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The Last King Of America: Andrew Roberts On King George III
In his long and distinguished career, British historian Andrew Roberts has produced world-class biographies of Winston Churchill, and Napoleon, several histories of World War II and the men who led the countries who fought that war, and other great conflicts in world history. Roberts’s new book is The Last King of America: The Misunderstood Reign of George III, a biography of the monarch who led England during the American Revolution and who has been made into something of a caricature by Americans, most recently by his portrayal in the musical Hamilton as a preening, stuck-up (but funny) king of England. In this interview and in his book, Roberts goes to great lengths to deconstruct that distortion and, in the process, give us an extremely nuanced and detailed portrait of the man who created the conditions for America’s independence. Roberts also explains in great detail the dynamics between the British parliament and the nascent American government, including a fascinating account of the writing of and subsequent British reaction to the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.
Recorded on December 3, 2021
Published in General
Great interview Peter, as always.
I think most people don’t understand how the revolution was ignited by wealthy smugglers.
Splendid interview but then Andrew Roberts is wonderful – and I kinda dig the beard.
I finally got around to watching this and I’m glad I did. I imagine the topic is covered in Roberts’ book (based not just on the length but the scope and breadth of knowledge), but it struck me while watching this that the movement to abolish the slave trade in the British Empire began and became a powerful force in England throughout much of the reign of George III. Perhaps Lord Manfield’s judgment in the 1772 Somerset case got the ball rolling, or William Wilberforce’s conversion to evangelical Christianity (i.e. by their fruits ye shall know them) in 1784 kicked it off (he could be a member of Parliament as an independent, unlike the abolitionist non-conformists who were barred from Parliament due to the Test Act), resulting in a major victory in his Slave Trade Act of 1807. The Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 was passed 13 years after George III had died, but throughout much of his reign, as both Peter and Andrew Roberts discuss, great ideas of liberty and justice for all were catching fire throughout the world.
I wouldn’t be against a Part II of this interview, or even a Part III (to match with George III).