The Madness of King George Page #4

the pair of you, huh?

(Gas PS)

Those fat hands...

that young belly...

Sir, for pity's sake...

Those warm thighs!

You harlot!

George, hear me!

Do you think that you are mad?

I don't know.

I don't know.

Madness isn't such torment.

Madness isn't half blind.

Madmen can stand.

They skip. They dance.

And I talk.

I talk and talk and talk.

I hear the words,

so I have to speak them.

I have to empty my head

of the words.

Something has happened.

Something is not right.

Oh, Charlotte.

Ohh...

Ohh...

(Sobbing)

(Greville)

I will not do this.

(Fitzroy) It's by order

of the prince.

(Greville) I'm equerry

to His Majesty, not the prince.

(Fitzroy)

His Majesty is mad!

(Fitzroy) Your Majesty...

Can we never be solitary?

I told you to leave us.

I am talking

with His Majesty.

- The floods?

- Hush!

No, my dear. No. No.

Greville's right.

He's right to take precautions.

We must fetch the children.

Take them to the higher ground.

Save Amelia, Adolphus,

little Octavius.

Now, bring the queen.

(Greville) Bring the queen!

I've been instructed

by His Royal Highness

to move Your Majesty's

lodgings, ma'am.

Uh, Why? Where?

It is to assist

His Majesty's recovery.

(Greville) Captain Fitzroy!

- Go, sir, go!

- George!

Your Majesty is not to have

access to the King's presence.

Not have access?

But I am the queen.

Where are you taking him?

No! Stop!

George!

Tyrant!

(Murmuring)

Assaulted by both one's parents

in the same evening.

What is family life coming to?

I was told that, in England,

always the prince

hates the king.

Is that why he's mad?

If he's mad, you've made him so

by your idleness.

If I'm idle, it's because

the King gives me nothing to do.

Do? Do what I do. I support him.

I have 15 of his children.

Be grateful to me for giving you

a breathing space...

no, a breeding space.

I'm sorry.

That really is awfully funny.

Ha ha ha ha!

(Everyone laughing)

George. No, George, please.

Ahem.

Please let me stay

with him. Please.

No, madam.

On what authority?

Medical authority, ma'am.

On the authority of a son,

who cares for his sick father.

But I'm his wife.

Don't I care for him, too?

Possibly, madam.

But in his current

frame of mind,

I'm afraid His Majesty

does not seem to care for you.

No!

(Sobbing)

Come, madam.

Let me show Your Majesty

where they have lodged us.

(Moaning)

This is Sir Lucas Pepys,

Lord Chancellor,

whom I've taken

the liberty of consulting.

The more the merrier.

Are you familiar with

His Majesty's condition?

I have spent a lifetime

studying the anfractuosities

of the human understanding.

An... what?

The mind, sir, and it's, uh...

delinquencies.

If it were possible,

I would value an early view

of one of His Majesty's motions.

Yes. That could be arranged,

couldn't it?

But what's the matter with him?

Persistent delirium...

and the pulse

sometimes rises to 110.

The pulse varies.

It doesn't signify.

(Papys) I agree.

I've always found the stool

more...eloquent than the pulse.

(Man groans)

(Chancellor)

So, uh, what do you suggest?

An immediate purge.

Warren?

He needs blistering.

On the back to draw

the humours from the brain.

Blistering on the legs

to draw the humours

to the lower extremities.

I agree...

but he'll never submit.

Hello there, Georgie boy.

Not my skin.

Not my skin, please.

Oh, for pity's sake.

I'm the Lord's anointed.

God, unto whom all hearts

be open, all desires known,

and from whom no secrets

are hid, cleanse...

h-h-hearts by the inspiration

of Thy Holy Spirit

that we may perfectly love Thee

and Thy Holy Name,

through Christ our Lord!

Amen! Amen! Amen!

My most merciful Father...

stray from thy ways

like lost sheep.

We follow too much.

God, help me. Help me.

(Sobbing)

Have mercy upon us...

miserable offenders.

(Distant voice)

Do not touch me! I'm the king!

Go and tell the queen

I am assaulted!

The queen!

Queen! Help!

He soils his clothes.

Urine. Excrement.

He talks filth, the slops

of his mind swilling over.

I am not a nurse.

If His Majesty

cannot regulate himself,

how should he regulate

the country?

I shall be relieved when it

is ended, one way or the other.

(Speaking Latin)

Omni felonious.

Omni victorious.

Happy and glorious.

Mr Pitt, Your Majesty.

Where?

Here, Your Majesty.

Stand close, Mr Pitt.

You'll have to speak up.

I don't see very well.

There is a fog here...

and...in my ear.

(Sobbing)

In my ear.

In my ears.

There have been questions

in the House, sir.

In the House?

Parliament?

Well, do nothing,

Mr Pitt. Nothing.

I'm not mad.

I'm...

I...

I can't see.

There is a mist.

Oh, the queen.

I missed her.

I... I... I...

I missed her.

Gone. Gone.

Gone. Gone.

(Sobbing)

The doctors

thought it best, sir.

Gone.

Oh, doctor...

Oh...

(Voice shaking)

(Mumbling)

Oh, Jesus Christ.

Come on.

(Sobbing)

Oh, God!

Oh!

Oh, God!

(Wailing)

Honourable members would,

I am sure, like to know

that I saw His Majesty

yesterday,

and the only symptoms

of his disorder

were a tendency

to repeat himself

and a wandering

from one topic to another...

a characteristic that's shared

by most of the converse

of polite society...

(Laughter)

which, if judged severely,

would warrant

the consignment to bedlam

of many in this House!

Ha ha ha ha!

Ha ha ha!

(Speaker) Mr Fox.

Mr Pitt's consoling pleasantries

should not deceive the House.

The king is incapacitated.

There are those who say

he has lost his reason.

It isn't so!

- Nonsense!

- In which case,

I propose a bill be drawn up

to make the Prince

of Wales...regent.

(Shouting)

(Speaker) Order!

Order!

The motion before this House

is that a bill

be speedily drawn up

to appoint the Prince of Wales

regent of this kingdom!

The house will divide.

Thank you, gentlemen,

for your support.

Sir, I must vote.

For the life of me, I can't see

why they need to vote.

The king is incapable.

It's known.

These are the nation's

representatives.

Some come to Parliament

in the hope

that they might serve

their country.

But most of them, being human,

are here to fill their pockets.

Pitt and your father

have done them very well...

pensions, places...

bribes.

Once it is plain

that Pitt is finished

and there is no more swill

in the trough,

Your Royal Highness

will be made regent.

Sir, I must join the line.

Gascoigne.

Sheridan.

Fox.

(Fox)

Very good. A majority of 30.

Rather good.

A government majority of 30.

Government? 30?

You mean we haven't won?

Well, we didn't expect

to win outright,

not the first vote.

I thought they liked me.

They will, sir, they will,

in time.

Time, always time.

Now is the time, Charles! Now!

And that's our boy.

God rot all royals.

Give us the wisdom of America.

But he will recover

in time, surely.

What good is that?

Once he's made regent,

the prince will have him locked

away in some Windsor hell-hole.

Mad or sane,

no one will know.

You've been reading

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