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George's last years were marked by increasing physical and mental decay and withdrawal from public affairs. Privately, a senior aide to the King confided to his diary: "A more contemptible, cowardly, selfish, unfeeling dog does not exist ... There have been good and wise kings but not many of them ... and this I believe to be one of the worst."<ref name=sketch/> By December 1828, like his father, George was almost completely blind from [[cataracts]], and had such severe gout in his right hand and arm that he could no longer sign documents.{{Sfnp|Smith|1999|pages=266–267}} In mid-1829, [[David Wilkie (artist)|David Wilkie]] reported the King "was wasting away frightfully day after day", and had become so obese that he looked "like a great sausage stuffed into the covering".{{Sfnp|Smith|1999|pages=266–267}} George took [[laudanum]] to counteract severe bladder pains, which left him in a drugged and mentally impaired state for days on end.{{Sfnp|Smith|1999|page=269}} He underwent surgery to remove a cataract in September 1829, by which time he was regularly taking over 100 drops of laudanum before state occasions.{{Sfnp|Parissien|2001|page=4}}
By the spring of 1830, George's imminent end was apparent. Now largely confined to his bedchambers, having completely lost sight in one eye and describing himself "as blind as a beetle", he was forced to approve legislation with a stamp of his signature in the presence of witnesses.{{Sfnp|Parissien|2001|page=3}} His weight was recorded to be {{Convert|20|st|kg lb}}.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Baker |first=Kenneth |title=George IV: a life in caricature |publisher=Hudson and Thames |year=2005 |isbn=978-0-500-25127-0 |page=202}}</ref> Attacks of breathlessness due to dropsy forced him to sleep upright in a chair, and doctors frequently tapped his abdomen in order to drain excess fluid.{{Sfnp|Smith|1999|page=269}} Despite his obvious decline, George was admired for clinging doggedly to life.{{Sfnp|Smith|1999|page=270}} His will to live and still-prodigious appetite astonished observers; in April 1830, the Duke of Wellington wrote that the King had consumed for breakfast "a Pidgeon and Beef Steak Pye ... Three parts of a bottle of [[Moselle wine|Mozelle]], a Glass of Dry Champagne, two Glasses of [[Port wine|Port]] [and] a Glass of [[Brandy]]", followed by a large dose of laudanum.{{Sfnp|Parissien|2001|page=3}} Writing to Maria Fitzherbert in June, the King's doctor,
George dictated his will in May and became very devout in his final months, confessing to an archdeacon that he repented of his dissolute life, but hoped mercy would be shown to him as he had always tried to do the best for his subjects.{{Sfnp|Smith|1999|page=269}} By June, he was unable to lie down, and received the [[Anointing of the sick|Sacrament]] on 14 June in the presence of Lady Conyngham, Halford, and a clergyman.{{Sfnp|Parissien|2001|page=6}} While Halford only informed the Cabinet on 24 June that "the King's cough continues with considerable expectoration", he privately told his wife that "things are coming to a conclusion ... I shall be released about Monday."{{Sfnp|Parissien|2001|pages=7-8}}
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