Bridgerton and the “madness” of King George III, who actually suffered from porphyria

We had already glimpsed it in the first two series of Bridgerton: even the less knowledgeable in history, something strange hadn’t escaped the character of King George IIIof which the fantastic Queen Charlotte is the consort. While he almost never appears in the episodes of the series, the queen instead is one of the key characters in the progress of the plot as well as the balance of the sentimental situations of the protagonists.
But in the spin – off released these days on Netflix, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Storythe king reappears as co-protagonist and from the first episode it is understood that the young man, however handsome and kind, is hiding a secret.

The Story of King George III

George III (King of Great Britain and Ireland from 25 October 1760 to 1 January 1801) has gone down in history as the mad kingso long as subject to heavy and mysterious crises of psychic alienation. This was the cause of great pain for both him and the queen: despite this, the two created a very solid union (they had fifteen children) and Charlotte remained close to the king until the end. But exactly what disease afflicted George III? The story tells us about a generic madness. Today we know that to an initial mental disorder (already at 27 the king begins to suffer from depression), overlapped the porphyria.

Porphyria, what it is and how it manifests itself

With this term umbrella it actually means a group of rare hereditary metabolic diseases: porphyrias are caused by the deficiency of the enzymes involved in the production ofheme, a chemical compound that contains iron and gives blood its characteristic red color Heme is a crucial component of several important proteins in the body. One is thehemoglobinwhich allows red blood cells to carryoxygen. In addition, heme is also an important component of certain enzymes produced by the liver.

Transmission of the disease can occur by inheriting an altered copy of the gene from only one parent (autosomal dominant pattern) or by inheriting two altered copies of the gene from both parents (autosomal recessive pattern).

The symptoms of porphyria usually appear in adulthood, but in some cases they can begin in childhood. The most important clinical manifestations are of two types:

–neurovisceral alterations (characteristics of acute porphyrias)
–photosensitivity in areas exposed to the sun (typical of cutaneous porphyrias).

It seems that King George, initially believed to be suffering from a mental disorder, later had episodes of acute porphyria, with consequent pains abdominal muscles, diffuse muscle pain, fever, asthenia, insomnia, tachycardia And hypertension; also problems neurological: sensory loss, motor neuropathy, irritability, muscle weakness, emotional instability, and seizures. However, there is little information available to explain the unusual persistence, severity and late onset of attacks in the ruler.

The King George porphyria study

A final, clarifying piece of information finally arrived a few years ago from a study by theUniversity of Kent published in 2005 on the prestigious magazine The Lancet : the reason for the prolonged periods of mental disorders of George III would be derived from the high concentrations of arsenic in the king’s body, discovered in a hair sample.

Studying the notes of the court doctor to try to identify the possible origin of the arsenic, the team of scholars learned that the main medicine administered to the sovereign during his illness was emetic tartar. This drug contains a substance called antimony, which can easily be contaminated by arsenic. “The presence of arsenic in the king’s hair provides a plausible explanation for the length and severity of his attacks, and drug contamination is the probable source,” said university team spokesman Martin Warren. We hypothesize that arsenic exposure exacerbated attacks of porphyria in an already genetically predisposed individual.”

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