[George IV, King of Great Britain.] Warrant, signed 'George R.', and also signed by Chancellor of the Exchequer Nicholas Vansittart, Lord Lowther and Lord Granville Somerset, regarding 'Pensions to late Servants of Younger Princes'.

2pp, folio. On a single leaf. In fair condition, lightly aged and worn, with thin strip of paper from mount adhering to inner edge of first page. Folded twice. Good firm signature of the king ('George R.') at top left of first page, which has a thin mourning border. Left hand margin of first page with embossed £1 10s tax stamp. Written out ('By His Majesty's Command') in a secretarial hand, and addressed 'To The Husband for taking up all Goods consigned from Barbadoes and the Leeward Islands on Account of the Duties of Four Pounds and one Half Pounds per Centum'. Signed at end by three of the seven Lords Commissioners of the Treasury: 'N Vansittart | Lowther | G C H Somerset'. Summarised at foot of second page: 'A. Dickie Esqre. £76 .. 18 .. 9 Pensions to late Servants of Younger Princes Quarter ended 5th. April 1820'. Thirty-eight line document, directing payment to 'Andrew Dickie Esquire or to his Assigns the Sum of Seventy Six Pounds Eighteen Shillings and Nine Pence', to enable him to pay allowances 'to the late Servants of our Dearly Beloved Brother William Henry Duke of Clarence, our late Dearly Beloved Brother Edward Duke of Kent and our Dearly Beloved Brothers Ernest Duke of Cumberland, Frederick Augustus Duke of Sussex, and Frederick Adolphus Duke of Cambridge'. Dickie was a confidential clerk and later partner in the banking firm of Messrs Coutts and Co., which handled the king's Privy Purse accounts. From the distinguished autograph collection of the psychiatrist Richard Alfred Hunter (1923-1981), whose collection of 7000 works relating to psychiatry is now in Cambridge University Library. Hunter and his mother Ida Macalpine had a particular interest in the illness of King George III, and their book 'George III and the Mad Business' (1969) suggested the diagnosis of porphyria popularised by Alan Bennett in his play 'The Madness of George III'.