George the Third's draft abdication letter released

A draft letter of abdication written by Britain's King George III during the American War of Independence has been made public for the first time, the media reported on Saturday.

The unused letter - which includes crossings out, redrafts, blotches and scrawls - was written when the king faced political trouble in March 1783, the BBC reported.

In it, George said he intended to exile himself to Hanover after he abdicated.

The letter is one of 350,000 pages in the Royal Archives to be digitised and made available to view online.

The exploration of the Georgian archive, which includes the private papers of George and his wife Charlotte, is the subject of a new BBC documentary, "George III: The Genius Of The Mad King".

Filmmakers, who had access to the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle, uncovered letters that showed the king - who reigned from 1760 until 1820 - had a network of private agents.

One, code-named Aristarchus, asked for payment for intelligence that France was plotting to assassinate the king as he walked at night in the Queen's Garden.

Another discovery was a blonde lock of the hair of Prince Alfred, who died when he was a baby, sewn into a letter from Charlotte.

--IANS

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