easy to read. George was peculiar but basically a nice guy. I think his wife was a difficult woman who functioned if everything was going her way. she was nasty to all her children. neither parent seemed to do anything to get their children married. if the kids found their own spouses, the parents were furious. they didn't want to give their kids money. THEY WERE THE ONES RESPONSIBLE FOR PRODUCING 12 KIDS. ( )

Overall, I find one thing interesting about George III - the fact that he went insane. Otherwise, he's a rather dull figure, a family man, a dutiful monarch, favored conservatives in politics, and he loved his wife and his fifteen(!) children. Altogether, this picture makes the first half of his life (and this book) somewhat boring to read about. I was so grateful to finally reach the point of George's declining sanity (and the antics of his children) and I wish the author had gone into more detail about it. An interesting read, but this biography fails to really delve into the character of George III and skims over the last ten years of his life. ( )

As another reviewer has noted, this is a "personal" history. Unfortunately, the "personal" so dominates as to make the whole book a superficial trifle. The book's one redeeming feature (to a person like myself, whose real interest is literary) is its frequent quotations from the diaries of Fanny Burney, who spent several years at court as “Second Keeper of the Robes” to Queen Charlotte. ( )

I very much enjoyed reading George III: A Personal History. Christopher Hibbert definitely focused on the "personal" in this book. I learned quite a bit about George's relationships with family, members of the household, court and government and famous artists, authors and musicians of the age. I know now how he spent his days and what he liked and disliked. His personal strengths and weaknesses came through in this book as well. Mr. Hibbert made me curious to know more and provided very nice "Notes on Sources" and "Bibliography" sections to help the reader wanting to dig deeper or to get a broader overview of George's reign. ( )

This sets out to be a 'personal history'. As very little of the political background is recorded here, the life is portrayed in something of a vacuum. ( )