The Two Georges (painting)

From Turtledove

The Two Georges was painting done by Thomas Gainsborough in the 1760s, depicting North American colonial leader George Washington being presented to King George III of Britain, and commemorating the accord that averted a revolution by Britain's North American colonies. In the background were a number of prominent people of the day including some who were not actually at the ceremony. Among them were: William Pitt, the prime minister at the time; Lord North, Pitt's successor as prime minister; Benjamin Franklin; Samuel Adams; the Duke of Newcastle, first lord of the treasury; George Grenville; Sir Philip Francis; and John Wilkes.

In 1995, the painting was touring the North American Union when it was stolen by the militant separatist group, the Sons of Liberty and ransomed for fifty million pounds. Colonel Thomas Bushell and Captain Samuel Stanley of the Royal American Mounted Police trekked across the continent in pursuit of the thieves, finally arriving in Victoria and recovering the painting an hour before King-Emperor Charles III's arrival.

However, the painting had been booby-trapped with a bomb, designed to go off during Charles III's speech at the All-Union Art Museum. Bushell and Stanley deduced the truth, and arrived just in time to disarm the bomb and save the king.