HIS passion for the countryside was mocked, he had a mania for architecture and some dismissed him as a dangerous eccentric. Now a public rehabilitation of King George III is being sought by the Prince of Wales.

Today “mad” King George’s place in history is as the monarch who lost the American colonies. But in a BBC documentary the Prince says that his ancestor’s energy and down-to-earth charm might even have persuaded American revolutionaries to change their minds if only a royal tour across the Atlantic had been possible in the 18th century.

History has obscured the real George III, who demonstrated some of the most attractive traits of any monarch, says the Prince, describing him as one of Britain’s most dutiful, cultured and misunderstood rulers.

For all the bouts of mania, enshrined on film in The Madness of King George, the King was definitely not mad. “I’ve read the doctor’s reports and the King’s correspondence in the royal archives and I concluded that yes, he was ill, but he was not insane,” the Prince says in the BBC Two Timewatch documentary, to be broadcast next week.

The Queen is backing the rehabilitation campaign. In March, Buckingham Palace will stage the first major exhibition of artefacts collected by George III and his consort, Queen Charlotte. The 500 pieces from the Royal Collection present George as the era’s leading patron of music, the arts and sciences.

“For many years I’ve been fascinated by my ancestor,” the Prince says. “George III led Britain through 60 years of enormous social upheaval, industrial revolution and terrible hardships inflicted by war with Napoleon. Yet history remembers him above all as the ‘mad king’ or the king who lost America. This is a travesty.”

As a statesman, George secured the future of the Hanoverian monarchy, the Prince says. “In his first speech to the Commons, George dedicated himself to Britain, throwing off the sense of distance and foreignness that surrounded his German-born, German-speaking Hanoverian predecessors, George I and George II. He did so triumphantly.

“He immersed himself in the arts and sciences and recognised how his patronage could further their advancement. He was actively involved in agriculture, astronomy, architecture, clock-making and in collecting wonderful books, medals, paintings and drawings.” In 1768, George founded the Royal Academy of Arts and was a generous patron to it. He was the first King to study science as part of his education and made his library of 65,000 volumes available for scholars.

The Prince found the King’s interest in architecture and skills as an architectural draughtsman “particularly appealing”. “Some of his sketches have been found on the back of documents as if he’d been doodling during an idle moment. His daughters complained their father was so obsessed with architecture he suffered from building mania.”

He was lampooned as “Farmer George” for immersing himself in agricultural matters, the Prince says. “He used to walk around the countryside at Windsor and Kew alone, talking to neighbours and farmworkers and had a genuine interest in the well-being of every single estate worker.

“The sight of the King chatting about agricultural prices, hog breeding, the coming of the harvest and so on struck some as being eccentric and unbecoming. Cartoonists of the day mocked him for it.”

In foreign affairs, George’s commitment to taxing the American colonies to pay for military protection led to hostilities. The colonists proclaimed independence in 1776, but George obstinately continued the war until the final American victory in 1781.

The Prince says: “For me, one of the greatest tragedies of George III’s reign is that he never visited the American colonies. If a royal tour could have been a conceivable undertaking in the 18th century, perhaps the leaders of the colonies might have understood the mother country better. It’s possible that his energetic, down-to-earth presence might have changed their minds.”

That energetic presence was destroyed by the illness that gripped George from 1788. Medical experts believe that the root cause was porphyria, a genetic condition that interferes with the nervous system. George was declared medically unfit to rule and his son George ruled as Prince Regent for the last ten years of his life. “It’s deeply tragic,” says Prince Charles, who recorded his interview at Clarence House during the Christmas holiday.

• BBC Two Timewatch - How Mad Was King George III?, Friday February 6. George III and Queen Charlotte: Patronage, collecting and Court taste — The Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, March 26, 2004, to January 9, 2005.
  
  GEORGE III
  
  Born: 1738

  Reign: 1760-1820; Britain’s longest-serving king

  Children: 15 — nine sons and six daughters

  Military record: Victory in Napoloenic wars during incapacitation, but lost American colonies

  Passions: Architecture, agriculture, music, science

  Often found: Walking in countryside, talking to labourers

  Design for life: Built ideal country cottage for estate-workers

  Parental strife: Warned dissolute son, George IV, that he was becoming a scandal

  Affairs of State: Ministers complained of royal interference in government policy

  Mental state: Illness now recognised as porphyria
  
  PRINCE CHARLES
  
  
  Born: 1948
  
  Reign: Still first in line
  
  Children: Two sons
  
  Military record: Rear-Admiral in the Royal Navy and air vice-marshal in the RAF. Operated on aircraft carrier HMS Hermes and in 1976 took command of coastal mine-hunter HMS Bronington. Qualified RAF pilot
  
  Passions: Architecture, organic farming, world faiths
  
  Often Found: Taking country walks and communing with nature
  
  Design for life: Developed Poundbury, British rural village
  
  Parental strife: Sent Prince Harry to drugs clinic
  
  Affairs of State: Regularly lobbies ministers with letters
  
  Mental state: Often caricatured as eccentric

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