"Three miles south of Windsor Castle, in the western exurbs of London, stands a 25-ton equestrian statue of King George III, cast from old cannons in the decade after his death in 1820. Dressed as Marcus Aurelius, in toga and laurel crown, he sits astride his charger, regal and oversize, honored if not revered for a reign that lasted almost 60 years, from the creation of the first British empire in the Seven Years' War through the final defeat of Napoleon."
"A similar statue of George as a mounted Roman emperor once stood in New York City atop a marble plinth on Bowling Green, at the lower tip of Manhattan. Commissioned by grateful American colonists following the 1766 repeal of the detested Stamp Act-intended by Parliament to raise money from the lightly taxed colonials-the august figure lasted less than a decade."
Three miles south of Windsor Castle, a 25-ton equestrian statue of King George III stands in the western exurbs of London. It was cast from old cannons in the decade after his death in 1820. Dressed as Marcus Aurelius in toga and laurel crown, he rides a charger and is honored for a reign that lasted almost sixty years, from the Seven Years' War through Napoleon's defeat. A similar statue in New York was commissioned after the 1766 Stamp Act repeal but was toppled in July 1776, decapitated, vandalized, and its metal melted into 42,088 bullets for Washington's army. George inspired admiration and regicidal contempt.
Read at The Atlantic
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