Letters - October 2009

By | Published in History Today [1] Volume: 59 Issue 10 [2] 2009 [3]

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A selection of your correspondence this month.

George III and OCD

To the psychiatrist with a casual interest in history, no less than to the medical historian, it has long been obvious that a bipolar condition was the most likely explanation for George III’s illness; the evidence for porphyria, whether acute, intermittent or variegate, is far too thin to be convincing. In this we are in complete agreement with Timothy Peters (‘George III: a new diagnosis’, September 2009). We do part from him on a number of points, however. There is no evidence that prematurity is a risk factor for bipolar disease, nor is it the case that either depression or mania predispose to dementia and they are certainly not ‘neurotoxic’ in the generally accepted sense of the word. In our extensive clinical experience of bipolar disorder, low self-esteem is not characteristic of this condition in patients when they are well and in this context we question Peters’ use of the word ‘chronic’ when we assume that he means ‘severe’.

It is important to distinguish between acute episodes of mood disorder that remit from chronic long-lasting ones, which we think are correctly referred to later in the article. Finally, we are not at all convinced that George III had an obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Certainly, dating his letters to the minute might be considered an obsessive trait but that falls far short of the evidence required to justify a diagnosis of OCD. We are making these points at some length because we believe that it is as important to observe rigour and discipline in the use of psychiatric terminology as it is in any other technical field.

Famous High Fliers

Comparing Richard de Ware and Mathieu de Vendôme was very interesting (‘ Minoan Origins

Cathy Gere in ‘’ (September 2009). Surely, in the English line of succession indicated in Henry VIII’s will, Katherine Grey did not immediately follow Henry’s daughters, Mary and Elizabeth. Rather, Katherine followed both her mother, Frances Grey and her elder sister, Jane Grey. Thus, on that basis, Katherine did not become heir to Elizabeth until the death of Frances in 1599.

Further, it is doubtful if, before the birth of the future King James VI and I in 1566, James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran was heir of Mary, Queen of Scots. The marriage of his father, the 1st Earl of Arran and his mother, Janet Beaton (a cousin of Cardinal David Beaton) took place while the 1st Earl’s wife was still alive as she was also when the 2nd Earl was born in 1515, with no record of an annulment. Thus, if the 2nd Earl was indeed illegitimate, the heir presumptive to the Crown of Scotland from 1542 to 1566 was Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox who married Margaret Douglas (another granddaughter of Henry VII of England) with their eldest surviving son being Henry Stewart, Master of Lennox (aka Lord Darnley).

There is no doubt that, on the basis of primogeniture, the heir to Elizabeth as Queen of England from 1587 was James VI, King of Scots. There is equally no doubt that, on the same basis, the heirs to Edmund Ironside, who was briefly King of England in 1016, were his descendants. Thus when Edmund’s grandson, Edgar Atheling died in c. 1125, the de jure English succession passed to his nephew David I, King of Scots (a great-grandson of Edmund Ironside). Thus, on that basis, all the de facto kings and queens of England from Canute to Elizabeth Tudor were usurpers, often, after c. 1125, engaged in armed rebellion against their suzerains, the kings of Scots.

Deeply Civilised

Calling Kenneth Clark’s classic television series Civilisation ‘dated’ as Taylor Downing does (‘Swindon