The most recognisable landmark in Southampton is a grade 1 listed building called the Bargate. It's part of the Norman walls in the centre of the town, intersecting the middle of the high street. The walls themselves are considered top three in the country.
Above Bar is Upper High Street and Below Bar is Lower High street, with the Bargate itself acting as a divider for the two. Below Bar heads down to Southampton Water and Above Bar heads roughly northwards to London via the Avenue.
Nestled in the Southside of the Bargate is a curious statue of George III in Roman Emperor regalia, donated by the Marquis of Landsdowne. It's so odd to see a king who went mad, dressed like Caesar. It turns out the Marquis was quite a colourful character but the motivation for the design is still a mystery so I watched the 1995 movie about King George III.
It's worth pointing out to the 'I fucking love my country' crowd (what a brain dead and banal thing to declare), that the House of Hannover/Georgian Dynasty were as German as it gets, but by the time the Royal family are changing their name to Windsor, most English are so out of their depth on basic history that it's sensible to leave them rambling about a ball sport to outline their grasp of events including WWI, WWII and the EEC.
All it takes to fool the average Englishman on history is to rebrand the problem and they'll be on their knees licking the Royal shoe and turning a blind eye to their child raping mates like Lord Mountbatten of Romsey who introduced Sir James Savile to the Royals, or Archbishop Peter Ball and Jeffrey Epstein.
George III comes across as probably one of the finest kings I've dived into historically. Naturally, he's a typical royal and also tainted with losing the American colonies, but other than that he seems to have been a servant of the people, and aware enough to know his son, the Prince Regent wasn't up to the job. A bit like Queenie, soon-to-die, if she isn't on ice already, and Prince Charles who has global ambitions for his next promotion.
George III goes a bit mad and the best royal physicians are reluctant to inspect his stools and urine, even though they were the best indicators of the day. Fortunately for George a new physician is introduced and the tough-love method of care has quite an effect on the King who makes a recovery, thus preventing his obese and gluttonous son from grabbing the throne.
There's a lot to recommend in this film, but the high point for me are the costumes which are among the most varied and finest I've seen.
