The Madness of King George
King George III of England (Nigel Hawthorne) goes nuts and is “put away” for a bit to “recover.” In the mean time, the Prince of Wales (Rupert Everett) moves to get appointed Prince Regent and push the old man off to one side. A fantastic cast of characters including Helen Mirren as Queen Charlotte and Geoffrey Palmer as Warren, as well as every one of the minor players, really brings this story to life. Hawthorne is spectacular as the mad King and certainly deserving of his Oscar nominating, and Everett is sickmakingly splendid as the pompous, dandy Prince.
I don’t know all that much about this particular period of British history, having studied mostly the dark and middle ages (with kings with names like “Cnut” that have to be spelled very carefully), so I don’t know how historically accurate it is, but it’s a damn fine story.
Rating: A; would watch again
