poor politician. The retaliation of England towards America in the aftermath of the Boston Tea Party led to hardening opposition to Britain's rule. King George III was blamed but really it was the attitude of Parliament couple with an underestimation of the strength of the foe that led to the Declaration of Independence. Was King George in control of his faculties? In 1969 it was proposed that the episodic madness suffered by King George III (1738–1820) resulted from an acute hereditary porphyria, variegate porphyria, caused by deficiency of protoporphyrinogen oxidase. The diagnosis was based on the historical archive and a re-examination of the medical evidence and the appearance of new historical material have suggested that porphyria did indeed exist in the Royal Houses of Europe. The more recent analysis of hair obtained from George III contained no genomic DNA, but metal analysis revealed high concentrations of arsenic. Since arsenic interferes with heme- metabolism, it might have contributed to the King's unusually severe and prolonged bouts of illness. He may have gotten arsenic in the context of the medication George III received from physicians.