Exactly 250 years ago to the day (August 10), King George III of Great Britain found out that the American colonies, through the Continental Congress, had declared themselves free and independent states. News of the Declaration of Independence reached Great Britain in August 1776 and ignited a media frenzy. … British merchants feared losing the American colonies in a “lasting and ruinous Civil War,” but King George III remained optimistic. As the “driving force behind the hard-line” taken by the British, the king believed that his military forces would soon quell the rebellion. Moreover, George III viewed himself as a benevolent monarch and paternal figure, one whom American colonists adored and toasted each year on his birthday.